Krambach and On

There is really no other way to put it…I’ve been seriously slacking on writing my blog! I’m sorry!

 We work quite long days here at the farm trying to get this extension done on the house. There is just loads to be done. I’ve been here now for just about two and a half weeks and I’ve really enjoyed it. I don’t do any farm work; I just work with Ted building the extension. It’s been really fascinating learning all of the skills from him…he is a very talented man. Also, seeing the progression on the project has also been a rewarding experience. When I got here we still had to knock down the existing room that we are building the extension off of. Now we have the floor down and the frame of the walls up and we’re working on getting the roof on. Today was extremely hot on the roof! The way they roof houses out here is different from the way we roof houses back in the states. They don’t use shingles to do the roofing. Instead they use long sheets of tin to cover and act as the roof. Ted told me its way less expensive and last virtually the same amount of time. Working with the tin is tricky at points because it is very sharp at the ends and if the person you are holding with isn’t on the same page as you…you can easily cut into your hand if the wrong move is made. We try and avoid that one at all cost J It’s been a really cool experience learning how to roof a house this way.  I’ve seen it done the way we do it at home just never this way and its cool to get both perspectives. Ted is a tremendous teacher and is extremely patient. He encourages me to ask questions and never seems to get frustrated if the question that I am asking might seem obvious to him. That is frustrating to me when your trying to learn and every time you ask a question someone sighs and acts like you should know it even though you have never done it before. Not Ted, that is why he’s a top bloc in my eyes J (Mind you Ted is not the Host…he is Kevin’s friend that does all the building for Kevin) I do seem to spend more time with Ted and learn an awful lot more with him. I’ve also learned how to use a bunch of new tools that I’ve never used before. That has given me some confidence in the last week when Ted gives me a measurement and I can just go cut it without him showing me how do to it. It makes things move a lot quicker. I’m going to miss Ted and the people that I have met here its really been a wonderful experience and I’m glad that this was my last host…truly a good one to end it on.

In two days I’m heading up North to Brisbane. One of my friends from Westerly is on an exchange for school up there so I’ve decided to go visit him and relax for a bit. After I spend a couple of days in Brisbane I plan to head to the Gold Coast, which is south of Brisbane just about an hour away. I’ve found a really cool hostel right on the beach where I can surf for about five straight days and just enjoy myself before I go back home. After that week and a half is up I’m flying from the Gold Coast to Sydney and I’m going to meet up with some friends that I’ve made here at the farm. We’re going to spend five days there just touring around the city and enjoying it! On the 9^th of April my flight leaves from Sydney and I begin my journey to Vienna to see my cousin Helen! I haven’t seen her in quite some years and I’m ecstatic to go visit! J I only have two days there unfortunately. I plan on making the best of it!

Then after all is said and done I’ll be back in the U.S.A where it all began. Man, time flies!

Cheers,

Morning mist

Kerry is an amazing chef!!

Jon

Australia

Hello to all!

The trip from Christchurch to Sydney was quite nice. The early flight gave me a nice jump-start on the day. I landed in Sydney and took the city rail to the center of the city where I then caught yet another train to New Castle. I went a stop to far unfortunately. I was walking around New Castle and I just new that wasn’t where I was supposed to be because there was no country link bus station, which my host Kevin told me that there was going to be. So I decided to go back to the bus station and catch a bus to bring me one stop back in the direction I came from. I asked and the teller said that I had just missed the last one. He told me that there was a bus in the area that would take me close to where I needed to go so I just decided to do that. I booked me ticket to Krambach and waited for four hours until the bus came. In the mean time I met an aboriginal woman that was really cool and she told me a lot about the area and Australia in itself. It was really cool to talk to her. 

It was about a two hour bus ride to the farm. When I got there it was around 8:30 and dark outside. The bus driver just dropped me off at the bottom of Kevin’s driveway and told me that there was usually someone there waiting with a car…but there wasn’t. I just got out my headlamp and proceeded to walk. The driveway was extremely long like most large farms. Kevin ended up picking me up half way on his dirtbike and brought me to the house.

