Miraculous Journeys into the Far North...& beyond...

An invitation to celebrate Labour Weekend, Oct. 26th, a Public Holiday in New Zealand/Aotearoa in Waipu, on the North East coast of Upper North Island, was the perfect start to my adventure in the Far North of this amazing country....

Whilst wwoofing at http://www.earthtalk.co.nz/, Awhitu is a good experience of rural NZ life, the community lacks any public transport infrastructure & so getting out & about is completely dependant on owning or having access to a car. Negotiating lifts & opportunistically tagging along on others journeys becomes an art form! Wonderfully, my experience has been that there's usually a very kind & hospitable kiwi always ready to help out... in most situations...!

Mysteriously & miraculously... everything went to plan... On Thursday, Oct. 23rd, I tagged along on Charmaine's Business Meeting journey & arrived at Big Blue House, an Auckland B&B, http://www.thebigbluehouse.co.nz/ - I'd 'wwoofed' here for a week earlier in the year... Very early the next morning, I hitched a lift with Kate from BBH...we stopped en-route for a gorgeous Breakfast in a fashionable Ponsonby Rd Cafe, before Kate dropped me at Wendy's home, in Auckland Centre... later that morning, Wendy kindly dropped me off at Smale Farm Station, beyond North Shore, across the Auckland Harbour Bridge... en-route to her work place.... where a short time later...miraculously...Helen picked me up & we drove to her home in Waipu via lunch & shopping in Warkworth... see what I mean about travelling being 'an art form'? Friday night dinner with Helen & Sue's family & friends was the perfect end to an exhausting but amazing series of encounters with kiwi kindness par excellence!

Ohhhhh No! I have lost the photos I was going to upload to this post... here's hoping they re-appear as bizarrely as they have disappeared....

Tales of the Unexpected!

Kia Ora Everyone.... Sorry no postings for quite a while! Where've I been, eh? Well, the good news is that I haven't fallen down the gully or been swallowed up by a Mangrove sucker or even been enjoying some tramping in the Bush.... much more interesting than that! I've been doing an unsolicited stint as the health equivalent of whatever that woman's called whose does those 'The Hotel Inspector' TV programmes.... at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland & as from today... of the South Auckland Home Care Team....
A few weeks ago, my wwoofing duties included a couple of days of carting big bales of hay from the Barn & wheel barrowing them to various parts of the Farm, to mulched the many fruit trees after feeding them with Blood, Bone & Lime.... (all dried & none of it mine, I hasten to add.... well, maybe a bit of my blood after I missed the bale twine & accidentally cut thru' my rubber gardening gloves...)
Since then I'd felt like I'd pulled a muscle or two in my fairly substantial belly!.... but the pain got worse & I began to feel ill.... & eventually T&C drove me their GP... about 60 miles away.... we are out in the sticks here... & she diagnosed Appendictis & arranged my immediate transfer to Middlemore Hospital.... some key hole surgery & excellent nursing/medical care & I was happily discharged 4 days later.... got home & began to feel really ill.... & ended up being readmitted 4 days later with two badly infected wound sites that needed further surgery & IVantibiotics... more excellent nursing/medical care... & here I am, discharged yesterday, 6 days later & just had my first experience of the District Nursing service..... Margaret, my wonderful DN has redressed my wounds & I'm feeling a bit more myself than I have for some time... I did have a bout of feeling ever so sorry for myself & thanks very much to those friends who replied with some tlc to my texts... anyway, now I realise yet again what a blessed woman I am to have good friends & a family who thrive on crisis management & are there when I need them! Who needs soaps, eh?
As a wwoofer, you can be in a precarious position when you're ill - re: accomodation, food, care etc because Tanya & Charmaine here at Earthtalk have had to buy in extra help to cover my absence yet they've been incredibly compassionate & caring & driven miles & miles to ensure I had visitors & all that I needed to help me get well in hospital... e.g. it's a 3 hour/130 mile round-trip to the hospital taking in the car so.... yes, I am very fortunate to have two such amazing & generous woman take the time & trouble to look after me.... doing my washing & cooking my evening meal....! Hopefully, I'll be back on my feet, up & wwoofing very soon although no heavy lifting for 4 weeks according to the Doctors so the hay bales & mulching are off the list for me! So, what a wonderfully healing spot I've got to recover in & a plentiful supply of organic eggs, fruit & veggies... the 4 types of lettuce I'd pot planted on my decking have just shot up whist I've been away & spring really has arrived.... as I glance up I can see 12 little ducklings splashing away in the wetland pond & a wonderfully irreidesant Kingfisher on the fence nearby! Yes, I'm blessed!
So, no photos but lots of gratitude for the gift of family & friends that it's ever so easy to take for granted! Love Suz xx

Wwoofing Bliss....

Kia Ora Everyone,

Sorry there's been no entries for a little while but I've not had access to the internet or been able to upload my photographs recently.... Thanks though to everyone who keeps in email contact as I'm getting very good at using all the opportunistic occasions I can to briefly access my mail....



Okay, a whistle stop tour through the highlights of the last few weeks.....



