Northland! June-July

Working wwoofers on a Hokianga farm, june 2011

Hundertwasser toilet, Kawakawa

Connor and Tane, Waipoua forest

The de Spa wwoof team, Bay of Islands (Pakaraka) with host Simon

Top: Morning in the tree house at Wendy and Simon's. This 'sleeping pod' features in the May/June issue of Organic NZ. We heard a male and female kiwi talking to each other right under us in the middle of the night.

Bottom: Wendy and Simon's treehouse from below

Some travelling gypsies

Jumping for joy having made it to 90 mile beach at sunset.

Cape Reinga! It was gorgeous.

Way up high on the biggest sand dunes in NZ, Te Paki. They go for miles and miles and miles and you have to climb and climb to get up them, coming down is fun!

Where we are staying now - housesitting at Paul's aunt and uncles house, Moureeses Bay, near Whananaki

Paul out in the kayak round the next bay

another catchup.. more Coromandel & WOMAD

some more pics and captions... with apologies for our sad neglect of this blog this year..!

Joining the fun at Hot Water Beach, March 16th 2011.


Justy and Connor in the shark cave, Coromandel, near Cooks Beach


WOMAD Volunteer Justy


and WOMAD Zero Waste Guru, Paul


Connor styling Tristan's hair when T stayed with us in Te Puke for the last week of the holidays.

Catchup#1 - Feb & March in Coromandel

Pauly in Eric and Nancy's beautiful cob house in Kauaeranga Valley, Thames, Coromandel. Feb 2nd 2011


Paul and Connor working in Eric and Nancy's huge organic vege garden. We planted those rows!


Paul and Connor did the Pinnacles Walk, Kauaeranga Valley, while I was back in Chch

Connor in Kauri stump, Pinnacles Walk

Connor, Cape Colville, Coromandel

Shaala's house, Karuna Falls Community, Waikawau Bay, Coromandel Feb 21st -March 15th
Paul and Connor were staying here when they heard about the Feb 22nd quake.It is such a peaceful gorgeous place and Shaala is such a lovely person it was paradise found for me to come to on March 1st.

Connor working on Shaala's deck. In the background is the cottage that we stayed in.


Waikawau Bay cooking fire on the beach.
Shaala took us out for lovely evenings cooking on different beaches near her house.

Paul laid us some turtle eggs for tea! Actually foil wrapped spuds and they cooked up real nice!

The long drops near Shaala's house.Paul built a bridge and some stone steps so we could get to them from the cottage.


The finished Gabion Baskets!- the main task we had at Shaala's.
They are going to save the river bank (and therefore her house) from being washed away in a flood.
It was sweaty heavy work carrying oodles of rocks, we are very Chuck Norris now!

P on a huge tree swing, Connor underneath, sunset at Otama Beach, Coromandel, March 15th

It's all about the weather

We're at the O'Hara Game Estate, just out of Paengaroa (which is 10km south of Te Puke). We've stayed here the last five nights and have three more to go: on Feb 1st we leave the Bay of Plenty and take the Adventure to Coromandel, beginning in Thames.

We are back up to a family of four, just for this week. Luka is now settled back in Chch, preparing for Year 13 at Riccarton High School, but we have gained another son – Connor's best friend / blood brother Tristan is part of the adventure for a week – he flies back on the 1st, the day before school goes back. We love having him with us & are making plans to kidnap him for future parts of the adventure.

It's wonderful here, the O'Haras are fantastic hosts (Helen brought us a fresh choc/zucchini cake the first night!) and have a hugely interesting setup. About 40 acres, bordered by the Kaituna River, with native bush in the gullies, deer & other animals in paddocks, and an elaborate, zany archery course through the forest. This weekend they are hosting an archery tournament. We've helped get ready for this, building a few features for the course, as well as picking some produce – beans and corn. We're only doing a day's work for the week, and are self-catering for the week and paying a small amount for the use of the house we're in.

The four of us flew into Rotorua on Monday, following our few days in Chch. The day before, there had been a wicked storm. There was still rain & low cloud about the airport & we were told we might have to abort landing & go to Hamilton instead... But no, the pilot managed to get us down OK and we were back in the Bay – yep it's startin to feel like home for us both.. Justy was especially pleased to land here as she hadn't been able to take off from Rotorua last week due to fog & was bussed to Auckland, adding 5 hours to her flight time!

