Kohu Kohu - North Hogianga

Peter and Helen on their property

Peter and Helen hiking through the bush on their property

The house! This got very busy with children and 5 adults during the 2-3 rainy days we had this weekend. There was another wwoofing couple from England and their kids that were here for a week.

The driveway up to the house and gardens

Peter and Helen, my first hosts up north, are wonderful! This place has deeply moved me. It is closer to the earth and sky than I've ever felt. Their aim is to be able to grow all of their food on the land, right now, they have a large veggie patch, berries on the way, many fruit trees, chickens, and cows are coming next week.

Peter goes to work 3 days a week and Helen stays home and cooks for the kids and works on her garden. The house is a small, square hut, all one room downstairs, a windy staircase to the upstairs where the 2 bedrooms are. There is a long drop toilet outside as well as a shower that looks out onto the bush. They have 50 acres of land. There are a couple pictures of the land as well as the house.

The weather has been everything from VERY cold, windy and rainy, to extremely HOT! When the sun is out though, it is magnificent. It is interesting, being in a place where you might go weeks seeing no one except the people you live with and the random neighbor that stops by. I was thinking about this and thinking of how Josh is in SF, on of the busiest places in the world. Polar opposites. We got to bed around 9 or 10 and rise with the sun, having 3 meals and morning and afternoon tea (they are English).

Paihia, Bay of Islands

Try saying this name 3 times fast












Behind me is Hokianga Harbor that runs into the Tasman sea, I went on a tour through the forest and around the harbor on my way to the next wwoofing home









Paihia in the Bay of Islands, 144 islands total, and where the Treaty between the Whites and the Maori took place











Tane Mahuta, a 2,000 year old tree, known as the Lord of the Forest. Over 30 species of trees and plants live at the top and creates its own ecosystem






I had a night layover here (bum place to have a layover 'eh?) :) where I stayed in a Backpackers but unfortunately didn't have a lot of time to explore. It was okay because my bus the next day, which I thought was just a 2-hour bus ride to the next location, was actually a TOUR bus that went for half the day! The tour bus had 3 guides and only 3 passengers including myself. We went through the forest and saw Tane Mahuta (pictured above) and learned a lot about Maori Culture. If you'd like to see a good movie on some Maori culture, I just watched Whale Rider and it's a very good film.

Waitakere, NZ

My first host lives near Auckland. I didn't spend any time in Auckland, just came straight out here from the airport. The town is called Waitakere and I went to the visitors center to find out some history of the place. I learned that an old Maori tradition was that when a baby was born they would take the placenta and place it in the ground, and plan a tree on top of it. So when the tree grows the child always has a genetic tie to the land.

It is a beautiful lush and bushy place here, I've just come from a bush walk and am going for coffee now. I have been spending my days at work weeding, cleaning the inside of the house, planting trees, clearing spiders from windows....I am quickly having to get over my fear of spiders, bugs, etc. There are snails everywhere! The sun is hot when it's out so I'm trying to keep protected as well as I can.

Everyone is very keen on composting and recycling here. I didn't even see a household garbage can in my house until about the 3rd day when my host made one of a plastic bag (since I was doing a lot of clean up). They don't use the internet much here it seems, so when I do get on the connection is slow and I always have lots to do: looking for my next host, checking on bus schedules, etc.

Photos:

1. my first bush walk

2. yummy porriage breakfast

3. walking along the road into town, the view of the canopy

4. My hosts garden

Bondi Beach, Australia

Land of the Beautiful!!! Beautiful beaches, beautiful people..... this place is amazing - In town was "Sculpture by the Sea." Tons of sculptures along a gorgeous path along the sea for probably over a mile. I found a place at the end of the path to spend my morning - reading, doing yoga, meditating....the perfect spot. I'll have photos up soon and you can see all the sculptures. I haven't found a place yet where I can spend enough time online to upload a bunch of photos. Last time I put pics on my KODAK site it took an hour to upload 7 photos. So they're coming!

