Osmond Farm, Cambridge NZ

Another longy! Hope you've brought enough food and water to sustain you.

Wow! How the time here has began to fly as we are meeting new people and having many more new experiences. It seems that this entire trip is full of new exposures for me, which has made this trip worth all of the time and energy we have spent preparing. Through hitching we're able to meet new people, and most of them say the same thing in response to our trip: "Do it now, while you have the time, the energy, the excitement and the wonder." We may not have the money, but we are void of a lot of the responsibility that holds travelers back. This is part of our education that can't be taught in school, and should be required!

Our newest host family is absolutely wonderful. They are some of the most inviting and warm people I have ever met! Suzie and Alistair live on 3 hectacres (about 7 acres) of land, with 10 chooks (chickens), 4 cows, a big greens garden, 1 dog named Bella, and are in the midst of making adobe bricks for the new building project. They have said that the older they get, the 'greener' they become, and I beleive it! They heat their house with a woodburning stove, and are building a wood free building for Alistair's parents to live in. Adam and I have been making bricks from mud, sand, straw, and water. The process is long and intensive, but important for the bricks to be able to last and insulate. The bricks have three layers of ingredients:
1. Mud gets laid out on wooden platform, and we search through it with spades for rocks.
2. Sand gets brought over, and we kick the sand with our gumboots to distrubute it.
3. Straw, after being cut out of the bale with a chainsaw by Alistair (it's so funny to watch how they do things here!) is scattered along the prior two layers, acting as the last layer.
Then, with the Rototiller, Alistair goes through mixing everything up, adding water to congeal the mess into a slop. We follow with shovels, helping to turn the thick goo.
Lastly, the mud concoction gets made up into bricks, using a series of repeated procedures. Using water to coat the frame for the brick shape, it is then laid on a pallet (with cardboard and newspaper), then mud is piled into the square frame, and squished into the edges. It must be packed well, or the bricks can fall apart. Then the frame is removed, and the bricks are left to dry, and then are stacked. We make about 100 a day, usualy exceeding that goal. The building needs 8,000 bricks, and so far they are a little over 3,000 bricks in since mid July. That's a lot of bricks!

Along with Adam and I, there are two other wwoof-ers here. They are both from Japan,although traveling independently around the country. Tomoko, (22) and Sayshu (he points to his mouth "say" then points at his boots "shoe!" who is 57). Tomoko just left this morning, which was sad. She has stayed here for a month, and although there was a little bit of a language barrier, we became very friendly while working and cooking together. On our first day here, Adam and I went kayaking, and she made us lunch! I learned so much from her generosity, politeness, and willingness to help. Sayshu is quite the character, having wwoof-ed in a few different countries, as well as being a marathon runner. He keeps us on our toes, making lots of silly jokes and coming up with funny catch phrases.

Last night Adam and I made dinner for everyone, attempting falafel with pita, israeli salad, and hummus, as wel as honey cake for desert. It wasn't quite falafel, it seemed more like a mush that didn't really taste like anything. However, they enjoyed it, the honey cake went over well, and there was enough left over for us to have some at morning tea.
This evening I went slug hunting with Suzie (it's important because the slugs eat the plants in the garden, right down to the stalks!), dropping them into boiling water after collecting them. The slime was killer. "Slug Hunting with Suzie" would be a good band name.

If you'd like a postcard, drop me an email. Updates after this week most likely won't be as frequent, as we'll be camping and tramping and fairly unavailable. Hope everyone is well and healthy!

I'll pay to sleep under fabric! Bay of Islands, NZ

So the last time I left off, I beleive we were planning to leave the farm and head north to Keri Keri. Our host was gracious enough to give us a ride into town after working a half day. We decided to try our hands and hitch a ride this time, and after less than 10 minutes, a woman named Lynda picked us up on her way to Keri Keri. During the car ride she began to tell us of a small beach town with beautiful hiking trails, close to waterfalls, sea kayaking, dolphin trips, (and the list goes on) called Paihia. Adam and I quickly decided to go to Paihia instead, and hitched a ride with another young woman right into town. We found a hostel called the "Pickled Parrot", and set up our tent! It's saving us some money, and both Adam and I don't mind, so the party tent it has become, and stinky it will remain.
Paihia was quiet the first night we were there, mainly because it was a Tuesday night. However, the following night we both went out to "Salty's" a local bar with a pool table. We ended up meeting some wonderful people there, who we continued to hang out with the rest of our stay in Paihia, and who made our time there much much more than we had ever expected. Naomi, from Scotland, Liz, Quinten, and Renier (Bob) from Holland, Lorna and Paul from England,Monkey, Ben, and 'Seadog' from New Zealand and Ellecor from Japan. We took a trip to Russel, a village a ferry ride across the harbour and went hiking for the day, which was beautiful. They had a gigantic sundail on the ground, with a mosaic map of the area. I do love mosaics! We played some frisbee in the park with Naomi and Lorna, played lots of pool at the pub and went on a dolphin cruise! The Dolphin cruise was incredible, with a 65% chance of swimming with the dolphins, because there are lots of restrictions as to when boats can and cannot swim with dolphins (such as feeding times, if there are babies in the pod). Adam and I were one of the lucky few able to swim with them, which was a real treat! Although the water was very cold and the weather wasn't too great, it was a great day. This time of year is the slow season for Paihia, so Adam and I were two of the four tourists on our boat made for 50, easily! They gave us wetsuits, and we jumped into a huge net that hangs off the boat in the water. With us hanging on the net, they drive the boat near the dolphins, and we swim out of the net, wich snorkels and fins and follow the dolphins. I never realized how massive the dolphins are, and I got a little scared hovering over them in the water. But being able to swim with dolphins in their natural habitat was incredible, and took the cake from our trip to Paihia. After our swimming time we took a cruise around to some of the other islands, spent time on a secluded sandy beach, eating lunch and collecting shells (I can't wait to start making jewelry from some of the stuff of found!)
Near Paihia, outside of a town called Waitangi, is a place called Haruru falls. Lorna, Adam and I set out to Haruru falls after a big rain, so the falls were dirty from all the washed out mud (and no rocks to filter it out) and the trail was also closed for maintenance. So we followed the closed trail for a little while (oops, did i say closed?), then hopped off to do some bushwhacking and found our own little waterfall. Needless to say we weren't the first people there, but it was secluded and really beautiful. Adam and I finished that day by riding our borrowed bikes from our hostel in the rain to get groceries, and cooking a stir fry I'm sure our mom's would be proud of!
We're back in Auckland, basing for now until our next host family, near Cambridge. Hopefully our friend Lorna that we met in Paihia will be joining us, and if not, she'll catch up with us later. If anyone is following on a map, we headed south from Auckland to Cambridge, and using our host family as a base to see Rotorua (east of Cambridge) and the Waitomo Caves (west of Cambridge. After that, maybe Lake Taupo for some hiking in the Toringa National Park, some kayaking, and definitely some adventure!
Hope all is well at home, and that the new year is sweet, like apples and honey!

