The Life of a Farmer

We have been in New Zealand for two weeks now. It seems to have gone by at a steady pace as we have been enjoying every minute of it. Although, as we look ahead, our time seems to be escaping us! Only 9 weeks left for us to fit everything in! Yikes!

Alright, better get to it! :) Wednesday the 13th we arrived in Whangarei planning to meet our next host at the bus stop. We forgot to ask what they looked like or to tell them what we looked like. People would pass by and we weren't sure if it was them or not. Eventually, an older man with skin tanned by long days in the sun, strolled up to us with a lovely smile on his face. We were relieved that Keith had found us! After taking us for a little drive around the town and him and Courtney racing up the steps to a gorgeous view of the whole city, we knew this would be a wonderful visit!
Keith and Jill are a lovely older couple who have been all over the world (Jill has visited 73 countries as the president of Girls' Brigade!) while maintaining their humble farm of 160 head of cattle and 40 sheep. They have four children who all have families of their own, two of which live in their own houses on Keith and Jill's farm. Their grand kids would occasionally come over and help us with the different jobs we were given. The whole family is very close and there is much love all around.
An average day on the Clarke farm would look like the following: 7am start waking up and head to breakfast and tea at 8am, work until about 10:30am and stop for morning tea and biscuits (cookies), work again until 12:30pm and stop for lunch (also called tea), then work until about 3:30 and come in again for afternoon tea and biscuits, then either stop for the day or do some more work until dinner at 6pm. whew! Lots of tea! But we are hooked on it with milk and sugar!! We also had the option of coffee or Milo (a hot chocolate beverage) but normally we just had tea. They valued this time of fellowship and saw it as more important than getting the work done. They were very wise and took the opportunity, when the situation arose, to share their wisdom with those around them, whether it was us, their grand kids or their own children. We were so blessed to be amongst the wise and experienced.
That first day, we were eager to get to work right away and didn't want to waste a moment! Therefore, after a lovely lunch with tea and some good fellowship, Keith and Jill were more than happy to give us a job right away! Into the garden we dove! For a couple of days, we helped Jill pull weeds from the garden. Waking up the next day, we were already sore just from pulling weeds! Man, has it been a while!!! Our next job was helping Keith shift his cattle from one pasture to another with the help of is trusty dog, Del. Next up, we moved dead branches from one pile into the burn pile, straightened some metal boards, fixed fence lines, and swiped weeds. The majority of our time was spent swiping weeds. They are these huge rushes that grow along the creek bed which have huge roots that take up a lot of the creek. Our job was to swipe them with a hockey stick looking tool filled with weed poison that would kill the weeds in three weeks time. Their Granddaughter Adelle (21) joined us in the weed swiping for a day. The time passed by quickly as we walked along the creek bed together swiping and talking away. More hands make light work!

On our day off, they dropped us off at Whangarei falls so we could hike from there into the town basin, which is about a 2 hour walk. It was a beautiful walk along the river, enjoying the shade of the variety of trees that made up the forest.

Sunday afternoon, after joining them at church, they took us to their beach house on Tutukaka Harbour. It was a beautiful bay where we swam all day with their granddaughter Ella (9) and rested in the sun. Trina fell asleep in the sun and got a bad sunburn, but it's healing nicely.
Whangarei was plum picking, driving the 4 wheeler, enjoying a motorbike show, ice cream, eating Jill's yummy cooking, swimming, bush tramping and meeting a couple from Canada who were also staying with Keith and Jill. We stayed with the Clarkes for a week and Wednesday saw us in the car with Adelle headed back to Auckland where we would stay the night and catch our flight to Dunedin!! While in Auckland, we stopped at Moustache one more time, met a friend of a friend (Annie) who is going to Uni. in Auckland and visited once again with the lovely Miss Alice! Now we're off to the airport for our next adventure in the South Island!

We are learning so much about different types of hospitality, how to be a polite guest, what to do with weeds, different ways we can serve and much more! We look forward to what other adventures the near future holds!

Rest, rest and....oh ya! rest :)

Sorry to everyone who's been waiting for our next post! We have just been so busy resting in hobbit holes and getting our hands dirty on the farm that it has been impossible to write anything!