This week has been filled with work! Kevin’s friend Ted is building an extension on the house and he needs a lot of help with that. It is really great because he is very patient and enjoys teaching me how it works. We do work long days but it is worth it in my mind. I’ve helped Kevin caught down a tree and then but it with the mill for our material on the job its really cool how self sufficient he is. I also drove a tractor for my first time yesterday and that was a pretty sweet first time experience.

Sorry that this is a short blog its just I;ve been really tired lately with all this work.

Cheers,

Jon

Oak Tree Cottage

G’day!  

One week left in New Zealand! The host that we have been staying with is the best host that Nolan and I have had for our HelpX experience. That is saying something with ten hosts under our belts in the last four months. Nicola is such a warm-hearted person. They family is so outgoing and they love to have a good time and just have a good laugh. They have a very relaxed outlook on life. Money and things are not quintessential necessities for the Kerslake family. They just take the willingness of good people and love around them to make them happy. Having said that they do have some bumps along the road, but what family doesn’t? My point is that they are a special family that I have grown close to in the last week and a half and I can say in confidence that I will be sad to go when Monday roles around. I feel like this is what Helpx is all about. I have been asked a reoccurring question several occasions by many different backpackers. Why would you do HelpX, don’t you just work all day and sit around the house afterwards? My answer to them is no. Helpx actually is entirely different from what tone may perceive. It’s not just work for a free bed to sleep in at night and free meals during the morning and evening. It is more about experiencing another person’s way of life and way of living. I’ve learned so much in the last four months that I wouldn’t have learned sitting in a classroom in a university. I’m not saying that traveling is for everyone. Although I am saying that traveling is for me. I believe I have made one of the best decisions in my life to travel overseas and do this amazing program. I’ve learned a lot about my self along the way and the people that also live on the wonderful planet of ours. There is so much to offer out here and such little time to discover it all. I’ve grown to really love this as you can see with my blogs. I believe that the world is our playground. If we decide to take that first big step out of our comfort zone and gain the courage to book that flight and take that step onto that plane then your world can be flipped upside down. The beauty of it is that my travels our now taking a new and interesting chapter to a new foreign land. Similar to that of New Zealand but a bit different at the same time. I’m eager to head to Christchurch on Monday then fly out on Tuesday to Sydney. I have already got my next Helpx host all lined up for my next adventure to Australia! 

The past two weeks Nolan and I have just been doing serious amounts of landscaping. Cutting down trees and taking off limbs! Two chainsaws and two young men that are eager to get out and work are asses off for Nicola and Russ because they are such lovely host. Our little saying at the cottage is, “Work hard, play hard”. Basic saying indeed, but it is the truth. Nicola is a big believer in what you put into work is what you will get out of it at the end of they day. She has taken us down the coast so we could get pictures of the seals and see the rugged coastline. Also, today she took us to Yealdans Winery, which is the largest privately owned winery in the entire southern hemisphere. We had a wine tasting for free and that was really nice of her! I’m sure having a blast at the Oak Tree Cottage! 

Continuous Adventures

Hi there,

We’ve now left Ohakune and we’ve been at our new host for about three days now! Ohakune was such a great time with the horses we really loved it!

Our trip to the South Island was quite comical really. First off…Jewel’s told Nolan and I that we were going to have a really hard time hitching out of Ohakune because there wasn’t much traffic that day. Also, right outside there house where you hitch form is a 100Km stretch so the cars aren’t going slow so there is a lesser chance for them to pick us up because they have to make such a split second decision. Nolan and I have learned almost all the tricks to hitching and I think that is one of the biggest ones. Being in an area where there is room for the car to pull over and there is a slow speed limit so it gives the driver more time to make a decision. Although the odds were stacking against us for this tough hitch out of town we still got out there after we had just finished the shed that we built. Within two minutes a Maori woman picked us up! Nolan and I  were laughing because Jewel’s told us last week it took a French couple two hours to get out of the spot that we were hitching from. The woman told us that we looked friendly ! She said with my tie die shirt and Nolan and I both having long hair she said we had the look of good guys. That was nice to hear J She dropped us in a little town called Waiuru, which was great because that town is located on state highway one which runs straight down the North Island being the main highway in New Zealand. We only waited for two minutes again and this car full of middle age twenty-year-old guys picked us up. They were heading to Wellington, which was where we were going to catch the ferry. Apparently a bunch of kids were heading down to Wellington because of this big concert that was going on called Homegrown. These guys were working at the concert and they kept us laughing from Waiuru to Wellington, which was a four-hour ride.

