From giant ice cream, dinosaur eggs, and modern church

Hello everyone 👋

At this point, I would like to tell you about my second WWOOFing adventure, which is currently taking place in Oamaru, in the southeast of the South Island. In addition to intensive (😉😉) work, I also had the opportunity to experience some very interesting things there. You can exclusively find out about my life in the past week here 👉

Tuesday, January 10 - Thursday, January 12

After checking out of the hostel on Tuesday morning, Carolyn, with whom I will be WWOOFing for two weeks, welcomed me there. During this time, I will not write the typical daily reports for every day, but only for the days when something special happens, as many things repeat themselves over the two weeks and the reports would be quite monotonous. But I would like to share my first impressions and experiences with you now.

I feel very, very comfortable with Carolyn overall. She lives in a relatively small house with a fruit and vegetable garden, as well as 19 sheep, the cats Mouse and Lolli, and the dog Jasper, who, by the way, is very affectionate towards me 😉 She also has a chicken coop, but unfortunately, all of her last chickens were killed by a ferret, so she is not keeping any at the moment. There is currently a bit more activity in the house than usual because Carolyn's temporary roommate Melinda from the USA and her daughter Nicole, who is studying in Dunedin, are also staying there for a few weeks. I have my own room in a small cottage that is separate from the main house, but I am mostly there only to sleep. During the day, I generally spend my time in the nicely furnished apartment. The food is absolutely top-notch, with a delicious dinner every day, a light snack for lunch, and occasional snacks in between. Carolyn is currently working quite a bit. She does the accounting for three different companies. Melinda and Nicole either work on a neighboring farm in the potato harvest or work on academic papers for the university. That's why I have to keep myself busy alone in the mornings. But that doesn't bother me. After lunch, I always go to work, which lasts about four hours. There is a lot of work to do around the house, and I can choose what I would like to do next. In the first three days, I first got rid of the thistles that were shooting up everywhere in the lawn, and then cleared the fence at the entrance of ivy and grass so that it can be repainted. I also helped dismantle some trees completely because they were either dead or taking up too much space. Despite wearing gloves, I have already gotten some blisters on my hands and a few scratches on my arms 😭 But other than that, everything is really wonderful 😊 In the evenings, we usually sit in front of, during, and after dinner watching movies or crime series together.

Friday, January 13

My work this time was similar to the previous day. First, like the day before, Carolyn, Nicole, and I continued to remove dead trees. When that was done, I started using pruning shears to cut off metal wires that the previous occupant of the property had attached to some tree trunks for whatever reason. And I can only say that I hated it. The wires were horribly tangled, and it was not good for my skin either. I should have continued doing gardening work instead 😑 After the work was done, all the house residents went on a little trip to Hampden, more specifically to the ice cream parlor with the largest portions in the world. On Carolyn's recommendation, I got myself an ice cream with three scoops, which in the end turned out to be more like one with 7-8 German-sized scoops 😅 (see photo). But of course, I still ate it all, and the ice cream was not only gigantic but also delicious 😋🍦 After dinner, Nicole said her goodbyes as I won't see her during the time I am still here. On the way back, we made a detour to the Boulders. These are round rocks on the beach that exist only in this one place in the whole world. Carolyn has appropriately nicknamed them 'dinosaur eggs' 😂 Unfortunately, we went there at high tide, so I could only climb onto one rock. But it was still very interesting to see these unique rocks.

Saturday, January 14

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great on this day, at least in the morning. It was gray, freezing cold, and windy. That's why I went into town with Carolyn to buy some new plants and trees to fill the gaps caused by the dead trees. Then, with much better weather, we went on a little city tour, first to a viewpoint from which you can overlook the entire Oamaru, and then to the harbor, where there is a path that extends far out into the water, so you can also have great views of the city from the end of it. On the way there, I also passed a total of seven seals that were lying directly by the water below the path. I got quite close to some of them, but since the path was very narrow, there was no other option. When we returned home, we decided to plant the new plants right away. I'm curious to see how quickly they will grow. At the moment, the area still looks quite barren, but that should change soon.

Sunday, January 15

There is also a lot to report from the next day. We went to a church service. Carolyn works in a parish and asked me if I wanted to come to the church service with her, which is very different from what I know in Germany. Before the service, there was free tea and cookies for everyone, and in the room, which is actually a youth room, there were group tables everywhere, along with normal benches around. At first, the room was poorly occupied, but shortly before the start, a lot of people suddenly arrived, and it quickly filled up. The service itself was also very different for me, but I really liked it. There is no pastor, so the members of the parish take turns leading the service. In the beginning, three girls (around 14 years old) were called upon to find people in the audience with specific characteristics, such as the oldest person in the room, a woman with a motorcycle license, someone with at least half a finger missing, someone who has done a parachute jump, or someone with a university degree. I was selected directly for the last two categories 😆 I think the idea is great. It helps you get to know each other better. This was also good for me because I didn't know anyone other than Carolyn before. After that, a few visitors who will be leaving the area for the time being gave a small farewell speech before a basket of real bread was passed around as communion, followed immediately by a pallet full of shot glasses filled with grape juice. Communion in a different way 😅 After that, three songs were sung, and then it was all over. Even though this church service lasted about an hour, it flew by and was actually fun because the atmosphere was much more relaxed and laid-back than what I'm used to. Especially during the game at the beginning, there was a lot of laughter 😀 After the service, several other visitors approached me directly to find out more about me. I was very happy that so many people were interested in me. We also had to clean up before heading back home. Next Sunday will be different as the service will be held in the 'real' church, where there will also be significant differences from the church services I know. I'm looking forward to that as well. In the afternoon, I continued to remove more trees that were either dead or had grown too large. Quite a lot of material accumulated, which we loaded onto Carolyn's trailer and took to the pile where Carolyn piles up all the garden waste that accumulates and eventually wants to burn completely.

It continues to be exciting ⚡ Stay tuned and don't miss out on what happens at Carolyn's in the next episode (next week 😉). See you soon!

Your Max