Chicks and Camping

We've successfully finished off our time as Wwoofers and all said and done it's been a really positive experience. Alastair and Suzie have been great hosts and we've enjoyed getting stuck in to all the jobs around the place. We've had our last four working days this week and we've spent them doing everything from mowing lawns, to making cheesecakes (homemade cheese of course), to laying gravel on the parking area.

We've been putting a big push into the car park as this is a task we started on our first day at Earthstead, slowly clearing the weeds and taking it back to sand, and we didn't want to leave without seeing it finished. Thursday afternoon was spent collecting trailer loads of gravel from the neighbours house and spreading it over the area and with everyone working on it the transformation was very quick and very satisfying to see.

Friday saw us saying our goodbyes to those at Earthstead and moving on to the next part of our trip... several weeks of travelling, camping and seeing what we can of New Zealand. It's a strange feeling to be free and on the road again after our three weeks of wwoofing but I'm sure we'll settle into it soon enough. Last Sunday saw us spending time with Al and Suzies family, and for Joe that meant helping with the butchering of a couple of deer that had been shot by Al's nephew the day before. It seems that hunting is much more prevalent and seen as the norm here - something we're having to adjust to. In return for his help Joe was given a bag of venison steaks and we've been feasting on those this weekend - nothing like starting our camping trip with some quality food. 

We're heading for the South Island at the start of next week and so the plan for the weekend was to get from Cambridge to Wellington in three legs. We started our travels with a visit to Maungatautari Ecological Reserve - an area of land that is kept predator free to safeguard the native birds. We had an interesting couple of hours wandering along the forest tracks watching the fantails dance around us and the kaka work their way around the trees on the hunt for something tasty - making good use of the binoculars we borrowed for the trip. 

The rest of the day was spent driving to our first campsite. New Zealand is scattered with campsites run by the department of conservation which we intend to use regularly. They are very reasonably priced (often free, as Fridays was) and have limited facilities but are situated in the quiet peaceful spots that we love about camping. This particular one caught our eye because it was well positioned for Saturdays drive - a trip along the "forgotten world highway".

This took us most of the day and lived up to all our expectations. View after view opened up and we really did feel like we were in the middle of nowhere. The landscape was all wonderfully hilly and the road wound it's way along ridges and through passes, and at times became just a gravel track before returning to tarmac again. We've commented multiple times since arriving here about how the hills seem pointier than we'd expect. I'm not sure how else to describe it but these are certainly not England's rolling hills. As we were travelling along this highway Joe's description was "it feels like North Wales... But squashed together" - and that's about as close as we're going to get to putting a finger on the difference.

We spent most of Saturday in the car with the expeception of a detour to see Mt Damper Falls (yes another waterfall - get used to it) which was a very pleasant 20min walk through farmland and another impressive drop with a beautiful valley stretched out beneath it. It was well worth the stop, particularly as the weather was lovely and sunny. The forgotten world highway finishes in Stratford and we stopped for icecream (just the one tub!) before making headway for the campsite on the seafront near Whanganui. A very pleasant campsite and being right on the beach and we couldn't resist an after dinner wander, We had to dodge the occasional car as apparently driving on the beach is quite normal, and were astounded by the amount of driftwood that had been washed up along it - there were huge pieces of wood just sitting there for the taking and left us wondering what we would do with it if we lived a little closer!

And that's where this weeks story ends except to leave you with a photo of one of Earthsteads latest arrivals; seven Arucana chicks.

Read More

Wwoofing and Waterfalls

Our second week at Earthstead has been almost as busy as the first. There's always plenty to be done here and we never have a problem getting to sleep at the end of each day! We've both been under the weather this week and have enjoyed the novelty of making honey and lemon drinks with honey from Earthstead's bees and lemons picked straight from the tree. Our focus this week has been on finishing off our two main projects.

When it's not been raining we've been clearing the parking area of weeds ready for a fresh layer of gravel. Underneath the top inch of soil we were hitting sand and the aim was to clear the area - five generous parking bays worth - back to this, which for the most part was simply a case of scraping it off with a hoe, though some areas the weeds had taken a bigger hold and larger tools were needed. During our final week here we'll be moving the gravel over from another area of the farm and hopefully we'll be able to see this looking finished and shiny before we go.

Clearing the parking area

Wetter moments have been spent inside with the set of dining chairs. The original red upholstery was being replaced with a cream fabric and this week we polished up the wood and sorted the new fabric for the last two chairs. They look much better for the refresh and maybe we can utilise the new skills when we come to sort out chairs to go with the table back home.

Before and after...

When not working hard we've also had a little time off this week and took a day to visit the local seaside at Raglan. The beach was well frequented by surfers and we enjoyed lunch sitting above the sands watching them. The sands themselves were a lovely dark colour from the volcanic landscape.

The waves at Raglan

On the drive home from Raglan we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls - we're always a sucker for a good waterfall - and were very pleased with this one. The falls run over the edge of an ancient lava flow, slowly wearing away at the sandstone beneath it, leaving a long drop and interesting rock patterns. The car park was at the top of the falls with 261 steps down to the lowest viewing platform. Worth the trip down, but a little hard on the legs to get back up again!

Bridal Veil Falls from the mid-height platform

Finally we also enjoyed a sunny afternoon off to visit Hamilton Gardens. They have split up the land into lots of smaller themed areas which worked really well - we particularly enjoyed the Italian and Indian areas, as well as the sustainable living family garden, complete with chickens! Unfortunately they were clearly gearing up for the summer visitors and several of the gardens were empty of established plants. There was enough going on to keep us amused for a couple of hours but looked like it would be stunning in a few months time. We heard this weekend that Hamilton Gardens has just won an international award for Municipal Gardens - nothing but the best here!

The Italian Garden at Hamilton Gardens

Read More

Marmalade and Mozzarella

We've just finished our first week of WWOOFing with Alastair and Suzie at Earthstead. While it's been a little challenge for bodies used to sitting at desks all day we've both enjoyed settling into the mostly self sufficient lifestyle with plenty of time spent in the kitchen too.

Making use of the seasons produce is high on the agenda and particularly using up some of the milk that their three dairy cows are producing each day. In just the few days we've been here butter, mozzarella, quark, ricotta and halloumi have all been made with Joe getting a chance to tick a few items off his "preserving methods I'd like to try one day" list. He's found a kindred spirit in Al, and the two have been spotted a few times peering at cheese making books trying to decide what to make next, as well as lengthy discussions on whether it's possible to build some sort of cellar for curing hard cheeses in!

Curds and Whey for making mozzarella

When not playing with the fresh milk, there's been fruit and veg for preserving and we've made three batches of marmalade as well as a jar of kimchi. We found the experience of picking our citrus fruit for the marmalade a very surreal one - just not something you'd do in the UK. Here we had a choice of oranges, mandarins, grapefruit, lemons and limes all on the bushes. Madness.

Fresh fruit from the garden

Not all of our time has been spent in the kitchen and Alastair and Suzie run a luxury accommodation business on site with three self contained apartments. Naturally this means there is always plenty of cleaning to be done as one guest leaves and another arrives and we've also been helping with an overhaul of the parking area, clearing it of weeds ready for a fresh layer of gravel. While hard work it's been satisfying to see the area gradually looking so neat and tidy. 

Finally the chairs for the properties are all being freshened up with new upholstery. This isn't something we've done before but with plenty of experience playing with both wood and fabric it isn't something we've found too hard either. As a task it's progressing slowly as we've been distracted by all the other jobs to be done but we've finished our first chair and I have to say it's looking pretty good. Hopefully be able to crack on with the rest next week.

Read More