As my time at Waihoihoi Lodge drew to an end, I tried to capture the more challenging moments of this wwoofing experience in word & photo... the compulsory sessions in the heated, outdoor spa, usually at the end of an exhausting day of cleaning or packing with the obligatory glass of some noxious substance or other was one challenge I particularly struggled with - as evidenced in photo 1.... those jets would insist on massaging the aches & pains from my shoulders as I gazed across at the bay..


One of the things about being a wwoofer is that one has to learn very quickly to 'go with the flow' & if one's Host suddenly decides that it's time for eveyone.... including Hildegard, the dog, to go down to the beach for a gorgeous walk along a windswept, sun-filled empty beach... quite honestly, what's a wwoofer to do... except to jump into the jeep & go! Here's me at Wapui Cove... on compulsory beach walk duties!
























This is another photo of the amazing Waka (Maori

Canoe) & Wave sculpture at Whangarei....





















And lastly, a photo of the view from the Hot Tub across Bream Head, some folks say that Bream Head looks like a sleeping dragon... what do you think?

Waka & Wave at Whangarei...

Waipu Wonders Mark 2...
Feeling ever so slightly like Thelma without Louise, on July 11th, I temporarily left Awhitu. Tanya & Charmaine at Earthtalk had agreed to rent me their second little car... an elderly, battered but lively white mazda at a very reasonable 'wwoofer' rate so I had a 'set of wheels' to follow them the 250kms drie north to Rosemary Neave's women's Waihoihoi Lodge It's situated 8kms outside Waipu, a small, rural village on the north east coast of North Island. The 3 of us were headed north for the Waipu Winter Arts Festival & a Saturday evening performance about Hildegard of Bingen, a medival Nun & mystic, written & performed by Ceridwyn Parr & Danielle Melton, http://www.watershedcottage.co.nz/

Enroute, we stoped off at Judith's in Warkworth, a friend of T&C's, who had prepared a gorgeous birthday lunch for Charmaine. Annie, another friend of T&C joined us... & after a second, decadent sliver of chocolate tartin, some very lively conversation & an inspection of Judith's 'chucks'.... we continued on our way north... As a wwoofer, I find it incredible how generous T&C have been in making me feel welcome, introducing me to their many friends & including me in many of their social events....plays, meals, trips into the city... even introducing me to Moka, their favourite massage therapist, who works miracles with my mid-life wwoofer aches & pains from working on the land....
Eventually, after passing thru' the Brynderwyn Hills, we reached our destination... & received a very warm welcome from Rosemary, the owner of Waihoihoi Lodge. I have taken some photos of the Lodge, its breathtaking location, surrounded by native bush, overlooking Bream Bay & beyond that.... the South Pacific sea....

but... not being a blog nerd... I haven't always been able to match my text with the right photos so... please be patient & watch this space & I'll post the photos as soon as I can upload them....
My weekend was full of gorgeous memories... Ceri & Danielle's creative & fascinating exposition of Hildegard's life, Rosemary's gourmet meals - including a spectacular outdoor Sunday Brunch, rich conversations & as the daylight faded away, wonderful, therapeutic body massages in the 7 seater outdoor spa overlooking the bay, with the lights of Bream Head & the harbour sparkling in the distance....it was magical to gaze up at the dark, star-filled sky & see the southern cross, venus & the milky way so clearly.

And all good things have to come to an end.... or do they?

Not for wwoofers it seems! T&C had suggested to me that whilst I was up in northlands, I take some time to explore the area & they'd arranged with Rosemary that I'd stay on for an additional two weeks wwoofing... combined with some sightseeing.... inbetween times Rosemary had given my name to Kate & Lynn, owners of The Big Blue House B&B, Auckland, who were desperate for someone to run their B&B whilst they were away on a week's holiday.... so, I ended up spending a fun-filled week wwoofing for Rosemary, Ceri & Danielle.... helping clean & pack up Waihoihoi Lodge.... for more details of why see Rosemary's web site http://www.waihoihoi.co.nz/

My wwoofing duties included obligatory long walks on picturesque, empty beaches followed by visits to the local Deli/Cafe for exquisite coffee & homemade deserts e.g. prune & pineaple cake served with cream... interspersed with occasional packing, veggie garden weeding, feeding chucks, clearing attics, playing with Hildegard... the dog, near-death experiences straddling the quad bike up & down steep paddocks to find & then feed Rosemary's neighbour's grumpy ducks... trips to the rubbish tip...oh, I forgot....all in house activities were accompanied by obligatory sing-along operatic arias & other 'playlist' selections on Rosemary's ipod... playing loudly via the house sound system...

And there were contemplative moments too... mainly in the outdoor spa gazing at the stars.... zen moments on the beach & working outdoors...

but seriously, reading between the lines, I hope you're able to tell that it's such a hard life being a wwoofer! Honestly, I'm struggling to keep up!

Eventually, my week at Waihoihoi came to an end & it was time for me to move on to The Big Blue House B&B.... Rosemary, Ceri & Danielle advised me to drive the scenic 'Twin Coast' route back to Auckland.... stunning scenery, mountains, beaches & vineyards.... more about my experiences running a B&B will follow in another blog....

