Week Deux

Well, a week often doesn't seem like that long, and yet it feels like ages since we last updated, so bear with me as I recount the past couple of days. And, I wish we could figure out how to upload pictures, but we're still working on it, so just try to imagine the most beautiful places in the world, and that's pretty much what we've been seeing.
After a nice stay with Quentin and his family in Hamilton, we ventured to their lovely beach house just northeast of Coromandel. As if driving on the left-hand side of the road isn't tricky enough, we had to wind our way up a very narrow mountain road. Oh, and it was gravel. And it was raining. But! Since I am such a skilled and highly trained professional, we managed. At the top of the mountain there was a lookout, and we climbed up and could see for miles - the view was exactly like Neverland: blue lagoons, volcanic islands, incredible misty clouds, then a rapid and intense downpour while we were gazing all around sent us rushing and slipping down the mud back to our car, and as we descended the mountain a rainbow appeared in the distance; it was all too beautiful and stereotypical for words.
We arrived at the cabin and found it, once again, too beautiful to comprehend. It was a small house, perched on a hill overlooking the east coast. Volcanic islands broke up the ever changing ocean. We could see the clouds and weather come in from the sea for miles, and watched it turn the teal blue waters to a dark grey. The stars were incredible, too, away from all the city lights. It was wonderful to have a few days to relax and explore the coast. We went down to the beach and collected rocks and shells, climbed a tree and watched a seal play in the surf. We cooked delicious food and tried to figure out where to head next, and got a call back from a nice guy who wanted us to come wwoof at his bed and breakfast.
We left the cabin then, and drove down to Cooks Beach and Cathedral Cove, and decided to camp out for the night. We stopped at a local winery and the barman let us try all sorts of wines and specialty liqueurs. He also let us try the cherimoya, a fruit typically grown in Brazil that is delicious, and gave us some feijoas, or pineapple guavas, to take. We parked our car in a beachfront lot in Hahei, then took our packs and hiked an hour along the coast (in the dark), until we arrived at the fabled Cathedral Cove, where the second Narnia movie was filmed. It was dark, so we couldn't really see, but we walked under the huge archway and peered out over the dark sea crashing on the beach. We set up the tent, and when we awoke we were greeted with sparkling waters splashing on the sand, and white cliffs rising around the cove. We explored, walked under the arch again, marvelled at the fact that we woke up in Narnia, and were downright giddy when we filled up our water from a stream pouring over a cliff and purified it with our uv-activated water purifier (Thanks, Bart).
We got back to our car, which was fine, thank god, and then headed towards what we thought would be our first wwoofing job. Alas, we checked our email and got coffee at a cafe on the way, and he had sent us a note saying they couldn't host us because they had just had a baby and were too overwhelmed. Bummer. We mulled over what to do, finally got another job lined up, and had to basically bum around for a day. We kept driving, and the landscape was changing, and we drove past some geysers and volcanoes - one in the middle of a desert that was still covered with snow. To break up the drive, we stopped at a trout hatchery just south of Taupo, and walked around and saw lots of baby trout and even watched an informational video about them and their introduction to the area. An interesting thing to note about this hatchery is that it is the only one in the world that uses wild trout eggs to replenish the population instead of hatchery-bred ones. After the trout, Tatty drove for a while, which was nice because I finally got to look around at the scenery. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as interesting as some of the other stuff we ha driven through - dry desert and an army training area. We camped in a field the night before getting to our first wwoof host, and now we have been here for two days.
Wayne and Jenny live on a small farm in the mountains outside of Otaki; they just moved here a year ago and are trying to start up a vegetable garden and fix up cabins around the place so people can come and stay. There is a stream nearby and a ropes course that groups come and use, and also a convention center type of place that groups can rent out. Tatty and I are living in the center, which is just down the hill, and a lovely ginger cat named Rosie hangs around; he is the friendliest guy ever, and even though we're both terribly allergic, we can't help but pet him when he jumps into our laps.
During the day, Tatty and I get to wear coveralls and wellington boots and scrape paint off of doors, caulk and paint doorframes and trim in the cottage, and scrub mold off the wood walls before repainting them - good thing we have lots of experience in this area. We also help cook, which is awesome. Today Wayne taught us how to make bread, and we made flatbread. We also cooked dinner - falafel, hummus, and yogurt dip, and zucchini bread, all from scratch. If all else fails, Tatty and I are planning on opening up an organic cafe and raising hypo-allergenic cats.

I hope you're all doing well, and drinking lots of mulled apple cider for me.
xoxox
- d

Greetings from New Zealand!

We have been here since Friday, so not quite a week yet. However, a lot of things have happened to us (of course, because that happens when you are transplanting yourself somewhere completely unfamiliar and then trying to regain balance and composure without being overcome by vertigo - or so we have heard).

Among the things that have happened include:


Auckland
A. Stayed in a dorm for free at the U. of Auckland and got shown around the city, which included
1. Delicious Kabobs
a. Which are unlike shishkabobs that you grill with pineapple and mushrooms, etc. They are much more like gyros. Dana and I split one that had falafal in it. They are cheap and we highly recommend them.
2. Terrible dorm food
a. Their pies were good, though. With a sort of flakey crust and mash potato filling.
b. There was also as much free coffee as we wanted, which was nice.
3. Watching a rugby game at the pubs
a. This is a very big deal here and it was fun to see people so excited about something, i guess.

B. Buying a cell phone and a car
1. We bought the phone used from a french man who had been traveling around and was leaving (or, really, who stole it - who knows) and keep recieving phone calls and text for him because it is still the same number.
2. The car is a black honda inspire with wood paneling on the inside and it cost us $1700. It has a three cd player and the back right window doesn't open.
5. Learing to drive.
3. Dana is great at it

C. Leaving because the city was beginning to suck the souls right out of our bodies.
1. We are not city dwellers and were very happy to leave the city.
2. The drive leaving the city was one of the best I have every experienced. It was so unbelievable green and hilly and pure and idyllically pastoral.

Hamilton
A. We are staying with a friend of Dana's Dad.
1. Hamilton is beautiful
2. We love families
3. We went out to dinner at "The Cook" last night and highly recommend it.
a. It had a great fun atmosphere and veggie burgers and delicious white wine.
B. We finally recieved our WWOFer book in the mail.
1. The book is amazing - everyone who hosts wwofers sounds incredible.
C. Today we drove and hiked around a bit.
1. We saw Bridal Veil Falls
2. We went to several beaches in Raglan.
a. Both were beautiful. At twelve noon today we were sitting on a black sand beach watching the Tazmin sea. Both of us agree there is no place we would have rather been.
3. We listened to a bunch of early 90s hip hop
a. including the song blow job betty by too short, which we both agree is very inappropriate and not at all what you should listen too while driving along the west coast of the North Island.
b. We discussed why we drive on the left vs. right side of the road.
i. We looked this up later. It is very interesting:
ii. http://www.brianlucas.ca/roadside/

The tentative future
A. Going to Cormandel where this family has a beach house and staying there for a bit.
1. Working
2. Or WWOFing
a. We are interested in Emus, horses, bunnies, kayaking, buddhists, and free yoga. All of which seem entirely plausible
3. Or ?
B. Printing out Absentee Ballots
C. Tatty remembering to print out her working holiday visa