We drove into town & bought a week's groceries, then went to Kuirau Park to show Tristan some hot stuff! There were new boiling water vents that had opened up beside and under (through) the road, also fallen trees from the storm crashed through the barriers.

The grey wet weather persisted the next day, so we took advantage of one of the great things about this place: hot water springs! We headed down to Kerosene Creek (which you can find on the Google Map of thermal hotspots that we have compiled). It was our third visit to Kerosene Creek and the place was very different after the weekend's flooding. A huge tree had fallen across the main pool. The river had about three times its usual flow, so was fast and fizzy! Only warm (26-27 deg.) rather than hot (40 deg.), but all bubbly like a jacuzzi!

Then, just to make sure we all know that these days, New Zealand is firmly in the path of tropical cyclones, we had Cyclone Wilma last night! This photo shows part of the archery course this morning: today's shoot was somewhat spoiled, as even after the water had receded, everything was covered in oozy silt. Gives us a small idea of what our cousins across the ditch have been going through. Most of this video is shot very close to where we are.

The travelling and working style of homeschooling is proving even more successful than we'd hoped. Connor is discovering new capabilities and talents & enjoying what's on offer despite missing his friends and lifestyle in Chch. We mentioned in our last post that Connor and I were going to cater a Rites of Passage event at Tracks... we did this (14-20 Jan) and it was brilliant. Between us we cooked 3 meals a day for 33 people, and didn't miss a beat. We're both so enriched by the experience that we are planning to advertise ourselves as available to cater other similar events around the country in future. Watch this space!!

So, we all spent some time in the shaky ol' town around the 22nd, which was Connor's fifteenth birthday! We had a nice family party (thanks Nancy), and Connor spent a couple of hours in town with his 3 best friends.

Being back in Christchurch was interesting; Justy managed to take in a decent spate of aftershocks, including the 5.1 wakeup on Thursday morning. I was only there for the weekend & didn't feel any... Like all of you down there, we're totally over earthquakes.

However, it's an ill quake that shakes no good... Justy met the EQC assessors at our house, and was told that we will get $11,000-plus of re-lining, re-painting interior walls, ceilings and recladding outside, to fix all the cracks that the quake made worse. Reading the EQC forms reminded me how bad some people's damage is, and we are so lucky to have a livable place that is going to be fixed up minty perfect...

We stayed three nights with Steve and Megan, just around the corner from our old house, they made it straight into our top 3 hosts of the adventure! :-) Wonderful peaceful place to eat and relax... and be entertained by Felix & Frankie! We visited Toni & Charlie – dogsitters extraordinaire! – also round the corner, & I took Alika for a long walk. Justy stayed with Erica her first two nights, and they talked till midnight even though they both knew they should get an early night! We also visited Judy Kay, and took this pic of rimu tree that Brett & Esther grew and gave as a memorial for Adrian.

While walking Alika, & meeting Luka in town for a coffee I bumped into a few more people (Sian and Chandra at C1, Megan Woods, Annette B – a right old catch-up!) On my way thru Sydenham I took some photos and when I got back up here, started a letter to editor – which turned into a 1200-word article! I rang one of the Press editors on Wednesday, and on Friday my article was published: Make Sydenham a walking paradise. And cos I'm now a freelancer, I'm getting paid for it!

So you're all reading professionable ritin here guys, hope y'all appreciate that! Anyway this post is long enough, better sign off & wish you all well. Giz some comments, will try & reply this time!

PS – we have had one stinking hot day – Thursday arvo it was 28 degrees so we was off to The Mount to sit on the beach and swim in some pounding surf! Met up with Charlene and Wayne our friends from Chch so that was an extra bonus.

Lots of to-ing and fro-ing to start the new year

Happy New Year to you all! Paul & Justy, re-establishing contact with you all... we have been very busy and often 'off the grid' so to speak which doesn't make it easy to update this blog!

