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Published: December 8th 2010
the backyard
The view from Kerry's houseNov 17
I 'trained' Antoine (France) to sell fruit. He had never driven on the left before; I feel like they should really do some more formal training for those of us who've never driven on the left. I had at least started in automatic while following someone. Antoine had to start in a manual, after not having driven for 2 months, being instructed where to go by me, which included a minor language barrier. We just started the car and headed to the selling site. There were a few close calls, as well as several gear shifting errors, I assume due to the gear shift being on the opposite side. Instead of learning one thing at a time, it was all at once. I showed him the ropes of selling, then Calvin came by and we made sure he'd be okay-ish on his own, then I had the rest of Sunday off.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on sleep, which can be difficult in a house with almost 30 people; but sometimes in early afternoon it's temporarily quiet. They were planning to have a barbecue Monday night, so Sunday afternoon I called Kerry, my next host. He is very relaxed and when I asked to wait until Tuesdaay to come, he said it'd be fine. When the sellers got back in the afternoon, we went out for another game of soccer. There were eight of us this time, just guys; what an awesome form of exercise.
Monday, I took the bike to Henderson again to check out prices for electrical transformers; $80 for the cheapest one; not worth it. The only thing that won't work with 220V is my Sonicare toothbrush, which I love dearly; but the toothbrush itself cost less than that. I walked around town a bit, picked up some beer, and then went back to the house. The barbecue was pretty amazing; Calvin and Ama made loads of vegetables on a wood fire otuside; they also made some delicious spicy carrot dip and a few other dishes. We all sat outside on a large blanket, built another fire for warmth and ate all the food as it was being made; an excellent last night.
Nov 18
It's mid-afternoon; my ankles are riddled with bug bites, some of them bleeding; I'm covered in sunscreen with a layer of dirt and sweat on top; my hands are sore; and I can't really complain. Rather, I can, but I choose not to. This WWOOF house is different from my first in almost every way.
Two days ago, my last day at Fruit Vans, was bittersweet. I was happy to go to a new place and experience something different, but I would also miss all the great people I had met. I packed up my things, and Kerry arrived around 2 pm to pick me up. He is a very forthright and focused man, with a broad spectrum of experiences and interests. We went to the supermarket where he picked up a big load of groceries; he has two sons and now four WWOOFers, and considering the hard work we do, an abundance of food is necessary. We picked up his two boys, Findley and Oliver, from the bus stop and then arrived at his house.
I had no idea the house I was going to be staying at was so refined, eccentric, isolated, and surrounded by scenery. The house is somewhat of a semi-octagon shape with a pointed roof at the center. The walls are all glass; 22 linear meters if I remember correctly. The roof is wooden and the floor is stone tile. The main bedrooms are in the extremities of the house on the bottom floor, with the living room and study in the middle. The upstairs is a balcony that essentially looks over the whole of the lower floor. The guest bedrooms extend from the ends of this upper floor. The house is an open floor plan house; the only inside doors are the ones on the two bathrooms. The outside doors are all sliding glass except for the main entrance, which is a large wooden double door. Kerry built the house 20-some years ago. He has a theory about doors being barriers between us, and removing those barriers helps us all become closer. The house is arranged such that the sun rises on one side where Kerry's bedroom is, then follows the glass around to the other side where the boys' bedroom is, and sets there. The view from the house is amazing; green hills, pastures, and forests are visible all around. Kerry owns over 10 acres of land.
They have six chickens to deliver fresh eggs every day. They have a coop, but are free to reign over the yard most of the time. There are wild turkeys wandering around the yard and fields most of the time; sometimes we also see a peacock. There are also cows in the field next to the house that belong to the neighbor. There are three other WWOOFers: Jamie (UK), Francis (Canada) and Atienne (France). Kerry is very welcoming, hospitable and open; after changing from his business casual attire to a simple lavalava (basically a wrap-around skirt), he served us all wine and we all started making dinner. We had fried rice with vegetables and ribs (YES! MEAT!). We sat around the candle-lit table, ate dinner, and Kerry and his kids told us about some of the travelling they had done. He has been all over the world, for work and for pleasure, and taken his kids on many of his travels. We finished the night with a nightcap; mine was 10 years aged single malt Scotch.
