March and April 2017: Respite in England and onto a Workaway

With many heart-felt goodbyes, I boarded my plane, destination England. I was leaving NZ behind for the second time - this time with the knowledge that I wouldn't be returning for a long time.

However, I knew that new adventures awaited me, and it was important that I make the best of my incredible opportunities in Europe.

 I arrived in London at 5AM, and headed for the train to stay with my - by this time pretty much adopted family - Joy, her partner and her lovely son Harvey. They surprised me with a Magnum-sized bottle of Prosecco as a welcome, and I soon settled in!

I was only there for a short time, about two weeks, but we made the most of the weekends by visiting a lovely pub by a river, where we could see barge-boats drifting by. That's definitely something I love about English culture, though I was glad to have missed most of the winter!

In mid-March, I headed to my pre-organised workaway in France, which would take up the next two months roughly. There's something rather nerve-wracking about heading into the unknown, to a place you don't know, to stay with people you've never met, and in a country where it isn't your first language. However it's exciting too!
Workaway is a website I've used a number of times in the past, and as long as you don't mind a bit of hard work, its the best way to immerse yourself in new cultures and travel the world for cheap.

















My first sight of the place was rather stunning, a renovated chateau just up from the beautiful and tiny old village of Moumour; the estate was huge, the gardens perfect. I arrived in the evening so did little that night except meeting my two hosts for the duration of my stay; a husband and wife team who ran the high end B&B with extreme efficiency.
Although I had little time off (no weekends) there were a few hours in between prepping the food for dinner in the morning, and beginning the rest of the food work and service in the afternoon, where I could explore (though I mostly read books and relaxed as I was rather exhausted). Even the view from the walls onto the village were gorgeous however, and these I enjoyed greatly.

















I was to spend most of the time working in the kitchen, which was something I was glad of, as the other side of the work (gardening and changing beds) held little interest to me, though it was work that was necessary to do at times of course. The view from my own room in an entirely separate building (the Chambre D'hote) was also stunning, looking onto the ruins of an 11th century tower, which was rumored to have tunnels running beneath it.

Working in the kitchen here was hard work; far exceeding the 5 hours that workaway guidelines stipulated, and working 7 days of 7, rather than 5 of 7. However, as it was for a short period, I tried to learn as much as I could, even when it meant working until midnight most nights to get the kitchen ready for the next day. Working here not only gave me an entire notebook of recipes and methods, tips and tricks that I picked up, but also taught me more about the processes that go on in the kitchen, and what hard work it is. 

I had unfortunately arrived at the beginning of what I thought was a cold, but soon turned into a fever and stomach bug that left me unable to eat for five days and feeling deathly ill. Luckily my hosts were extremely kind and forced me to best rest for a week to recover. Although it felt awful relying on the kindness of strangers, I made up for it once I recovered by working as hard as I could. 

Exploring the little village in my free hours was a joy in itself, as although it wasn't travelling far, it was wonderfully quiet and picturesque. 

On the days when there were no guests (as I was in the shoulder season in Spring just leading up to summer and thus only slowly beginning to get busy) I worked in the gardens, helping keep their enormous grounds pristine. They had spared no expense over the three years of renovation that it took them to get the place as they wanted it, and as such it was the sort of place I could never imagine staying. 

From the swimming pool to the many gardens, the home cinema to the real-gold rimmed plates (that I was terrified of dropping) it was a place so out of my league I could easily imagine myself going back a few hundred years and fitting in rather well with 'the help'! I was in no way treated like this however; the work was hard, and a lot was expected of me, but in return I was treated with respect and like family, eating with the owners, trying fine wines and watching movies with them in the evenings. I gave a lot, but was given a lot back in return. 

New Zealand Part V: A Typical Kiwi Holiday

Before I knew it, I only had a week and a half left in New Zealand, thus decided to make the most of it (coupled with the fact that Shyla was on uni holiday) and spend a couple of days at her aunt's bach in Mount Maunganui, and then a few days camping at our traditional spot at Tawharanui.

The first night we were quite tired from the drive, and settled in with board games and kiwi beer for a quiet night in!

On our way down we had driven through Karangahake gorge, and upon realizing how scenic it was, we had decided to return the next day to hike it. 

The gorge had become a centre for the goldrush in the 1800s due to the numerous gold veins found around this area, and the building of a quartz-crushing factory among other processing facilities. 

