Wet at Waihi Falls

Third day straight of rain. We gathered about 40 artichokes, scraped the leaves (tedious as heck) for a paste, and cut out the hearts (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom-style) in order to boil them up and pickle them. This was our main task today given that outdoors work was out of the question. That said, after our bit of work, we set out in search of Waihi Falls, just a 30 minute drive South. The roads on the way there were windy, narrow and in some spots washed away from the rain. It was a fun ride that only lacked in Flight of the Concords serenading our ears (stupid iPod decided to, uh, not be charged). To get to the star of the show though... here are some pictures of the swollen river (Waihi river?) and the beautiful Waihi Falls! 

The third picture is actually taken from down by that second stream--which is normally not there, but the force of the falls deemed it so!

Es muy agua!

Very powerful, swollen falls. Intense. We were blasted by wind and mist down here and decided to not try and get any closer (not that there were too many options).

It was a very wet, but worthwhile experience. We were pretty happy to get home and get warm and cozy again--until it was time to go milk the cows.

Before we were drenched.

 And Waihi and rain aside... here are some more pictures!!

Dannevirke when we originally arrived -- note the Viking

The Phelps' farm "neighborhood" - lots of green mountains and hills everywhere

Me and the little dog Maggie trying to figure out why the fence wasn't so electric anymore

Backyard stream - did a lot of weeding down here

Four of the calves 

Turkey dudes and one turkey lady

We cut and hanged herbs for drying! Woo! I am pumped!

My Stacy not looking at the ocean - my beard is distracting

Maggie, the Lord of all Australian Terriers, and my very good friend

That is all.

Cows, rain, fat turkeys and Akitio beach

Another week has passed by. Four days left here in Dannevirke. We'll leave Sunday morning and head South for Wellington where we'll spend the day and night (sleeping in the new car, yeah?) before boarding our ferry Sunday morning for the South Island and Picton!! 

Time has slipped by so quick. Not only has it been another week, it's been one full month (and a day or two) since we arrived in NZ. We've been entrusted with milking the cows more and more often. Well, really Stacy has been doing the milking and I've been doing all the odds and ends. A few days ago we helped saw up a tree and create a massive pile of limbs and brush. That was fun. Yesterday and today were rainy with a bit of rain added on. That is to say, it has rained and not stopped. Which proved to be all right for the most part: we've worked a bit less and have had a good bit of nice, cozy indoor time. For the less part, we've been milking the cows in the rain, morning and evening. It's not so bad though. Coming back inside and eating steak and kidney stew is so warming and delicious, or any of the awesome meals we've had. 

Our host is pretty self sufficient, providing their own meat, a decent bit of veges, fruits and herbs and of course milk, eggs and even cheese. I've been really inspired by all this and their lifestyle is, for a good part, in line with what we'd ultimately like. Minus hour-and-a-half long cow milking sessions twice a day. I don't think I could tie myself down to that every day. Most of all, here at the Phelps' farm, I've come to realize a bit more how hard but rewarding this type of life can/could be. This is good. The glitz and glam of ideas I've had are being replaced by smelly cow poo, and it's realistic and good...for the soil. Of my mind. Right? Hard work is good. I like this.

Aside from work, we got to venture out to Akitio Beach just a couple days ago after visiting our host Karen's school and talking to her kids about America and the Appalachians. Akitio was beautiful, but cold, so we settled for a little nap on the beach as opposed to a dip in the big wet blue thing. The scenery on the way down was breathtaking. Imagine pictures. I'll put some up here eventually.

After some rainy weeding at our host Kim's osteopathic clinic, we visited The Warehouse (think Target or K-Mart) and bought gum boots (rain boots) and a couple other things we've been needing. It's always fun to compare prices of things. Clothes aren't too off in price. Electronics are all over the place. Video games, for example (because that would be my example), go for $120NZD for a new game that would be priced $60USD. Even with the exchange rate, that's still $98USD. Big price difference. Shampoo, deodorant, make-up--stuff like that, all priced waaaay up. Typical acne cleanser was $16NZD... same stuff in the States was $5ish. Stacy noticed mascara was $25NZD for a tube. Wow. I advise to those traveling to do research on prices and stock up beforehand on necessities. I will say though, one thing I like about the pricing of things in NZ is that they include all taxes in the price, and they also round up to the nearest dollar with change. Eliminates guesswork, usually. 

Well, to wrap up and include the one thing from the stupid title that I forgot: fat turkeys. We wrangled up (not really) and herded the four male turkeys and got them in their coop yesterday. Their female counterparts wanted to join them. Actually, I'm not sure want is right here. They all madly rushed into the coop as I gobbled and chased them in. Separating the ladies from the lads was annoyingly fun. They're easy enough to tell apart aside from their universal trait of sheer ugliness, but they're too ... unintelligent to not gobble and run straight into a wall. With some effort and skills developed from Space Invaders and Pac-Man, we got the gals out and now those four lonely boys sit in there, fattening themselves up for Christmas dinner. Ah, if only we could be around to partake. 