I found out that it costs $1 to make calls to a mobile phone (as opposed to $0.50 for land lines) when trying to call Brett (Scott Kennedy's brother). I met up later on with Brett Kennedy (Scott Kennedy's brother) and his girlfriend Sarah, and their 2 friends that were in town from Christchurch, NZ) and went for drinks and Tapas. Grand time!


Another thing I've learned is that the usual "vegetarian" pizza is with pumpkin and butternut squash...delightful! And that coffee always has one shot (unless you ask for another!) so no ordering a "double tall americano" here, that would mean nothing to Australian baristas.

I really only had one full day in Bondi, but managed to get in a sunrise beach run. Bondi beach is like a full on fitness center at 6am! People all over jogging, surfing, hitting pads, doing drills and probably CrossFit. It's quite a scene.

Beach Love

First was the Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise. Super fun place, but seemed like it could get a bit crazy and crowded. We stayed in a nice hotel just off the beach and went to dinner and lounged on the beach and did a little shopping the next day.

Photos: Kate and I on the beach, more beach, more beach, the night photo is at the Sunshine coast (i'm terrible at flash settings at night), and finally, my hostel in Bondi Beach, where I'm at now.

Brisbane

Brisbane with Katey Krash!

What a great adventure! We did everything from hiking through the rainforest in the Green Mountains and feeding the Parrots from our hands, to lounging on the beach at the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. Kate just moved to the Sunshine Coast to work for 5 weeks, so I stayed with her in her vacation rental on the beach my last night up there....it was incredible. We share many loves, like going out for cappuccino, rising early with the sun, and eating good food. Kate took me to so many organic and vegetarian restaurants - as well as the Powerhouse in Brisbane, Surfers Paradise at the Gold Coast, and a gorgeous Spanish restaurant at Sunshine.

In photos: we attended a party in Briz, the theme was "enchanted" - so pretty much everyone came as a fairy. In the rainforest at Lemington (O'Reilly something or other) Park we saw so many King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas all over. We walked up on a suspension bridge, and then walked straight up (through a caged ladder) to a platform overlooking the forest.....and then ANOTHER caged ladder at a vertical angle to the tree to the top platform. Definitely a weight limit on those things. You can imagine the birds eye view.

Massage/Chiro in Aus

So I had my first Aussie massage - was a bit concerned when I saw the long nails on the therapist. I thought if I got massage from a Physical Therapy office (Physio) there would be a better chance of it being "therapeutic" but....i was wrong. It was just a Swedish massage and a bit of an attempt at deep tissue. Room was cold and "doctors office-like" with no music or anything relaxing. Therapist didn't seem to have a lot of knowledge about the body. It really made me appreciate Brian Utting :) The chiropractic I've had here is wonderful, they do it a bit differently, like they tell you things are going to hurt or be uncomfortable (and they are) the whole time.

Food here is okay, I've mostly just been grocery shopping and eating at Kates house to save money. Espresso always comes with one shot (unless you as for 2) and in a tiny cup, so you'll often sit and have two! yum though, it's always tasty! I'm enjoying my days here just taking in the culture and people. Slower pace most definitely, it's really inspiring.

Pictures of Kate at a breakie place down an alley with plastic crates as tables and astro turf on the ground. Pic of a crazy looking bird, and of her shelf with her Obama book wedged between her "Sex in the City" DVD series on the left and big lips telephone on the right. :)

Brisbane, Australia

Love Australia! I'm staying with my good friend Kate (we both worked on Cruise Ships and trained together at the Steiner Training Academy in London for 2 months). She lives in a cute suburb (their suburbs don't have traffic like ours) called New Farm. I've just been hanging out pretty much. Took a boat called the City Cat into the "big city" of Brisbane yesterday and saw the sights like the Contemporary Art Gallery, huge shopping area, City Botanic Gardens and loads of walking trails along the water. The Brisbane River makes for a beautiful but confusing sort of city. It's probably the most comfortable and relaxing vacation I could wish for, and thank god the dollar has gained strength :)