The Northland

Monday, February 9

We headed north from Auckland on Monday after our orientation, where we were inundated with information about making our year in NZ as fun and comfortable as possible. We had a great first 4 days in NZ, but city living was expensive and we decided to head north to do some requisite fruit picking. Several different people directed us towards Kerikeri at the northern tip of the Bay of Islands because it is famous for its citrus apple orchards and vineyards. We made it to Kerikeri in a very leisurely 2 days with plenty of stops at beaches for swimming and back roads through forests.

Tuesday, February 10
We camped at a small regional park Monday night and woke up to rain beating on the tent. We decided to hold off on breakfast and head for Goat Island Marine Reserve and make breakfast there. Goat Island was NZ’s first marine reserve to protect the over fished area. Now it is a very popular snorkeling and diving area with thousands of fish that can even be seen from the standing on the beach.
We were the first to arrive at the serene cliff side overlooking the reserve. Just as I accidentally lit a HUGE semi-uncontrollable blaze on our camp stove, two tour buses and 5 packed family cars pulled up to watch two panicked Americans rush to put out the fire in this ‘ecologically sensitive area’. Eventually, everything settled down and we enjoyed our scrambled eggs and coffee before heading down to the beach for a quick swim. We continued on a whimsical route north.

Wednesday, February 11
We arrived in the Bay of Islands this morning – New Zealand’s beach playground. On the suggestions of several people, we headed straight to Kerikeri to find work picking fruit. However, upon our arrival we found out that the Northland was actually between seasons and no paid help was needed until the end of March when the vineyards needed assistance picking grapes. Fortunately, we had a couple of options and were excited to try out WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), which provides an opportunity to work on an organic farm (varying in size from small self-sufficient homes to larger farms who sell their produce at markets) in exchange for room and board.
After a few calls, we found a couple who owned a woodworking shop and had been so busy with work that several things around the house had been neglected. Our first encounter with Phil and Sandy was quite awkward and actually had Rachel and me anxious to bolt asap. We arrived to their home just as Phil and their 26yr mentally handicapped daughter, Tijani, were going for their daily swim. Sandy didn’t quite have our room ready so she encouraged us to hop in the car and go for a swim. Rachel and I, trying our best to be gracious guests, hopped in with Phil (a man of few words) and took off for a secret swimming hole. It was after I saw Phil’s 7 ½ fingers on the steering wheel and we were driving through a field in the middle of nowhere that images of Texas Chainsaw Massacre flashed through my head. I started panicking and decided that WWOOFing was definitely not for us. We needed to get out of here as soon as possible. We arrived at a trailhead and Phil told us to go ahead down the unmarked path because Tijani was a slow walker and it would take her a while. I was certain at this point that we were walking to the slaughter and started looking around for any sort of weapon.
We made it safely to the swimming hole and it was one of those beautiful places you see in National Geographic that you can really only find with the help of a local. We swam with Tijani, Phil, and their dog before heading back for Dinner. Turns out Phil and Sandy were lovely people and we were really sad to leave them. Their house was also a pretty fascinating place - there was one room in the whole house that had a door. The house was designed and built by Phil as new rooms were needed for their kids. The climate in the Northland allows them to have a completely open-air house and the only water they used was rainwater. (Phil’s missing 2 ½ fingers had come in his 50+ years of woodworking/construction work).

Thursday-Saturday, February 12-14
WWOOFing asks for 4-6hrs of work from the participants each day. It is safe to say that Rachel and I were not overworked. Phil and Sandy’s typical work day involved an obligatory 45min tea break at 10:15 – just an hour after we started work and lunch was to take place exactly at 1pm. After lunch, we were free to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day. Our work mainly involved trimming and killing willows because they had taken over the stream running behind the house and kept the water from moving. Apparently, you can plant a live willow branch in the ground and a whole tree will grow from this. Over the years, branches had fallen into the stream and trees were growing everywhere. Phil prepared us a chemical treatment to apply to the willows. With a laugh, he told us it was the same Agent Orange used in Vietnam. Rachel and I took turns paddling a dinghy up and down the stream cutting and killing and willows. We spent the afternoons at the nearby beach in Paihia. We left Phil and Sandy’s Saturday afternoon to head for Russell, a small romantic town on the other side of the bay. We had a fun Valentine’s Day dinner at a waterfront restaurant and went to sleep excited for our swim with the dolphins in the morning.

