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Published: December 24th 2006
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Well here I am after 23 hours and one lost day. The plane journey wasn’t quite as horrific as I had imagined, the food however was! Much to my relief my OCD of manic checking and double checking appeared to be the only thing I had left behind in London. I stumbled off the plane and made it to central Auckland without any hitches. I navigated myself and accompanying luggage to my connecting bus and was shortly making my way to Waiwera, north of Auckland, to be collected by my first WWOOF host, Wendy. When we reached our destination it soon became apparent why they had chosen to name their farm ‘Tranquil Heights’. The area is a natural reserve and surrounded by rolling green hills, dense forest, turquoise waters and lush vegetation. My new ‘home’ was more than I could have dreamed of and both Wendy and her husband Lyndsay were extremely welcoming. I was shown to my room and couldn’t hide my pleasure of the view from my veranda, it was to die for! I also soon discovered that this same view could also be enjoyed from both the hot tub and the swimming pool, which I took full advantage
of. Coming from London I felt that I had truly landed in paradise. I relaxed and let my body become accustomed to kiwi time.
The next morning I was up early to begin ‘work’. This involved four hours of planting native shrubs and mulching the ones already there. Although I don’t know if I will ever get use to having to water the garden using worm wee (apparently an excellent natural plant food from the worm farm). There were already three other wwoofers there, one Japanese girl and two Germans. After work one of the Germans, Felix and the Japanese girl, Satoko and myself drove to one of the local beaches where I soon discovered that golf is a lot harder than it looks. And so this became my routine for the next week, up for breakfast at 8am, start at 8:30 and finish by 1pm. After work we would usually drive to a local beach, Sullivan’s Bay before returning for tea at 7pm.
On Friday I was taken to the ‘every second Friday’ barbeque in the Mahurangi West Hall. This white weather board village hall used to be the original school building but was now used by the locals
for various social gatherings. As the rain poured down I began to wonder if my first night out was going to be a complete wash out. I needn’t have worried as the renowned Kiwi practicality kicked in and the barbeque was brought inside, the windows opened and the feast began. Half way through the evening an impromptu sing along began when a master piano player took to the floor. At 10 pm the merriment came to an end and we all made our way home.
Saturday came and the other wwoofers left and I made my way to Auckland to view cars so I could at last regain my independent once more. On hearing that Auckland was a crowded city I was pleasantly surprised to find that is this not the case, maybe by Kiwi standards but not by London standards. I viewed two cars and after some haggling I agreed with a German girl on a Mazda which she would deliver to me the following Tuesday. In the evening I met Wendy and Lyndsay to see Christmas in the Park, a free concert held in the city centre. We came prepared with umbrellas and warm clothing and yes it
was needed. Despite the rain the atmosphere was great and a good night was had by all. Sunday I caught the bus back to Waiwera in preparation for the Christmas dinner, auction and carol singing being held in the village hall. The food was great and all the locals were extremely welcoming. The carols started off promisingly but soon detoriated into fits of giggles as the piano player seemed to make it up as he went along and us singers had no idea of what was going on. It didn't help that the accompanying percussionists looked as though the were having a day out of a 'special school', one even had a duffle coat . The community in Muhurangi West is fantastic and so welcoming, something which is dying out in England.
The following Tuesday I collected my car and became acquainted with the local mechanics as my car was pasted around two garages to be fixed up for it's Warrant of Fitness (MOT). One week later it was ready and I became excited as a small child at the thought of being mobile again. At the weekend I was invited to a Christmas party at one of the neighbours
and wow what a fantastic house with all roung views of the bay and another good night.
An Italian wwoofer, Raffaella arrived at Tranquil Heights and decided to head north also so Friday morning I said my goodbyes to Wendy, Lindsay, my onsuite bathroom and power shower, loaded the car, took one last look at Tranquil Heights (well for now anyway) and set off for Whangarei to my next wwoofing farm.
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Marikkar
Vagabond
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hi Lynne, Sounds like you're having a great time. Hope you had a good x-mas and that you have a fantastic New Year. Take care and keep blogging! Anna