THE GRANNIES ARE COMING!

Living room of the White House
see all photos »

The first two weeks at the Tauhara Centre were very different from our last wwoof at Awhitu.  First of all, there are 8 wwoofers from all over Europe and are needed to help man this retreat centre.  There are two young men from Scotland, one from Ireland, 3 young women from England and the Grannies from the USA .  There is a long term young lady from Taupo who has been here for 4-5 months.

There are basically 3 chore arena's; the grounds/gardens, housekeeping, and food preparation.  The first 4 days of the week are housekeeping and grounds.  Groups start arriving on Fridays so everyone helps with the food prep, working either the morning or afternoon shift of 6 hours each.  All food is made from scratch and is very good.  We are eating essentially a vegetarian diet which is so heavy with carbs that we are not loosing any weight.

The Grannies Have Come to Tauhara Centre

Dining room in the white house
see all photos »

Catherine, the manager, who is also a granny, will not let us be over worked.  So some mornings we do nothing but fill the toilet paper holders, or cut flowers and arrange them for the guest rooms, or prepare morning tea at 11:00. But come the weekend we are working our butts off, in the kitchen, just like everyone else.  Bonds form quickly here because of the hours we work together everyday, our morning sharing circles, our evening sharing of the warmth of the wood burning stove, and just talking and laughing in general.  Ellen and I are an anomally to these kids because of our ages and that we are wwoofing just like them for a year across New Zealand.

View out the bedroom
see all photos »

We lived in the "lake room" of the white house for the first week.  We got moved into a non view room the 2nd week because of a wedding that was coming the next weekend. Being in the "white house" is wonderful because it has a wood burning stove that we keep going 24/7.  The other wwoofers are very cold in the other lodge [no heat].  So everynight the "kids" are coming over to the "white house" to be warm.  We drink tea, wine or hot chocolate and just talk and laugh and dispell myths about America i.e. all Americans carry guns.  Thank you movies and TV!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Tauhara
see all photos »

WE HAVE BOTH STOPPED SMOKING NOW.