Our plan when we got into Wellington was to catch the Bluebridge ferrry that very next morning at 2AM. There was one problem…the Bluebridge we found out only sails the 2AM ferry on the weekdays and this was a Friday night. The man working at the desk told us that we could catch another ferry with a different company called the Interislander. This is where it begins to become comical. The man also said the ferry leaves at 6:25PM and it was 5PM at the time. Nolan and I thought screw it we’ll just stay in Wellington for the night and leave tomorrow morning that was to big of a time crunch. We then ventured on over the hostile that was across the street. We asked them if that had any available space and the guy politely looked at me and gave a little chuckle. He then said, “Mate, its Homegrown this weekend every single bloody hostile in Wellington is booked.” He said well I can book you the 6:25 PM ferry its just that the shuttle from the train station leaves in fifteen minutes around 5:35. He rang a hostile in Picton in the North Island and booked our night stay there and then book our Interislander tickets. Very fast and very efficient it was great. We then ten minutes to run to the train station with our bags and catch the shuttle. We were running across the street bumping into people and laughing at the same time yelling, “We’ve got to catch the shuttle!” We made it with about five minutes to spare and we were on the ferry within twenty minutes. That hour long was like a movie the way it worked out…what a day!

We arrived in Picton that night around 10PM and went to our hostile and got a good night sleep. The next morning we hitched out of Picton and went to Bleheim where our next host Nicola and Ruessel told us that they were going to pick us up from. Mind you I hadn’t been in too much contact with her because we didn’t have Internet at the horse farm and we don’t have a cell phone. I needed to get in contact with her so I needed to find a phone. Nolan and I found a nice tree in a little park where he sat and watched the stuff as I went off in a search for a phone so we could call Nicola and see what the situation was. There was a man playing his guitar and singing on one of the street corners. He was singing really lovely country music so I decided I would take a break for my search for a phone… park a seat next to him and enjoy his music. I sat next to him as he played as he was smiling at me because he could tell I was really enjoying this. He finished playing his song and he just thanked me for stopping and listening. We never exchanged names but we just began to talk. Asking me where I was from and how long I was in New Zealand for…the basic questions. I told him I really liked his music! I then asked him if he new where a telephone booth was where I could make a call from. He told me Blenheim unfortunately didn’t have telephone booths they only had stores with payphones in them and it was after there normal operating hours. I thought to myself, shit well I’m out of luck on this one. He simply reached into his pocket and gently placed the phone in my hand. “There you go mate, just don’t run off with it I’m too old to be chasing after people”. He smiled. I called Nicola and she told me that she couldn’t pick us up until tomorrow night at around 5pm because she was in Nelson visiting family. I thought dam now we have to spend another 25 bucks on a hostile. I wanted to camp but the man playing the guitar told me that it wasn’t a good idea because there was a lot of local gangs in the area that like to mess with people. So now my new mission was to find a hostile. I walked back up town and found a hostile. Then I walked back downtown and told Nolan and we had to walk back and hang out there for the night.

We met some German guys about our age. Three of them in total. They had been living at the hostile four three weeks trying to make some money at the local vineyards. They wanted to drink that night so we agreed. They didn’t want us to pay so they went out and bought a bunch of booze and we “got on the piss” as the Kiwi’s would say it. It was a hell of a night with lots of laughs and some serious fun. When ever we would make a cheer the German’s would say. Ok America you need to learn with us…share make fun! Hahah it was hilarious and they loved saying it.

Nicola and Russel picked us up the next day. Nicola and Russel are easily some of the best host that we have had and I have only been here for three days. They are just such open people and very full on! Nolan and I fit in very well with out outgoing personality they love it. They have a 21 year old daughter and an 18 year old daughter that are super nice and we really enjoy the company. We have had so many laughs in the last couple of days. Especially explaining our night with the Germans drinking. We nearly had them falling on the floor in laughter.