Nowadays there's little left of these factories, beyond ivy-covered walls and rusting machinery, however its really fun to explore, and some of the old tunnels are open to the public to wander also. I personally really enjoyed following the old train tracks that once led to Paeroa. Now they mostly meander off into the bush, end abruptly off cliffs, or simply vanish entirely. 

Aside from what made this area historically fascinating, it's also an area of natural beauty. The bush walks are long and shaded for the most part (though don't wander down the bike path by accident, as it's rather long, a bit dull and completely without shade). For a time the path follows the river, before cutting back into the forest and past much of the ruined factory. 

 

After our long and sweaty day of trekking through the gorge, we were rather desperate for a swim. Luckily, a five minute walk from the bach was a small, tucked away beach that Shyla's relatives called a 'secret' bay, and indeed we did have it to ourselves! A sunset swim was the perfect way to end the day.

From Mount Maunganui, we faced the long drive all the way up to Tawharanui, which took us about half the day, excluding rest stops. We arrived at the campsite in the late afternoon, and set about re-familiarising ourselves with the camp so as to pick the best spot for our tent. It was smaller and less exciting than we remembered, though I suppose that's often true of places from your childhood. The beach was just as glorious as we remembered however, and we enjoyed walking along the beach and cooking up a feast on our little camping stove.

The last night we went for a spontaneous dusk swim, the water was beautifully warm and the sun was just setting behind the hills. It was strange knowing that in just a few days I would be heading across the world again, with no idea of when I would next return. 

New Zealand Part IV: Parties and Palmerston North

Returning from my camping trip, it felt strange to settle into New Zealand life, knowing it was so short-term. I tried to see as many friends as possible, and not count down the days I saw so quickly slipping away. I took the opportunity to spend a lot of time with two of my very close friends, Shyla and Ben. 

My big event for January aside from seeing family and friends, was helping my good friend Tash with the planning for her 24th birthday. I had missed her 22nd and 23rd, so it was really lovely to be there for this one. She had organised a country theme, which turned rather Western in our decorations, including hay bales!

Unfortunately the weather refused to behave and turned rather stormy, so we made the executive decision to pitch the tent, just in case. And thank goodness we did as we would find ourselves all huddling inside later in the night, as the rain poured down. It didn't matter too much as we all enjoyed the good food, good company, and great costumes! (Even if my neck-tie did make me look more like a flight attendant than a cowboy). 

I had organised to go down and see my old school friends Jo and Raiden in Palmerston North in the beginning of February, and before I knew it I was there!

Palmerston North has always had the label in NZ as a terrible hole (not unlike Hamilton) however the town itself is rather sweet, and as long as you had a good friend group I think it could be good fun (plus housing is very cheap).

I knew Jo and Raiden from school, and had always kept in touch even though we didn't see them often after they moved to Palmerston North for their studies. To go down and visit them was a fantastic opportunity! We had such an awesome week, the highlight being when Raiden and I spent the day making a Quidditch pitch entirely from scratch, and playing Beer Pong with it.

























Their adorable and giant cat Max was a permanent fixture in their home.

We took a day trip out to the beach - which was odd for me in itself, as I had spent most of my life living only 5 minutes from the beach. Palmerston North however, is firmly inland, leading us to visit the town of Foxton, both to enjoy the full-sized working Dutch windmill 'De Molen', and also take a walk along the wild west coast beaches.

New Zealand Part III: New Years

Since I was 18 years old, I had gone camping with my friend Shyla every year on New Years, up until I went to Europe. It felt so good to finally get back into the tradition and once again be setting off into rural New Zealand, a boot full of camping equipment, and the backseats of the car full of boxes of food and a healthy amount of wine. 

Camping at Tawharanui up north from us had always been our place of choice, however to have a spot here at New Years one needed to book in June, so we had no chance this year. Instead we went to our secondary spot,Waikawau Bay, in the Coromandel.

 The great thing about this campsite - aside from being on long gravel roads (which many might see as a negative, but meant that it wasn't full of people) is that it borders on both a beach and the New Zealand bush. Being so close to the forest meant it was easy to escape to the shade and the river to cool off, as well as go on bush walks up to the summit (the view was lackluster however) and to check out the swimming hole!

