Ann & Bob's WWOOF (6 - 23 September)

Saturday morning, and once again it's time to pack up our trusty steed and gallop off. But first, I thought it might be fun to give you an idea of what packing up our trusty steed actually entails, because despite leaving the UK, extremely pleased with ourselves for having such tiny lightweight bags for 1 year plus, we seem to have accumulated some extra stuff…. Our bags, once only 2/3 full, are now full to bursting, not quite sure how, full of cheap items of clothing from op shops for dirty work, speakers for the iPod, etc. Then, we both love reading, and books here are really expensive, so as we're moving around we see books in hostels and think, ok we have a car so we can pop a few extra in the back, or we're in a secondhand bookshop and see something we've been on the lookout for (I'm trying to read lots of NZ fiction so am looking for particular authors/titles) so we think ok. We both have a box each in the boot, mainly for our books…. And then toiletries, well they're also much more expensive here than back home so we buy in bulk and keep the large bottles in our boot and fill up from those as and when required. That's another box. It's been winter and quite cold so we've paid a trip to the Warehouse (here a cheap store for everything, not a clothes shop) for lovely cheap fleece blankets and hot water bottles: another bag each…. And then there's the food, again we've been buying in bulk and carrying around large bags of pasta, rice, etc. And of course the baking stuff - whenever we get near a kitchen Su has an overwhelming urge to bake so has bought some loaf tins, measuring spoons, and of course there's the flour, sugar, etc. I'm sure you get the picture! Anyway, the long and short of it is, fitting all our stuff into Shadowfax's not insignificant boot is like doing a giant jigsaw (only perhaps one without a proper solution!)

Our short journey around the Tasman Bay to Mapua was an awesome sight (apologies but everything really is awesome again!) because it was a stunning clear day, the sky and sea were a brilliant blue and the mountains of the surrounding national parks all had snow-capped peaks that contrasted dramatically against the blue. Once Tahunanui Beach was in sight, there was the perfect picture: white sandy beach, aquamarine blue sea and sky and brilliant white snowy peaks in the distance - it was worth a quick stop to admire the view. And then it was time to meet our new hosts. Ann and Bob Phillips are Studio Woodturners by trade, as well members of the NZ Tree Crops Association. They live in a lovely house, perched on a hill looking down over the Waimea estuary and beyond to the snowy peaks of Ben Nevis (which is taller than the original) with sheep and horses in the surrounding paddocks, Harrier Hawks nesting in the pine trees beside the water and hardly another property in sight. They have a gallery of their work in the house, and their workshops are attached to their property. Surrounding the house is a large plot of land which is a mix of native trees, bushes & flowers, vegetable patches and an open paddock, an area large enough to keep their gorgeous and quite soppy border collie, Pepper, entertained. She is a fabulous dog, a rescue with an obsession of anything motorised which meant that mowing, mulching, starting a chainsaw or even starting your car to leave the property would send her crazy, running in circles and racing cars out of the driveway (though thankfully she is well-trained and runs along the edge of the field rather than next to the vehicle!)

