Hi guys! I’m a little behind on posting blogs as I was out of service for the last week and now have some major catching up to do.

This past week was the last little bit of free time that I had before I have my two finals. Asha, Josh, and I used this time to go WWOOFing, which is essentially a farming homestay program where you trade manual labor in return for food and accommodation. We had picked this farm 30 minutes outside of Christchurch (a 6-hour drive from Dunedin, where I go to university) that had goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and a couple of dogs. We had prepared to do some gardening, a little animal care, and whatever other random chores that Merel, the lady who owns the farm, assigned us to do.

We rented a car and made the drive to Christchurch, where we spent the night in a hostel with a random guy who snored so loudly that it kept us up all night. The next day, we made the drive up to Merel’s farm. As soon as we met Merel, she jumped right into the personal questions of religion, politics, her beliefs on climate change, the government, and our fundamental ideas on life. While we all had some conflicting ideas, it was interesting to meet a Dutch woman who moved to New Zealand and her two young grandchildren who lived with her. She has a house that uses hay as the foundation and insulation, and doesn’t allow phones, computers, or any smart devices, as she said she was sensitive to the EMF that they radiate. After this explanation she showed us our rooms and then proceeded to give us our first tasks.

Day 1:

Merel had gone to the farmers’ market and picked out some flowers that needed to be planted, so I did that while Asha and Josh planted some vegetables. Once I had done my task, I helped with the vegetable garden while Josh started to dig a hole for the persimmon tree she wanted to plant. Asha and I were then given 12 cabbage trees, and we planted them in between the goat and sheep pens, as the birds love to nest in them. We had a quick lunch of jam and cheese on bread before Josh went back to his hole, and Asha and I started to mulch her garden. After a brief dinner, we all went to explore the closest town over called Rangiora, where we went to the beach and walked around a bit before playing Hearts back at Merel’s.

Day 2:

We started the day with a yogurt parfait before Josh went back to digging his hole. Asha and I watered her garden and the cabbage trees we planted yesterday. We then pruned the bigger cabbage trees and weeded the vegetable garden before it was lunch. Another meal of bread, jam, and cheese before we were sent to cut the flowers off the rhubarb plant and feed them to the goats. Next, we weeded the side of her house while Josh was still digging a hole for the tree. We helped break down boxes and find other organic material to help her compost pile. That night, after dinner, we got to feed the baby goats and sheep, which was a lot of fun, and Josh finally finished planting the tree. We then went into town again and went to a pub and met a couple of locals. We had an eclectic mix of people at the bar, but it was fun to hang out with Kiwis from more rural areas than Dunedin. I learned about the few New Zealand gangs in the area and played a couple more rounds of Hearts, in which I lost every game.

Day 3:

Day 3 was when our time on the farm started to take a little bit of a turn. After breakfast of yogurt, granola, and fresh goat’s milk, we were given a bag of ash and told to ash the sheep field. This is exactly what it sounds like: Asha rolled the wheelbarrow through the field, while Josh and I would grab handfuls and scatter them throughout the field. This is supposed to help keep carbon in the soil and absorb nutrients so that when it rains, the water won’t wash away as much of the fertilizer. It felt like a medieval task, and we were covered from head to toe in ash by the end of it. Our next task was to clean the chicken coop and check for fleas. I can’t say that this was the most pleasant job, but we got to collect eggs while we were at it. We planted five more cabbage trees before it was time for lunch. This time there were no jam sandwiches and instead I was given four boiled eggs with some lettuce. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t eat fish, which normally is easy for me as I cook my own meals, but I had a little bit of trouble at Merel’s as she ate a lot of fish. As we were in rural New Zealand, there wasn’t anything close by, so I ate my eggs and had to wait until dinner for something more substantial. Asha and I transplanted a couple of trees before we all spread woodchips over the ground we had mulched earlier. While Asha and I took a break, Merel came and talked to us for the first time outside of giving us instructions. She told us the importance of zinc and how that would clear skin from any issue, from acne to rashes. She then preached the use of urine to clear skin, treat wounds, and to drink to help purify the gut. We learned that Merel is a bit of a conspiracy theorist and believes that celebrities are kidnapping young children and draining them of blood so that they can isolate the platelets that are related to youth so that they can stay young forever. This conversation took a little bit of a turn when she suggested that Asha and I both start washing our faces with urine, especially after working on the farm all day. We weren’t sure what to say and got back to mulching pretty quickly after that. That evening, we left to go to a different town and beach, where we got food from a small fish and chips store and walked on the beach for a couple of hours. This is when we decided to cut our stay at Merel’s farm a little short. We planned to stay for one more day, and then we would leave in the morning the day after.

Day 4:

Josh got the short end of the stick on Day 4. He had to flip the goat shed and clean it from poop, mud, while not getting attacked by the brooding duck who lived inside. It took him almost all day, as there were a couple of sheds, and he only had one tiny wheelbarrow. Asha and I were given the task of weeding all of the flower beds, the gardens in front and behind her house, along the driveway, and the road leading up to her house. This task took us from breakfast to dinner, when Josh finally finished the goat sheds, and I mowed the lawn. It was pouring rain that evening, so instead of going to the beach or into town, we stayed at the house and played Hearts and Catan. We had a quiet evening just chatting until we went to bed.

Day 5:

After leaving Merel’s farm, we drove to Lake Tekapo but got stuck in a small town called Fairlie due to road closures because of a sudden snowstorm. While it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s currently springtime for us, so this was a big surprise. We took this time to look at the Fairlie Heritage museum before hanging out in the library until we could get to Tekapo. We got lunch at an Indian restaurant before driving around and exploring all of the lakes and mountains in the area. We went on a walk around a lake that had a ton of abandoned trailers, which gave the walk a very dystopian feel. Once we finished our walk, we got ramen for dinner and played more Hearts (I finally won a round) before going to bed.

Day 6:

This was by far the best day that we had overall. We got up early and made the drive out to Mount Cook National Park, where it was a perfect blue sky, and we did the Sealy Tarns Track. The hike itself was a little treacherous as there was still a lot of snow, and it was icy. We weren’t able to make it to the top because the snow got waist-deep, but we made it within 50 meters of it. On our way back down, we saw a small avalanche come off Mount Cook, which was incredible. We spent some time in the visitor center before making the drive back home. We had a chill evening at the hostel watching The Lord of the Rings, playing cards, and chatting with some of the other guests at the hostel.

Day 7:

We finally started the drive back to Dunedin as I had a final I needed to prepare for. On our drive, we made a stop at a gorgeous winery that was tucked into the mountains and did a wine and cheese tasting before wandering the vineyard property for a couple of hours. After a while, we finished the drive back to Dunedin, where I spent the rest of the day trying to prepare for my Crime, Shame, and Scandal test.

It was a really busy week; there were a lot of strange moments and interactions, but we had a great time seeing different parts of the country, having amazing experiences, meeting new people, and spending time with each other. While I’m feeling a little stressed about my final, I still think this was the best way to spend a week in New Zealand. I know this was a lengthy post, but if you made it this far, congrats! See you next time!