TreeHugger Organic Farm - By Alyssa

Well, WWOOFing didn’t start off easy for us, that’s for sure, but after the sunburns have healed and our muscles stopped aching, the days haven’t been as challenging.

We’re slowly getting the hang of it thanks to our first hosts, Nath and Steph and other WWOOFers, Jess and Matt. We’re currently working at a fully operational organic farm called TreeHugger Organic. They grow just about any type of fruit and vegetable you can grow, but are beginning to specialize in strawberries, garlic and asparagus. Nath is also a bee keeper and makes some really sweet honey that we enjoy on a daily basis. This farm is very large, about 19 acres of so.

We just completed the garlic harvest of over 3,000 heads of garlic. Who knew there were so many varieties? Among the weeds we pulled hundreds upon hundreds of garlic out thanks to the handy-dandy harvester (an addition to the tractor). Steve learned to drive one of the tractors, while Alyssa rode in the back trailer holding the garlic in place.

Daily activities include weeding (A LOT), strawberry picking, garlic braiding, irrigation, opening and closing the shop, playing with the dogs, chasing the chickens around, and we picked a few plums today.

We’ve had a ton of fun with our friendly hosts who have fed us well and taken us swimming. Here you can see Nath making the thickest pizza in history, inspired by “Mexican” flavors, along with fresh venison.

We have about 5 more days here, and then drive 20 minutes south to Waimate to spend a week at “Earthwood.”

Mount Cook - By Alyssa

Aoraki (Cloud Piercer in Maori), or Mount Cook, is the highest peak in Austrailasia. It lies among many other tall mountains in the Southern Alps.

We spent two days, hiking and gazing at the constantly-changing sky. It’s known at the best place in New Zealand to star gaze, because it’s hundreds of miles away from any light pollution.

Kaikoura

For those of you who are wondering why we're not on a farm yet, we had originally scheduled a farm stay for this week, but it fell through. We've decided to take this as providence and take the next twelve days to do some eco-tourism and exploring off the beaten path.

Kaikoura is truly a marine town. Along the rocky beach, there are surf shops and fish and chips take-aways. Yesterday Steve had a juicy, delicious “Hawaiian burger.” Here's a list of what they put on it: Burger, cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, onions, and lastly, sliced beets! He could have opted for ketchup (“tomaato” sauce) for an additional 60 cents, but decided it would be a little TOO much.

Due to a 2000 meter-deep drop directly off the coast and the convergence of two distinct ocean currents, Kaikoura's waters are an excellent feeding ground for many ocean animals, including whales, dolphins, and our favorite, the NZ fur seal ('cause you can see those for free!) About 2k down the coast lies a colony of fur seals that sun themselves on the brown rocks. They camouflage in so well with the landscape, but we had a special few encounters, including a few close ones.

We freedom camped on the beach, opening our van hatch to the fresh ocean breeze, making a habit to watch both the sunset and sunrise every day. One of the most enjoyable things about New Zealand so far is that the days are so much longer. Since we're further than the equator than we're used to, and we're below it as well, it's summertime. Also, the sun rises at about 6:30AM local time and sets around 9:30PM, so it's only really dark for about 7 hours a night.

As we're writing this, the day is indeed fading, so we must depart now. We'll see you in a week or so to update you on our adventures.

We Bought a Van

Meet Goliath!

He's a 1991 Mitsubushi Delica, 5-speed diesel engine. He sleeps two, came complete with kitchen shelving, a propane 2-burner stove, tent, cooler, table, 2 chairs, silverware and dishes, a solar shower, and complete atlases of both islands (among other extras).

We both knew this van was exactly what we wanted when we saw it. We'd like to thank Pamela and David, the previous owners from Scotland who made the deal incredibly easy, and helped talk Steve through driving a 5-speed diesel van on the left side of the road in Christchurch proper.

It is very common for travelers in NZ to purchase a campervan, and sell it to another traveler upon leaving. It's nothing like purchasing a car in the US. You just go to the post office with a US drivers license and fill out a change of ownership form. They mail you the registration in 10 business days. Additionally, there is a required 6-month inspection for every vehicle, but we're not up for one until June.