Ann & Bob have taken WWOOFers at their property for over 20 years and are well practised in keeping people entertained and feeding them well. Ann is a Kiwi, born in the Nelson area, so a fantastic source of information on great walks to do in the area, and Bob is from Manchester originally (sadly a Utd supporter though I can't really hold that one against him, something he was born into, and besides it made our recent superb victory all the sweeter…) And in their 20+ years of taking WWOOFers, we represented two firsts for them: Su was the first ever WWOOFer to bring baking trays with her (making two fabulous citrus cakes for us, a jaffa drizzle cake and a stunning lemon/lime drizzle cake, all with fruit straight from the garden); and we were the first people to have this much rain, which meant that they sometimes had to find inside jobs for us - while the weather has generally improved, this winter is the wettest they have known in all the years they've lived here! Nice timing ladies! As 'old time' WWOOF hosts they have a well established routine: 4 hours work in the morning, with a tea break mid-morning, then after lunch, usually homemade soup with homemade bread, we have a free afternoon to explore the area, arriving back to a hot plate of food, then an evening slob in front of their woodburner watching a little light tv (and praise be, they are almost as obsessed as us with Doctor Who which means we have seen all the new series and are even going back next week, armed with a bottle of wine, to watch the finale - we are so easily pleased!) As for the work, well, we have enhanced our reputation as painters, painting the front of their garage and workshop (quite well if I may say so!) and cleaners, cleaning the windows at rainy times. But mostly importantly we have learnt a lot more about native trees and bushes and organic principles of horticulture. We've spread a huge amount of mulch to soak up the waterlogged patches, we've pruned trees & bushes and made mulch from the cuttings (which is such fun), and we've dug up old tree stumps and weeded veggie patches. Plus, we helped to plant a macadamia trial in their paddock - a variety of macadamia trees grafted onto different rootstock to see which grows better (luckily the previous WWOOfer was a big strong German builder so he had already dug the holes in the solid clay earth) and we've done propagation by division, a fancy name which basically means we've dug, scraped, kicked and sweated trying to cut back the native flax which is very strong - fair to say this was not our favourite job! And all of this while keeping Pepper amused by throwing her toys and with the protection of their sexy overalls (yes, I know mine were too short for me & I looked as though my feet had had an argument with my trousers… and don't you think the highly posed pictures of me in my sexy gear with the chainsaw could almost make it into a pervy men's magazine! Couldn't help ourselves - think the sun was going to our heads!) Plus I had to learn the art of ducking, fast, as they let Su loose with a pitchfork to move the mulch. Su, as you may have noticed, is not the tallest person you'll ever meet, so to use the pitchfork she had to hold it halfway along the long handle, and she has little concept of space, so there she was, bless her, merrily shovelling the mulch into her little wheelbarrow, and every time she turned I had to jump or duck, quickly, or risk a black eye or a straight knockout - luckily my reflexes are quite good!

As well as sharing their horticultural knowledge with us, they've also given us an insight into their work as artists and craftsman. They are highly successful woodturners, and have a beautiful gallery full of wooden plates, bowls, wall hangings and the like, made from the wood of native trees, including an ancient Kauri tree, preserved for thousands of years in a swamp, which has produced some stunning pieces and a golden Kauri which shimmers and changes colours in the light. Bob gave us a demonstration of how to make a plate on a lathe, which was fascinating to watch, it is amazing just how quickly the beautiful grain of the wood appears, and it reminded us both of Grandad's shed, that lovely smell of fresh wood shavings. I think before we leave Nelson we'll both treat ourselves to a little souvenir from their gallery, just waiting for that first paycheque, and they have already given us a copy of their most recent book, Mastering the Craft Business, which gives practical advice on how to make money from doing something you love - something we would both love to achieve. They have certainly mastered this art, exhibiting around the world, giving talks and woodturning demonstrations and writing a number of books.

But the real joy of WWOOfing, aside from learning organic principles of horticulture and living with kiwis rather than moving from hostel to hostel, is you have a big chunk of your day free! Which was even better now that we have Shadowfax! And Mapua is perfectly placed for trips into Nelson, or up the coast to Motueka and the Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks, or down to the Nelson Lakes. We quickly found two favourite hangouts for our afternoons. One was the Kina Peninsula, a tiny place, just before Motueka, literally a thin strip of land jutting out from the coastal highway which you can drive along until you reach a little shingle spit at the end where we sat, flasks of tea clutched in our hands, watching the sun go down while casting a golden glow over the pebbles - a magical place. I also loved the coastal highway to the side of the peninsula, as the low tide revealed lots of names and messages written in the sand with pebbles, and the sculpture gallery opposite had made some metal crabs that were roaming the tidal waters - it is a fantastically artistic area. And the other favourite was Rabbit Island, an island reserve, which is only open during daylight hours and was a slice of tranquillity. It reminded us of Holkham in Norfolk, one of our favourite places to walk, as the interior of the island was a fairly thick pine wood, with a white sandy beach fringing its shores. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves whenever we went and just sat there with our flasks of tea (see a pattern emerging here?) or wandered along the shoreline looking for dolphins. And it was also a good place for birds, with rare white heron looking for food along the estuary.