Laura Jean who is the eldest daughter is a professional chef so she makes AMAZING food J I love it!

The work has been really fun too. We have been chain sawing down trees and using the truck and playing with the dogs. The two dogs run along side the truck when we are bringing the tree limbs and thing to the pit. They have such a great life those two.  I really feel so at home at this host! Nicola is such a sweetheart J I’m glad that we get to spend our last two weeks in New Zealand at such a special place.

Ohakune Horse Farm

Hello to all!

Mid was through February and its hard to believe. Only about three weeks left in New Zealand. We’ve now been at the horse farm for a week and a half and we plan to leave by Thursday. I found a host that seems interesting to us. They are in the South Island in a place called Marlborough. They need help with some building and things so we thought we could be of some assistance to them. We figured we would venture to the South Island now since we only have about three weeks left and we have to get to Christchurch eventually because that is where our flight leaves.

This week has been great here at the Horse Farm. I’ve ridden the horses a couple of times. One time I rode a horse named YO-YO bear back and I felt a bit like a cowboy hahaha. Jewel’s who lives at the farm as well is an experienced horse rider so she has been showing me the ropes. There is something very liberating about riding a horse. I can’t quite explain it but I really have grown to enjoy it. I also am not as timid around the horses like I was before.

All week Nolan and I have been working on covering the greenhouse that Sue and Don have. They wanted us to cover it with large slabs of wood and give it a unique look to it. There vision is to turn the greenhouse into a reception area for the costumers who want to come and ride horses. It is really shaping up and it is going to look really great when it is done!

Goldey and Snoop were put down today unfortunately. It was sad to watch them go but I guess that it was the only solution to the problem. Snoop went after the goat again two days ago when Nolan and I were spraying the antibacterial medicine on its ripped off ear. Nolan had a handle to an axe and just raised it at Snoop and he ran away. Good thing because that goat was petrified. I am a really big fan of the goat J she is very tough and still so friendly so Nolan and I like to protect her haha. 

Long Hitch!

Wow…this past week has turned out to be a really great time. In Muriwi the work was really quite easy and mostly fun. Martin is an older guy probably in his 50’s who is just a kid in a man’s body. He surfs and skateboards and lives a really simple life with he and his family owning the surf shop. Our work consisted of a couple different things. Picking up cut grass, washing and cleaning out the company van, weeding, digging trenches, and pulling out fencing. Mostly physical labor but Nolan and I both really enjoy those types of things.

The day before we left the waves were really good! Low wind and they were just rolling in really smooth and they were just about head high. After work I went out and the waves were breaking so far out. It took me about fifteen minutes just to paddle out and by the time I got out there I had to rest. Just sitting out there waiting to catch my breath as the waves past by me I was taking in the beauty of the New Zealand waters. It is really special out here. I ended up surfing for about three hours and caught some amazing waves! The waves were bigger but they were rolling in so smooth that your barely even had to paddle twice and you were in it. Powerful and graceful it was a beautiful combination. I was so exhausted by the end of the session.

Nolan and I decided to leave Muriwai on Friday and get going to our next destination. Nolan had e mailed a farm on the lower South Island a couple of weeks ago and they juset got back to us and informed us that they had room for us at there place. Worked out quite nice actually. This was going to be a very long hitch from Muriwai, which is actually North West of Auckland and is pretty close to the top of the North Island. We had a pretty serious hitch ahead of us! We began hitching at 11AM. We got a total of ten rides! Our last ride of the day was quite comical really. (Not so much at the time) We were in a town called Waiuru and it was about 8PM. The sun was going down and it was raining. Nolan had just got off the phone with the host that we would be staying with. We had thought we were only about 25 KMs from the house that we were going to be staying but it turns out our host’s were at there other house in Palmerstone North which was another 200 KMs south of where we were. We thought we were screwed at this point standing out in the rain and it was almost dark. We got picked up by a Maori truck driver that told us that he wasn’t going to let us stand out in the rain all night and not get a ride. His truck route was going to Palmestron North so that was perfect for us! We rode with him for two hours and we met up with Sue who is our host on the side of the road in a town called sanson which was closer to her house then Palmesrtion North. We eneded up getting to there house after all was said and done at around 10:30PM. Longest hitching day yet! Sue was very nice she cooked us a large dinner at 11PM because we hadn’t eaten since 12 the afternoon.

