Moving on Up

After arriving back from the tramp, I found that I had received an email from a wwoof host in Karamea who welcomed me as soon as I was able to arrive. Yay! My first wwoofing experience! Kristine was headed to Karamea as well to begin another tramp. We took a couple of days to get there and found ourselves in a little piece of paradise when we did. I spent a week with my hosts Dee and Dan, and two other wwoofers. We picked feijoas, a South American fruit, and afterwards sorted and graded them for sale. I discovered my love for four-wheelers and piglets, and enjoyed immensely the merriment that surrounds the Bush Lounge & Bar in the off hours. Dee and Dan were wonderful and I was sad to leave a week later. Two months of travel doesn't allow enough time in one place.

The trip to my next destination, Golden Bay, was quite the ride. Kristine had left me her car to drive around to the end of her tramp. I was scheduled to pick her up in four days, six hours away, at 3 p.m. The fun fact? I've driven manual maybe 20 minutes in my life! A quick lesson from a fellow wwoofer (Thanks, Brenton!) put me in good shape and I made it unscathed to the tramp's end. The drive through the Montueka Valley was by far one of the most gorgeous routes I have ever seen. Autumn was in full bloom and there are no words to describe the gorgeousness of the area. I was excited to get to Takaka and to my next wwoof host.

Gee was a dutch guy who moved to New Zealand and after a couple of years decided to live as sustainably as he was able to. He found a piece of land to rent, bought a 7m round yurt and supported it with solar power and an outside shower/toilet. It was a good little set-up and had a great view of the water. He gave up his day job as a web designer and began working at a greenhouse supporting local restaurants and grocers. I was excited as he had been working with hydroponics for a year and this was something that I was interested in learning more about. Alas, he was in the process of switching from hydroponics to a garden when I arrived. I planted and weeded for three days and found out more about Gee's use of the phases of the moon to guide planting instead.

At this point Kristine and I met up to hike the Abel Tasman Trail for five days, the longest length you could hike it in. It was a relaxing and breathtaking tramp and I am excited to show pictures when I able to get them up. I hadn't planned on tramping at all when I was getting ready for New Zealand but am very glad that I had the opportunity to. I made a few new friends and pushed myself and made a goal to get in shape for the Inca Trail in Peru.

After Abel Tas, we headed to Nelson for a few days. I took the time to plan out what I wanted to achieve in the final weeks of my adventure and to decompress a little. A tough decision was made to miss out on the East Coast of the South Island and to head to the North Island where I wanted to focus on wwoofing more than traveling. I picked a few places I wanted to see, and got ready for my next hitch - from Nelson to the ferry town of Picton.

The adventure gets really interesting here... stay tuned for more!