New Zealand is a hiker’s wet dream. I’ve been remarkably impressed
with the infrastructure and sheer number of trails. I don’t think the North Island
could be this crazy (nor does it have the reputation that the South does) but
it seems like every town I stop in has an information center with no less than
20 legitimate day hikes within a short driving and sometimes even walking distance.
Not having a car has prevented me from exploring to the degree I would have
liked but I still got my fair share of natural wonder in here.
After spending less than one day in Wanaka I met yet another
19-year-old German traveling New Zealand for the year. Max was mature for his
age and we quickly hit it off. See previous post’s photos on this story. He
convinced me to do an epic overnight winter hike to Mount Brewster as he had
some camping gear and all I needed was some gators to protect against the snow
and a warm sleeping bag. I cancelled a very short-term WWOOF to do this but it
was definitely worth it. Seeing the mountains all around the silent and
beautiful hut where we stayed was amazing. Even at midnight the full moon gave
the dreamy snow-capped peaks visibility.
After a quick one-day wood chopping WWOOF experience in Hari
Hari, I moved on to Hokitika, a town whose name I could hardly pronounce but
was the site of my next WWOOF farm. Despite this place actually having a small
life-style farm, my work consisted of construction tasks on the nearby
campground that one of the two sons of the family was building. It kind of
brought me back to my months in Canada just after graduating from Macalester
where I worked in Northern Ontario for Project Beaver. The work was hard but
interesting and I loved driving the tractor and using the fork to move palettes
around.
I think because farming has played such an integral part of
New Zealand’s history a lot of family’s today dream of having farms. Land is
becoming increasingly expensive and the work is hard, which causes many families
to quit shortly after they start. I think real farmer’s also can find it
annoying, but in Hokitika, the two brothers and their own large families along
with the grandparents make it work. Everybody has day jobs but contribute
together to run the farm. They have a number of pigs, cows, and chickens and
their biggest concern is being able to eat their own meat.
Derick and Diana are devout Christians in a country where
religion does not play a strong role. They prayed before every meal, brought me
to church, and asked me lots of questions about Judaism. The more churches I
visit in different countries the more similarities I notice. It’s not a type of
“tourism” I think I’ll want to do more of. It’s not that the experience was
bad, it just seems shallow and less interesting than Judaism and I don’t often
hear a lot of insightful analysis on Biblical stories. Instead, I just hear
praise for Jesus over and over and about how he died for our sins and how no
matter how I live my life or how good I am I have no chance at redemption
unless I except Jesus into my life. Why would I accept Jesus if I don’t even
really believe in the story of Moses and the rest of it?
I spent 5 days in Hokitika and enjoyed my experience working
in construction. The family was interesting and different. They were one of the
only families I observed in New Zealand that doesn’t seem to watch as much T.V.
as Americans do. They made their own bread, used raw milk, made their own
cheese, dried clothing on an old fashioned NZ rack (see photo below), ate their
own meat, made their own dishwashing detergent, and bought most everything in
bulk. Like other houses I’ve stayed in NZ they also heated their house 100% with
the coal burning fireplace. This is to say, despite the moderately temperature
climate of NZ, it’s very cold in the South Island winter in the mornings and at
nights. I’ve gotten way too used to central air.
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