Well, when we last wrote of our journey, we were still in Auckland. Thursday we made plans to work on a beef and sheep farm in Whangarei, but that wouldn't begin until Tuesday. We had the whole weekend ahead of us! What to do! Since we had spent so much money in just the first week of being here and hadn't stopped going since we got off the plane, we decided to save our money for more exciting adventures later and just hang around the house, relaxing, catching up on sleep and watching movies. I know! Who goes to New Zealand and watches movies?!?!?! Two young ladies who want to save their money for more adventurous activities, that's who! After our much needed weekend of rest and cleaning house for our wonderful hosts, we met our new housemate that following Sunday. Alice is a friend of the Peters who have generously opened their home to us. We were blessed to hang out with her for the rest of our time in Auckland. She took us to church that evening where we had a wonderful night of fellowship with other believers and played at the park with the little children.  That night, Liz, the intern for the church that the Peters are involved in, stayed the night with us. Slumber party!!!! We had a wonderful time painting our nails, watching chick-flicks (like Jane Austin) and having some girl time!

Monday, the three of us did a Bible study together and had a really good time reading God's Word and of the mysteries of God that have been made known to us. Later that day, we walked to the shopping center (Westgate) and went to a couple's house from church for dinner. We played games with the kids (such as: princess, the zoo and school) while the other adults were getting the food ready. It was breakfast for dinner and Liz made some amazing pancakes! Those last couple of days in Auckland were such a blessing to stop and think of those around us and how we could lend a helping hand. We were so blessed to have that opportunity to serve!

We said goodbye to our new found friends and by Tuesday morning it was just the two of us once again. We headed downtown about noon to visit some places before we left for the farm near Whangarei. After dropping our bags off at the bus stop, we went to Moustache for milk and cookies. As we were enjoying a stroll downtown with our delicious cookies (or biscuits as Kiwis call them), there was an old looking stone church that we decided to go check out. As we walked in, we noticed that they were setting up tables to pass out lunch or something. We soon discovered they were going to be making pancakes to give out to the public as a celebration before Lent. We offered to help and they gladly accepted. Making pancakes in the streets of Auckland with the other volunteers was a great way to spend our last day in Auckland.

We left the church around 5:15pm because we had to catch our bus at 5:45, or so we thought... The bus had actually left at 5:15 and we missed it!!!! Since there was no other bus going to Whangarei that night, we had to buy two more tickets for the following morning. Disappointed, frustrated and tired, we got our bags, called the folks who were to pick us up in Whangarei to inform them of the new plans, found a place to eat dinner and discussed our options for the evening. We decided to go back to the Peters' house for the night; a place that has come to feel like home. Even though we were sad that we missed our bus, it ended up being a jolly evening since we were able to have another lovely chat with our friend Alice.

 Alice was kind enough to take us back into town early the next morning so we could catch our bus to Whangarei. We made it to the bus stop in time, grabbed a muffin at a street cafe, boarded the bus and arrived safely in Whangarei before lunchtime. Woohoo! As we stepped off the bus, we were filled with an eagerness to get to work, an excitement to meet our new hosts and a readiness to immerse ourselves into farm life!!! 

Sunshine, beautiful sunshine!

After an eleven hour flight...
7 AM: Arrived at the Auckland airport.
8 AM: Finally got through security.
9 AM: Went for a walk to keep us awake, but ended up making us more tired.
10 AM: IT'S ONLY 10 AM?!?!?!!?!?!?!
11 AM: Bought a New Zealand phone, ate some lunch, and explored the library (or leisure centre).
12 PM: IT'S ONLY NOON?!?!?!?!?
1 PM: Walked to our temporary home.
2 PM: ...
3 PM: ...
4 PM: COULD THIS DAY BE ANY LONGER?!?!?!?
5 PM: Went shopping with our hostess.
6 PM: Had some scrumptious chicken alfredo for dinner.
7 PM: CAN WE GO TO BED YET!??!?!?!??
8 PM: Can't. Stay. Awake. Must. Sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Eleven hours later. We woke up and felt so refreshed from our deep slumber, ready to face the day.We spent the day relaxing and visiting with our hosts. Outside, Judah and Cadan, ages 1 and 3 respectively, showed us all of their toys and had us join them in the art of sidewalk chalk. They were beautiful art pieces, some would say one of a kind. That evening we all went to church, which was being held in a park. There was much fellowship and fish and chips. Since the next day was the first day of school, we joined some of the ladies in the church and assisted with writing encouraging notes on the doorsteps of the children to greet them on their way to school. Did we mention that these were made with sidewalk chalk? It was a wonderful day.

