WWOOFING - Yes That is Actually What it's Called

Last saturday Laura and I packed up our bags and headed out of Wellington city, where we had spent the last week. With our big bags on our backs we headed towards the train station to get a train headed to Lower Hutt (a small town just outside of Wellington city).

Now Google maps told us it was an 18 minute walk. What we didn't exactly take into account was the fact that we had our extremely heavy bags with us and I swear to you every time I put it on it seems to weigh 5 pounds more. Our bags caused us a bit of a time delay so it ended up taking us about 40mins to reach the train station. Needless to say by that time most parts of my upper body were sore. 

So now I am in Lower Hutt... doing something called WWOOFING

The House

WWOOFING stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Basically what it is, is working on someone's farm or in their house doing whatever work they need done for 4-6hrs a day in return for free food and board.

The Beautiful Property 

Within the first few minutes of talking with this lady whose house we're staying at Laura and I both mentioned our dietary restrictions... Hers being vegetarian and celiac and mine being vegan and gluten free. I didn't think this would be an issue as she advertises her home as being meat free and health conscious. So I'm sure you can imagine how surprised and slightly taken aback I was when she replied with: "Well that's going to be a problem I don't like vegans, they are all weak"

EXCUSE ME? WEAK?

Well, i thought to myself, I'll sure show her.

Off we went on a tour of the property,  trailing behind her paper and pen in hand trying to scribble down all the tasks she expected us to get done.

She started us off working in the front garden digging up all the grass so she could do some planting.

Other daily tasks include feeding the doves, walking the dogs and watering the plants...

It may sound a bit monotonous but I assure you there is never a dull moment. The other day as we were leaving the greenhouse to walk back to the house we started being chased by sheep.

Now I'm telling you this from experience... sheep are actually very intimidating animals. Don't let their fluffiness or the cuteness of the baby lambs fool you! But I figured out the trick... stay calm and just give them what they want!

Being Thankful on the Other Side of the World

Although I am on the other side of the world right now I certainly have not forgotten about thanksgiving (especially since it is by far my favourite time of the year). But it is definitely hard being so far away in a country that doesn't even celebrate the holiday that I have grown up with and love so much.

But the point of this post isn't to be upset about what I'm missing, because the world has a funny way of making everything work out. While I couldn't be around my family this thanksgiving the world somehow compensated for it. Now you can call it a coincidence but I'm tempted to believe that it is more then that...

Yesterday when I went into the kitchen to cook lunch it was very crowded and all the tables were full. The girl I was with chose a random table to sit down at. While we ate our lunch we started talking to the guy that had already been sitting at the table. He was from Austria and taught kids with disabilities back home. He was in the middle of an around the world trip so you can imagine how many interesting stories he had to share.

Now you may be thinking that it is very random that I'm bringing up an Austrian guy whom I met in a hostel kitchen but the timing was just to coincidental to ignore. We ended up spending the evening with him and we talked a lot about just being thankful for what we have, and making the best out of every situation.

Looking back on last night, meeting him and talking with him couldn't have come at a better time because even though I was missing home he reminded me that wherever you are you have to be thankful for what you have.

So right now I am so thankful that I have this opportunity to see a completely different part of the world and I am thankful for everyone in my life that continues to support me, even when I am so far away.  Getting emails and messages from all you guys back home makes it easier to be this far away ... especially on those days when I wonder why I came so far away from the comforts of home in the first place.

I hope everyone had the chance this weekend, in between the business of trying to see family and friends, to take a moment to appreciate the little things and be thankful for where you are and what you have at this moment in time.

Happy Thanksgiving from New Zealand!

Rachel

Windy Wellington

I have been in Windy Wellington for a few days.. but the weather hasn't been too bad. I was starting to feel a little skeptical about the name that so many people use to describe this city.

Although after yesterday I now know the name certainly does the place justice.

Walking back to the Hostel yesterday I was actually afraid that a sign was going to come flying down the street and hit me. At streetlights we would have to hold onto the poles to avoid getting blown out into oncoming traffic. But the icing on the cake was when we unknowingly walked over a full glass window that had been blown straight out of the front window of a cafe and lay completely shattered on the ground.

In the hostel that night I couldn't believe my ears when the news women said that winds had reached over 220km/h.

After that storm I now feel like I have truly experienced Wellington weather.

The Tangariro Crossing: One of the Best Days Yet

This past thursday I hiked the Tangariro Crossing, which is a 19.4km hike (or tramp as they say in New Zealand). It starts at the base of Mt. Tangariro and the path runs in between Mt. Tangariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe then continues to the summit of Mt. Tangariro.

Mt. Doom

Side Note: Mt Ngauruhoe is Mt. Doom .. for all you Lord of the Rings fans.

Now I don't have much experience with hiking, and this one is ranked as challenging so I was a little worried before starting but luckily I'm in decent shape and didn't struggle with the fitness part of the hike.

The hike itself was quite challenging though. After about an hour of flat walking at the beginning you reach a part of the walk named Devils Staircase. This was basically a steep uphill climb that took us almost halfway to the summit of Mt. Tangariro. We continued on along a flat path through a volcanic crater.

Red Crater

We had another steep climb by which point we reached red crater. A volcanic crater, the red colouring caused by lava flow.

After 8km of walking (atleast half of it uphill) we reached the summit.