Greetings friends!
So, since it’s been a while since I’ve written (or have I even written at all?) I guess I’ll have to start from the beginning. I hope you brought popcorn.
Auckland is a really cool city. With plenty to do, things to see, and lots of neat hikes in the area, we had quite a time trying to pack everything in. I got in really early in the morning on the 11th, had some breakfast, then Adam and I headed off to Kelly Tarlton’s underwater exploratory. It’s an awesome gigantic aquarium that was once an old sewage holding tank. Kelly Tarlton loved the ocean and its creatures, so he dug out this sewage, scrubbed the whole thing clean, and built an underground museum/aquarium. They have a tunnel that you walk through, while above your head sharks, fish, and other sea creatures are swimming, feeding, and hanging out with a treasure box (complete with a tiara).There was even a little train car that we rode past the penguins, which was hilarious! We walked all over the city, including attempting a coast to coast hike, going from one end of the harbour to another district harbour (about 16km) Within three blocks of the city portion in the beginning, we were lost and continued to walk in the direction of our own choice, which lead us to do some great bushwhacking as well as climbing up Mt. Hobison (it’s on the map, and still in the city), finding at the top grazing cows along with stunning views of the city. Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m in New Zealand! After walking nearing 6 hours, Adam and I were quite tired and hungry, but still smiling. The next day we hit up the sky tower (highest tower in the southern hemisphere), had an apple and peanut butter lunch in the sky deck (260 meters up!) and continued to discover the city, seeing art, some music, and doing a little shopping.
Friday, September 14th – Tuesday, September 18th : Our first host was gracious enough to let us catch a ride out of Auckland, north, outside a town called Wellsford. They have about 15 hectacres of land, with sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, two friendly dogs, and three home schooled kids. All of their kids play soccer, and the first night they had an awards night for the soccer teams in the area followed by a disco. Adam and I were completely relishing in anonymity! It was great fun. Our tasks earn us a bed and meals, so Adam and I both put in 5 hours of work each day, as well as make lunch. Jobs so far have included:
-Weeding garlic, some of which is covered in rotting wool to keep out the weeds, which smells like vomit
-helping move, vaccinate, and tag cows
-create and layer compost (they are an almost fully composting house)
-help with sheep shearing
-plant native bush
-crush egg shells for chickens to peck at
This evening (17th) Bryce (11 years old) took Adam and I up a hike on the nearest volcano. The usual route is along the left edge, but we decided to climb straight up from the base after hiking for ½ hour. It was quite steep, but definitely rewarding at the top. Bryce says it’s nearly 200 meters above sea level, at least. Adam and I leave tomorrow to head north to the Bay of Islands area. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful family, but we must understand that to cover the most area in our short time here we can’t be staying with families more than a week. I am glad to have stayed with such a warm family first!
All in all, Adam and I are both happy, especially at the end of the day with full stomachs and dirt under our fingernails. I’ve really been enjoying the feeling of having work to do during the days, coming in for tea and having to scrub off the layers of dirt and having the evening to ourselves. We had plans to ride bikes into Wellsford this evening after our hike but I had quite a bit of patching to do, as I ripped most of my favourite sweatshirt on a tree.
More to come as soon as our next adventure subsides and there is time to be had near a computer. We’ll be camping up north for the next few days, which should be great fun!
See you soon!

finally!

I've made it to New Zealand! The flight was long, and neverending. Did I mention it was long?
Today we went to an underground aquatic exploration science center. It was way too cool! It's called Kelly Tarlton's, and it was transformed from sewage holding tanks into an underground center where there are all kinds of crazy fish and things to learn about from the ocean, which you can see from the windows in front and you drive (or walk, in our case) right past as you enter the building. We've done quite a bit of walking and went grocery shopping a little as well. Tomorrow we're going on a coast to coast hike, which is about 16 km long (so, overshooting, say.. 4 hours-ish?) and that should be exciting! Hopefully it'll help me get over this slight jetlag. It's great to see Adam, obviously, and so great to see New Zealand!

Hi. I'm mara. This is where I will write about my travels.

Stop number 1: Auckland!