peaceful campground, crazy home

---

a houseful of boys.

i was under the impression that the problem with place was going to be that it would be too quiet, that i would be too lonely. i had a huge house to myself, all the hot showers, tv, and internet that i could ever desire. i was wrong.

it turns out this home is actually a revolving door for the family next door who help run the campground. dilwin and john have two boys, ben and carl (pronounced cahl), ages 6 and 4, who run rampant up and down the steps, leaving a joyful mess in their wake. at first, this proved totally disconcerting as i had no idea that the house was this sort of open coming together place at all hours. also, i absolutely could not keep up with cleaning up the boys' mess as i would've been expected to do at liz's. however, it turns out dilwin had no expectations of me cleaning up after the boys.

i was actually meant to just relax and love this chaotic atmosphere full of boundless energy. while the boys are a total handful, they are also absolutely lovely kids and generally a joy to be around. rather than hiding out in my room, i actually seek them out for entertainment. much of what my wwoofer job here becomes is hanging out with the kids and making sure they don't fall over themselves all the time or destroy the house too much. we ride rugged quadbikes around the lake, play the responsible game, and watch a ton of the disney channel.

i bake my first successful loaf of bread containing chocolate, raisins, and slivered almonds. within four days, i manage to eat almos the entire loaf by myself. here, the eating is not the healthy, garden eating of liz's but a more traditional, perhaps less healthy kiwi eating. there's fish and chips, pizza, fatty bacon, and lots of cream. but it's yummy and made it with love and decide it won't kill me for the few days while i'm here.

also, i look after the two super needy, super sad and abandoned dogs of liz and mike, respectively sherpa and chances. they sleep next to me as i type.

i had hoped to make it here the full two weeks till liz and mike got back. upon which i planned on returning to liz's place for another week or so. i think i'll actually only make it five days. while dilwin has made this a super easy, very little work, relaxing place for me to be (minus the kids), i think i want to move to a place with more hikes and perhaps more travelers my own age. although i will say this is a place where i have felt the most inconspicuous and at ease. no pretentions here.

---