Chapter 4 ~ The New Plymouth Furry Den

Cynthia drops me off right outside Sandy's place, which is located in a part of New Plymouth called Vogeltown.

I feel at home instantly! This place has got "Dr. Who?" books, Gary Larson comics, Order of the Stick games, an amazingly transforming polyhedron cube, and more!

My hosts are the Chakat Sandwalker - or Sandy for short - his mate Ant, the mouse, and Ant's wife Fiona, a Fantail. As a way of saying thanks, I bake them tasty cookies...

...and delicious pizza, among other things.

After updating my blog, I have some time left, and take a day to go on...

The New Plymouth Far Stray

As usual, I selectmy route by checking on Geocaches, which I want to find. First off, it takes me into the Brooklands Park...

...and promptly find some lost treasure.

Subsequently, I come across a tree with a hole...

...as well as a historical chimney.

I also visit the Brooklands Zoo...

...which among others has a mob of scuttling Meerkats...



...birds trying to imitate my chirp...



...and adorable Otters playing in the water.



The Brooklands Park eventually transitions seamlessly into the Pukekura Park, which, apart from on-demand-waterfalls...

...also has quite a number of oriental elements to it.

Eventually, all this walking ends up making me thirsty, so I find a suitable place to quench my thirst.

Just kidding. Naturally, I'm using one of these instead...

...though some people prefer something that's even more sophisticated.

On my way through New Plymouth, I also come across a protected tree...

...make my way through a bamboo thicket...

...and pass up the chance to eat in a chaotic café.

Finally I reach the shore, and stop by the Wind Wand, which is built on top of a Ley Line...

...only to find that a rock is staring at me.

On my way down the rocky coast (remember, there are only three north-facing sand beaches on the western coast of the North Island)...

...I come by a cute doggie bag dispenser and disposal bin...

...and people feeding the seagulls (who in turn are quite enthusiastic about it).



Burglars watch out, because this house is protected by Cactus Security!

Climbing on top of the Churchill Heights in the Western Park...

...I get a lovely view of New Plymouth...

...and find a nice little cache of foreign coins.

But eventually, it's time to head back to the furry den, taking the scenic route through a nice, green passage.

Birthday Abroad

Eventually, the 29th anniversary of my birth arrives, and to celebrate it, we have amazing cheesecake!

Also, Ant's and Fiona's child, a spirited young boy by the name of Hunter, comes along, and I find myself quite busy playing with him... especially once I mention Minecraft.

[Picture Hunter playing Minecraft]

For a boy of only 8 years, he's quite skilled, and soon has built a respectable little abode.

Also, I know it's not supposed to work that way, but I ended up gifting them a little piece of artwork as a thanks for taking me in.

The Day the Bus did (not) come

And before I know it, it's already time to depart again. Sandy accompanies me as far as the Vogeltown bus stop, where we wait for the bus to take me down to the central bus station. We wait and wait, however, the bus doesn't show up, so eventually I decide to walk...

...all the way down to the bus station...

...with about 30kg of luggage strapped to myself. Fortunately, the central bus stop is down near the coast, so the road only goes downhill for most of the time.

Still, I somehow manage to make it, and half an hour later, I'm comfortably sitting in the InterCity Bus headed for Bulls.

It takes me somewhere over the rainbow...

...race clouds on the sea of shifting grass...



...and past some memorable memorials.

Finally, I arrive in Bulls, where I wait for Max, my next WWOOFing host to pick me up.

Luck doesn't seem to be on my side today, since I have to wait two full hours for Max to arrive - turns out he mixed up 11:30 for 1:30. Oh well. At least the Bulls Info Centre near the bus station was nice and sheltered me from the savage winds that were blowing.

Once I arrive at their little farm in Marton, the kids - Lennon and Hazel - give me a tour of the place, showing me the young goats...

...the geese and their chicks...

...as well as the untamed house pigs.

There's also cats and dogs around - one pair each.

And somehow, I end up playing Minecraft with the kids again...

...before we all sit together and have home made sushi.

Everybody, including the kids, get to make their own rolls, and we put all sorts of things inside (Except for fish. We don't have fish right now). We have a jolly good time together, and the good spirit is not even broken when I accidentally dip the grated carrots into the compost, in what should later get to be known as "The Carrot Incident" (not to be confused with "The Onion Incident").

A cosy little fire burns in the wood stove, keeping us all nice and warm. I like this place already, and can't wait to see what the future holds in store for me here.

Chapter 3 ~ The Oakura Factor

So this is it, I've officially arrived at my first destination, which is the lovely little town of Oakura, in the district of New Plymouth, in the region of...

The region of Taranaki is a peninsula jutting out into the Tasman Sea. Dominated by its eponym Mt. Taranaki, this region is home to a little more than 100.000 people, with about half of them living in the city of New Plymouth.

The town of Oakura is a couple of miles down the coast from New Plymouth with a population of about 1.500 people.

It is in this cosy little place that I begin my career as a WWOOFer, in what I like to call...

The Great Gardening Gambit

My very first WWOOFing host is a lady by the name of Cynthia, who rents out a number of houses in New Plymouth. Each of them have gardens that need tending to, and her own home in Oakura has quite a large garden as well, which she uses to grow all sorts of vegetables and spices. Now that spring is coming, weeds are on the advance, and she needs someone's help to keep them in check. That someone, is me!

