Kia Ora

2 Kia Ora 2013

Kia ora (pronounced key ora) is a Maori greeting meaning “be well/healthy,” used by New Zealanders quite often like “hi.”

Life goes quickly when you are having fun, and our 10 days in Ngaruawahia flew by as we learned about New Zealand culture,  lifestyle blocks, food, animals and more from the McFarlanes. We had secured our next WWOOF spot on Waiheke Island, a rather large island about 35 minutes northeast of Auckland by ferry. To get to the ferry we took an Intercity bus from Ngaruawahia to Auckland, then walked the 10 blocks to the terminal. Pretty easy with a little advanced planning.

The ferry ride was easy enough, a bit overcast but still offering views of Rangotito and Motutapu islands. We landed on Waiheke and met our new host, Fiona, at the terminal parking lot as she and her kids dropped off their previous 2 wwoofers. We traveled the 20 minutes to their house, hearing about their animals and taking in some of the beautiful scenery. Upon arriving at their 15 acre lifestyle block we were introduced to their 2 Kunekune pigs, 4 sheep, ducks, and 130 or so chickens, over 100 brown shavers and some cute heritage breeds. Our spot for the week was a separate sleepout cottage just down from their house, with a foldout bed, large jug for water, and compost bucket toilet (luckily it at least had a normal seat). I can’t say I was eager to scoop dried leaves into the bucket each time, but I made do. Adam mostly used his guy capabilities and went outside.

As their land was at the top of a hill on an island, the views were absolutely amazing. We could easily see the sparkling blue ocean from our bed and the whole cottage, but the sheep had the best view in their paddock, 360○ of ocean, including across to downtown Auckland. It was gorgeous everywhere you looked. The heritage breeds of chickens and the ducks were entertaining to watch,  figuring out their personalities and tendencies. This was also the first place we heard wild peacocks in the bush, their screams often sounding somewhat human from up in the trees.

Our work for the week involved double-digging 2 garden rows, both 1 meter wide and about 20 meters long. Double-digging was a new gardening method for both of us, an intensive way to bring your soil to life. First you dig down about 12″ and remove the soil across the 1 meter bed. Then with large tines you loosen the next 12″ down, so you have disturbed 24″ down to improve growing conditions. All of this after picking the heaps and heaps of weeds out of the bed. I essentially spent 18 hours plucking weeds, large and small, that week while Adam followed behind, digging. This was hard work, despite what the video we watched on this method indicated. We got both beds done before leaving for our next spot but were both exhausted.

We spent afternoons that week either reading and napping to recover, or exploring Waiheke as best we could without a car. One afternoon we walked about 45 minutes through the forest of the Whakanewha Regional Park to the beach, hearing and seeing native birds and beautiful trees. The beach was full of birds and purple shells but no people… my kind of beach. One afternoon Fiona was kind enough to drop us off in one of the beach towns, Oneroa, where we wandered along the shopping strip, ducking into an op shop (thrift store) where Adam picked up a long sleeve shirt for $1. We found a nice spot, Spice Cafe, to stop and have a milkshake, the food I had been missing most since leaving home.

One caramel milkshake, iced coffee and $15 later (food is expensive in New Zealand), we waited for a bus to Onetangi, hopping off at Wild on Waiheke for some winery experiences. The concept of WoW is cool, a winery, brewery, cafe and beer cellar with outdoor entertainment – archery, laser skeet shooting, life sized chess, bocce ball, and other games, designed for family entertainment as well as parties and corporate groups. You could wander through the vineyard, relax on the patio, or entertain yourself with activities like the corporate group there that afternoon was doing.

After sampling the Waiheke Island Brewery dark ale, Topknot Hill Winery pinot gris, and the ginger beer there we wandered up the long gravel drive next door to Te Motu Winery. The walk was worth it for a taste of 4 flavorful white wines plus a colorful red made from 4 different types of grapes. All 5 were absolutely delicious and reinforced that New Zealand wines really are a step above. Our server, Chantelle, was really interesting to talk to, having traveled the world for the past 20 years. She also gave us great suggestions for what to do on the island and potential wwoofing connections. She reminded me of my friend, Melea, a wonderful reminder especially with my first Christmas away from home around the corner.

After breakfast and lunch on our own in the cottage with provided food, we ate dinner at Fiona’s house, sometimes with various members of the family including daughter Sascha and son Willie, who at 8 years old is the biggest Queen fan I’ve ever met, once proclaiming “It’s too bad Freddie is dead,” then having to explain to Adam and me that he was referring to Freddie Mercury. After dinner we usually headed back to the cottage for an early bedtime, knowing we had to get up early enough (usually 6am to start work in the cooler morning), but more knowing we would be woken up starting around 4am by Sly, the pesky rooster that liked to hang out by our cottage. Needless to say there were a few not so nice words thrown his way at that hour.

