In New Zealand for the last five days; spent a day in Auckland, and took a bus to my first WWOOF place. The sheer excitement of being in New Zealand made everything seem extra interesting at first. I may have gone a bit over getting excited about lichen on a plum tree or chicken-looking black birds on country roads. Overall though my stay has been supreme. Conny, my host-lady took me swimming in the Pacific Ocean right after I got off the bus; the work on the farm is easy, the food is good, Connie takes me mountain biking and does yoga, there's a picturesque swimming hole a short bike ride away.  

One of my more exotic experiences has been a hay staking evening/party. The local farming community is quite tight and friendly and one of the evenings this past week I, along with about twelve other people from different farms, went to help out with hay staking on a farm nearby. The whole experience is very fun and unsafe. Dogs, young people, old people, utes (NZlanders call trucks "utes") mingle as heavy bailes of hay are being staked precariously high on utes to be transported to the barn and re-staked there. The work is hard and hay is prickly, but afterwards the beer flows freely and there's no limit to cheer and merry-making. I'm sure I'm romanticising; but it's quite easy to do so seeing a bunch of not-so-young people gather in a large work-party and make merry. 

I'm staying on this farm for another couple of days and then heading up north to Cape Reinga to take a four day hike. 

So long.