Wwoofing on Waiheke – Part 2

Our arrangement with Simon was that we would work three hours in the morning, and then we could stay at the “Hilton.” We needed to provide our own meals, but with our own small kitchen and the bounty of his garden available, it was a pleasure.

We settled in to our little routine nicely, which went like this:

1) Wake up and make tea, and while watching the birds in Simon’s yard eat breakfast. We still need to figure out what types of birds they were specifically, but there were four primary  types that spent the mornings near the pear tree: Sneaky Birds (black with a little navy in the breast, orange beaks, and long spindly legs. The way the walked it looked like they were sneaking around, hence the name. They would also grab a pear off the ground then rush off with it); Pretty Birds (bright red, green, and yellow, looking more like a tropical parrot than something to be found on a farm. They would fly in and hide in the tree, but never posed very nicely for photos); and two Friendly Birds (they looked like two types of ducks – a black one with some white on his wings, and one with a white head similar to a bald eagle. These two also spent all their time together, so we figured they were either a couple or the best of friends).

2) After birdwatching and breakfast, we would get down to business. I am now a master weeder, with the blisters / calluses to prove it. There is also Simon’s various garden beds and walks that are now beautifully weed-free. There was two-days worth of weeding, but I found it rather therapeutic. We also worked with Simon to chop and stack a giant pile of wood for the pizza oven on his man deck (this reminded me very much of work at the camp). The strangest task was digging a giant pit in preparation for slaughtering a couple of Simon’s sheep; he needed a hole to bury the heads and offal. We did this under the blazing sun digging through rock hard dirt then clay, all under the watchful eyes of the sheep. It made it a little sad, in particular because we were leaving before there would be any sheep to eat.

    

3) Once our work for the day was taken care of, we would eat lunch and head off for the afternoon’s adventure: hiking, going to the beach (aka recovering), and visiting wineries.

We took on a “leisurely” walk one afternoon that the guide book said should be about two hours return. We were gone for five hours. Though to be fair, with the circuitous route we used (up and over a rather large hill, or possibly a small mountain) it took an hour to get to the starting point of the walk. Either Kiwis are far more fit and their definition of easy drastically differs from mine, or we got mixed up on the way. It ended up just fine though, because we found a lovely bench with a great view of Auckland, and christened it the beer bench and enjoyed the frosty beverages I had brought. Dustin urged us on, and just a bit farther on we stumbled on the Te Wahu winery, and just had to stop for a quick tasting before continuing on. The rest of the trail didn’t include any more adult beverages, but plenty of beautiful vistas over the water and small secluded coves. Since we were (OK, I was) getting hungry, since our brief excursion had gone on for an extend time and I’d already eat the emergency snacks, we hustled back to make dinner (not that I wouldn’t have been prepared to make friends with someone and invite myself in if the need had arisen).

In addition to the great beaches on Waiheke, it’s also known for its vineyards and so we made a point to enjoy some while we were there. My Aunt Julie and Uncle Don love a good glass of wine, and celebrate Champagne Friday! each week. Before we left, she had given us a gift so that we could treat ourselves while on our trip, and treat ourselves we did. In the spirit of Aunt Jules and Uncle Don, we took an afternoon and visited Wild on Waiheke, where we had pulled pork tacos and a tasting of all their in-house beer, including a non-alcoholic ginger beer. We then wandered up the hill to Stonyridge Vineyard for a tasting of their white wines and some comte cheese, best enjoyed while overlooking the rolling hills of the islands (and possibly eavesdropping on some ridiculous conversations). We felt a bit like imposters in a fancy shmancy vineyard; that it was a bit surreal as if we were doing things meant for others. Not wanting to over indulge, we walked back down the road and back to Simon’s next door.

     

4) Visit Simon’s veggie garden, collect treasures, prepare dinner. After having the luxury of picking vegetables, walking back to the kitchen and making dinner with them, I am now convinced that I need a vegetable garden, and fruit trees to go with it. I have added it to my list of projects that need to be done, and I think it might bump some things down on the list, like building a frame for my kimono. Fresh veggies are greater than home decor.

Dinner never took long to put together, and we’d sit on the little deck and eat, watching the Friendly and Sneaky birds wander around the pear tree as the sun set. If we were ambitious, we’d pick figs or peaches for dessert.

  

5) Prepare mosquito net and read before bed. At home, we have these wonderful contraptions called screens, which go on windows to keep flying, buzzing, and crawling things outside while I am on the inside. Kiwis don’t seem to be big on them, and so Simon had a mosquito net over the bed (thank goodness). The first night, we simply put it down and let it drape over the sides of the bed. If you’ve not used one before, or only for decorative purposes, this is not the correct approach. The first evening,  we went to bed and after a few hours of flying, buzzing, and biting, there was an epic battle between us and the millions* of mosquitoes that somehow made their way inside of the net. In a frenzy that would rival piranhas at feeding time, we obliterated all of the bugs inside, and then tucked the net in under the mattress. Why it took us several hours of non-sleep to consider this an option, I will never know. But we won in the end, and learned our lesson. Tuck the net in before bed.

This little routine was how we passed a very pleasant week on Waiheke. We enjoyed feeling productive in the mornings, that we contributed something to the day (even if it was just pulling weeds), which also made the afternoons doing not much of anything nicer. Really, it meant that we felt less like slugs when we went to the beach and read for the afternoon. And Simon has a pit ready for when it’s sheep time.

*Best estimate – the heat of battle may have skewed my impression.