Turning Right on Red: August 2016

My trip to New Zealand was unique and the WWOOFing experience was valuable. WWOOFing makes you appreciate your regular job if your normal work doesn’t involve exceedingly hard labor. I enjoyed the cultural exchange of meeting Kiwi families and would recommend it to others. “This is our WWOOFer” they would each tell their friends and communities when they introduced us (as if that was the first thing about my identity). On the other hand, I don’t know that I’ll do it again in the future without having more of a specific idea of the type of work I wanted to gain experience in. For instance, although it wasn’t really my experience, a lot of hosts give pretty crappy repetitive jobs to WWOOFers and some even exploit the labor (see this recent article in the Christchurch Press on the topic).

One hostel offered me the chance to WWOOF in exchange for accommodation and I thought that was kind a stretch from the farm volunteering. Then again I worked construction so it’s unclear where the lined should be drawn for volunteer vs. free labor and what’s fair. The other thing I don’t like about WWOOFing is that it can establish a relationship that may be overly defined by the fundamental exchange of labor and food/accommodation. In some cases, especially I’m guessing for younger travelers on a budget, this makes sense. While some hosts may be friendlier and more welcoming, both parties know in the back of their minds why you’re there and it may prevent more of an authentic exchange from happening. But if you didn’t WWOOF, study abroad, work, write, or have some other real reason to be in New Zealand (or already know a Kiwi person) then you wouldn’t have much of an authentic reason to get any closer to the culture anyways.

Towards the end of my stay in Hokatika I saw the famous pancake rocks of Punkaiki on a marvelously bad weather day. I say marvelously because this is the best time to visit the rocks as the huge swells made the blow wholes (actually as far as I could tell it was really “a” blow hole) blow which was really cool to watch and hear. I also some glow worms, these little worms that light up at night like green little stars to attract their pray. I also had the chance to ride the Tranz Alpine train from Greymouth to Christchurch. The 4.5 hour ride cuts through the Southern Alps at Arthur’s Pass and is stunning. I wish that trains, like nice trains, were a more common feature in the U.S.

I spent two days in Christchurch looking at the earthquake torn city and reunited with my old Rwanda flat-mate Johanna. We had a great time together that went by way too fast and it was time to head back to the U.S. and very very soon new school year.

I knew New Zealand had crazy landscapes and would be amazing place to visit. However, there were other things I hadn’t known. Some of my biggest surprises about New Zealand for me were:

· How sparse the population is: The South Island has less than a million people on it. I remember considering driving from Queenstown to Takaka in the North for a potential WWOOF farm and seeing the expected drive time to be over 12 hours!

· Over 30% of New Zealand lives in Auckland. Everybody loves complaining about Auckland, the traffic, the housing crisis, the pricing, the South Pacific immigration crisis, etc. I’d be interested in actually exploring Auckland, as well as the North Island, next time.

· It’s interesting how island nations can develop so differently because of their often unique climates and isolated geography. New Zealand has no squirrels, snakes, and many other common animals we know. This just seems weird to me and makes me wonder how life evolves. It also doesn’t really have dangerous animals when it’s nearby next door neighbor Australia has some of the most dangerous in the world. It also has a crazy pre-historic history of incredibly large flightless birds like the Moa (Man I would have liked to have seen one of those.

o Also, Kiwis believe that it is a civic duty to kill the invasive rabbits or possums with any chance they get (especially using a car). Similarly, a nice small yellow looking flower that’s actually a terribly invasive weed called gorse from Scotland, is invading the country.

· They don’t pay capital gains taxes. This is part of what’s driving the housing speculation and apparent bubble. Everybody knows it’s logical, but no politician has the balls to be the first to enact it.

· How much people here pay attention to U.S. politics. This was less of a surprise than a reminder about how U.S. is “big brother” and whatever we are doing the whole world is always paying attention to. And I don’t mean watching like they know about Trump or Hilary, but they understand and pay attention to the details such as why Hilary should have picked Warren as her V.P.

Goals

When I first arrived in New Zealand I thought about some goals for this trip. Looking back:

· Learn something with my hands I can take back to Atlanta -> I’d give myself a C on this one. Don’t really have something specific I can point to on this front but generally feel more willing to tinker and try doing things myself. One thing I did like about WWOOFing is that you can just dive right in from the moment you arrive somewhere and that is a good attitude to have about my own work and projects around the house. Just start.

· Better understand Kiwi people -> Probably an A for how much you can learn in just 3 weeks about a people. The culture is similar and different to American and other Western cultures. The Maori history and culture is super important and I didn’t really get to learn as much about them as I would have liked.

· Appreciate nature and see stuff I’ve never seen before -> A- With more time exploring the Sounds (Doubtful and Milford) and/or going to the North Island and seeing Taupo and the Tongiroro Crossing I’d probably get an A. But still, as I’ve commented on quite a bit, I feel like I did pretty well here.

Having satisfied my adventure itch for now I feel pretty good about returning to the States and the daily grind. School does start next Monday though, ahhhhhHH!