Workin' in Kaiwaka

It wasn't easy, but we managed to do it in the end. The farewell from the lovely couple and their campsite is already about 2.5 weeks ago, but we still miss them and their dogs - even though we have experienced a lot of amazing things since then!

In the last 2 weeks, we had our first 'official' job, although it wasn't paid, but we received food and accommodation in return ('wwoofing'). We thought it was pretty cool because we could save a lot of money and also had the chance to meet real locals and truly experience New Zealand. Well, the fact that our hosts were German, who immigrated about 5 years ago, might have diminished this experience a bit...:D

Our hosts, Sandra and Stefan, have a quite famous café/motel near Kaiwaka, about 100km north of Auckland, where almost all the tour buses that shuttle between Auckland and the northern part of the country stop for a coffee break. And the customers are basically only the passengers on the buses. That means that when there is no bus, you have to find some work (usually sweeping, cleaning, mopping or dusting), while when a bus arrives, you run back and forth and sometimes have real stress to get everything done on time. Alex and I have never really worked in the hospitality industry before, so it was really cool to have done something like that. The communication within the team was also pretty easy because only 2 Indian women, 4 New Zealand women, and otherwise only Germans worked there. It was especially cool that there were 4 more German Wwoofers besides us, with whom we got along very well and with whom we could enjoy the occasional non-alcoholic cold beverage. :) It was also great to have a proper bed, our own room with a shower, plenty of food, Wi-Fi, electricity....we were quite well off, to be honest! There was even a pool, which according to Sandra, was supposed to be so cold that 'women come out of it again'. I tried it, but it didn't work somehow...probably too warm after all!

Besides work (we had 2 days off in the first week and 1 day off in the second week), we still managed to see quite a lot of the area. For example, I went to Mangawhai (20 km from the motel) twice for the sunrise, where there is a beautiful beach! It wasn't quite easy to get up at 4:45 am and then drive to the beach in the pitch dark, but it was definitely worth it!

On one of our days off, we also completed the 'Mangawhai Cliff Walkway' together, a really beautiful 3-hour hiking trail on the cliffs right by the sea. You can imagine it something like this. It was really worth it!

By the way, our hosts Sandra and Stefan also lived in Mangawhai with their 4 children and 2 dogs (one of the two is less of a dog and more of a slobber pile with a part of a dog - but cute! As long as she stayed away from our pants...). Sandra even showed us her old house. Holy cow! They must have quite a bit of money! We were expecting a normal house somewhere on the side of the road, but a huge estate with a view of a lake and the sea and its own long driveway was a little surprise for us...oh, as if that were not enough, the two of them also have a big house in Germany, which they don't want to sell in case one of their 4 children wants to study in Germany, then they can live there directly....practical when you have the money! :D

In addition to the beautiful beach in Mangawhai, we also visited the Piroa Falls twice, which are also about 20 km from the motel and easy to reach. We went there for the sunset. It was definitely the right decision! I only have a 'normal' picture here with cloudy sky, but we witnessed an incredible sunset! Actually, the sky had been gray for hours, but 2 minutes before the sun completely set, the light broke through the clouds and turned them into a bright, intense pink. It was unbelievable! The whole waterfall and the forest around it were illuminated with pink light and everything was so surreal...I still haven't fully realized how awesome it was! But even without this light, the Piroa Falls are a very impressive place... However, I can't explain why those sandbags are lying there. But they make the photo even cooler!

On the penultimate afternoon, we finally climbed our first mountain in New Zealand. Together with the 4 other Wwoofers (Helena, Henri, Jan, and Max), we hiked up Baldrock near Kaiwaka. It wasn't a big deal (maybe 300 meters in altitude and a 45-minute ascent), but the view of the surrounding countryside was simply amazing! So vast. And once again, we are fascinated by how diverse New Zealand is even in a small area: Everything I have described here in this post is within a radius of only 20 kilometers around Kaiwaka!

Unfortunately, we had to move on to our next Wwoofing job on the Coromandel Peninsula 2 days after this mountain climb. It's a pity because we had just really connected with the other 4 Wwoofers and got along really well. We would have liked to stay longer and have more 'Diesel' (bourbon + cola in a can, extremely tasty....and cheap!) with the others, but (unfortunately) a new chapter awaited us here in New Zealand. Of course, phone numbers and Facebook accounts were exchanged, and we have promised to meet again in Germany and enjoy a drink made of hops and malt together :)

As it turns out, our next Wwoofing job is about 360° different and we are not very happy about it (more on that elsewhere), which is why we already miss the 'Coffeepot' and the people there! Not least because of Sandra's regular 'Cup-of-Tea-Time' (for those who don't know: When the café isn't busy, Sandra likes to invite her Wwoofers to her terrace for said 'Tea Time', where you are forced to drink beer because otherwise, you are called a softie...:( It doesn't matter whether it's only 12 noon or later!) She herself only sipped sparkling wine, but not sparingly :D Well, we had a great time there and hope to see as many people from there as possible again and remember the time together. Until then, we still have 9 more days to grit our teeth and persevere with the Wwoofing job until Louis arrives on the 21st, our buddy from Germany, who will travel the rest of the North Island with us for 3 weeks....a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel!

Maybe this time I can manage to write another post before 3 weeks have passed :))

Cheers!