Oh, I just remembered, whilst at Waihoihoi, I did have an afternoon out at Whangarei... a city north of Waipu... besides joining the AA Breakdown, buying a warm fleece to combat the cold, wet weather & mouching around the shops for abit of retail therapy.... on Rosemary's reccomendation, I went in search of this unusual sculpture called 'Waka & Wave' in the Whangarei Town Basin, at Hihiaua Peninsula. It's located close to the site that the Maori would traditionally have launched their Waka (canoes) in years gone by. It was sculpted by Wallace Hetaraka & Chris Booth as a bicultural project betwen Maori & Pakeha artists.

This is the Waka and... SORRY... it's disappeared but this is the Wave......

This is a photo of the view from the local beach... towards Whangarei Heads... some folks say that the headland looks like a Dragon's Head... with the Dragon's snout at the tip of the headland... what do you think?

And this is me at Waihoihoi Lodge, at the mandatory Sunday Brunch...I was forced to sit outside on the deck, overlooking the sea.... & enjoy myself... terrible!

Anyway, got to go now as wwoofing duties call.... Thanks too for all your emails... keep 'em coming... Love Suz x

Waipu Wonders....

Dear Friends.... Unfortunately my lap top is currently out of action so I'm in a rather seedy internet cafe checking my emails & trying to post a message to say.... watch this space for news of hot tubs, southern stars & a little story about my close encounter with a sick rat.... Love Suz x

Somewhere over Awhitu's Rainbow.....

So, still in the park, enjoying myself & admiring the Manukau Honey trees & their white blossom...
Photo 1.... when there's terrific clap of thunder....
& the skies darkened....
& the birds stopped cheaping...
the heavans opened....
so I legged it as quickly as I could along the shoreline back to the car & the safety & warmth of Banana Bungalow....
photo 3 - drenched....
but happy to have escaped the hailstones that were cascading down....
Banana Bungalow is so called because on the otherside on the Bungalow, just to the right of the photo, are Bananas... growing alongside the avocado, cherimoya, coffee, grapefruit & other trees...
And just to prove that I'm more than surviving
& that inspite of all this fresh air & very healthy,
home-grown, organic food plus plenty of sleep....
I'm obviously still 'thriving', this is me this morning -
photo 4-
It's so true that we can have 4 seasons of weather in one day here....
first, it was hailstoning & lashing down with rain....then, a few minutes later....
Do keep the emails coming.... & let me know when you're planning your trip to Aotearoa....
Love Suz xx

Just 3kms away is....Awhitu Regional Park....

Hello Again,
It's Saturday afternoon here... & about 4am Saturday July 5th for all those sleeping
soundly in the UK before waking up to watch the Williams Sisters battle it out on Centre
Court... Thanks for all the emails... it's always great to receive news from ábroad'....
Please ignore the date/time on these photos... I can't seem to get it off as the camera - it's being very tempremental...
Here goes....
Photos 1 - 4 are from a walk I took yesterday through Awhitu Regional Park... like the
UK's National Parks... it's literally on our doorstep because it's on the other side of the
Kauri Gully, one of the boundaries of Earthtalk... photo 1 is looking towards Earthtalk's shore...
I literally had the whole park to myself & only met up with 3 people as I left the Park...
It's a wonderfully wild place, full of history...Both the AWhitu Peninusula & the park take their name from the pre-eurpoean Maori settlement of Awhitu, which means ýearning'... felt by Hoturoa, the commander of the Tainui canoe (Waka), when he left the districy. The traditional name for the park's location was Kauritutahi, after the single Kauri Tree which stands on the small islet off the park - see photo 3!
In 1878, an English family, called the Brookes, came & settled here via the jetty
- photo 3 - & it was their only lifeline with the outside world because this was considered
'a far flung place' & there were no roads...
It was a blusterery day & after a few showers... out came the rainbow...photo 4
T&C retruned on Thursday & they'veinsisted I had an extra day off this week & a bonus
because I worked so hard whilst they were away.... braving gale force winds, hail & sleet,
fighting my way to their chucks....
I'm busy planning where to go t& visit when we go up to Whangarei, on the far north east coast next Friday, July 11th. I'm going to 'rent' T&C's little Mazda & have a week 'wwoofing'for Rosemary, who owns & runs a Spirituality Centre up there. There's a Festival on over the weekend & one of the things I'm going to is a Hildegard of Bingen Concert. She was a medival Mystic who wrote beautiful music & poetry. Two of T&C's friends are putting on the performance. I was planning on staying up there for two weeks but had an offer of 'house-sitting' a B&B in Auckland, called 'The Big, Blue House' from the 21st July for 7 days... putting breakfast out for guests etc... so after looking it up on the internet I decided to cut short my travels & go there... I'll have access to wi-fi & sky & receive some renumeration too!
Okay, more photos to upload & I'm trying to get everything uploaded before my time on the pc runs out....
Lots of love, Suz x