And for the record before anyone assumes (you would've already, though): I do not hate turkeys. They're funny-looking and easy to pick on. You know. Like that one friend we all have. And they're delicious. Unlike the friend. 

That is all.

Stars along the wall

Day 5 here at the Phelps' farm. We've closed the night with a few pizzas and a Herman the German cake that Stacy made from scratch for everyone (our host had been preparing the cake part for a week or so though). It's incredibly peaceful here. I'll do my best to post some pictures tomorrow, but may it suffice for now to say that we are in a valley with beautiful green mountain ridges bordering us for miles on. We're about 15km from the town of Dannevirke, 10km down Waitahora Road. The road is windy and wild and every corner you take you're greeted by another all-too perfect scene of rolling green hills, sheep and cattle (with newborn lambs and calves running amok), and tall trees shrouding bits and pieces of the otherwise sunlit land. Unless it's cloudy and raining. Then it's just half of what I described.

Work and life here is very routine-oriented for the most part, as I think I mentioned last time. I think it's great, and especially love that we can tackle our main jobs either really early on and be done by 12 or 1, or take our time and finish everything up before our hosts get home around 5. The freedom of choice here is nice, and I don't expect we'll have this luxury at most farms we work on.

Anyway, this is kind of how the day goes.
Wake up. 6:30? 7:00? Whenever they knock on our door. Dress for a mess and then get some coffee. Milk the cows and feed the calves. Search for duck eggs. 4? Not enough. Keep the ducks in their little grassy confines until 7:45. 5 eggs? You're good. Two moms are nesting, so 5 is all we'll get each morning. Ducks are free to wander the acres of green lands until dinner. Release the crazy octet of turkeys and make sure they have barley or some equivalent food to chow on (I've still never seen them eat any of it though). Check for chicken eggs in the coop nearby while the turkeys make threatening gobbles and eye you hatefully with their beady little black eyes... Then feed the chickens and head back up to the house for breakfast and more coffee. Talk about the day. What needs to get done? This, that... the other thing, too? Kay. Goodbyes are said and then we decide, as mentioned, when to tackle our tasks. Work some, have lunch, chill/work some more, then prep or cook dinner for our hosts.. then... Feed the calves. Milk the cows. Call the ducks. Feed the ducks. Lock up the ducks. Hassle the turkeys into their coop. Be gobbled at hatefully--again. Feed the chickens. Finish and wash up for dinner. Eat. Laugh. Go on an adventure or go to bed.

And adventure we did, night before last! Kim, one of our hosts, took us down through the bush late last night (9:00PM), in search of the fabled glow worms.. With crummy sneakers, layers of raggedy work clothes and headlamps perched on our foreheads, we set off deep into the bush, descending steep hills and then following an icey-cold stream for an hour or so. It was amazing to pause every few minutes, shut off our lamps and see tiny, blue dots speckling the walls above the stream. The longer we waited, the more they appeared. We arrived at one spot Kim referred to as "the cathedral," seating ourselves on rocks on a muddy shore and taking in the sight of hundreds of "stars" all on the cliff wall, going up probably fifty or sixty feet and as far down the path ahead of us as we could see. It was simply amazing.

Today was much less eventful aside from pizza and Herman cake. But it was a good day, nonetheless.

That is all.

Hello Dannevirke!

Oh man, it's been a couple weeks. I'm so out of the habit of writing now. And so much has happened, so much to be said. I can't remember a lick of it.

I will start by saying that we finished our time at Turanga Creek Vineyards in Whitford, east of Auckland city. Our next venture was supposed to be Waiheke Island which is a 45 minute ferry ride from where we were staying. Our to-be host there had to postpone our stay, and it's likely we won't be going up to the island till winter time (Summer for those back in the States). Despite tons of planning for this venture, we weren't disapointed and instead found it to be a blessing in disguise. Another host randomly invited us to their farm just a day before receiving the news of cancellation. We jumped on it and are now 6 1/2 hours south of Whitford in the Viking town of Dannevirke (lots of Norwegians live here). We bought a car also, as he we had originally intended. A bright purple Ford Falcon station wagon. It looks like a hearse. We both adjusted to driving on the opposite side of road really quickly and it was a beautiful and fun drive down the North Island.

So we're staying now with Kim and Karen Phelps, helping on their farm--which is really a farm this time. Within 30 minutes of arriving we were helping with the cows and learning how the milking machine works and feeding ducks and I even got slightly electrocuted by a fence! It's been great here so far (second full day as of writing). We get up at 6:30 and go help Kim start the day with milking the momma cows, feeding the calves, chickens and turkeys, and some general cleanup down at the barn. During the week we're left to accomplish a list of tasks on our own time while they're at work. We've still got a lot to learn, but it's very exciting and we're both pretty happy to get into a routine and also have some space and creativity for approaching our jobs. 

