The Good Life

auckland harbour
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Hi all

Well we arrived to Auckland pretty jet lagged after a delayed flight from Santiago (airline did chuck in a free meal at the airport so can’t really complain!)

Our hostel in Auckland was located in a pretty little area called Parnell, old colonial buildings and lots of cafes, restaurants. Sadly we quickly realised how expensive NZ is (especially in comparison to South America) and decided meals out were a thing of the past!! At the supermarket the next day as we managed to get some massive green lipped mussels for less that 5p each which made a very tasty Thai soup, if I do say so myself! So wasn’t so bad!!

lake taupo
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We didn’t do a lot in Auckland apart from sorting out stuff, the doctors (no lasting damage from Peruvian cuisine), planning rest of trip, insurance claims (Drs and camera-dropped the old faithful in Argentina)…Had a nice wander around the harbour, which is lively and modern, lined with expensive bars… that we couldn’t afford to go in!!

Visited the Auckland Museum to try and learn more about Maori culture, they have a great load of Maori artifacts in their collection. They also had some real good sections on NZ contribution to the world wars, very interesting and moving.

red crater tongariro crossing
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From Auckland we took a bus to Lake Taupo, which is famous for doing all sorts of adventure sports. However we didn’t partake in any!! Just enjoyed the lake for its beauty, bathed in some unspoilt thermal pools, and met up with Michelle and Matt (friends from home). Was lovely to see people from home after so long, was a great day catching up and sharing travel stories, made us pretty homesick though.

Also in Taupo we were taken along to a drift car race (pretty random!!). Some guys in our hostel were competing in the motorsport and asked us if we fancied going pitside with them! Was a fun and exciting morning, watching the cars screech around the track, spouting forth tons of smoke as they drifted round the corners!

From Taupo you can also access the Tongariro Crossing, the ‘best one day walk in the world’ (not sure who said this, but it is pretty spectacular!!). Was pretty tough in parts scrambling up and down a volcanic mountain but the views from the top were worth the strain! Really varied landscape, red craters, emerald lakes, rugged desert and bushland.

After Taupo we headed to a small town called Sanson where we had intended to spend 9 days WWOOFing on an organic farm (4/5 hours work in exchange for bed and board). Sadly the farm didn’t live up to our expectations. We didn’t find the hosts friendly, in fact they were downright miserable, the house was only marginally cleaner than the stinking pigsty outside, the dinner was a microwaved plastic wrapped chicken, and the expected labour for the above conditions was pretty grueling. Lets just say I think Andy and I could confidently set up a dairy farm now!! We milked 40 cows, (including rounding them up, getting them into their stalls, sorting out all the machinery etc), bottled 133 2 litre bottles of milk (all while the farmer played chess), picked 5 boxes of apples, fed the pigs and chickens all in 24 hours.

We decided it wasn’t a fair deal and managed to escape on the milk delivery lorry to another small town 1/2 hour up the road, Foxton. The relief was unbelievable!!! In Foxton we made contact with another WWOOF farm and they agreed to take us in for the remaining 8 days. The family that we stayed with and worked with were so welcoming and we really enjoyed our time there. The hosts were really interesting people, both teachers by trade who were also an artist and homeopath. They had 3 kids the youngest of whom was nearly 4 and was adorable! They had built their home themselves as environmentally friendly as possible (like something you see on Grand Designs), complete with composting toilet! They had a few cows, some chickens and grew loads of vegetables. At times the work was tough, like when we had to dig up flax plants (huge great grass type plants) and move and replant them, but on the whole it was pretty laid back. And the home cooking we received was amazing! Fresh baked bread every day and cookies or muffins most other days, yum! On our time off we went to the beach, a beautiful long west coast sandy beach. We learnt loads and really aspire to a similar life when we get home…it can be done! It was sad though to leave the family, it had been the longest we’d spent with people in nearly 5 months!! We hope to stay in touch with them.

From Foxton we took the bus to Wellington, for a quick stop off and a cheap meal in a Hare Krishna restaurant before taking the ferry to the South Island…

Char and Andy xx