Wwoofing in NZ

Wwoofing was on my mind for sometime but had not got around to explore it in NZ. Some of you may know that I had wwoofed at an organic vineyard in southern France in 2017. For the uninitiated, the volunteers (aka wwoofers) do roughly four to six hours of work in exchange for room and board at an organic farm. There are thousands of farms to choose from across the world with an array of offerings, anything from working on a vineyard to weaving.

Majority of options tend to involve manual labour, so don’t expect wwoofing to be a relaxing time on a bucolic pasture. If you want to be a wwoofer you have to commit to working hard and might have to live in potentially basic conditions that you're not accustomed to. If you do follow through with this educational, character-building experience, you’ll likely leave with a new perspective on a culture and lifestyle that might otherwise feel totally foreign.

As the desire to get close to nature picked up, I quickly wrote to Tom whose place was the closest. Half an hour drive from where I live, Tom owns 8-acre land where he has a lovely house, vegetable gardens, fruit and flower trees with a lovely, poetry like stream flowing by. The other occupants of the house were Harold, Tom’s friend from Holland, who is also a film maker. Loki, my favourite member of the house was Harold’s Boxer Mastiff. Then there were chickens, unwelcomed rabbits and a cat.

On my arrival Tom offered me coffee and showed me around. He asked what I wanted to accomplish which showed his nature of welcoming a wwoofer and trying to get a win-win for both parties. A novice at farming, there were only a few things I could do so I weeded at the vegetable and the other gardens around the house. Tom showed me how to ride a quad bike which was used to traffic weeds, dry leaves and other left overs in the garden. He also took me to his grasslands closeby where his cattle grazed.

Tom, 59, was working on a prototype of a hydraulic pump which he was printing on his 3D printer. According to him, when finished, it is likely to be an invention of types owing to its sheer power and mechanics. Farming kept him sane though his main occupation was product design. He was curious to know about India and I kept asking him questions on farming. Harold had travelled the world and lived in many countries. He showed one of his films, Laya, which won critical acclaim in the festival circuits.

Hard work, sumptuous food, great conversations, nature and wine is how the two days were spent. As Loki saw me pack my stuff back into my car, he seemed poignant. I gave him a nice cuddle and whispered in his ear that I would be back.

That's Tom with the Gandalf hair. The guy next to him is a carpenter who built Tom's dining table which you will see later. This is cake and coffee break. 

At his larger farm with his cattle

This dining table was built by that friend who specialises in antique furniture making

Mandarins (High profile Oranges basically) 

Lemon trees

Lovely stream- notice the kayaks, the zip lines... if you have energy enough to have extra fun