It’s February 5^th 2012 and I’m resting after knocking off a first time experience off of my list! I just got finished riding a horse. It may not seem like that big of a deal to some but it was really wild for me! Nolan and I are now working on a horse trekking farm. It is in the lower North Island in a little town called Owakuni. The horse farm is home to over twenty horses. All who are very well trained and quite calm. The horse that I rode was named Mia and she was one of the calmest horses so I was told. Riding wasn’t to difficult it was just an experience being so high off the ground and noticing that it was quite a ways down if I was to fall. Nolan and I had free range to do what we want with our horses in a smaller size paddock. We were riding side by side and I felt like all I needed was an old Smith and Wesson on my hip and I would have made the perfect cowboy haha! When the horse began to get a nice trot I was just being bounced up and down and I felt really awkward almost as if I was doing it wrong. Even if I was it was still a great time first experience.

Don and Sue don’t live in Owakuni on the weekdays. They live in Palmerston North where the manage another business. They are both very busy people! Meaning Nolan and I are left at the farm on our own. There HelpX system works a bit different from what we are used to. They have a white board and they simply write our tasks for the week. They go back home and they just leave us to it. We have lots of freedom and that is really cool. They allow us to ride the horses whenever we want and take care of the rest of the animals that are on the farm.

It is now February 6, 2012 and this morning I had quite an interesting experience. I woke up and began my daily routine with about a 8AM wake up, coffee, and some cereal. I decided shortly after that I would take the dogs for a walk and let them run around the farm. Sue told me that they need excericise and that the need to run around daily. Once I let them out I fed them there breakfast and began my walk around the farm. The dogs were acting great! Running around coming to me when I  wistled and called ther names it was really sweet. We walked into the stabe and they were sniffing around. After they ran into the closests paddock and were barking at the horsese which they are not supposed to do. I called them back…when I did they took a big loop and ran at the goat that was to my left and started nudging it. I wasn’t to worried until Snoop, one of the dogs bit the goat. As soon as snoop bit the goat the other dog who’s name is Goldey jumped on the goat and they both began to bight it. Goldey latched onto the goats ear and then it began to get serious. Goldey was ripping the goats ear off and Snoop was pulling on the goats leg. I ran over and they goat was yelping as it was completely defenseless. The goat was tied up so it had no where to run to or get away. I was really panicing beasue if I didn’t do something this goat was surley going to die. I ran and grabbed Goldey and started chocking him and puncing him in the face and tell them to get out of it. I was screaming for Nolan because he was still in bed. He jumped the fence and ran over as Goldey wouldn’t let go of the goats ear. Goldey ripped the goats ear right off of its head and I picked the dog up and smacked it head. Nolan ran after Snoop and grabed him and got him off the goats leg. We both picked the dogs up and hrew them in their kennel. The goat had is whole ear ripped off and a wounded back leg. I was really shaken up because I’ve never seen dogs act like this before. The goat is ok and Sue told me she is going to put Goldey down. It was so strange because they were such cool dogs until they got around the other animals. Don told me farm dogs should know better and he can’t have this on his farm. What a wild experience.

Hello all!

It’s been such a nice week! The weather was beautiful. Summer is in full force here in New Zealand! Our host Drew and Christine were great. They are such nice people with great senses of humor. One helper before me described Drew perfectly, a hippy without a cause. That is truly what Drew is and he is hysterical! The first day we helped Drew make a shed for his tools because he is a builder. He had all his tools all over the place and he seemed to be getting a bit sick of it so we built the shed for a bit more organization. For the rest of the week it was just landscaping for me. Nolan was painting a room downstairs that needed heaps of tending to.

I was digging out a plant that they call flax. It’s a plant that the Maori people use to weave baskets, hence how strong the plant is. One plant took me about 45 minutes to dig out of the ground it was some good ol’ hard work.

