Woofing@NZ

Hi there,

I’m sorry for leaving you in excitement during the last month. Actually I had a lot of time to write, but I didn’t really feel like writing. Sometimes it’s nice to see a movie or to have a conversation with other backpackers. But, I’m back now J

So what have I been up to the last month? Well, I’ve been “woofing” (willing workers on organic farms) at a Belgians families house. This is a concept based on volunteering work in exchange for food and accommodation. It’s a really nice concept. So basically I had to work in the garden, and on rainy days cook some food or clean some cupboards in exchange for a nice time with a lovely family, food and accommodation. I really liked spending time with Joke, Jan and Oscar (their son). They are a Flemish couple living in NZ. Thanks for hosting me Joke and Jan!

Oscar is a really nice little boy. One night I had to do some babysitting because Joke and Jan were off to work. I felt so sad when Oscar woke up and he asked for his mum. He was crying and I couldn’t help him. He went back to sleep pretty quick and in the morning we made planes and helicopters with Duplo. Oscar loves helicopters and fire trucks!

One day we went to the reserve next to the house and Oscar didn’t want to walk anymore. In the end we played “hide and seek” until the end of the road!

We also visited Cambridge one day. There’s a bakery with amazingly good bread. Oh, I miss good bread! You’ll read more about food later in this post.

Nearby their house I visited the blue lakes. The water is so amazingly clear!!

At Joke and Jan’s place I Skyped with my brother. He asked me what New Zealand food is like and I had to admit I didn’t really know yet. So we checked out Google and found out there’s quit a lot of unhealthy food unfortunately.

After woofing I went to Raglan. Apparently it’s a good spot to try “fish and chips”. One if the first typical NZ-things I tried out. It was delicious but pretty greasy as well.

Raglan is a really nice little hippie-town. Youngsters go there for surfing and chilling. It’s a nice place to visit.

My next stop was New Plymouth.

I hadn’t been to New Plymouth before. It’s a nice city but the weather was still pretty shitty. I visited the local art gallery called; Len Lye centre. Lye is a NZ filmmaker and he was also a kinetic artist. One of the art sculptures there was kinetic art. To watch it we were handed headphones so it made me very curious on how loud this happening would actually be. I used my very professional IPhone for this amateur noise measurement. Needles to say that the LAEQ reached an unhealthy level and thus the headset was useful. I feel like health and safety consultants are doing pretty well in NZ! No need for me here, haha.

This is what the art gallery looks like on the outside. Cool, hé?

There's also the famous "wind wand" in New Plymouth, it was made to designs by Len Lye. it moves with the wind.

I also really liked this bridge! I love the shape.

In the botanical garden in New Plymouth there was a cool fountain! It's ecological as well because it only works when you push the button. Water flows for about 5 minutes while you sit there and relax, then you can continue your walk. Great!

Somewhere in the middle of this, I tried if Sinterklaas would come. And guess what?! I’ve been a good girl because check this out! He came!

New Plymouth is a nice city, but I don’t have much else to talk about. Maybe because I waited so long with writing this post. Oops

Anyway, on my way from new Plymouth to Turangi I took the “forgotten highway”. There are several reasons why they call it the forgotten highway. The main reason might be that there is literally nothing to do or to buy. There are no petrol stations, there are no grocery stores and there’s no phone reception. So basically it’s 148 of nothing.

It must be hard to live there. There were a few houses on the way, but really not a lot of them. Imagine being stuck there because you forgot to go to the petrol station. Or riding your bicycle anywhere… How do children go to school? It must take a really long time.

In the middle of the highway there’s a little village called Whangamomona. Apparently it’s an independent republic since 1989. You can even get a stamp in your passport there in the local hotel. I forgot to do that… I’ll have to go back :-)

Sometimes the surroundings make me feel in the Hunger games film set.

I came to Turangi because I found a job in a youth hostel. Again, it’s working as a volunteer. I choose this job because there are always people in a hostel and I didn’t want to spend Christmas alone on a campground. It’s easier to talk to people in a hostel than in a campground.

Together with two other people I have to clean the kitchen, clean the bathrooms and change the beds every day. During the day we are available for guests who want to check in and meanwhile I can talk to people, play some board games, watch some movies and use the free WIFI! I also get a bed and shower for free. How awesome is that?

I love this job actually because it gives me the opportunity to connect with other people and I have something useful to do. It might sound crazy but after 3 months of holiday I needed something else then just holiday. I know it’s hard to understand.

