2025-03-16 WWOOF 2, Hokitika at Joan's

16.3.25 Humphreys near Hokitika, WWOOF Day 2. After arriving here yesterday and spending time at the house, my day begins with sun salutation in the caravan. At 8 am, as agreed, I walk over to the house. Joan is making porridge and I'm not quite sure what to do. After breakfast, we take a walk around the house. We go up through the meadows. Here, there is a metal and wooden gate, with the lower hinge broken. It goes higher up and bends back towards the house. Below, by the stream, the previous owner had created various paths. Several bridges cross the currently dry stream. One is missing two planks, while the other has a wobbly railing. Then there is also an old collapsed wooden bench that holds sentimental value from the husband who passed away 25 years ago. I decide to tackle the wooden gate first and ask for tools. She shows me four places where tools are located. It would be much more practical to set up a nice workshop. There is enough space for it in one of the three sheds. I'm specifically looking for large drills, but apparently, they don't have any. In light drizzle, I take the tape measure and walk around again to see if I can replace the wooden gate with a metal gate that isn't being used. However, they are all bigger, and I would also need to set a new hinge and drill a hole for it. The light drizzle is making me quite wet. I dry off quickly in the house and have some bread. Then I secure the loose lower hinge of the metal gate with wedges and nails. That goes well. Only setting the 4.30m long gate into the hinge is a bigger problem. Either I go get Joan and we do it together, or I have to find blocks and prop the gate up. I want to manage it alone, so I get wood to level it and also bring oil. The screws of the upper hinge are very rusted and need to be adjusted. Done. Now I want to replace the missing planks on the bridge, but first, I can't find the way there. Laughing, Joan shows me where to go. After taking measurements, I find suitable planks and a beam to support it. Everything is secured with 100mm nails. At the bridgehead, I need to reset some stones. This all goes quite quickly. The sun comes out. A chance to shower in the garden. I take a break and read. Before and after dinner, the Wi-Fi is turned on, and I can slowly upload some pictures to the blog. Joan wants to do yoga with me and starts a video on the laptop for that. However, it keeps freezing, so we can't get beyond cat poses and pelvic circles. We postpone it until tomorrow and instead go to see the glowworms. They are sitting on the path to the wooden bridge on the slope. At least 50 blue points glow in the dark. Fascinating! Unlike fireflies, they just sit. Then I go into the caravan and transfer the pictures.