Yesterday, it was exactly one month that I have been in New Zealand. In a lot of ways it feels like way longer than that, but at the same time, there is absolutely so much more to see that I don't know if I'm going to be able to get it all done in time. A lot of people said that I would get bored in New Zealand after 9 months, because it's such a small country, but I definitely don't think that's going to be the case! If anything, I think I'll wish that I had more time.
Ian and I spent a total of about 2 weeks WWOOFing around Warkworth, about an hour north of Auckland, with 2 different families. I got a lot of experience pulling weeds, and also did some other things like painting a hot tub, feeding chickens and lambs, and playing with an adorable 4 year old girl named Holly, from the last house, who fell in love with me immediately, and also the bet cat I've ever met, a tortoiseshell named Chi Chi who slept curled up right next to me all night. Oh man, I loved that cat.
After we left Michelle, Nigel, and Holly's house, we headed to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is southeast of Auckland. It's a pretty rugged and undeveloped part of NZ, with lots of regional forests and protected land. Once we got there we spent 4 days camping in the Kauaeranga Regional Park, which was really nice. We went on our first multi-day hiking trip, which was great in all the right ways. I was sore for about a week afterward but it was definitely worth it! The first night we just camped at a drive-up DOC site, and then the next day we headed up to Pinnacles Hut, about a 3 hour trek mostly uphill. We didn't stay in the hut, but stayed in some backcountry campsites next to it which we had all to ourselves, but we still got to use the Hut facilities (running water and stoves!). The next day we did a 2 hour side trip up to the top of Pinnacles, which I wouldn't really call a mountain, but I guess it kind of was. It was steep enough to be a mountain, that's for damn sure. It was completely unlike other hikes I've done, but it was so worth it. A thousand-step staircase led to 20 minutes of climbing up ladders and scrambling through rocks, and then you reach the top and you can see almost all of the entire peninsula. We went up on a foggy day, so we couldn't see that far, but it was just as cool to have the fog there. It was really beautiful.
After Pinnacles, we hiked back the way we came and then took a detour to go to Billygoat Basin, another backcountry site. And I do mean backcountry. Once we got past the hut and made the turn to the Basin, we didn't see anyone for the rest of the 2 hour hike. Our campsite was a clearing with an outhouse. It was perfect. We made an awesome fire and cooked a real camping meal--baked beans and Spaghetti-O's, word! The next day we did an easy one hour hike back to our car, and then illegally camped in a motorcamp on the way to our next destination.
We made our way a little bit further north up a lovely seaside drive to our new WWOOF house, which is Dharma Gaia Peace and Mindfulness Center. I know, I know, you can start throwing granola at me right now. But it's actually been pretty amazing. It's a Buddhist center based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn, who I really love and have read a lot of. We attended a Mindfulness Weekend retreat, and did a lot of meditating and ate incredible vegetarian food. We're WWOOFing here for a couple more days and then we're off to...somewhere else. :)
My Internet time has run out so I have to go! Love you all as always. XOXOXOX.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Milo!
Exciting development! Ian and I bought our car/camper. He's a '95 Mitsubishi Chariot, maroon and very pretty. We've named him Milo. The two back rows of seats were taken out and it was converted into a campervan by the people who owned it before us, so it has a great bed. We've slept in it a few times and it's already saving us money on accomodation, for sure. He gets about 30 to 35 miles to the gallon (on windy NZ roads, too!) and only cost $2000 us. He's all-around fantastic, basically.
I feel like a lot has happened since I last posted. Last Friday, Ian and I booked it out of Auckland and traveled a few hours up north to the Bay of Islands. As you can imagine, this was a bay...with a lot of islands in it. Over 100, I do believe. We spent a lovely 4 or 5 days there, camping out on the waterfront. We spent a couple days lounging around around the beaches, flying our kite, hula-hooping in the surf, going for swims, etc. We also went on an amazing day trip on a sail boat and went dolphin-watching, which was incredible. There are tons of dolphins in the bay and they come RIGHT up to the boat--I could have almost touched them. We were supposed to swim with them but the conditions weren't right, but oh well. We also did a bit of (COLD) snorkeling, which was a bit boring since there wasn't much to see, but I still enjoyed it. We went on our first New Zealand hike (or tramps, as they're called here) to a waterfall, which was nice. Only about 3 hours or so round-trip, but it still kicked my ass. On our last day in Paihia, we went for a bit of kayak around the bay, which ended up being a poor idea. The weather wasn't looking too good but we figured we would be fine for an hour. Nope! As soon as we got out there it started to rain. Plus, we had managed to fall in right in the very beginning as we were trying to get into the boat, so we were already soaking wet. It was a somewhat miserable hour, but I actually kind of liked it. I haven't done much open-sea kayaking before, and it always feels like an adventure to me.
