Otaki WWOOF

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So on arriving in Otaki I met Fey, the host, and went back to her property, there was no shower, no heating, no oven, no toilet, and only the tiniest bit of running water for the sink, and it was awesome! When I got there it was just me, Charlotte (Kiwi), Andrew (Yank), Swede (Swede) and Simon (German). We set to work mulching and digging an area to build an earth house on, was nice fun work, only 4 hrs a day and lots of relaxing time. Then Caro (German) and Niko (German) turned up in their car, quickly followed by Gilberto and Wilma (Chilean) and then Felix (German), Tobi (German), Hannah (German), Anna (German) and Alice (German) and finally Jenny from Hampshire.

Simon pointed out that since Europe was too difficult to take they thought they'd try and subtly invade NZ while no one was looking. But we all had a great time helping clear the site for the house, mending tools and taking care of the general upkeep of the property and everyone stayed on longer than they had planned.

There were a few rainy days where we just sat inside and chatted mostly around the fire as there's only so much cleaning and tidying you can do!

The food was always good as we had to go pick it out the garden before cooking it so was as fresh as it gets, and all the meat was home-kill so even the vegetarians ate their share.

The 3 boys were the first to go but just a couple of days later Simon and Henrik (Swede) were back with a box of goon and the much talked about Pauline (Simon's fantasy from their last WWOOF). They stopped for the night before heading off up the west coast to the Bay of Islands.

As I kept pushing my departure further and further back (still not a clue how to travel!) I made plans with Caro to drop Niko at a farm, steal his car and drive around the North Islands for a few weeks, and subsequently did just that!

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