The Place

Cynthia's own home is at the very edge of a valley. As a result, the garden has an almost 45° incline, and Cynthia uses terraced agriculture in wide parts of it. The house itself is a two-storey structure, with a separate small studio, that Cynthia is looking to rent out to a nice tenant. When the weather is nice, you can sit out on a small veranda and look all the way down the valley and to the sea, and on some days, you can see cows grazing on the opposing slope.

The place is quite nice, all in all. However, like most New Zealand houses, it has one big problem that really punches it around this time of the year...
It's COLD! So bitter cold! =>,<=
As soon as the sun breaks through, it gets nice and warm very quickly, but on rainy days or at night, the wooden walls and single-pane windows do a poor job of retaining the heat, and you often have to cope with temperatures as low as 12°C inside the house. A quartet of warm bedsheets keep me warm at night, but as soon as I get out, it's freezing cold again.

From the house, it takes one about 15 minutes to get to the sandy beach, which is a lovely shade of black...

...and also home to an old shipwreck.

Naturally, I leave my mark in the sinister sand...

...and watch in awe as the groundwater carves out long runs of tiny little canyons in the beach.

In regular intervals, little streams - shallow enough to wade across - flow right over the sand...

...and for those that are a little bit bigger, there are convenient rope-bridges for pedestrian use.

One evening, I also captured a beautiful sunset over the waves of the ocean.



Of course, the weather is not always nice enough to go out. Taranaki has a reputation for being one of the most volatile places in New Zealand in regards to weather. In fact, there is a saying that goes:
"If you can't see the mountain, it's raining. If you can see the mountain, it's going to rain."

The sea is quite stormy on such occasions as well...



...though on nicer days, the waves are quite popular with surfers. Oakura is quite famous for its beach, which, in fact, is one of only three (!) north-facing beaches on the entire west coast of New Zealand (remember: north is where the sun is here on the southern hemisphere).

Walking through the heart of town, you eventually pass through Matekai Park...

...and eventually end up at the Oakura School and Library, where the kids are quite proficient at protecting themselves from passing traffic.

On the other side of town, there's the Oakura Pa, which is a community centre of sorts to the local Māori...

...as well as the Oakura River, from which the town got its name.

The Oakura River, in turn, which is called Oakura-matapu in the Māori language, was named after Akura-matapū of the Kurahaupō waka, and literally means "Belonging to Akura-matapū".

And if you go just a little bit past the river, you eventually find an array of beautiful cliffs...

...which in turn give you a lovely little outlook on the town and it's brilliant black beach.

The Job

As mentioned before, my host Cynthia owns a number of properties that need maintaining, and also has a garden of her own. Among other things, there is weeding to be done...

...plants to be planted...

...vegetable beds to be trimmed into shape...

...and wood to be piled up.

The vast majority is weeding through. Our arch-enemies are Kikuyu Grass, which is a neophyte introduced from Africa, as well as Tradescantia, which originated in the Americas. Both weeds are quite hardy, and spread virulently, making it a difficult task to weed them out permanently. Granted, there is always the chemical approach, but since the second O in WWOOF stands for "Organic", such things are a strict no-go. Instead, we weed them out by hand. At times we also turn on the Onion Weed, which the early settlers planted as replacement for actual onions to spice up their meals with, and which in time took quite a liking to the wet and sunny climate of Taranaki.

It's not all gardening though. Among other things, Cynthia also utilized my manpower in cleaning up the downstairs studio...

...painting a chair...

...holding ponies on the beach...

...and painting a room and a door.

During that last task (which I find to be quite to my liking) I find myself being observed by a curious cat...

...who checks to see if my work is satisfactory before scampering off (by the way, cats here in New Zealand are about 20% bigger).

The Food

Those who work, must eat. And Cynthia is determined to make sure I don't develop scurvy during my time with her. Unfortunately for me, that means I get lots and lots of cooked vegetables, as well as rice and soy sauce.

Being a big fan of sushi, I don't mind the latter two, but by the end of the first week, I'm starting to get sick of the greens. Fortunately, the odd day sees some welcome respite in the form of Nachos...

...and naturally, delicious fox-made pizza!

Now new, with custom-order pizza soup!

The Flair

To wrap this up, here's a bunch of random stuff that does not exactly fit any category, but nonetheless is a palpable part of the experiences I made in Oakura. For example, did you know that showers in New Zealand are... different? (The knob only turns left and right, and you have no way to regulate the water pressure)

Being a post-industrialization country, the roads are also quite straight, cutting through hills where needed, and often going up and down inside the boundaries of town. Also note the speed bumps, which are quite a common sight around here.



Then, there's also some birds with quite an interesting song twittering about.



Besides, did I mention that it's not only the cats that are a little bit bigger around here?

Also, here's an interesting piece of driftwood I found on the beach...

...and even this little town has a Mc Donald.

Finally, let's not forget the music circle I joined one Sunday together with Cynthia. The people there were thrilled to hear some of the German and Japanese songs I had to offer.

The Retrospective

So, all things considered, how was my stay in this place? I didn't like the food very much, but the atmosphere was mostly nice. I got a nice single room with a big and fluffy bed, but one of my vivid memories of the place is being cold. I got around the townscape and found a number of Geocaches, but also failed at others. So, all things considered, I'd call this an average stay, which was definitely more pleasant than my stays in the hostels.

In the end, I'm grateful to Cynthia for taking me in, and prepare a little farewell gift for her.

The Road Beyond

My next stop is a friendly little furry den in New Plymouth, where a nice Chakat by the name of Sandwalker has offered me sanctuary. After that, it's off to the town of Marton in Manawatu-Wanganui, but that's a different story, and shall be told at a different time.