Next we had a steep descent (and when I say steep I'm talking sliding down on my bum type of steep) toward the Emerald Lakes. Which in my opinion was probably the most spectacular part of the hike. The emerald blue colour is caused in part by rainfall that causes minerals to run down the side of the volcanoes and into the lakes.

As soon as we walked past the Emerald lakes the clouds started moving in fast. With the clouds came some bad weather. It started with wind and hail and then it started snowing. I thought by coming to New Zealand I had been really smart in avoiding winter but up on the Tangariro winter was in full swing.

On the way down we were walking along extremely narrow paths, unable to see what was in front of us.


As it started to clear up we noticed that many of the volcanoes around us were steaming from different areas. Then we noticed a very reassuring sign...

The hike finished with a walk through forest made up mostly of the Native Bush.

And finally after experiences every single type of weather, and walking over several different types of terrain I finished one of the most spectacular walks in New Zealand ..the Tangariro Crossing

Taupo ... The View

From left to right: Mt. Ruapehu, Mt. Ngauhero, Mt. Tangariro

Commitment problems?

After a few days of some crazy and very exciting tourist activities both the girl I met from Ireland and I thought it would be nice to settle somewhere for a bit to unwind a little and most importantly take a break from spending a ton of money. We were lucky enough to find a hostel that had two positions available for work for accomodation. At first we thought we had hit the jackpot... 3 weeks of not having to pay for accommodation what could be better? Our work consists of stripping and making the beds of anyone that had checked out that morning as well as cleaning the bathrooms. It is quite easy work that never lasted for more then two hours. It was grand (as Laura would say)

Aside from work we began our stay in Taupo by walking around the town. We managed to walk it all ...twice .. in about 20 minutes.

The second day we went into about every single shop and cafe.

Then on the third day we went out later in the afternoon only to realize that everything here closes between 3-4 (not to mention the fact that nothing opens before 9)

So here we are on day 4 going completely insane because there is just nothing to do in Taupo. So although we had an oral agreement with the owners committing to 3 weeks there is just no way we can last that long. 

Being the proactive people that we are we have already booked ourselves on a bus headed to whakahoro (pronouced Fakahoro) on wednesday morning. 

By Friday we should be in Wellington... the capital of New Zealand, where there will hopefully be a bit more to do and see. 

While some may say that I am unable to commit to staying somewhere for more then a week .. I say that I just haven't quite found the right place yet. 

That's all for now!

Rachel

A Not So Short Recap

So in these last few days there has just been too much happening ... I can't keep up!!

So a quick (or atleast as quick as I can make it) recap on the last few days.

I explored the Waitomo caves (basically crawling through tiny places, swimming through freezing areas of water and rafting underground for a couple hours). But its actually way cooler then it sounds... the caves have glow worms on the ceiling so it actually looks like there are little green stars everywhere!

For the night we stayed in a Mourea, a traditional Maori meeting house. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand and their meeting house is actually a sacred area to them. It was amazing staying there and learning about their culture. They were such kind and welcoming people it was amazing. AND they even made me a special meal to cater to my extensive dietary requirements... definitely the best meal I've had since I've been here.

After that we went white water rafting down the largest commercially rafted waterfall (7 metres) ..at the end of the waterfall our raft was completely submerged but luckily we didn't capsize.

Next we headed  to Rotorua where myself and an irish girl i met decided to stay a few nights. We had a nice mud bath / hot spring tour by the guy that owned the hostel we stayed at. Then we went Zorbing... an activity that originated and is unique to New Zealand. Rotorua is actually the only place in New Zealand that you are able to do it. I have to admit it did make me extremely dizzy... but all is well .. I made it down alive and without puking (an added bonus)

The couple of days I spent in Rotorua I managed to get a couple runs in. I ran along a path beside sulphur bay ..and yes as the name suggests it does smell like sulphur and the smell is quite overpowering.

And finally that brings me to today.. probably the best day yet. Finally I can cross skydiving off my bucket list. I can't even begin to describe the feeling... all I can say is that it was the most amazing feeling ever ...and the view was phenomenal!

Thats all! Thanks for reading... and for being patient with my far from regular updates.

Rach

Surfing

Well it's been a few days since my last post... I think I was a bit spoiled in Auckland with relatively easy internet access.

For those of you who may not know, after the nanny job didn't quite go as planned I decided to do pretty much the opposite of what the nanny job was. I hopped on a bus that takes you to all the major parts of both the North and South Island.

(Just a little side note the way this bus tour works is you can get on and off the bus and stay longer in any place that the bus passes through.)

So on Sunday I hopped on the bus leaving Auckland and heading for a place called Raglan, which is famous for its surf beaches. So what did I do in Raglan? Well I surfed of course! It wasn't a very nice day (a bit cold and rainy) but I was only there for a day so I had to make the best of it. I was quite pleased with myself because I got up on my first try. But by the end I wasn't as successful because my feet were so numb I couldn't feel them on the board.

Next stop was the Mourea (A Moari meeting house) stay tuned to find out what exactly it is! 

A Beautiful View

I have been without internet access for the past few days and doing a ton of crazy things. So while I try and sort out in my head how to condense everything to a post that is of reasonable length to read I will leave you all with a few pictures from Mt. Eden. (A huge crater left by a volcanic eruption) It is right outside of downtown Auckland and the view is just absolutely amazing. Enjoy :)

 just loving life :)