Work and Play

We've now finished our last day of work at Morepork Lodge, It has been hard work but I feel like I have really achieved something during my time working here. I’ve never worked in this kind of environment before and its all been new to me but WOOFing is so much fun and if you come to New Zealand you should really give it a go. Here is what our host had to say about us on our profile feedback:-

We were lucky enough to have Ian and Lloyd stay, work and play with us in March 2012..we were their first WWOOFing hosts...so I was out to draw blood. I succeeded! Ian and Lloyd are two hell of a nice guys and REALLY hard and honest workers and willing to give anything a go...show them once and then leave them to it knowing a thorough job will be done...and we had a laugh along the way!!..I thought I might get away with throwing them a piece of bread and some chicken bones but alas, they have a good appetite cos they work so hard! Typically the work included clearing scrub, gorse and weeds, lawn mowing, spreading post peelings, paddock tidying,  helping me fell trees, wood chopping, window and deck cleaning, meeting and greeting our BNB hosts when were not here ( so testament to their personalities!) We had the guys here for a week and they worked 3 full days at our request so as to beat the weather, then had 3 days off. Guys, it is great to meet you both, and we would recommend with out hesitation these two great guys to help out on your property They have their own transport which is also a bonus! Good luck and safe travels to you both....cheers... Paul and Barbara 

Our great hosts Barbara and Paul

Paul and Barbara have been amazing hosts and we have both been really well looked after. Paul is really funny and is good to share a joke with and Barbara is an absolute sweetheart.  The food has been great and It seems we both really worked up and appetite. All in all Paul and Barbara have been like parents to us during our week here and as our first woofing hosts I will miss them when we leave. If you do stay in this part of New Zealand on a holiday I would definitely say come and stay at Morepork lodge, it’s a really nice place and the view and grounds are beautiful.

Morning mist 

If you are wondering what a Morepork is it’s an owl, I originally thought Paul might really pork and imagined him saying to Barbara ‘’More Pork for the Barbie Barbara’’ hence the name Morepork but alas we were lucky to see a pair of Moreporks, Paul pointed them out in a tree.

During our time here we pretty much did the following jobs,  clearing scrub, gorse and weeds, lawn mowing, spreading post peelings, paddock tidying, helping Paul fell trees, wood chopping, window and deck cleaning, meeting and greeting  BNB guests when our hosts were not around. Like I said its been hard work and Lloyd and I have both had blistered hands, cuts and aching bones from the work we have done but I have enjoyed the whole experience so much. We now have another host lined up for the 21^st March and we can stay there for anything from 1 week to a month, I guess it depends on how  much we enjoy ourselves and how we get on with the host.

Blistered ''artists'' hands from log splitting

We've worked 3 days and now have 3 days off with full board and food, not a bad deal at all! Today being our first day off we drove out to Kerikeri and visited an old stone house and walked around a bit of beautiful woodland. On our way back we stopped for a coffee and some cake, there does seem to be a lot of coffee stops around this area not that I’m complaining. It’s nice to see independent coffee shops, something different to Starbucks and Costa.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had a bit of culture shock when we arrived in NZ but I do think that getting out on the road and meeting real Kiwis is the best way to overcome this and now I really feel like I’m starting to get into the travelling lifestyle, I really want to enjoy each day to the max and get the most out of my time here, in fact I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do and where I’m going to go next when I’ve finished with NZ, maybe  Iceland or Canada!