I'll write more tonight (no promises). We've got to go track down a mother turkey and her children and give them food, then go on a tramp through the bush (hike in the woods) to figure out why one of the electric fences has gone cold. Then we have some general weeding, egg cleaning and dating (duck, turkey and chicken eggs--oh my!), and then some baking of cookies and prep for dinner before our hosts get home from work. Pretty exciting day ahead of us!

That is all.

Lemon & Paeroa

Life is slow and steady in New Zealand so far. We're on Day 3 of 15 in Whitford working for Turanga Creek. Today is Sunday and we've got nothing that really needs to be done. Sadly our French and fellow American flatmates have to work all day in the kitchen. As mentioned previously, we helped with the dinner event last night and that went well enough aside from moving three back-breaking, ginormous tables to a garage. We worked alongside a famous chef and he his apprentice made some dang good food from tofu kebabs to beefy bruschetta appetizers and something that looked like breaded octopus tentacles that were deep fried (probably not what I thought it was). I didn't try the latter. We were "paid" in scraps for our work, and when I say scraps, I mean huge chunks of beef, two loafs of freshly baked bread, a bag of herbs (crest?), Lemon Lime Bitters. Not bad. I'd be happy to do that again.

Each day that passes I realize just how "easy" it is to do this. This being traveling. Prior to our departure I had so many reservations--so many thoughts, maybe worries...yeah, worries. "Oh, what if I lose my credit card? What if such-and-such gets stolen from us? What if we mix up times and end up stranded somewhere?" But nothing like any of that has happened, and now I foresee no reason to hold onto irrational fears. My heart was thumping hard and stupidly at Customs in the Auckland airport last week. "Oh man, what if we got the wrong visas? We've worked so hard and put so much effort into this... what if it's all wrong and we're deported?" We slid right through, over-prepared actually. Nearly half the things that were supposedly required for us to enter the country weren't even asked about or looked over. Passports and home-printed visas did the trick. Why did I fret?

Also as mentioned in previous posts, we left our things behind at our campsites with no problems whatsoever. Even here at the house I've come to trust the others, realizing they're just like us, and possibly have fears similar, "Oh, I hope my credit card isn't stolen!" We're in this together. I realize now I've rarely had trust for other people. It makes me feel selfish in a way, or at least stupid. Sure, there's plenty of reason to be cautious, especially in certain situations or places. It's not wise to abandon reason or sense just to be all la-di-da with life. But, it is very freeing to trust. I'll continue to be careful enough, nonetheless. 

I write all this (previous posts included) to inform, encourage and whatever else. And yeah, sure, it's fun to talk about goofy things that happen and it's an easy way to keep friends and family in the loop of what's going on. But when all is said and I done, I want people to walk away with this idea that they can travel to or chase their dreams or just believe and accomplish something that's truly important to them. You've only got one life to live. Don't waste it on wishes and wondering. 

Whatever your dream or goal is, it's yours, make it happen. In the famous words of the Nike shoes.... "Just do it."

Oh yeah, and Lemon & Paeroa is an awesome lemon-y soda they have here that tastes way better than Sierra Mist or whatever. 

Snails, worms and enough said

Yesterday began our first work day. We finally met our flatmates who have turned out to all be really funny and nice folks. In one day we made friends with so many people from different countries (there's Germany, Switzerland, France, England, and America represented here). Conversations in English are really fun.

We arrived at Turanga Creek somewhat early and were assigned jobs. Stacy and I had "snail duty" (actually they called it something else, but I didn't understand). After being driven an additional 20 minutes to a separate vineyard we began plucking unnecessary shoots from the vines and searching for snails, a grapevine's worst enemy (or one of them at least). Given small white buckets, we filled them up with the slimy little guys and between six of us probably found a few hundred within two hours. Kyle, our Kiwi boss for the job, told us he found 3,000 in one day, which seems like a tall tale but... well, I think I believe him after what I saw.

Remarkably, the snails are drowned (not the remarkable part) and then essentially turned into a "spray" that is used on the vines to deter the snails from climbing up and eating the leaves. Kind of like shark blood and submarines back in the day (Thanks Julia Child! Look it up). Very interesting.

I repaired a door and its sign, varnished some tiles and Stacy sanded and painted a table and washed a few things before we were given the oh-so awesome task of search through compost for worms. The overall idea left me a little confused, but I'll be honest, just diving in with your bare hands and nabbing some (probably a couple hundred) worms was pretty satisfying in a gross, hey-I'm-five-years-old-again kind of way. Thankfully the smell has left my hands.

To make it all so worth it, we got to enjoy the fabled "Pizza Night." The chefs at Turanga (it's a fully-functioning restaurant apparently) served our WWOOF group about 8 or so different small pizzas, each with increasingly weird and interesting toppings (smoked salmon, capers and pesto?). It was so dang fancy and fun.

Today we'll be going in to help in the kitchen at Turanga for a big dinner event going on. Apparently there will be a chef there for the evening who has cooked in 72 different countries and has made food for Bill Gates on his Yacht. So. No pressure...