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New Zealand: Working On Organic Farms Article & Photos by Doreen June 2007, Travel
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Who hasn’t dreamt of travelling to the land of orcs, elves, hobbits and other mystical creatures? The fairytale like scenery that we witnessed in the movie The Lord of the Rings was too good to be true, so I had to go and convince myself of the authenticity of these landscapes. |
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A nd what better way is there to experience a country and its people than working for them? In your first few days in New Zealand, you will certainly hear people talking about “wwoofing” and you quickly learn its meaning. Originally from the UK, the idea means literally “Working On Organic Farms." The idea is an exchange of 4 hours of work on a farm for food and accommodation. You can find around 1,000 woofing sites to choose from in New Zealand and it is a great means of travelling, especially if you are on a tight budget and keen on having some different travelling experiences. |
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In the booklet for woof members, you have a broad selection of places on both north and south of the island. In this way, you find yourself in places you would not have even considered before and with the strangest and most interesting people you have ever met. I spent my first wwoofing experience on the south island with a solitary man in the mountains 3 hours walk from Queenstown. There, I was voluntarily stranded for over 2 months and I felt like I had travelled backwards in time, in the early settler era, where electricity was non-existent, water needed to be fetched in the nearby river, food was prepared on an iron stove and possums keep you company during long cold winter nights. I helped the 70 year old kiwi man with his building work on his new wooden house in exchange for some delicious home-made food and a cosy bed. Being an ex film-producer, he had lots of interesting stories to tell and taught me many things. I never thought I could repair 50 year old window frames, install wooden ceiling panels or restore old doors. In this wilderness where time does not seem to exist, I felt an energy and completeness like I had not felt for a long time, reconnecting with the powers of nature. I will never forget the view of the surrounding mountains and natural trails. I could have lived there forever, but I had to remind myself at some point that I wanted to see more of New Zealand, and I forced myself to travel on with a crying and a laughing heart. |
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My second wwoofing site was in the so-called “Golden Bay” area at the northern edge of the south island. I had heard about a small hippy community wanting to build a new meditation centre there. They had chosen a beautiful site 650m above sea level far away again from any neighbours and civilization. The idea was to construct round houses for living in a community and for meditation purposes, as well as developing a big vegetable garden area in order to become 100% self-sufficient in the future. I was taught useful things about organic gardening and how you can realise your fantasy house quite inexpensively and with ease. Also, I liked the idea of living in a community where everybody helps each other and where you share what you have. |
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The great thing with these kinds of projects is that you decide for yourself on how long you want to stay, which can be anywhere between 3 days and several months. Since I had planned one week to visit the city of Wellington in the south of the northern island, I decided that there was enough time to work on another wwoof farm and also enjoy the sights of New Zealand’s capital. So I started to work during the morning hours on a Blueberry farm situated only 30 minutes from the city, where my wwoof host, Carolann, was occupied with her rural alchemy day spa and raising her horses and cattle. In this way, I had the whole afternoon to explore Wellington and its galleries and its famous TE PAPA museum. Each of the wwoofing projects is different in terms of work and accommodations. In this blueberry project, I had my own little bach to live in with electricity coming from a solar panel on the roof and a windmill. Carolann provided me with all the necessary ingredients in order to cook my own food. You might think now that you could get bored in the evening hours in your own little house. But actually, most of the time, there is more than one wwoofer working on the same organic farm so, naturally, you get to know a lot of other volunteers from all over the world. And imagine how great it is to learn more about other countries while exchanging kitchen recipes. Sometimes you cook your own meals and sometimes you are part of the family. The age of the woof hosts range from 30 to 80 years old, which helps a lot to get comfortable with any age group you normally wouldn’t be in touch with. My second oldest wwoof hosts were a couple of 65 year olds, who own a kiwi orchard in the beautiful “Bay of Plenty” on the northern island. They were so fond of being surrounded by different nationalities and people that they even let me work for them at a time where there was not a lot to do on her farm. The kiwi flowers were just waiting to be pollinated by bees, so I only had to collect the dead branches that were lying around after a big thunderstorm. My wwoof mother was almost like my grandmother, spoiling me with her home made cakes, soups and roasts. While being on the road for several months it felt like being home at this particular wwoofing place.
As I mentioned earlier, each wwoof project is different and teaches you a lot of new and useful things. I learned about such things as house construction, organic gardening, vegetarian cooking and even biodegradable toilets, to name only a few. So in contrast to what some people might think, it is not all about weeding. What amazed me was that you could even find these projects in urban areas where you would never consider working on a farm or in a garden. I ended my 6 months period in New Zealand with a wwoof project in Auckland, the biggest city with 1.2 million inhabitants. Only a 20 min train ride from the city centre, I found a little paradise of citrus and tropical fruits that belonged to a secondary school art teacher, who didn't have enough time to look after her garden. Her patient and loving manner in telling the story of how she created her garden confirmed for me that one day, when I am ready to settle down, I will start the same kind of project, be it on a farm or in a small garden. It is a perfect means of inviting the world into your house. If you want to get more information about “Wwoofing” try the following Web sites: www.wwoof.ca www.wwoof.de doreen (at) gothicbeauty (dot) com |