The beach was also lovely, though of the very large slightly wild variety. However just over the hill (a few minutes drive away) was a much calmer, more secluded bay with clear waters and lots of sunshine and shade.

We had great times at this campsite, cooking up all types of things and exploring the surrounding area. However due to a series of unfortunate events we ended up moving the tent about four times which started off as irritating, sank to utterly frustrating, and finally ended on rather hilarious in its ridiculousness. 

First it turned out we had ended up in a wind-tunnel, so we moved the tent to a more sheltered spot. Here was our favourite spot in the corner, well served by shade and sunshine, and we would have happily stayed here if not for a marauding crew of people. Two rather unpleasant families moved in next door to us, and spent the entirety of the afternoon screaming abuse at their children and playing hardcore rap. We moved the next morning. 

This however, was not the end of the tale!

Aside from the fact that we were vindicated late the next day when the family got kicked out for secretly having a dog with them (a strict rule in a national park with endangered birds) we also had a night of terror with the mysterious cackling noise... 

To explain further, we went to sleep quite happy as usual that night, only to be woken up at about 2AM by a large something rustling by our tent. And then... 'HAHHAHHA' the thing cackled, hoarse and throaty, like an old man with a cough.

 This is it! I thought, pulling my sleeping bag tight around me; there's an old ax-wielding maniac outside the tent, and any second now he'll come hacking his way in. Shyla meanwhile, happily slumbered on, earplugs keeping her sound asleep. 

 Hope was not all lost however, as the thing cackled from further afield, and eventually wandered away. In the morning we discovered the monster had been a possum, but still decided to flee to a new location, just in case.

=

Although the forest stream was too cold to swim in, we soon appropriated it for a new purpose. On hot days when we needed to seek solace in the shade, we chilled our wine in the water!

New years was a night of fireworks and listening to people countdown in the sand dunes as we lay on the beach and looked up at one of the clearest night skies I had ever seen, under the gaze of countless stars. Coromandel is one of the most beautiful places in NZ, and well worth going off the beaten track for. After all - to paraphrase Robert Frost - take the road less travelled by, as that makes all the difference. 

New Zealand Part II: A day up North

Before going away camping at New Years (as time-honoured tradition dictated) Shyla and I took a day trip up north, to the scenic town of Matakana and the area around. We started our day with ice cream from Charlies, one of the best places for gelato ice cream in New Zealand (in my humble opinion). Although still extremely nice, it was interesting to see how my time away had perhaps changed my taste-buds. It was no longer as mind blowingly good as I remember, but I still recommend giving it a taste!

Matakana village is well worth a visit just to wander around. Settled in 1842, it's retained its rural charm and remains a picturesque village, full of artisan shops and fancy delis. Saturday is a great day to visit for the Farmers market, which is brilliant for lunch supplies for a picnic, though it is admittedly overpriced. 

If you fancy a bit of shade it's quite nice to wander just past the market and down to the wooden jetty, where you can sit in the shade, legs swinging over the water, and watch the eels drift past (literally!). 

Feeling replete after our giant icecreams, we headed for the quarry, a local hang-out spot that I had good memories of from years before. 

The old cement works were begun in the 1800s by a Scottish immigrant, and saw a boom in the early 1900s, causing a number of large buildings to be built (and it is these which remain to this day). However industry soon moved elsewhere and it closed down in 1929. 

With the filling of the old quarry, it became a swim spot and today is fairly popular, though still only really known by the locals. 

Admittedly I have only ever paddled in the lake, as I have a deep and completely illogical fear of freshwater sharks, however I'm sure it's lovely (and no children have been eaten yet!)

Our next stop was a local Kauri tree which is also only a few minutes from Matakana. Kauri trees are indigenous to New Zealand, and are one of the biggest and oldest species of tree in the world. This one was about 800-900 years old!! 

Our next stop back down the coast was the lookout point on the way down to Orewa beach, where we fondly remembered many childhood days spent climbing the hill up to Shylas parents house, or spontaneous swims in the ocean. 

Our last stop for the day was the small and tucked away Swann beach, where we had occasionally stepped foot in during our teenage years. It's a lovely and tiny stretch of beach only really known to locals but worth visiting if it isn't too busy! Usually the water is very clear, and perfect for a dip. 

I got my Pohutukawa climbing fix much to my delight, as these trees were one of the things I had missed while I was away.