WWOOFing in Coromandel

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Well Rotarua was wet and smelly - a faint smell of sulphur hung over the town and beside the sulphur springs at the lake itself, it was so disgusting that we almost vomitted. I don't know how anyone could voluntarily immerse themsleves in something that smelt that bad.

We set off to Waitete Bay in Coromandel where we were due to be willing workers on an organic farm. No pay - just food and a bed.

After an inauspicious start, we had a great time. Frances had a small hill farm up the end of a 4 or 5 km track. She moved there 20 years ago with two daughters (10 and 13), lived in a small caravan for two years, while she cleared bush, fenced the land and got some livestock. Then she and the elder girl built their house, while the younger girl cooked for them! She's a lady of many talents: guitar playing, spinning, knitting, raising sheep, goats, pigs, deer, lllama and cattle, (which she either kills for meat or sells - she learnt butchering from a good book!) She also has an amzingly prolific garden, growing the normal salad, potatoes, veges, strawberries, apples etc as well as things we can only marvel at. Bananas, passion fruit, figs, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, pecans, olives, sweet pototoes. All of these are outside - no need for a greenhouse or a polytunnel.

She also had photovoltaics for most of her power, but used a diesel generator if she wanted to put the washer on or hoover. Heating and cooking was by wood fuel stove. Their big problem is the collection and storage of water, as rainwater is their only water supply.

When we arrived, we were immediately put to work weeding the garden, our accomodation was a portacabin type holiday cottage, without electricity gas or hot water, but comfortable nevertheless. We took our meths camping stove so we could make coffee on the small deck.


There were two other WOOFers there at the same time. David was a 40 year old from Bristol studying hoticulture and specialising in the organic cultivation of kiwi fruit. He hopes to buy a small place in France next year and turn it into a kiwi orchard. Daniel was a 20 year old German student, taking a year out before deciding waht to study at Uni. Daniel's major achievement was the volume of food he could consume at a single sitting - but he hadn't any fat at all, so he must have had a phenomenal metabolic rate.

Willy spent the rest of the week cutting manuka, (it's a shrubby native tree, which creeps back in to recolonise all the areas that have been cleared for pasture. It grows up to 20 feet tall very quickly. Naturally, Willy could cut at a much faster rate than the younger lads - or maybe just had more enthusiasm for his task - but Frances was pleased, cos he didn't eat as much as they did, but got through more work.

Wendy spent the week weeding the garden and squashing snails. The garden had previously been "weeded"by somebody who wasn't too clear on which were actually weeds, so it was a hell of a job - and as Frances planted as much as she could possibly get in, it was all fine hand weeding - daren't use a hoe in case you destryed something exotic and valuable. Tradescantia (wandering jew) grows wild in NZ and is an absolute pain to clear from a patch of garden.

On our afternoons off we went walking in the local bush with Gina - a white border collie, like Rudi''s dog Finn, but much younger. We climbed a hill, which had a great view over the end of the peninsula and the oulying islands. Willy's camera battery went flat at the crucial moment, so few photos.

Only one thing marred our visit - Daniel's car was parked with ours at the point where the track became impassable except for 4 wheel drive - and it was broken into the afternoon before we left. It was a particularly nasty break in, because they'd levered the boot open in three different places - and taken nothing. We think they must have been disturbed as we walked down the track, cos our car wasn't touched. After that we felt a bit uneasy about leaving the car where it was - but had no option because we'd certainly have damaged it if we'd tried to take it higher up the track.

Today we did a couple of hours work and then left. We stopped at Coromandel and had an excellent vege quiche, sald and home made chutney (wendy) and a chocolate caramel slice (willy). We drove over the peninsula, supereb views to east and west. NZ has the twistiest, turniest, uppiest and downiest roads in the world. They just do not do straight!

We stopped at Hot Water Beach on the east coast of Coromandel for a paddle and a hot water soak. Unfortunately a coach load of tourists beat us to the best part of the beach for hot springs. The bit we got was so hot it burnt your feet! and the tide wasn't at the optimum for hot water soaking, so you got burnt, then swamped by a cold salt water wave.

Willy says "Say where we are now"but I'm not actually sure where we are. It's a small town on the east caost of Coromandel peninsula and we're staying in a motel tonight. It has lights and hot water and electricity. Ah it's Tairua, cos I've just read it on the wall of the cafe.

Thanks to Sam for the star chart - we did a bit of star gazing on the dark walk back from the main house to our WOOFERs cottage. The stars are really clear, even though we're only about 30 miles from Auckland as the crow flies.

We'll add some photos later.

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Photos

November in Coromandel
Street cafe life

Willy in tree in Coromandel cafe
At his own risk as the notice says