WWOOFEN in Invercargill

On Tuesday at 12 o'clock we arrived at our host family to make our first woofing experience. WWOOFEN means 'World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms' and is the opportunity to live for free and eat with a family in exchange for about 4-5 hours of work per day. This work is mostly done on the farm or in the garden, but can also take place in other areas. Like with us, but more on that later.

When we arrived at our destination in Invercargill, we were greeted by a wagging medium-sized Labrador, who first peed on the rim after we got out of our car. (It later turned out he did this with every new car in the driveway)

After the greeting, the first day was a bit strange, as we didn't really know how to behave and what was expected of us due to our lack of woofing experience. Unfortunately, our pregnant "host mother" Jane was not much help either, as it seemed that the timing of our arrival was not particularly convenient for her. She seemed stressed and tired, and the chaos in the kitchen and living room seemed to make her uncomfortable. Awkwardly, we offered our help several times while Jane started cooking something for us. We also helped her a bit with that, but at the same time we felt uncomfortable enjoying the delicious meal that we didn't "deserve" yet. Alfi, who is the younger of the two brothers at 2 years old, initially made a cute and absent-minded impression. When the 2-year-old older brother Conrad came home in the afternoon, he greeted us with furious glances and clear aversion "NOOOOO!"
In the evening, Craig, Jane's husband, showed us our task for the next day, our first real working day.
Then, after another delicious but still "undeserved" dinner, we retreated to our container room.

All in all, on the first day we felt somewhat unwelcome, but fortunately it should change significantly in the coming days...

In to the following days, we got to know the family and the well-behaved hound Guz better and communication among ourselves also became easier from day to day. We spent a lot of time with Jane and the children, as Craig works a lot and is therefore only home rarely and briefly. In addition, Jane turned out to be a very good cook, which made us very happy after 5 weeks of our own kitchen (= relatively monotonous)!
Especially with the initial impressions of the children, we were completely wrong. While Conrad blossomed, enjoyed playing with us and often snuggled up on our laps, Alfi showed his true face as a little but cute monster or, as his father lovingly calls him, "Alfi the Troublemaker".

Our work here was very diverse. In the first few days, we painted the walls of a house bought from the neighbors and trimmed the hedge there. Later, we supported Jane & Craig with their own glamping business (explanation follows), helped with household chores and gardening, babysat the children, or chopped wood. So the work was varied and fair with 4-5 hours per day.

Above all, we found the glamping business very interesting. Glamping means glamorous camping, so camping with a big tent, real mattresses, sanitary facilities, and loving decoration. The locations for this naturally offer an impressive view, so that nature is not neglected despite all the luxury.

One unique day was yesterday, when we set up a glamping tent in an oldtimer museum. Sounds a bit strange, but it was really cool!
The tent was set up, beautifully decorated, and equipped with some fairy lights by us and Jane, so it became another attraction of the museum and a good place to advertise for "Tussock Glamping".
While Jane had to pick up the kids, we were allowed to explore the spacious museum full of old cars, trucks, tractors, and other knick-knacks for free (saved $25 per person!). Then, in the associated restaurant, Jane treated us to a delicious lunch. A very successful day!

We will start our trip to the Caitlins tomorrow, for which we are getting two days off because of good guidance. ;)
Among other things, we will go on a search for penguins again, because they say all good things come in threes!!