Goliath was put to the true test in our trip through the Banks Peninsula, an extremely mountainous region with narrow switchbacks and extreme slopes. Steve did a great job navigating these difficult roads, even through Alyssa's dramatic gasps when the van approach the edge of the cliff, a little too close for comfort.



In an effort to save money, we've been doing something called “Freedom Camping,” which is a very common practice around NZ where you park your campervan by a beach, scenic preserve, or on the side of the road to set up camp for the night. We spent two nights on the Banks Peninsula, each on a different bay with panoramic views on the Pacific flanked by sea cliffs.

We're currently in Kairkoura, with a post above.

Christchurch - By Steve

We've been here for three days now. Spending time in the YHA Hostel cooking our own meals and walking around a lot seeing the sights. It's a lot like Cambridge Massachusettes only with really erratic weather. Generally it goes from one to another kind of nice though. The first day it was drizzling, then it warmed up and got cloudy, then nice and sunny. Today's been mostly sunny with a few clouds and very low humidity. It was founded by the English and planned to be like their own towns in Jolly old England.


Adjusting to the time/currency/measurement systems isn't nearly as difficult as adjusting to people driving on the left side of the road, we never know which way to look. The nice thing is their crosswalks have these little beeping sirens on them, so you can let your mind wander while you wait and know it's safe to walk when you hear the beeps.
Yesterday we had a nice walk through the Botanical Gardens (see photos) and the Christchurch Cathedral, you can really see how the English really wanted this place to be the ideal community. We went to the movies last night to see Frost/Nixon, it seems they're only a couple of months behind us as far as movie releases. They're great though, since you can buy BEER for the theater, and we didn't know this but it seems that they always have assigned seating, so you have to get in early and request a good seat.


For the Starbuckians back home, here's a bit of their lingo. I went into a starbucks yesterday, and they have almost the exact same menus we do in the states. The merchandising was pretty much the same, and they even had one of the Contemporary Grinds playing on the stereo! I really enjoy the way they do coffee here. My favorite drink is what they call a Flat White, what we would call a double short latte. Then there's a Latte, which is about the same as a double tall latte. Shortblack is a shot of espresso and Longblack would be an americano, but with less water. They also serve in either a Cup or a Bowl, so a latte in a bowl would be like a Starbucks triple venti in a porcelain cup, but it's actually served in a soup bowl, no handle, I saw this guy just drinking right out of the bowl. Interesting stuff.

Personally, I find the cultural differences to be the most fascinating thing. Here in the hostel we have a communal kitchen and living room. I've seen Japanese, Irish, English, Chinese, Indian, German and Israeli people all living together in the same building. Everyone cleans up after themselves and gets along quite well. The odd thing is, if you ask a question or try to tell someone something, half the time you'll come to find out they don't actually speak or understand english. It makes speaking one language seem like such a handicap. The way New Zealander's treat the environment is very different too. They Have recycling here, but they also have about five different ways of disposing of different “waste”. There's the can for “Landfill”, then there's “Compost” (which gets fed to pigs), then “plastics” and “bottles”, etc,. Everything seems to have it's own place to go and most of it gets reused.

The Flight(s) - By Steve

Not much to say, but it was NOT an easy trip. According to my stopwatch, it took about 33 hours to get from CT to New Zealand. NYC to LAX was easy in retrospect, we flew over the Grand Canyon at one point, and seeing clouds breaking over the Appalachians like waves over a sandcastle was really impressive. We spend several hours in LAX waiting for the flight to Auckland, and flew through the night. Alyssa slept a lot on that flight, but I only got about an hour of sleep. I didn't realize it until two days later, but I was fortunate enough to see the Southern Cross out the window at one point, but everyone was asleep so I didn't try to snap a photo. We arrived in Auckland at about 5AM local time which would be 11AM the day before in NY. It seems quite fitting that my first experience of a different country on the other side of the world should begin at sunrise.

(Frost on the plane window)