Waiheke Island

Sunday, February 8

While we were killing in time in Auckland, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to take a quick ferry ride to visit the very popular Waiheki Island before heading north. The island plays host to many vineyards and wineries, which are spotted along the rolling hills throughout. Nature has sculpted a unique beach for each particular water sport. The boats drop anchor in the numerous bays and people spend the day lounging on board, swimming on the beach, hiking on the huge network of trails, or relaxing at one of the many charming cafes. Actually, the people we bought our van from had been to NZ previously on an 8 month trip – they too ventured out to Waiheki on one of their first days and ended up spending the entire 8 months on Waiheki. Rachel and I were surprised that they committed their entire trip on the relatively small island when all of NZ beckons for a visit…until we visited.
We hopped off the ferry and walked over to the scooter rental desk. Rachel has wanted to trade in a car for a scooter for years and we figured this would be a good introduction. We hopped on and took off for what ended up being an 8hr island cruise. We stopped immediately for lunch at the famed Lazy Lounge perched on a hilltop looking over one of the bays. We hopped back on, but didn’t make it far before pulling over to take a swim in the Caribbean colored water (Surprisingly, the temperature wasn’t too far off the Caribbean temp either). After our swim, we headed to the far side of the island, passing thousands and thousands of grape vines.
The varying landscape was one of the biggest surprises to us. It started with a laid back beachy atmosphere, then turned into huge rolling hills (reminiscent of northern England), then to an almost rain forest flora (including huge ferns). Cars were scarce on the far reaches of the island and Rachel and I had a blast weaving through hills, valleys, and trees. We stopped by the grocery store right before sunset and had a picnic complete with a Waiheki Cabernet while sitting on the beach.

Made It!

The final hours leading up to our departure were a little more chaotic than I had imagined a month ago. I’m finding out that I have some ailment that prevents me from packing for a trip until the very, very, very last minute. Rachel was completely packed a week before we left, so she sat on the couch reading the newspaper while I was literally running around trying to accomplish 8 things at once. I’ve already discovered several missing items. The only thing that really mattered was making it to the airport on time, something that I have struggled with in the past (causing Rachel a great deal of frustration).

During our 6hr layover in LA, we realized we’d be arriving just in time for one of New Zealand’s biggest holidays. Waitangi Day is a national holiday celebrating the founding document of modern New Zealand – the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. Among other things, the treaty was meant to create a more harmonious relationship between the native Maori and the late-arriving British. We received an email from our visa sponsor suggesting several festivals for us to attend, so our first full day was already planned for us.

Thursday, February 5
After 30 hours of surprisingly smooth travel, we landed in Auckland on a balmy summer day. Dressed in our winter clothes from Atlanta, we quickly started sweating while waiting for the shuttle to the hostel. The shuttle ride from the airport to downtown gave us quick glimpses of the blue bays and far-off hilly islands. The hostel is one of the best I’ve ever stayed in – it has a job search center (complete with ads for fruit picking, baristas, and guiding various outdoor tours), a full travel agency with cheap budgets in mind, a nice kitchen supplied with all the utensils we’d ever need. They also have some form of entertainment planned for every night.

Friday, February 6
Our bodies were completely confused with the drastic time change. New Zealand is 18-19hrs later than Atlanta/Texas, respectively. We forced ourselves to stay awake until 10pm on Thursday and we were wide awake at 5:15 the next morning. We went for a long walk through one of the nearby parks and ate at a little café. We came back to the hostel to change clothes and took off for a day of Waitangi celebration. The first festival was on a park along the beach with Maori music, food, and games.
As we walked back to the hostel, we saw a young couple sitting in a beautiful small Ford van with a For Sale sign on it. We were exhausted from the 7 mile walk, sitting in the sun, and the time change, but Rachel decided we needed to talk to them about this gem. We had always planned on buying a van to travel through NZ, but we didn’t expect to start looking until the weekend was over. The couple ended up being from Norwich, England, the same small city where I spent my junior year of college. He asked if we wanted to take it for a drive around the block, but we deferred thinking that driving on the opposite side with our exhaustion in a big city would be a little too much. He took us for a quick spin and it was perfect!




Saturday, February 7
Again, we woke up around 5:30 without a hope of going back to sleep. I went for a long sunrise walk through a park that looks out over Auckland while Rachel went for a run along the waterfront.
We met up with English couple selling the car and actually spent a good portion of the day with them. After exchanging the money and title to the car, we instantly headed out of the city to re-learn how to drive. We spent hours driving through the quieter neighborhoods and country. We pulled over along the beach and had a lovely picnic on the bed in the back of the van. The van came complete with a stove, kitchenware, foldable chairs, curtains, fishing poles, and a sunroof that opens half the length of the van! By the time we got back, we only had enough energy to cook dinner and stumble back up to bed. We think we’ll be pretty much back to normal by Mon or Tues. We will head north out of Auckland on Monday morning after our official introduction to NZ from our visa sponsor.