We're now in Auckland and it's very warm and holidayish feeling to be not Helpxing but staying with Gen. Gen's fifth & final 40th birthday party is happening today at Uncle Ivan & Auntie Susan's house in Takapuna, so we've come up for that. Margot & Arnold are here too - a nice family reunion :)

Luka & Connor flew to Christchurch on Thursday: seems weird to think Luka has relocated back there and plans to go to Riccarton High School this year, it was a surprise plan but a great one and we are right behind him! Go Luka!! Connor is on a 2-week visit, staying with Tristan and seeing his friends... .so its a bit like Pauly and I are on honeymoon at the mo! Tomorrow (Sunday) we drive to Mt Maunganui where we will stay with my dear old buddy primary school friend Nina- Paul will fly off from there to Nelson on Thursday and meet Connor there (flying from ChCh) because from 14-20 Jan they have a paid catering job at TRACKS in Golden Bay cooking for 40 people! Then they fly back to ChCh together and on Jan 22nd its Connor's 15th birthday and we'll have a couple of days to help Luka sort out a boarding situation for the year.. I'm happy to say I will be in ChCh Jan 18th for about a week too. I may turn up with bags on doorsteps around this time..........

Paul was a bit freaked out by how much air travel suddenly was required with all these relocations and job offers etc..he didn't think he'd be heading south to work either! It's all part of the great realm which opens up to you "when you let go of something which no longer serves you your hands are open to recieve something new" or some such quote.

On the 24th we're back in the North, at a HelpX place in Te Puke for a week. Tristan is going to join us there for the last week of the school hols. Then on Feb 1st P & C plan to go to Thames, to stay & Wwoof with one of the guys they met at last year's Tracks event.

As to what we have been doing...
We finished up cooking etc at Lake Rotoiti on 22 Dec, and moved to Waimana about 25km out of Whakatane. We were on a small (3 acre) farm with a family of ten(!) All the kids are in this pic, along with our host Richard. Only mum (Nicki) is not in the pic.
Needless to say, the place fair bustled for 10 days with the addition of four de Spas! We had lots of interesting work to do – the boys riding around the place on the quad bike feeding pigs and chooks each day; milking a goat & 2 cows (yummy fresh milk cream & butter!) Paul and Justy gardening, sanding, painting, fixing stuff and a bit of swimming in the river. For the last 2 days of the year, we helped put up a windmill which was pretty cool.

Christmas dinner was a real treat (roast duck and home raised ham). Boxing Day we had an outing & a beautiful swim at Ohope beach, and the little kids were always an endless source of entertainment! It was a great home away from home for Christmastime, such great hospitality. New Year's Eve was guitars and singing round a bonfire, and we left the next morning to go to Lake Waikaremoana.
We hope you've all had a great start to 2011.. might see you next week in Chch!

Bonus pic - Connor helps prepare and serve special Christmas dinner for the drilling crew at L.Rotoiti

Work and play

We've just finished our Saturday morning shift (9-11; we'll do another 2 hours from 4-6), and have been discussing where we'll go for an outing this afternoon. The walk up the Falls track is beautiful, with a great swimming spot, but it's quite windy today, not so good for a swim. I'm keen to check out Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake), but maybe we'll save that for better swimming weather too.. and there's the Redwoods walk just out of Rotorua. Anyway before we decide, a quick post, cos it's been a while...

I've been out working most weekdays – yep, two weeks after arriving in the Bay of Plenty, and two months after leaving ECan, I'm working a fulltime paid job again – and with an hour each way commute! It's just until Christmas, dispatching orders and organising the warehouse at The Wooden Toy Box, owned by our friends Nina & Pete. The warehouse is in the Mount, about 50km away from Okere Falls, where we now live, also until Christmas.

Our home is Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park, where Justy, Luka & Connor work for 4-5 hours each day (so do I, on my days off from TWTB), helping out around the camp and working in the kitchen (Jan & Kev, the camp managers, have a contract to provide hot lunches & dinners for a drilling crew of 15 who are working nearby)... which means that we are all eating very well too!

So, JL&C work at camp for our board and keep, I head out & earn us some dosh. I have to leave at 6.30 to catch the Twin City Express, which drops me back here again about 12 hours later. The early start is fine – at least it's light when I get up at half-five – the ride to work is pleasant & gives me time to write or read (Nina lent me Bill Bryson's Short History – been on my list for ages, and the first book I've picked up since we started doing up the house, a month before we left Chch!)