We also had one day off per week for trips further afield which we took full advantage of. On our first Sunday (the day Liverpool finally beat Utd in the Prem under Benitez) we felt like a lazy day on the beach so went a short distance up to coast to Kaiteriteri Beach, often called the best beach in NZ, and I'm trying to find a good way to write this without pulling out every cliché in the book, but it was simply breathtaking. It's not the biggest beach in the world, but the sand is a wonderful deep golden colour, lighter where dry and on the day we visited this was emphasized even more by the blue sea and sky and the vivid green coastal bush that fringes the beach. We had the most wonderful day, pottering around, munching on a picnic, reading our SE Asia guide trying to plan our route home, dozing in the sun, and wandering around, exploring the little coves and rock pools - simply perfect. The following Sunday we felt like a proper walk so we went a little further up the coast to Marahau, the start point of the Great Walk, the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. The walk itself is a 3-5 day trip with overnight stops, but we decided to just walk the first little bit, around to Appletree Bay for a picnic before retracing our steps. All I can say is that every bit of hype about the beauty of this national park is spot on, every time you turn a corner you are drawn to another view of a little sandy cove, or strip of beach, which could be on any South Pacific island, or inland to a gushing waterfall or the lush green bush, fed off the recent rains. And as for Appletree Bay, we couldn't believe our luck - we were on our dream South Pacific Island, and like our visit to Coromandel we have caught this place at the right time - before the hordes of summer visitors! We had half an hour of sheer delight on the beach, eating Su's lime & lemon cake, bathing in the hot sun and gazing at the clear sea with gannets diving for fish, and then we were reminded that it was still officially winter - the wind changed direction blowing off the sea to shore, it was fleeces back on and we hurried back dodging the showers. But the place still had an indescribable beauty to it - only now a little more like the wild beaches of Scotland with the moody atmospheric clouds hanging over a now slate grey sea. My initial reaction was one of disappointment but after a few minutes I actually felt quite privileged to have seen both sides of it. I don't think we will have time to do the proper walk while here due to work commitments, but we will certainly return and take advantage of the winter offers on water taxis so we can walk a middle section of the track.

And what's that I hear you cry! Yes, we have finally found work!!!!! Our perseverance has paid off and we are going to work at Dean's Nursery (working for James Dean, no less!) We have two months guaranteed work, initially grafting grape vines (grape vines are particularly susceptible to certain viruses but there are certain wild grape vines that have good resistance, so delicate types, like Sauvignon Blanc, are grafted onto the sturdier vines in order to stay virus-free), then we will be planting out the vines, amongst other work around the nursery. I cannot tell you how relieved we are, plus it is a tiny family-run business, so much nicer to work at, it counts towards our visa extension, we have the weekends free together and it is above minimum wage! And Ann & Bob have been very kind to us during our stay, inviting us to stay with them until we had found paid work, and they even got us a little cash-in-hand job with a friend of theirs who needed her garden weeding which proved a very happy afternoon for us, doing some gardening for a little cash - could be a profitable sideline for us!

And of course a new job means we have to find a new home for two months, and we set out determined to find the cheapest solution possible. Hostels were out as they are either at Nelson or Motueka, both a 30-minute drive from work, so we phoned around to Holiday Parks to see if we could find a cheap deal, as it is still low season. We thought we had found a winner, Greenwood Park & Motel, so close to Dean's Nursery that we could have walked to work - he quoted us an absolute bargain over the phone and we went to see the place determined to accept it. Oh my god, what a dive! He has a separate area for workers and we walked around amongst workmen, smoking, drinking, listening to horrible music very loudly and leering, and then there was the caravan - horribly small, wooden platforms with thin bits of foam on for mattresses, and blinds that were ripped, torn and unable to close properly. Oh and did I mention it was fit for the scrap heap? Terrible. So we moved on to another worker's park only to find prison cells with slated windows letting in horrible amounts of fresh air, but very little light, oh and a dog that wanted to eat you alive! Once again, our hearts sank. But I think we finally struck gold. Mapua Leisure Park is at the end of the little village of Mapua, overlooking Rabbit Island and being low season we were offered a discount in price and an upgrade to a kitchen cabin as we are here for two months, so we are moving into a little A-frame cabin with a double bed, kitchen and table & chairs downstairs, and two single beds upstairs in the loft. Plus there is a picnic table outside, two plastic chairs on the decking and a space for Shadowfax next door. Oh, and the park is surrounded by a beach and river estuary, and is filled with trees and birds. I think we'll be happy there, after all, it is a working HOLIDAY!

(NB - this was written about the period up to 23 September, but I haven't been near a computer to upload it until now. I've also now added some photos of Ann & Bob's gallery and labelled the woodturning demo)

Lots of love, Jo & Su, xxx