The hostel is located in Turangi, close to the Tongariro crossing. Most people here are backpackers coming for just 1 or 2 nights and during the day they go hiking at the Tongariro crossing. To do this you need a shuttle to take you there. This was also included in my “job” so I did the crossing again! I did it once before in the beginning of November. It’s a pretty hard walk. After doing this walk, you can enjoy muscle pain for the next 3 days.

It’s a 20km hike, which is not that long but somewhere on the way there are a few stairs. They call them “the devil stairs”. It’s hard to compare it with anything else but let’s say; walking up to Doi Suthep 5 times in a row? Or climbing the Eifel tower a few times?

Let’s stop wining about it because the view is absolutely worth it. It’s amazing!

Last time I had pretty crappy weather, but this time the weather was perfect!

Click on the picture to see the picture full size.

The hostel I’m working at is called “The lazy dog”. The owner has two dogs and one of them is really lazy. The other one is a 6-month-old puppy. They’re called Hazel and Indie. Hazel, the brown one, is the lazy one.

So the work in the hostel is pretty easy. Boring, you’d say? Nah! Once in a while something exiting happens! Especially in the evening, when it’s cooling down outside… cockroaches start to come out. I don’t like them. Bah. But I feel like I’m becoming more professional at catching cockroaches now. Once in a while a handsome Italian guy pops in and suggests making some Italian pasta. Who says no to that?!

Sometimes when changing the sheets of the beds, we found out that people were having a good time there. Let’s say… lots of body fluids have been discovered once. Jak!

Sometimes people have strange bathing-habits and the bathroom looks like a swimming pool so we have to clean everything up. And best of all, many people leave free food behind!

I’m writing some names down because I don’t want to forget about the fun times I spend in this hostel with: Chloe, Mitsuko, Suse, Dian, Judith, Lydia and Jacob :-). Thanks guys! It was great at the Lazy dog!

Christmas was coming and I told my mum about the hostel I was going to stay at. Apparently she send the address to some of my friends and family because I got quit a few Christmas cards! Thanks everyone for sending me these cards! And thanks mum, for being secret Santa Claus :-)

I had the Christmas I was hoping for: Spending it with many people from all around the world. We had people from The Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, America and France. Everybody made some food from his or her own country and then we shared everything. I loved it! It was great and delicious!

A few weeks ago, on a campground, some people were having a BBQ and I saw a guy baking bananas wrapped in bacon on the BBQ. I thought: that’s weird! But I tried it and it blends well actually! You should try it one day.

Because the weather is getting better and better (Hello summer!) we can have a BBQ once in a while. I’m not having a real Christmas feeling, although I tried to decorate some places around me to get the feeling, it’s just not cold enough. Celebrating Christmas in summer is weird! It doesn’t feel like a real Christmas.

I promised to talk to you about NZ food. There’s probably more coming about that in the next posts, because I don’t want to try everything at once. Let’s just say many things are greasy or sugary.

And this is what a typical bakery looks like. It reminds me of a European kebab-place.

And if I really adapt to the NZ culture, I might get fat. Let’s try to avoid that.

I can handle BBQing though :-)

I really thought I wasn’t going to see many creepy insects like in Australia. They have poisonous spiders, sharks, and snakes…

Apparently one of those spiders has invaded NZ! The other day I met one! It’s called a white tail spider and… yes yes, they are poisonous!

So far, I have only seen one and they are small so I’m OK with that.

Besides cockroaches and spiders there are also “sand flies” in NZ. Sand flies are THE most annoying creatures I have ever met I my whole life. They look like a regular fly but they are a bit smaller and they sting like mosquitoes. Yeah, they sting. These bites are itching like CRAZYYYY! The bites are smaller than mosquito-bites, they itch for about 10 days (mostly during night) and they itch much harder than any mosquito-bite I have ever had before. You can find sandflies in forests and close to water. Camping in the forest next to a lake is not recommended.

Ow, before I forget! One day there was a police car across the street and I asked the owner of the hostel if this happened a lot. He said (to my surprise); yes. Then he explained that one of the biggest mobs of NZ was living there. (Mighty mongrel mob Aoearoa) It’s kind of scary to know that because from time to time their dog (a British bulldog) runs away. I have helped the dog to return back home a few times! It was a kind mob-dog!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongrel_Mob

Well, so this is the end already. I’m sorry for the short and boring post. I’m having a great time here!

My job is about the end but the owner of this hostel also owns a hostel in Napier. Napier is a city at the seaside and I got a job there as well. So the next three weeks I’ll be spending in Napier. Celebrating New Year at the beach! LOVE IT!

Merry Christmas to everyone!