Yesterday Nolan and I decided to go up and around the Coromandel and go to the Hot Water beach. This is where you dig a hole in the sand and the thermal activity creates this super warm water and you basically just sit in it like a hot tub. It’s really great. I rented a surfboard for the day and had some serious fun four a couple of hours it was great! It was the first time that I had surfed in New Zealand. I’m almost ashamed it took me that long to get that out of the way.

The next host that we are going to tomorrow is a surf school about 35 minutes outside of the city of Auckland. If you work for three hours per day then they give you free usage of the boards and wet suits. Such an amazing deal to me! I’m really happy to be going there because I’d love to just work and surf for one week. I think that would be a really enjoyable experience.

We’ve now been at the surf school for about three days. It is not entirely what I had expected but that is quite all right. Martin is the guy who owns the surf shop and he is really laid back and cool. It is just unlike the last couple of helping experiences that we have had. Martin has a wife named Bridget and a son named Dylan. We were never really introduced to the son and Bridget doesn’t’ really talk to us. We live in a small hut overlooking the ocean, which is one plus to this kind of awkward situation. We are never told when to work and what time do be up by. For instance we woke up this morning and got ready for work around nine thirty and know one was even at the house. That is coincidently why I am writing this blog now…so I can by a little time until someone shows up.

The last couple of helping experiences we have had have been different in a couple of ways. One reason is the people that we stayed with before were a lot more welcoming and willing to have conversation and get that cultural experience that helpx is all about. It’s interesting because it is not even like Martin is using us for work because yesterday we barely did two hours of work. We are thinking of leaving Thursday, which is in four days. We are going to see if we can hitch from here to wellington. It’s about 600 K’s so I don’t really know if that is so doable . We’ll find out. Only one more month in New Zealand… Crazy!

The journey continues...

Hello there,

I’m currently sitting outside on a beautiful summer day in New Zealand. The weather is looking up for the next couple of weeks so I’m really happy about that. We have left the Somerville Farm to continue our adventure. Jodie and Scott were great host’s and I was really happy to get the true Kiwi family experience. Something that I hope to never forget because they were the host’s that I stayed with the longest. Although Jodie and I would seldom get in arguments about Netball versus basketball I guess she was alright :)

Jodie dropped Nolan and I off in Dannevirke, which is in the South East of the North Island. We needed to go to the North East and we figured that our journey was about a 400 K hitchhiking trip. It would be our second longest next to the trip we did from Queenstown to Greymouth about a month and a half back. It took us about twenty minutes but we got our first ride. It was two girls who were in there late 20’s that didn’t really say much. I have to admit it was one of the more awkward hitching experiences that we have encountered. They just played their music really loud and smoked their cigarettes haha! They dropped us in a town called Hasting, which is twenty to fifteen minutes from the next town we wanted to hitch out of called Napier. An older Kiwi man pulled over in a really nice red ford car. The only reason I mention that the Ford was nice is because all the other cars that we have been picked up in are generally not as nice. When a nice shiny care drives by Nolan and I usually look at each other and say, “Nope not that one”. This guy was the first! He was a golfer and retired. He actually brought us to a great place to hitch from that was leading right out of Napier to the next town we planned to hitch to, which was Taupo. We waited and waited and we were having no luck at all. We were getting a bit discouraged at this point. I decided to stand up…practically on the white line and put both of my hands over my head with my thumbs up. I realized that I may have looked quite foolish but I didn’t care at that point I just wanted to get a ride it was bloody hot outside! Suddenly I saw a gold little Nissan cruise around the corner and it came really close to the white line and I thought it was going to hit me. It didn’t, it just kept on keeping on and drove away. I turned to Nolan and said, “Jesus Christ that old Bastard almost hit me”! Within ten seconds that same guy turned his car around and pulled up next to me. He rolled down his window and said, “What did you just say when I drove past you”? I was confused so I mumbled back to him. “I just said that I thought you were going to hit me”. The man rolled down the window more and looked me in the eyes. “Bullshit kid do you want a ride or not? Get in”! I was really confused but I still opted to take the ride. As soon as we got in the car he said, “Jeez I wish I could have driven a little closer to the white line and hit you dam yanks”. Then I finally realized that he was being completely sarcastic and he was just messing with us. He introduced himself as Ron. He was 84 years old and was a dairy farmer all his life until the age of 57 when he retired. He was one of the most sarcastic and witty old bustards I’ve ever met in my life! He was going to originally take us to Taupo but he seemed to enjoy our company so we kept going. We drove for a total of about four hours. We stopped off at his daughter’s house for a cup of tea and that was quite pleasant. It was late so Ron offered us a place to stay at his house. We accepted the offer. Beats the hell out of paying 25 dollars for a night in a hostel. We got to Ron’s house and he cooked us a meal and made us sign his visitor’s book. He was very well traveled and he sailed a lot around the world. He was just a very interesting man with lots of stories to tell. We spent the night in a traveling bus that he had outside of his house. It was comfortable and spacious!

