Greetings from the Coromandel Island, a mountainous, rain forest peninsula. It's beautiful! Very green with a lot of rivers and nice beaches too. WOOFing is a worldwide phenomenon that has great popularity here in NZ. Urban Dictionary describes WOOFing as follows: When a young person throws caution to the wind, rejects their material possessions and travels the world Working On Organic Farms for the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms organization. They pay for the plane ticket, but then have free room board in exchange for back breaking labor on an organic farm.
I found an opportunity WOOFing with an amazing family that owns Wild Joy, a Honey & Herb Farm, on the Coromandel Islands! It has been good so far. I've done quite a few chores around the farm, from stacking wood, to picking up windfall apples, picking strawberries, cleaning the honey extraction room, and I finally donned the bee suit to help harvest honey. Hot and heavy work, but its has been really neat so far. The farm owners are really nice and food has been exceptional - almost all of it has come from the garden and orchard.
I have been exploring the peninsula, waterways, and beaches in the afternoons once my work is done. Can't wait to share all my explorations. I'm posting this from the farm's computer and satellite internet as I've been 'disconnected' without a signal for the past week. I'll share more once I get more 'connected' and am not so bzzzzy!
Much more to come...