Friday after our 5 hours in the garden we got ready to leave, doing a grocery run for ourselves before moving to a campsite further east on the island for a few nights, as we didn’t find a wwoof host over the Christmas holiday. Friday the 21st was also my dad’s birthday,  so we gave him a call even though for him it was only Thursday.  New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of EST and across the International Date Line, so we have to adjust for the time difference when calling home.

Saturday morning Steve, Fiona’s husband, dropped us off at Cote Jardin, a camping spot and B&B run by a French couple. We played checkers on the porch til Brigitte and Benoir arrived home and we got acquainted with our surroundings. We found a nice spot for our tent shelter, played more checkers, made a small dinner and settled in for the night. I can’t say we slept much, though, since our shelter wasn’t completely enclosed (no base) and what felt like hundreds of mosquitoes smelled out the foreigners and joined our sleeping arrangements, buzzing around our faces and biting us where they found exposed skin. It was hot that night but I tried to bury myself in my down sleeping bag, lamenting the hot stickiness and incessant bzzz while cursing the situation. I think at some point during the night Adam even peeled back the tent from the stakes to evacuate as many biting insects as possible, granting us a short respite of sleep in the early morning hours, but they returned before long.

Sunday morning we were tired and itching but that didn’t deter a walk to some wineries. There are over 30 wineries on Waiheke Island alone and we visited 2 that day, starting at Passage Rock for a comprehensive tasting and then lunch, a smoked chicken and bleu cheese pizza with caramelized onions. We bought a bottle of their pinot gris for Christmas, then walked up a huge long hill with views of the ocean to View East Winery for a taste of 2 syrahs (same as Australian shiraz). The walk back down the hill was much easier before working to reinforce the base of our shelter against insects. We densely packed straw with logs on top, tucking it under the edges and hoping to prevent more overnight visitors. More checkers followed, one game lasting almost 2 hours, before the rain started.

We cooked another simple dinner that night and chatted with our campsite neighbors, an English couple about our age who had moved to Auckland about a year prior. Our shared interests kept us talking for a while, and they made suggestions for things to do around the country. They also most graciously let us use their strong insect repellent, which combined with our shelter reinforcement made for a much better sleeping night. We both took a Benadryl before bed for the intense itching, and only had a few night visitors, which made for a better, but still not great, night of sleep.

Christmas Eve morning we were scheduled to move inside the house at Cote Jardin to their bed & breakfast room so in the midst of the rain we carried our belongings there. We talked again with Tom and Karina for a while and left our tent for the following night when we moved back outside. It rained most of the day but we were under cover, able to shower, lie in a comfortable bed to read a book or play cards on the porch. I think we were both most homesick those days, being away from family and friends and holiday celebrations, while also being stuck in a remote area without a car or way to get anywhere. We lounged and read, played cards and snacked, but really felt isolated and ready to move on. We thought about leaving the island a day early but didn’t have anywhere to be til the 26th, and finding a new spot for Christmas might have been tricky, so we talked to each other about the loneliness and played some more cards.

Christmas eve night we shared our bottle of wine and made some pasta on our little backpacking stove, truly gourmet. I think we even had a bit of chocolate, a weakness of mine. Our French hosts had friends over for dinner and revelry that night, and we could hear their festivities through our wall which made us a bit more homesick, missing our familiar, wonderful people but I’m proud of how we made it through those sad moments together.

More rain ushered in Christmas morning as we awoke in time for a delicious breakfast prepared by Brigitte and Benoir. As we enjoyed coffee, tea, and freshly squeezed orange juice on the porch they brought out savory thin pancakes with melted cheese, then toast with fabulous homemade feijoa ginger jam and honey. I could have eaten a whole loaf of bread with those spreads.

We spent most of that day reading books and magazines and playing cards on the porch under cover from the rain. As more campers arrived and staked out their spots we realized how much happier we were inside and decided to pay the difference for another night in the B&B instead of moving back out to our tent for our last night. It was money well spent as we were able to sleep away from the ferocious mosquitoes and sand flies.

Christmas Day passed slowly until around 6pm when guests of our French hosts arrived for a casual party to open their gypsy caravan they had converted into a rentable sleeping space. Guests from all over the island, many of whom were originally from elsewhere in the world, brought food and wine to share and invited us into their conversations. We met new friends from Spain, Japan, Italy, Canada and France, ate tasty food (my favorite snack were the dates stuffed with mascarpone), and celebrated the night, despite the insistent rain.

Breakfast the next morning was just as tasty, a thin egg on toast with melted cheese and my favorite feijoa ginger jam and homemade honey. Brigitte was very nice to drive us the 10km or so to the Onetangi bus stop the next morning, and we hopped on to head back to the ferry and Auckland, on to new adventures. Our time on the island was beautiful but somewhat isolating without a car. We were truly missing some comforts of home that week, including our van.