In the morning I woke up relatively early and took a walk on the beach and watched the boats leave the harbor. Writing in my journal and enjoying the morning sun I was so happy! When it was time to leave Ron took us around the town and showed us the surfing hot spots and the beautiful places that his town had to offer. Our time with Ron came to an end shortly after he showed us around his town. He dropped us on the road right out of town and we hitched from there. We only needed to hitch about 50 K’s to Thames, which was our next destination. We got picked up in about 15 minutes. He brought us 5 K’s outside of Thames where we got another short ride. Hitching is so easy! We phoned Drew and Christine and they told us that they would meet us in about an hour and a half so we had time to kill. We just hung out in a park and I continued writing.

Drew picked us up around three thirty. The lodge that we are staying at which is also their home is absolutely gorgeous! It an old Victorian style house. A Spanish Architect made it and it really has that feel to it. The property overlooks the water and sits on top of a hill. There are amazing sunsets like the one I just witnessed J I’m not to sure what we are going to be doing for work but I think some construction is going to be done. I’m thrilled with the opportunity because Drew and Christine seem really nice!

Cheers,

Jon

Somerville Farm

Hey everybody,

I’m still at the Somerville farm and I have been here for 11 days now. I am really enjoying my stay here. Nolan showed up a couple of days ago and we have been doing little jobs here around the house. I have grown closer to Jodie and Scott as they are really great hosts. The past four days they have had family here so it has been really busy. As far as work I just try and keep the house clean and make sure that Jodie doesn’t have to clean the kitchen and do the dishes and things like that. She says it’s a really great help. Although it doesn’t seem like much they say that it helps them a great deal.

There has been so much rain here this last week! Record amounts actually. Part of the house actually was flooded at one point and our room was ankle deep in water it was intense.

Five days ago today I got in an ATV accident and I hurt my back pretty bad. I’m not sure exactly what I did but my lower right hand side of my back has been feeling it ever since. Nolan was driving the quad and I was on the back. We road up this little hill and the quad flipped it was pretty scary. Once I leave the farm I’m going to try and see a doctor so I can get it all checked out. Hoping to get an x-ray so I can take proper precautions. (Sorry Mom and Dad I know your not to happy about that one) J

We are planning on making quite a big leap on the North Island. We are going to try and go to Coromandel and work at a veggie garden and live in this little community that we found. It seems interesting and I’m really hoping that they get back to us so we can make our next move up the island. It is crazy to me how fast the time is going here in New Zealand. Just like that…mid way through January. Only a month and a half to go before I leave and go to Australia. Time is really flying and I’m trying to stay in the moment and truly enjoy this unique opportunity.

Thanks for reading 

Jon

Already January!

Time is flying it is already January 7, 2012 can you believe it? Happy New Years to all by the way! We left Ian and Eva on the 28^th and decided that we would get to the North Island for the New Years. Wellington was our destination and it was a lovely trip on the ferry ride over. It is about a three and a half hour ferry ride and for the first hour and a half…two hours you float very slowly through the sounds and it is really gorgeous. On the day that we went it was a bit rainy and there were many clouds but we still managed to see the beauty. Nolan and I were talking, next time when we head back to the South Island we are going to plan it out so we take the ferry on a really nice day. Either go at sunrise or sunset so we can take some really good pictures.

