Woofing at Kim & Elspeth's

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Just finished a week's woofing in Mapua, which is near the Abel Tasman National Park up in the northern bit of the South Island. The landscape here is different again! I'm still not getting to grips at how diverse this country is in natural landscapes. Here, we are surrounded on one side by large shallow estuaries which half the day look like lakes and the other half look like deserted beaches, and on the other by acres and acres of orchards, predominantly apple and kiwi, but almost everything grows here!

Arriving at this place, i had just had a really frustrating week of travelling with 2 mates, one of which i ended up getting really fed up with, which made the trip really hard to enjoy...

So when i got here to a lovely family with a beautiful house and garden, i felt much better right away. A dinner was served for me, and a glass of wine offered, two things which are luxuries for backpackers like us.

In exchange for 5 hours of garden work per day, i had my own caravan to sleep in (comfy but slightly cold at night), and 3 meals per day. Fair deal, though definitely not an "easy ride", as the work was physically demanding.

With not much to do outside work and a few bike rides, i actually felt i was really active, because i had few things to worry about, so i could put my time into good use. On Thursday, i took the day off and went for a 6h bike ride which was great. Tiring and sometimes frustrating because of strong winds, but it felt so amazing to get to my destination (City of Nelson) and have my home made lunch in the sunny park :-)

To sum up, this week, i have been really relaxed, and almost never stressed, which has been super enjoyable. Living on the land, having time to reflect, not having to worry about cooking meals... A very simple, but very good week, which gives food for thought when it comes to defining happiness!

Thanks for reading this post, will be back soon :D

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Photos

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Bike ride to Nelson - Great Taste Coastal Track

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Arriving in Nelson

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My sleep-out

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Family's home

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They have their own mini vinyard!