After our stay in the Bay of Islands, we needed to return to Auckland so that Ian could do something with his phone. We spent a night there and then headed up to our first WWOOFing house! It's about 45 minutes or so north of Auckland, outside the town of Warkworth. The house and the view are absolutely phenomenal--I couldn't ask for anything better. Our room looks out into rolling green hills, lakes, and a distant mountain with a sunrise view. The couple is turning the house into a B&B and there's lots of work to be done all over the property. They also have 20 cows, 2 goats (Basil and Rosemary), and 2 pigs (Lucy and Penny). My absolute favorite part of the day so far has been feeding the goats and pigs. I think I'm in love with them. We've definitely been put to work--4 hours a day doesn't sound like much, but 4 hours of weeding starts to drag on! The weather has been hot, which is both good and bad--we've got nice farmer's tans going, but also some sunburns. And farmwork in the sun is especially exhausting for me, I'm not made for that shit. I've been sore all week but I'm slowly sucking it up and getting better.
I feel like a lot has happened since I last posted. Last Friday, Ian and I booked it out of Auckland and traveled a few hours up north to the Bay of Islands. As you can imagine, this was a bay...with a lot of islands in it. Over 100, I do believe. We spent a lovely 4 or 5 days there, camping out on the waterfront. We spent a couple days lounging around around the beaches, flying our kite, hula-hooping in the surf, going for swims, etc. We also went on an amazing day trip on a sail boat and went dolphin-watching, which was incredible. There are tons of dolphins in the bay and they come RIGHT up to the boat--I could have almost touched them. We were supposed to swim with them but the conditions weren't right, but oh well. We also did a bit of (COLD) snorkeling, which was a bit boring since there wasn't much to see, but I still enjoyed it. We went on our first New Zealand hike (or tramps, as they're called here) to a waterfall, which was nice. Only about 3 hours or so round-trip, but it still kicked my ass. On our last day in Paihia, we went for a bit of kayak around the bay, which ended up being a poor idea. The weather wasn't looking too good but we figured we would be fine for an hour. Nope! As soon as we got out there it started to rain. Plus, we had managed to fall in right in the very beginning as we were trying to get into the boat, so we were already soaking wet. It was a somewhat miserable hour, but I actually kind of liked it. I haven't done much open-sea kayaking before, and it always feels like an adventure to me.
After our stay in the Bay of Islands, we needed to return to Auckland so that Ian could do something with his phone. We spent a night there and then headed up to our first WWOOFing house! It's about 45 minutes or so north of Auckland, outside the town of Warkworth. The house and the view are absolutely phenomenal--I couldn't ask for anything better. Our room looks out into rolling green hills, lakes, and a distant mountain with a sunrise view. The couple is turning the house into a B&B and there's lots of work to be done all over the property. They also have 20 cows, 2 goats (Basil and Rosemary), and 2 pigs (Lucy and Penny). My absolute favorite part of the day so far has been feeding the goats and pigs. I think I'm in love with them. We've definitely been put to work--4 hours a day doesn't sound like much, but 4 hours of weeding starts to drag on! The weather has been hot, which is both good and bad--we've got nice farmer's tans going, but also some sunburns. And farmwork in the sun is especially exhausting for me, I'm not made for that shit. I've been sore all week but I'm slowly sucking it up and getting better.
Okay! That's it for now. I know I keep saying I'll post pictures and I haven't yet, but we don't have Internet often and when we do it's really slow, so I haven't gotten around to it. I swear I will one of these days!
Love you all--xoxoxooxoxxo
Amy
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