Friendship in Hamilton and Rotorua

 13/12/23

I'm BACK!

Howdy party people, 

It's been a minute since I have been able to write, but so much has happened! I am currently living in the cute

town of Hamilton with an amazing host family. They greeted me with such warmth and welcome, I felt right

at home. I've also been able to learn more about the epic country of NZ by playing board games like Articulate

and going on adventures with the crew here. 

Let's get into it! 

First and foremost, these next few blog posts may be a bit sporadic as I still have a lot of ground to cover from my

last few weeks in Christchurch and my trip back home to the states. It was so fun to see family and reconnect with

all of the people I have been missing since moving across the world. I intend to do a post about it and the quick

trips to Mt. Cook and Dunedin but we will see how far I get! 

Getting Started With Wwoofing (World Wide Organic Farming) 

When I arrived back into Christchurch, I had planned to stay one night in the Lylo hostel and then move on to my wwoofing host in Little River near the Banks Peninsula. The night I landed, I had a nice dinner with my old roomie, MJ, and her partner, Luke, at the Little Indian restaurant and prepared for the next day. Checkout of the hostel was at 10am, but I still wasn't sure what time the lady was planning to pick me up.  The lady ended up wanting me to meet her at a random bus stop with all of my stuff. At this point, I was a little skeptical of the whole ordeal so I asked a few more questions and decided that this would not be the wwoofing gig for me. Long story short, afterwards she was not very nice to me and I felt that I made the right decision. Despite this unfortunate change of plans, this allowed me to explore my options for activities and
relaxation back in Christchurch. Since, it now felt familiar, it was fun exploring around the parts of the
city I hadn't been to. I even found a pair of Great-Crested Grebes (see photo!) a few kilometers down
the road from my hostel at Roto Kohatu.

Using this time allowed me to better prep for the awesome family I was to meet in Hamilton, as well as
organized myself for the coming months. During my stay at Lylo, I was able to recharge enough to
reenter the job hunt for the first time in months. Shockingly, I had a bite. I found an ad for sheep
shearing and wool handling up in Lawrence, Otago and jumped on it. I called the number and he said
they had a position for me. You are looking at a soon to be employed wool handler! Understandably,
I was thrilled. I also happened to meet a kiwi with family in St. Regis, Montana. Small world! 
On the 5th of December, I started getting prepared for my big move to Hamilton. After the last
wwoofing host, I asked a lot more questions and had a facetime with the family before I got up there. I was instantly met with the kindness of Nina and her daughters. I felt such relief to be
heading up to a place I would be welcomed. I came to the airport with my 23.9 k bag and was off to
Hamilton. The flight went incredibly smooth. Generally, I have terrible flight luck, but the odds tend
to be in my favor when I travel in New Zealand. Ihapera, Poppy and Maioha were waiting for me when
I arrived at the airport. They showed me around the house, we all went shopping for food, and then we
played board games late into the night! I immediately felt safe and comfortable in the house and was
ready to get to work! 

The next day, Nina said I should take some time to check out the beautiful city of Hamilton and get acquainted

with the city. Meg, Maioha's best friend, gave me a list of all the best things to do in town. So, I headed down to

Browser's Bookstore and perused the shelves. I found an incredible book about being a sheep farmer in

New Zealand and just had to have it. Afterwards, I stood in awe of New Zealand's tallest Christmas tree, had

some pad thai and got some boba tea. It was a good day! 

 With woofing, the arrangement is that I provide up to four hours of housework/gardening/farm work a day in

exchange for accommodation and food. It's quite an awesome gig, not only because I am learning new skills,

but also because I don't have to worry about paying for rent or food. Nina is a gardening expert and has a fruitful

garden in Hamilton full of raspberries, plums, herbs and other goodies. My first few tasks while I was there were

to pull weeds, wash windows and do some general tidying. I had quite a blast exploring the garden and

envisioning what the new space would look like when I was done. As Nina had been up North for a bit working on her food forest, the garden was getting quite overgrown. I will show progress photos but we got the garden beds

entirely weeded, pruned and mulched throughout the two weeks I was up in Hamilton! I am quite proud of it! It

was also so nice to be able to have a slow reentry back into doing work after being out of school and work for a

couple of months. It was also so lovely being able to work outside. 

