We arrived in Masterton, in the Waipara region in the very Southern bit of the North Island, last Thursday. A bit later than expected due to me reading the bus schedule incorrectly, (actually it was really poorly written). Oh well, it all worked out. Anyway, we're now w/Maggie. It's our second Helpx stay and much more of what we were hoping for in terms of work. Even better, Maggie is really nice and has made us feel very much at home and very welcome. Not...

We arrived here in Te Uku, about 10 minutes from Raglan, on Friday afternoon to do our first 'Helpx' thing. We're staying with Matt & Jane and their 2 children, Emily & Isabelle...and their chickens, goats, cows, a pig named Pepper & her baby called 'baby pig' and another pig named George (who is pregnant), and 3 cats...Jesus, Butter & LeeLee. Our work on this occasion, in return for room & board, has been to dig a ditch and weed a huge gard...

Still in Devonport w/Graeme & Elaine & little Ben. Graeme had plans to take the day off and fish w/some friends today but ended up not being able to get out of work. So Pat went in his place and has just come home laden with fish. It's snapper for dinner tonight!!! Elaine and I had a relaxing day and visited Auckland Park...and ate ice cream. Tomorrow begins a new phase of our journey as we head off to stay with our first 'Helpx' family. We're taking the...

Must apologise for my slow updates to this site! I'm finding it's a little cumbersome in a couple of ways...it's slow, for one thing. And, then it takes a fair bit of time to upload photos. As such, I'm going to have to add them later, as/when I have time. Sorry!! The other thing we've been focused on is sorting out our first 'wine gig'. (Not sure what else to call it.) It's required that we send a lot of emails which has been more time consuming than I expected...

Left Peter & Tanya's around midday to make our way South. We had a lovely stay with them. Thank you, thank you!! Enjoyed the drive South and the scenery, especially around Tutukaka and that whole coastal area. There's a group of islands off the cost called the Poor Knights and it's supposed to be an incredible dive spot. But, as we're not divers we decided not to go out. Stayed at a little B&B called 'Top Story'. Nice little place with a huge gard...