i headed off into the sunset on tuesday with suzie, after saying a sad goodbye to the chooks and the cows and bella and alistair and my wwoofing friends in cambridge. suzie dropped me off at the hamilton bus station and i made my way back up to auckland for the evening. in auckland on a tuesday evening leaves little to do in the winter so i stumbled on some totally yum japanese food for dinner (absolute hole-in-the-wall with a single counter and room for 9 customers that served gyoza and miso soups with fish, shrimp, pork, beef, veggies and noodles... good stuff) and then took myself to the academy theather (rad, artsy theater in the basement of the auckland public library) to see "this way of life," a kiwi documentary about a family living on the south island with their 6 kids and attempting to live off the land and raise their kids "right."
on wednesday morning at 10 i boarded the ferry in auckland for waiheke island (a 35 minute ride). it was a beautiful day with no clouds out and no rain - which seemed like a nice little window after the weather we have been having. i arrived on waiheke and took the bus towards the town of ostend, as instructed. i had asked the driver which stop would be closest to the cafe that i was suppose to meet my new wwoofing family at and the driver told me he would holler when i was suppose to get off. the driver forgot about me so when i asked him again later in the ride he said i should have gotten off two stops back but would now have to walk... no problem. i got myself situated and headed back up the road.
now, i'll end the gritty details of my wwoofing on waiheke and bullet it out for you:
a) the family members were nice, quirky, hippy and interesting
b) the baby was cute
c) their house was cool (straw bale house, completely solar), but not a working farm
d) the family was stressed with opening a new store/cafe
e) the family was constantly arguing, swearing, fighting with one another at every moment they were together
f) the wwoof accomodations were a modified shed on the property, that was also inhabited by all of the island's mice
g) their wwoof exchange was room and meals for me in exchange for 10 hours of babysitting and house clean-up 6 days a week and 4 hours of babysitting on the 7th day
h) other than playing with the baby, the position was sort of a solitary confinement as the house was 10km from the nearest bus stop and another 4km to the nearest town
so, needless to say, it didn't work out for me. i was suppose to be there for 6 weeks but only lasted 4 nights before i moved myself out and to the hostel and began looking for another arrangement.
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