Yesterday, the first day of work, was a refreshing challenge. Our current job is to clear out a lot of weeds, blackberries, and non-native plants from the bush that surrounds a stream going through the pasture. It was sunny and hot; we worked for about four hours, then burnt all the weeds that we cleared, along with a dead turkey we found. Fire is always fun. It was a hard day's work, but left me feeling well-used and satisfied. Kerry had left for the day (as well as today and tomorrow) for a sausage competition in Auckland, for which he is the chief judge. How amazing would it be to get paid to eat gourmet food all day? Kerry is a writer; he reviews restaurants, foods, wines, etc. He made us homemade organic pizza for dinner, which was absolutely splendid. We ended the day watching TV in the living room as a group. There is a tongue-in-cheek animosity toward Aussies by the Kiwis; it was funny to hear Oliver and Kerry make fun of the Aussie guy on the travel channel and the way he talked. I took a shower at the end of the night and Kerry gave me a lavalava to wear.
Today was another hard day of work; we finished weeding the area, pulling up ferns and wild tobacco plants. The cows kept coming to the pile of debris, eating the weeds, messing up the pile, and of course shitting everywhere. At least today wasn't sunny; it was overcast and the temperature wasn't too high; but that didn't keep us from sweating our balls off. We start work around 9-9:30, which has us finishing mid-afternoon. We've been eating sandwiches for lunch around early afternoon, and going back out to work for another 1-2 hours afterward.
The internet here is dial-up only. I haven't used dial-up in probably over a decade; it's quite painful. But not having ready access to high-speed internet forces me to focus my attention elsewhere. It's a different world.
Nov 19
After work yesterday, Kerry took all of us to their neighbors' house down the road to swim in their ourdoor pool; all the houses here are uniquely customized and gorgeous with amazing views of the local scenery. When we got back, Kerry busted out some bottles of lager that he'd been saving for eight years; it was some of the best beer I've ever had. He is quite the conossieur of food and drink. We had mashed potatoes and gravy along with some of the gourmet sausages that Kerry brought back from the competition - pretty awesome. We finished the evening with games (bocce, chess) and wine.
Today, Francis drove the four of us WWOOFers into the nearest town, Kumeu, to get some extra fruit and vegetables and run a couple other errands. The guys here are into surfing, and it really makes me wish I had taken more advantage of living by the ocean in Florida. I think I'll try to use one of their boards at some point at the nearby beach, Muriwai. Apparently, this is a good season for surfing in NZ. Our work today consisted of sanding the paint from the bottom sill of all the windows around the outside of the house; not too much work. Kerry is going to have it repainted.
I still have yet to get my work visa, which is starting to get very frustrating. Everyone else I've talked to who has one has had almost no trouble getting theirs, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll be able to stay here for more than three months. I really hope this isn't the case, but if I can't get a working holiday visa, I won't be allowed. I may travel in Australia for awhile if this is the case.
Nov 24
We're sitting here listening to Kerry tell us his tales of travelling Europe; it's very inspiring. He advises not to concern myself with money so much, to just be flexible, and I can go wherever I choose; this is advice I definitely need to take.
Friday night, after the short day of sanding old paint, we went to a local club for retired soldiers, not unlike the ones in the the US. It's usually for members, but they often let the public in to eat and it serves as a restaurant. We had a couple beers and some down-home cookin: bacon and egg burgers. Saturday, we went to Kerry's neighbor's house to help them concrete along edges of their driveway. Mark and Judy are a very cheery couple; they and Kerry help each other out occasionally. Once the truck arrived, all four of us helped them lay the concrete. It was fast work, hauling concrete, laying it, then smoothing it; it went pretty quickly, and then began raining near the end. After, Kerry took all of us to the beach where Oliver had recently passed his lifeguard exam. Muriwai was unclear and misty, but still gorgeous; see the pictures. After, we went to a local art show, which mostly consisted of modern art (crap); it did have some nice nature photography and digital imaging works. We had more fun playing on the obsatcle course/playground outside with the kids afterwards. When we got back, I mowed the back yard and we played some bocce again. Kerry made mussels and fish chowder for dinner; for drink we had lemoncello, aged 12 years. I don't usually like mussels, but these were great. This dinner was different though; the night before we had drawn pieces of paper from a hat that were costume themes. It was a sort of going away celebration for the two guys who were leaving soon. We all dressed in our costumes for dinner. The pictures speak for themselves.
