Hello Blog, it has been far FAR too long since we've last chatted. How have you all been? I am currently on Stewart Island, waiting to see what the weather decides it wants to be like today. So far, we've had a good drop of rain first thing this morning, now it's windy and partly cloudy. Who knows what's in store for late this afternoon. I spent a good long time on Banks Peninsula, regarding which I have every intention of doing at least one solid entry. I had many adventures there, walked to many beautiful places, met some really awesome people, made some really great friends, lost some-not-so-great-ones. Worked weekends, managed a hostel, “vice-managed” another hostel, got conflicting information from various immigration office representatives (don't worry, I'm here legally, and shall remain so until the end of May)

Wellington, Picton and the Queen Charlotte Track

Travels with Nicki

Red Rocks along the aptly named
Red Rocks Walkway.

I met Nicki during my last two weeks on the farm, and we made plans to go hiking together before she settled into work over the winter. I felt I had earned a vacation after 6 months of wwoofing.

Krumm-Jury farm conclusion.

Holy smokes! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown during my stay with the Krumm-Jury family. It's the first fully properly organic place that I've come across (makes you wonder about who's running this wwoof organization, don't it). I've had the opportunity to do all sorts of different tasks and I believe I've learned a lots of new skills and gained a lot of insight into how much work goes into keeping a place like this going (and why macadamia nuts are so goddamn expensive).

Jinkies! First month on the Jury farm in Tikorangi, Taranaki.

Greetings and salutations one and all.

Time just keeps slipping away from me lately and my current host has lots of different jobs that need doing and is a lot of fun to chat with that I just don't seem to get around to writing up my missing posts!

I arrived at Mac Snack world headquarters on the 8th of January, after spending some time with familiar faces over in Australia. It was simply lovely to spend Christmas with J-Bo and New Years with the ladies Lahey.


This is the first fully organic farm that I've stayed on, and it's a beaut! It's been in the family for generations (since it started to be settled by Europeans), and is the site of the first (legally) imported macadamia nut trees.

Blue dot is the farmhouse, their property is pretty much
bordered west and south by the roads, and north and east by
the trees.

Not much to say about this vid...

I'm afraid the last thing I want to do in the evening is sit at my computer, so updates are pretty slow and few.

Enjoy a time lapsed video of this morning's sunrise in the meantime.

http://youtu.be/li_8fBjr_Og

Swanson, Auckland, New Zealand September 19 - October 3

My very first WWOOF hosts were located just west of central Auckland, but it was very much the bush. I loved it. There was a new little sleepout building for up to 4 of us to sleep and cook in. There was even a flatscreen tv and cable. I was blown away by the amenities, actually.

Northland Road Trip October 3 - October 6

Sue and John sent the 3 of us away for the long weekend to enjoy some travel in Séb's car.

We zipped up along the West coast, stopping briefly along the way to check out a few sights, like the biggest/oldest Kauri tree, some beautiful lakes and had a peek at 90 mile beach (which is only really about 55 miles long. LIARS!). Our goal the first day was to get as far North as we could (all the pretty stuff was along the North and Eastern coasts, we'd been assured by several people before we set out). As it was still spring, we did get a fair share of showers as we made our way down the highway, but thankfully it was never enough to completely ruin our trip. The first day, we made it from Swanson to Ahipara Holiday Park.