Hello all! Halloween night here and I'm very surprised I'm writing this right now. We were settled in at Omana Clifftop and had a huge campground all to ourselves the past day and night and then our host from Whitford very randomly showed up and called us out of our tent (we were cozy in preparation for being cold and rained in). So, we begin work at 8 AM tomorrow. Not quite sure what we'll be doing yet. We've been settling in all evening and our fellow WWOOFers (six I believe?) are out at a basketball game.
I've been writing on paper all of my thoughts to share here over the past four days. I reckon I'll sum that up here in some sort of order.
10/27
We left the busy city of Auckland for Ambury Park which is a bit South of where we were staying. The bus system in Auckland is very well-organized and we only hoofed it for about a mile or so before we arrived at the actual campground. Ambury is a fully functioning farm, shared with the community for picnics, school field trips and general visiting of the many farm animals there. So, imagine if you will (till I get pictures up) our tent (along with many campervans nearby) and cattle fenced up just behind us and sheep all around the campground on almost all sides (though not allowed in). We'd lay there in our tent laughing at all the sounds they would make throughout the day and even late into the night. A sign we read stated that 86 species of birds can be found throughout the year at Ambury, and I believe it. Most common were Pukekos, which I would describe as exotic chickens, and I'll leave it at that.
The weather is wild at Ambury, mostly with wind that would send a small, empty bag flying. It would rain, then the sun would come out very suddenly to scorch you (I'm recovering from some sunburns while adjusting to new ones on my feet from Omana).
Our tent has proven to be awesome, and I'm fully confident no gusts of wind other than those belonging to a hurricane could rip up all the guylines we've used to keep it in place. Here's to a night of rest in the wilderness.
Also, while figuring out the campground at the "information stable," there was a really intense spider that tried to go from his web to Stacy's hair which connected together for a moment. That could have been interesting.
10/28
It's been a full day now since we arrived at Ambury Park, located near Mangare (with the beautiful, though overly-stated Mangare Mountain nearby). I believe the best sleep I've had in weeks was here last night in this little field 50 feet from a cow pasture.
There's always noise going on, which is actually a good thing. It's serene. It's the gusts of wind, rustling of trees in the nearby "tree oasis" behind us, the chirping and twittering of dozens of different birds or the semi-frequent goofy noises of the sheep and goats just outside of the campground.
About a fourth of a mile from our spot is a beach. A volcanic rock beach. It's crazy and in some spots otherworldly. The sheep freely roam the grassy hills that circle the beach.
There are a dozen or so other campers, mostly people with motorhomes or vans. We've left our tent, bags and roughly 90% of our belongings behind on several, multi-hour long occasions now. I think the greatest threat to our stuff is the occasional sheep that wanders into the campground, or maybe an overly curious duck.
10/29
Dr. Braunner's is amazing. We've washed our clothes and our dishes with it, and cows love the smell of it too! They've been trying to get to our drying clothes on our makeshift laundry line near their fence. I've been naming them (the cows, not the clothes), and my favorite is Mavis. She's a soft brown and has mahogany hair and she seems to enjoy us petting her. I've been naming everything actually, now that I think of it.
On the subject of cows, I'd like to note how amazing the fast food is here in NZ. The beef at Burger King is really good. Frosties at Wendy's taste like real ice cream. And McDonald's is even more overpriced than I thought in comparison to these other places. Also on the note of food, I don't recall if I mentioned how awesome Asian markets are and how cheap (and ripe!) avacados are here. Well, they are.
We had a great rainy mile long walk back from a lagoon (not quite as cool as it sounded), and got to see a lot of bird sanctuaries all over Ambury. Most of them are for migratory birds, to my knowledge, though I did see one little island with dozens and dozens of goofy little seagulls on it.
10/31
I write this from an old, bird-poop-stained picnic table, looking out 10 feet to a rickety fence where our recently washed clothes are hanging to dry in the cold, breezy air. Just past this is a well-worn trail, a more battered fence and, well, a huge drop off a cliff onto rocky beach below.
We finished our stay at Ambury - 2 1/2 days and 3 nights and they all flew by. We became braver about leaving our stuff behind, venturing into town for honey, chocolate, chips and a couple other things we "needed" (okay, I really just wanted a Coke--it was all me).
It took 3 different buses to get to Omana and along the way we drove through Whitford and our first WWOOF home, Turanga Creek. Tomorrow morning we set out again and move there for the next two weeks.
....
So, you can see how suddenly packing up all of our belongings in the drizzling rain and hopping into a car and driving off to Whitford came as a very odd, M. Night Shyamalan-style twist in our ever-unfolding story. It's great though. Very warm. I probably won't wake up with a sore throat tomorrow. But not to lead you astray--camping was loads of fun and I will miss it.
I'll upload some pictures tomorrow whenever I get a chance. I'm used to being asleep an hour ago (it's 10something PM now).
That is all.
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