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Published: December 12th 2007
Yes, Arbeit Macht Frei was written over the entrance of the Nazi work camps, but its also excellent song by the Libertines (their best infact), so don't give me that look; it is relevant for many reasons.
So i left Welly (getting a new bank account on the way and solving my money worries) on monday morning taking the ferry to Picton on the south island, with my friend Dan and stayed in Nelson 2 hours to the west. On the ferry over dophins and penguins swam along with the boat! The south island has a different feel to the north, its hard to explain, but is explained partly by the fact that it has a mere 1 million population (compared to 3.1 in the north) even though thhe south is bigger.
I hitched from Nelson to Takaka (the location of my next wwoof) and on the way another hitcher was dropped by my side, an American called Brook. She was going to Takaka and wanted something to do, she seemed cool and on the way i invited her to come with me, she phoned my hosts and they said that was fine. We happened to run into a german couple (Flo and Sophia) who Brook had become friends with in Nelson and they ended up coming with us to the wwoof. After a brief panic when we arrived as to where we where all gonna be put, it was all good and we started work the next day on the building site.
It's at the Tui community (similar in ethos to the last one but bigger and better organised) in the stunning golden bay. The first afternoon we walked the 5 min to the beach and swam in the crystal cleat water and saw flounder. Very cool. The people are awesome and the location is amazing. Being here is exactly what i wanted from wwoofing in NZ, i'm a very happy Chris right now 😊
For some reason i have a talent at brick-laying. I can lay bricks like Mike can make noise, dad can complain and alice can put on weight. So i've been doing a lot of that and spending a lot of time digging a 50 yard, 2 foot deep trench to lay a water pipe. Hard work but rewarding in a strange way. Spent a lot of time talking to Flo about the German attitude towards WWII which is really interesting because it's not something you ever come across in the UK. It's cool to speak to Germans who can joke about it, it's a hard thing to be able to joke about (i could write a lot about that, but i will side-step it for the time being). Talking to him about the activist scene in Berlin is really making me want to go and there for a couple months, it sounds like a great place.
What else? The work is hard, and the weather hasn't been so great, so didn't do much over the weekend. I'm gonna be here till the 20th and then go see the girls south of Christchurch which will be nice and there's a chance the germans might come with me.
There's probably lots more but i'm tired so i will say goodnight
Chris xx
p.s listen to Jack Johnson
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Alice
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Hey Kit, Hope you haven't been shaken off NZ in the earth quake!!!!! xx