When we finally did arrive in Wellington the weather was unforgiving to say the least. There was a bunch of rain and very high winds. That is why the Kiwi’s call it, “Windy Welli”.

We had a really great New Years. We met up with our Swedish friends that we met in the hostel that we stayed in at Picton…the town where we caught the ferry to go to Wellington. They were in the same hostel as us and we basically just hung out with them for the next four days. New Years was how you would think it would be for young travelers. A lot of drinking and relaxing for a couple of days. Mind you the Swedish can drink, I have never seen anything like it before. HAHa. The two Swedish kids names were Johan and Kris and they were both super nice. Kris has been traveling for the past two years and he was gone a bunch of different places. He was telling me that I must go to South East Asia. I’m going to keep that in mind because he is not the first one to tell me that.

Nolan and I were again having trouble finding our next host. We e mailed about five people on the first of the month and heard back from two people that said yes. One of the places was on the lower southeast coast. They seemed to really spark my interest because their farm is 1000’s of acres, which mostly is sheep and cattle. We sent them an email back and let them know that we were going to try and get there as soon as possible.

Nolan met up with our French friends that we had met about a month and a half ago working at the fruit orchard. They had a car and they wanted to go on this tramp that would last about three days. Nolan convinced me to go with them to do that. We ended up spending an awesome night out on the beach and we camped and swam in the ocean. The ocean water on the North Island is significantly warmer! The next morning they were all getting ready to do the tramp and for some reason I didn’t really feel like tagging along. I just wanted to go out by myself and do my own thing for a bit. I told Nolan and he was perfectly ok with it and he understood. He ended up just doing the tramp with our French friends and I decided to find some free Internet and let Scott and Jodie know that I wanted to come that day. I found out there phone number through a couple of e mail exchanges and I gave them a ring. They told me that if I could hitch to Palmerstone North then they could pick me up that day. I didn’t waste anytime and I found a good place to hitch out of New Plymouth, which was the town that I was in. I had to travel a pretty good distance back down South. I knew that it was going to take me about four to five hours to hitch the distance. This was the first time that I had hitched by myself and I loved the idea of it! Being on my own felt really liberating. I got a ride really quick. It took me four rides in total to make it to Palmerstone North with a total travel time of about five hours. I rang Scott and he told me that Jodie was waiting in town for me and we made an agreement on where I would meet her. I met up with her right in the town center practically. She was very pleasant. There were two of the four kids that they have in the back seat, Maddie and Lizzy. Maddie is ten and Lizzy is eight. They were both very nice and surprisingly outgoing. From Palmerston North it was still another hour and a half drive from there to the farm. Once we made it into Pangora, which is the town that they live in. It was still another twenty-minute drive from there. Once we got to the farm we had a 10 Killometer drive down the driveway. The farm is massive! They raise both sheep and cattle so they need all of that space. They utilize all of it really efficiently.

Since I have been at this farm I feel that I have gotten the true Kiwi family experience. Scott hunts for most of his meat and really lives off of his land it is really cool to watch. The atmosphere is so relaxed. Jodie’s policy for HelpX is a bit different from the other places that I have been so far. There are no specific work hours, for example you don’t wake up at nine and work to twelve. Everyday can vary. Jodie just told me that as long as I am here and “using my brain”, as she calls it. Then everything will run smoothly. What she means when she says using my brain is to do the little things that she shouldn’t have to ask me to do. For example, clear the table when it is dirty, empty the dishwasher, sweep the floor. Little things that she would have to do normally but it just makes it easier on her that she doesn’t. She is busy as well. She has four kids to take care of. The other two youngest kids that they have are little Jimmy who is three and Zenthia who is 6. I just met them a couple of days ago because they were at their grandparent’s house when I first arrived.

Yesterday for work I went scuba diving for crayfish. They call this work. I call this fun J Today I cut down a couple of trees and then used the ATV to bring the rubbish down to the dump. They also call that work I call it fun! It is a very relaxed place here and being apart of a family is different from what I have experienced so far. I really enjoy it. Playing with the kids and just being apart of that family atmosphere is a good change!

Sorry it took a while for the blog by the way. I have been caught up just enjoying myself here J

Cheers,

Jon