Monday. Courtney's New Zealand birthday. Started the day with some cookies and hot drinks from the best milk and cookie shop ever, Moustache!!!  we went to the Auckland Museum and learned the history of New Zealand. It was so large that we spent the whole day there. Overwhelmed and tired of reading the facts of the country, we went into the garden at the museum and found a wonderful tree which we climbed, of course. Then it began to rain. This rain broke the drought of New Zealand was going through. We stopped on Queen St. on our way back to the house and had the most amazing burger at Burger Fuel!! Who knew peanut sauce on a burger could be so good?? Then we had to stop at Yoghurt Story for some frozen yogurt to celebrate! It was fantastic!

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Tuesday. Courtney's American birthday. Beach day. It only took us about four hours on the bus to get to the beach, granted we took the long, scenic route by accident. But hey! What are adventures for but to get lost and to find your way again? One thing that we have learned for sure on this trip, is that we know everything there is to know about the Auckland public transportation. All we had to guide us was our ingenuity and a map from our generous hosts. In the end, it was worth every hour spent getting there. Soaking up the sun by the Pacific Ocean was splendid. We also had an adventure getting home. The bus we needed to take was no longer running that late in the day. Once again we had to rely on our limited resources, and of course, God's great provision. He always knew what we needed and provided it at the exact moment we needed it most. Finally, getting back to the house around 10 PM, we were never so happy to see somebody else's house!!! It was definitely a sight for sore, sunburned eyes!

Today is Wednesday, and we visited some stars and a volcano. The volcano is now dormant so there is big monument on the top where the Maori people used to live. Now it is just a grassy hill full of sheep who get a breathtaking view of Auckland. We walked a lot today, getting even darker in the glorious sunshine. The weather has been sublime and there was even a tsunami warning, but it turned out to be only three feet high.


We have discovered some local drinks that we both enjoy. First, there is L&P, lemon and paeroa. It is a New Zealand soft drink which tastes spectacular. And next is the Lemon, Lime, and Bitters. This drink is like mixing sprite with as much alcohol as vanilla has in it, hardly any at all. Definitely making this one in the States.

 

The Arrival!

      The rest of our journey through Rivendell, I mean LA, consisted of more site seeing and fellowship with friends. After a relaxing day on the beach on Tuesday, we met with some friends of Trina's Wednesday to get a local's view of the big city. On our way to meet with them, we stopped at the Hollywood sign and observed the great beyond (space, the final frontier) at the Griffith Observatory. Our friends took us to see the Grauman Chinese Theatre where we saw lots of celebrities' hand prints and signatures. Trina even put her feet on John Wayne's foot prints and marveled at seeing they were the same size!!!! Next we took the Metro to the Grand Public Market, explored the Disney Concert Hall, got a bird's eye view of L.A. from the top of City Hall and bought some Ice Cream from Jose. With our ice cream in hand, we had one last adventure delving into the greatest bookstore of all time! It was two stories high full of new and used books, art made of books, things flying out of books making the stories come literally to life, and even books categorized in color! The second story was full of used books $1 each. We spent hours roaming through the labyrinth of stories seeking lost treasures. Soaking in the hot tub later that night, we unwound and dreamed of our own stories waiting to be written...

    Thursday brought an end to our chapter in California and opened the next chapter of our journey. After grabbing some In N' Out burgers we boarded our plane, or should I say time travel machine, and made our way to Auckland, New Zealand. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, we went into hyper-drive and whizzed past February first!