Headin' South

So here goes, a quick update of our adventures. After leaving the first farm in Te Puke we headed towards Mt. Taranaki or Mt. Egmont. On the way down we drove on the Forgotten World Highway (named that for a very good reason). But it was an amazing drive. We drove through 2 tiny one-way tunnels and saw some amazing waterfalls. We also drove about 34 km on a gravel road off of the main road to see the Bridge to Somewhere, which led to absolutely nowhere. It was cool! Around the mountain the weather was so bad that we didn’t even get to see it the whole 3 or 4 days that we drove around it. It was very eerie because we knew there was a mountain there but we absolutely couldn’t see it at all. It rained a lot and we gave up our quest to see the mountain and continued on. We even went down a random back road to find an amazing and isolated camping spot right by the ocean where we camped, but because of a thunderstorm and rain we had to leave it the next day. We eventually got to see the peak of the mountain from far away as we were heading out of the area. Oh well, so it goes.

Anyway, for the last week we have been at our second New Zealand farm as farm helpers. It is located about 40 minutes north of Wellington near Peka Peka Beach, which is between Otaki and Waikanae. It is a very lovely farm and a lovely home. Our hosts Brent and Joan are wonderful. They introduced us to the fascinating world of alpacas and llamas. They use them for wool (which is 3 times lighter and 3 times warmer than sheep wool) and breed the ladies to sell their babies. They have about 13 or 14 alpacas with names like Felix, Juanita and Linda, 3 ducks, a bunch of chickens and a few roosters, a cow named Bessy, some black and brown sheep, 2 gargantuan cats Tom and Tiger and a hyper black poodle named Pipi. We get to feed the chicks in the morning and the evening and we feed the alpacas and llamas some hay every once in a while and for the most part we have been doing some planting of fruit trees, weeding and hedge trimming. The house is up on a hill right in front of some big hills and facing the ocean and Kapiti Island, both of which can be seen from the wrap-around deck. It is an amazing place. Check out their website: www.awatealodge.co.nz

We will leave here on Monday and head to Wellington. We will visit Wellington for a few days and then we will head to the South Island. We have our ferry booked for December 14th at 1 p.m. Once we get to the south we already have our next farm lined up. We find that to be the best way to save money and meet interesting people along the way. Plus we have fun on the farms and enjoy the work that we are given…at least that has been the case so far. Well, that is the update for now. We will try to get pictures posted once we find a faster Internet connection. I hope you are all well and enjoying the Christmas shopping rush. We are delighted to skip out on that this year. In fact, we don’t have a clue what we will do for Christmas as of yet. I bet time will tell though! J Later taters!