Last 2 days of WWOOF-ing

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Hello again. This is will be a quick post because I don't really have many new pictures and we haven't done much compared to the first couple weeks of our trip. I heard about the 5.6 magnitude earth quake and nickel sized hail in Santa Cruz and San Jose area. See what happens when I leave California for only 2 weeks! Natural disasters happen! But it sounds like the earth quake wasn't horrible so that is good to hear.
Yesterday and today have been relatively uneventful. We have continued to clear the weeds from hell and I have posted a picture of our final work. It's a breath taking work of art! Besides clearing brush yesterday, we drove on down to Gisborne, which is about a one hour drive south of Tokomaru Bay. I picked up some allergy medication because I have used an entire roll of paper towels to blow my nose. Clearing brush in the spring time and my nose don't mix well. Then we picked up an ipod car adapter so we can listen to all kinds of music from Paul's ipod, instead of three cds we have, that have been on repeat for the past week.
We came back to the bay around 7 and watched the locally filmed movie, Whale Rider. It was very interesting because it gives you a little insight into the Maori culture and how it is viewed by the Maori people in this modern time. Acting and dialog were good. The end was kinda blah, but still worth checking out.
Today we continued to clear for about an hour before it started raining, so we came inside and cleaned the windows, did the dishes and, finally did a load of Paul and my laundry. I had been wearing the same shirt for the past 5 days, and you know what I have been doing. It was not pretty.
Tonight we are going to read a little, watch Hotel Rowanda and eat tacos. WWOOF-ing is awesome!
We are off to Wellington, the capital, tomorrow. It's about an 8 hour drive so we will get our money's worth out of the ipod adapter 😊

Daniel

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Comments

[Mom]

Well, good (as your grandad would say)
By looking at the roots that are left over I can tell the seemingly small area was difficult to clear. How many hours did you put in and how big is the area? Is the fence a property line? Looks like there is a lot more to clear. Seems like it would be nice if you and Paul would stay a little longer to help out. How much is remaining to clear? Love, Mom

[Uncle Barry]

Have you figured out the accent yet?
Dan, Okay, okay, the not too distant memories of NZ are flooding back with every blog entry. I think that somehow I may have been a Kiwi in a distant life and that I might end up there again someday. One of the most important things you have to remember is that no matter how nice and friendly the Kiwis are, please don't mistake their accent for that of an Aussie. Can you discern yet between the two? I was glad that we spent a month in Australia before going to NZ, so I had some sense of the subtle and not so subtle differences with certain pronunciations and words. Are there any peculiar words or phrases you have noticed yet in your conversations with the Kiwis? It sounds like you are taking in all NZ has to offer and I am sure you realize there is still much more to come. Take it all in and keep on writing to us! Much love, Uncle B