Sunday was our day of rest. Kerry made scrambled eggs, then all seven of us piled in the car and went to the nearby Goldie Bush Trail for a nature walk. Kerry likes to keep a fast pace, which made it hard for me to stop and take pictures and enjoy the scenery (as I am one to do), but once we got down to the river we stopped for a minute for pictures and wading near the waterfall. We then took the trail along the creek to get back, wading back and forth along the way; gorgeous scenery. Homemade hamburgers for dinner.
Monday, Atienne and Francis left. Jamie and I weeded all along Kerry's long driveway; it was sunny again. There is food almost always being cooked (Kerry makes his own bread), and dinner is often prepared early to be cooked quickly later. We had stir fry for dinner (with sausage for the meat of course). Yesterday was rather uneventful; we finished the weeding and pulled some thistles out of the field to keep the cows from eating them. We ate seafood pasta for dinner; another fantastic dish.
We worked almost seven hours today, weeding and removing more thistles from the cow fields, as well as burning all of this in a bonfire. The day went by relatively fast, considering the duration. The house gets all of its water from rain, collected from the gutters, and it hasn't been raining very much lately, so we're very low. This means that Kerry might have to buy a truckload of water. He came home and made an excellent dinner of potatoes, peas and broccoli covered in a cream sauce, along with a whole baked chicken. Awesome.
I like it here, it's very quiet and serene; but I also feel a bit trapped with no nearby towns and no car. I don't really have the opportunity to go anywhere or do anything outside of the house and the yard. The food is great, it's very relaxing, and Kerry is a very interesting person, but I want to go diving, camping, etc. I realize now that I should've planned a little better; having an automobile would make a world of difference. But most of all, I should've gotten my visa before I came; knowing how long I'm staying would allow me to plan more and work for money.
NOV 30
Kerry got to see U2 live on their '360 Tour' in Auckland on Thursday; he got in for free as a gift from one of his clients. He gets these kind of free things a lot due to his line of work (including free beer delivered to his office). He made us a beef curry and all we had to do was heat it up that evening while he was away. Friday night, Kerry met up with a friend in Auckland and brought Jamie and me with him so we could get out of the country for a night. I was able to finally pick up a phone card, which I'd been without for awhile. We ate Burger King, I bought some chocolates and Scotch, we walked down to the pier, and hit up a bar with live music before Kerry picked us back a little after 9 pm. It was nice to go into the city for a few hours.
On Saturday, Jamie and I walked down the road to Tim and Kelly's house to work. We did hand weeding and helped Tim haul soil and scoria; they use scoria to fill a ditch around their property for proper drainage in the winter. Kelly fed us fresh sandwiches and fruit for lunch. Afterward Kerry came to collect us and we all went for a swim in their pool (the same pool we swam in about a week ago). Jamie and I were pleasantly surprised to get paid $80 each by Tim as we left; as WWOOFers we didn't expect monetary payment, and this was extremely generous. We went out for Thai food for dinner in Waimaku (nearest small town); we all shared the dishes. After dinner, we stopped at a restaurant that had just opened, owned by a Russian chef who is a friend of Kerry's. They are low on capital and very clearly lacking in business preparation; there was the chef, his wife as the only waitress (who also spoke poor English), and two girls, around 5-7 years old, helping with dishes. On top of this, their computer system wasn't operating. Kerry, being the nice guy he is and supporter of the culinary arts, came in and helped them catch up and keep their customers happy. He asked Jamie and me to get the dirty dishes situation under control, as it was basically impossible for them to handle under their current circumstances; I don't really know how they kept it going before we got there. It's interesting to see a restaurant on its first night; starting a private restaurant in a foreign country with low funding must take a great deal of perseverance. We helped them until they closed, and received a couple vodka shots each as 'payment.' We finished the night having whiskey drinks from the bottle I had bought in Auckland.