Some highlights with my wwoofing experience!

• Built in friends

• Learn about local events and best places to go in the area

• Learn new skills like permaculture and gardening  

• Eat new food

• Travel to new places on the North Island like Waitomo and Rotorua

• AND FUN!

Before and after photos of the garden!

Rotorua 

In Hamilton, I became quite friendly with the Esson girls via our board game nights, but Meg and I clicked right

off the bat. We planned a trip to Rotorua within a week of me being here and it did not disappoint! I have been

looking forward to checking out the beautiful Rotorua ever since I met Theresa, a kiwi visiting Montana, at

Avis/Budget this past summer. I remember being so excited to hear a kiwi accent over the phone and we got to

chatting about the best places to go in New Zealand. We exchanged contact info for when I made it up to the

North Island, and we finally connected on the 12th of December! Meg and I met up with Theresa for coffee and

a walk to see the Te Puia geyser!

It was such a beautiful trail full of native bush and birdsong. We climbed to the top just as the geyser was erupting. It was like Old Faithful multiplied by 100. We got so lucky with clear skies and only a little bit of eggy sulphur smell. We scurried down the rest of the trail and got a black forest sponge cake and passionfruit cheesecake to share. Meg, Theresa and I had a blast talking about the cultural differences between our countries and how good the cheesecake was. 10/10! 

Eventually, we had to say goodbye to Theresa and we headed to the art museum! On the artsy side of Rotorua,

we found some beautiful work including these beautifully hand dyed pieces and sculptures. My favorite sculpture

was called Rivers and Lakes where the “lake” bowl fills with rain water and then spreads to the “rivers”. After,

we walked around the gardens and watched a white-faced heron enjoy the grass with us. 

 

    We stayed at Rotorua Backpackers and were greeted by an awesome front desk worker named Thomas.

He showed us around the hostel and gave us a recommendation on where to go for dinner. Meg and I traipsed

around town while we waited for our yummy arugula, tomato, and pesto pizza to take with us to the Rotorua hot

pools. Kerosene Creek is one of the best kept secrets of Rotorua. With its fern forest surrounded by waterfalls,

I was mesmerized. There really is nothing like a natural hot pool... especially when it is entirely free! After

hanging out in the creek for a while, we decided to hike through the ferns and Meg gave me the run down on

what to expect from Christmas camp (where I am right now). We caught the sunset on the way back into town

and chatted with a few of the girls in our room before grabbing some gelato. The evening hostel conversation

consisted of sharing colloquial terms from our respective countries (Canada, America, New Zealand and Germany) and the best adventures we have had in New Zealand thus far. 

The next morning started off strong thanks to the wonders of BookMe. This website has several discounted

tickets and Meg and I stumbled across an awesome deal for mini-golfing with rabbits. While it might sound

ridiculous, it was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We grabbed some breakfast at the bakery and then headed over to the cutest mini golf place I had ever been to. We were instantly greeted by a kind lady who showed us the course and reminded us that the rabbits are for petting and not to be taken home. I wanted to take one home.

Meg and I had a blast mini golfing on the court and I almost got a hole in one. Here is the video evidence. 

Post golfing, we wanted to check out some more Rotorua sights so we headed up to the remnants of the 8th

Wonder of the World, Otukapuarangi and Te Tarata. Destroyed in the 1800s by the eruption of neighboring

volcano, Tarawera, the pink and white terraces were a huge tourist attraction for Maori and Europeans alike.

Huge amounts of history were left behind in the eruption, including the whares of the Maori villagers and the remains of hotels. Now, there is a beautiful museum that has been left behind to remember the tragic day when the 8th Wonder of the World was destroyed. One of the most inspiring stories was that of the guide Te Paia (Sophia), who was half Maori - half European, and housed over 50 of the village people in her home when the volcano erupted. She continued guiding the area even after the terraces were destroyed. The volcano has not erupted since, and the regrowth of the forest is beautiful. We also got to stop by the beautiful waterfall that was within the “Buried Village”.

Currently, I am celebrating Christmas with this amazing family in Bay of Islands! I will update on the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and Christmas when I have wifi again!