The walk from the camp to the Okere Falls Store, where I catch the bus, is stunning – up a bush clad dead end road for half a k, then down a short track and across a bridge over the Rotoiti outlet / source of the Kaituna River. [Here's a Google Map of it, if it's turned out OK.] The walk at the other end isn't so great – the factory is in the industrial part of Mt Maunganui – but the driver in the morning drops me at the end of the road I work on, so that's cool.

It's good to be adding to our savings – we haven't depleted them too much in the month & a bit that we've been away, but we never know when we might need to use the money, despite our adventure's focus on volunteer / exchange work to see us through... I'll post some thoughts about the financial sustainability of what we're doing, and other such things, later on.

For now, here's a few photos from last week for you to enjoy while we head out to find some more lovely places & take more photos!

Love to you all.. Paul

Luka & Connor outside our cottage

The three pics above are at the Waitangi Soda Springs, by Lake Rotoma.

Justy jumps in at our local swimming spot, the lake outlet / source of the Kaituna. (The bridge in the background is the one I walk across on my way to work.)

Twists and turns...

Dear Friends!

It has been harder keeping in contact with you all than we thought it would be – life on the road is busy in its own ways; internet connections are fickle things; our email programme works beautifully till you press send; post boxes are not a stroll away; this computer finds uploading photos tedious...because of all this we haven't blogged as often as we hoped HOWEVER if you are reading this then things have come together this time!

It's beautiful here at the Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park / Okere Falls. It's very peaceful and laid back and and we are very happy with the helpx work and our hosts Keven and Jan. Connor and I have the task of preparing vegetables etc..to make meals for a 15-strong drilling gang (working on a new geothermal energy field nearby) twice a day and Luka works with Keven round the grounds. Today he did some hedge trimming. Paul has full time work until Christmas at The Wooden Toybox in Mt Maunganui. He leaves to catch a bus at 6.30am and gets home around the same time in the evening! We miss him but it's only till Xmas which is how long we are staying here. He gets the weekends off, we all get Sunday off and the main thing to do around here is swim! And kayak around on the Lake which is impossibly huge and it's the 'iti' one!!

Connor sliding into Rotoiti, in the camp grounds... and our home for the next 3 1/2 weeks.

This adventure is going the way all good and respectable adventures go – with twists and turns in the trail – a few swears and much gnashing of teeth (I am the main culprit for the swearing). Our first helpx didn't go that well and tempers frayed, the work was hard and the food was missing, also any word of thanks or praise. After one of our famous 'family meetings' where we take on the aura of the Osbournes (albeit minus the fame or funding) we decided we would just pack up our troubles in our old kit bags, or rather our way-too-much-shit into our fried-out Camry, and go for a holiday to Mt Maunganui Camping Ground. What a good choice! Family brawl / meeting over, Connor got out his laptop and we all (minus Luka who has taste, sometimes) watched Lesbian Vampire Killers and felt much better. Ja!

The Mount was fantastic as always. My dad came to stay with us for two nights and we really relaxed and mooched and congratulated ourselves – swam, walked round the Mount, (the boys ran round in 19 minutes) went to the hot salt water pools, had cafe treats with dad, visited old friends (I grew up there) Dad bought me new red sunglasses and a Macs Gold ahhh BUT it costs a lot to pay for accommodation and all your meals, and all our towels were wet and sandy so we knew we had to find a helpx position soon as. And Paul found it, this place! (i'd just like to add- chopping veges is way better than slashing gorse and blackberry in the hot sun as we had been doing - see Paul in top pic!) We have a couple more hosts lined up to see us through till about mid January.

TOP LEFT: Nick, Luka & Connor

BOTTOM LEFT: Social volleyball evening at Mount beach. Connor is second from left, Luka is jumping for the spike shot.

The boys are making plans to fly back to ChCh on Jan 6th to see friends (and have a break from their parents) and Luka has the biggest twist in the tail of all. He has decided to go back to school next year to do Level 3 NCEA! We are looking into it.

So, that's sort of where we are up to in all this adventure malarky.

Love to you all, Justy