Kerry took us to the beach Sunday to a carnival. When I think of a carnival, I think of rides and games, but in NZ a carnival apparently can mean a beach sports competition. There were loads of people and teams from all over the North Island competing in a variety of races: swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, and paddle boating. A whole chicken, homemade potato salad and asparagus made for an excellent dinner. Monday, Jamie and I walked to Tim and Kelly's again to finish the weeding we had started; it only seemed fair since we had received such a handsome payment. We finished mid-day then mowed the yard at Kerry's. Kerry made corned beef with mashed potatoes and homemade ice cream for dessert - another magnificent dinner. It was Jamie's last night so as a customized celebratory maneuver, Kerry had the rest of us paint the letters of his name on our faces; there's always a reason to celebrate here.
DEC 5
Currently, I'm stressing about my visa. It appears I have to get an X-ray, a physical, and a blood and urine test to show that I'm in proper shape medically. Not only will this cost money (albeit much less than it would in the US without insurance), but it will be time-consuming and still won't guarantee my acceptance. I don't have any real plans for my future, immediate or long term, and I like it that way; however, it would be much nicer to be allowed to make some money. Kerry has been very helpful and encouraging. On Tuesday, he took me to the doctor for my allergies, which had been a terrible nuisance. It cost a bit of money for the consultation and all the medicine, but it definitely helped a lot. Kerry then dropped me off at the Coddingtons' house, who own and operate a vineyard. I worked in their fields, pulling off the lower growth and directing the upper vines between the wires that run along the rows. The Kiwis all eat very healthily; I was again served fresh sandwiches and fruit for lunch. I also decided to start drinking tea; it seems like the hip thing to do here, and it's supposed to be good for health.
My allergies had alleviated somewhat on Wednesday. Kerry went to a meeting at the local school to plan a 90th anniversary party; I waited outisde for him and then was dropped back off at the vineyard for the day. It was very sunny while I was at the vineyard; I've been trying to avoid getting too sunburnt. Since then, I haven't been too busy. Kerry was nice enough to take me to Henderson (the same arrea I'd gone to at while at Fruit Vans) while he went to his office for a few hours. We had Vietnamese food on the way. I needed a backpack and found one on clearance for only $100 at Kathmandu, a camping and outdoors shop. I needed the backpack essentially to replace my suitcase; I'll be able to get around more easily now. I also walked around the mall and had an ice cream cone. I took the bus to Westgate, a small town on Kerry's way back, and he picked me up from the bus station. We went to his friends' afterwards to get Findley, and they made burritos for everyone. Craig and Sandy live in an amazing house with an immaculate view of Muriwai Beach; we watched the sun set over the sea. We had wine afterward and discussed diving; I was advised to try to find locals to dive with rather than commercial businesses. Evidently a lot of people here dive on their own boats, for food and for fun, and often are willing to accept guests. Kerry and I had vodkas when we returned and watched the local music video channel; very peculiar videos.
On Friday, I helped Kerry clean out the gutters of the house, which didn't take much time. We took Oliver and his friend to a weekend camping trip for kids; on the way we stopped in a little town called Orewa for dinner at a bar & grille. Afterwards, Kerry and I went to a nearby pool that's fed by natural hot spring water. It was very hot, very clear, and very relaxing; NZ as a whole is a natural hotbed of volcanic and spring activity. Yesterday's work was just a bit of weed-eating around the yard and up the driveway. Jamie came back to visit for a couple days; he had bought a new car and has his friend Hannah with him. Kerry made us cocktails in the late afternoon. We had martinis, then strawberry daquiris, then banana daquiris; fun times. Today we finished off the gutters, fixed some outdoor lights, and I finished the weed-eating. Kerry took us to the beach in the late afternoon, but it was a bit to chilly for a swim. It was nice, because this was the first time I'd been to Muriwai with the sun out. After the beach, I went for a run down the road; I hadn't ran for a few weeks, and was way overdue. We all went out for Indian food a bit ago, and Kerry was nice enough to pay for all of us. I tried to give him payment, but he refused. I'm not sure what's going to happen with my visa, but I'm really just trying to focus on the present and enjoying my time here.
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haywood jablome
non-member comment
nice shite my friend
good readins...curiuos about life outside the U.S. Good talkin with you earlier-plan to give ya call my brada. Always welcome out here in L.A. btw. Sheeit It'd be good to see ya