Not the fruit, the people! New Zealand here I come! Lemme tell you how I got to this point...
It was about two weeks ago that I was skyping with my older brother Chris. (Some of you may know him, afro, kind of crazy, married to Tory Morgan.) He was nagging me about being in Summit with my parents when I was supposed to be out traveling or doing anything other than working at the Hat Tavern. He challenged me to celebrate my birthday, October 2nd in another country. I accepted his challenge.
He suggested I try to wwoof in some foreign country. I had heard about it before but for those of you who haven’t heard of it before, which I’m assuming is most of you, I’ll explain it briefly. WWOOF stands for, willing workers on organic farms. It’s a multinational organization that helps to set travelers up with organic farmers who are willing to give a wwoofer (it’s a noun and a verb) free room and board in exchange for work. All I had to do was pay a $50 fee for 16 months of access to the farms in New Zealand.
After paying the fee it was up to me to find a farm that I would enjoy. The website is like facebook in the sense that all hosts (farmers) and travelers have profiles. It's either up to the traveler to email hosts that seem enjoyable, asking to stay on their farm or hosts to contact the travelers. I emailed many hosts as well as posting my info on the main page, so that farms who would like to have me can contact me as well. I got very few responses to emails I sent but many emails from people asking me to come and work on their farm. I guess I’m just so desirable. :)
After a few days/weeks I found a place to stay! Jenny and Perry live at 889 tapuiwahine Road, Ongarue 3997, New Zealand. Here is the post on their profile.
We are an organic - biogro certified farm in the King Country. On our 429 ha farm we run sheep, beef and laying hens and there is 100 ha of native bush. A furnished cottage is available and also organic food. There are a variety of jobs that we need assistence with: weed pest control, gardening painting of cottage, planting flaxes in reparian areas, egg collection, firewood and lamb marking. We live 42 kms out of Taumarunui so would prefer you to have your own transport - but not essentail. Prefered length of stay - a week.
SO In less than two weeks I will board my flight on Cathay Airlines bound for Auckland, New Zealand. Let me also tell you how that day if going to look. Get up at around 6:30, take a shower, have one lass potatoe, egg, and cheese sandwich from the Summit Diner then get in the car and drive an hour to JFK airport. (during rush hour yayyyy) Hopefully get there by 8:00 and get through security without any problems. Board the flight at 9:45 and hopefully depart at 10:05. THEN SIXTEEN HOURS LATER I LAND IN HONG KONG. One hour layover. THEN AN ELEVEN HOUR FLIGHT TO AUCKLAND. I land in Auckland on my birthday ready for an adventure!
But right now I have to go babysit my neighbor’s four kids for three days and two nights. Ages 3-10. Yikes. Wish me luck!
P.S. Anybody been to New Zealand and have any suggestions of places or things to do?
