Last time we wrote we were in Tauranga waiting on a promised job, however this didn't work out. The chap who had offered us the work kept saying 'another day or two and then you can start'. The trouble was all the while we were waiting we were spending money, in a pretty unremarkable place. We did approach a couple of other people about work, but every time we just seemed to be a day too late !. So we decided for financial sake to phone our next help exchange a...

It's been a while since we last updated the site and we've travelled alot of K's !! We were hoping the weather in the Northland would be slightly warmer than where we had been, but if anything it was worse. It seemed to rain every day, dampening not only our spirits but our physical selves (the leaky sunroof is better but still a little tempramental !) We had another help exchange job lined up on a campsite which was located right on an estuary and from thei...

So we made our way up from the Tongariro National park, back up to the North of the Island. Our next job is near Whangarei which is on the East coast near the top of the North Island. We planned to go right to the top of the island to Cape Reinga up the West coast then back down the West to Whangarei. We spent our first night on a campsite at Matakohe, right next door to the Kauri & Pioneer museum. It was a really interesting place, giving you an insight int...

It was with some sadness we left Willowbrook farm, we had originally planned to go North for a couple of weeks before our next job, but we heard the snow was really good further South , specifically in the Tongariro National Park. So we set off in the van, looking forward to the next adventure ! It took us about four hours to drive down, we went the scenic route (sam was map reading !). On the approach to the park you could see the snow covered Mt Ngauruhoe, m...

We arrived at Willowbrook Farm not really knowing what to expect. We found them via a web site called Help Exchange, the idea is you do about four hours work a day in exchange for board and lodgings. Willowbrook farm is set on about 10 acres of pasture where they have six competition horses. We met the family, Jan, the Mum of the house a sales rep for a food company and a great cook ! Geoff, the Dad of the house, a panel beater who has a great sense of humour and...