2. WWOOFing at Gilly and Brian's in Taupo (31.10.-10.11.2016)

Completely impressed by the appearance of Gilly and Brian's house, we arrived in Taupo at 12 o'clock.
We were greeted by the two of them at the front door and another WWOOFer named Lena also welcomed us. She showed us our room for the next 10 days and took us through the villa and the garden that was twice as big.

Afterwards, we had lunch together and Gilly told us that Lena had been working a lot lately and was allowed to go horseback riding with Bronson today. So after eating, we drove to a horse riding arena a bit further away.

In the evening, we helped a little with cooking, washing dishes, and making beds for the guests. This gave us a glimpse into what the next days would be like. Gilly and Brian also showed us a film about the most beautiful places in New Zealand and pointed out hotspots on the map that we shouldn't miss.

Day 1.

The next morning, while Jasmin was helping Gilly in the house, Jana worked in the garden with Brian and Lena. Jasmin cleaned all the windows and rooms, and Jana watered flowers for 2 hours, then cut the grass that the lawnmower didn't catch and removed dead leaves from a tree.

In the afternoon, we went to the city with Lena to buy some necessary things at PacknSave. Jana bought conditioner and Jasmin bought shower gel and shampoo.

For dinner, Lena cooked pumpkin risotto, which tasted really good, and we watched the movie 'The Notebook' together.

Day 2:

On this day, we were allowed to sleep in and went with Gilly to the city, where we took care of our car registration and looked around a second-hand shop. In the afternoon, we gave some faded garden furniture a fresh coat of paint. In the evening, we met Gilly and Brian's daughter Christina, who had come to visit spontaneously, and Jana cooked vegetarian meatballs with spaghetti.

Day 3:

In the morning, we continued painting the seemingly endless garden furniture (Brian secretly kept adding more). After work, we went to the second-hand shop again with Lena, this time we all bought clothes or bags and paid for the registration. Then we visited Huka Falls on our own and went to a honey farm, where we got to taste delicious New Zealand honey and many creams. Before we drove back, we made a stop at the lake.
In the evening, we watched the movie 'Bucket List' together, on Brian's recommendation.

Day 4:

On this day, we finally finished our work on the garden furniture and in the afternoon we hiked up Mount Tauhara, which was quite close to our current home. Gilly said it would be good preparation for the planned Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

Day 5:

In the morning, Jana watered flowers again, cleaned the pool with an underwater vacuum cleaner, and planted flowers. Jasmin learned to ride a motorbike with Brian and took care of the flower beds. After lunch, Brian checked our car and found that it was in very good condition, which made us happy. The joy continued as the next WWOOF farm accepted us, so we knew how we would spend the next few days.

Day 6:

Jana started the day by watering flowers in the rain! It was something completely new. She also pruned trees and learned to ride a motorbike. Jasmin moved dozens of dahlias, unfortunately to the wrong place, as she later found out. But Brian decided to leave them there because he thought the spot was good for them.
After lunch, we continued working for a change, as we would have the next day off, and we weeded the front yard.
In the evening, Jana cooked stuffed pancakes, and we both Skyped with our families.

Day 7:

Since Gilly and Brian wanted to look at a house in Havelock North, the five of us went on a trip to Hawkes Bay. We went shopping and had food in Napier, went up Te Mata Peak, and had coffee and cocoa at the 'Birds Cafe'.

Day 8:

Cleaning windows and kitchen cabinets were our tasks for today. Then we went to the hot springs and spent some time bathing in the really warm river water. We also made a stop at Pack'nSave, where we bought rice cakes and crackers for the hike tomorrow.

Day 9:

Tongariro Alpine Crossing (but more about this day in the next post)

Day 10:

The last day at Gilly and Brian's. After breakfast and cleaning up our room and bathroom, we said goodbye to the two of them and looked back on the ten days with mixed feelings. Mixed because we didn't always feel comfortable. Gilly was definitely a perfectionist, which is not a bad thing when it comes to her profession, but we felt that she sometimes took it to the extreme. Comments like, 'Please go around the outside and not through the breakfast room if you want to go to your bathroom, so that the guests don't see you' or 'Please pull down the blinds so that the guests don't see the mess in your room', we found it exaggerated, as we were neither particularly loud or conspicuous when going to our bathroom, nor did we have a huge mess in the room. Furthermore, Gilly and Brian had no problem with Lena sitting with them at the guests' table, which made us suspect that Gilly liked Lena more and showed us that too. Another thing that bothered us was Gilly's constant comments on what and where we ate, even though we didn't eat more or anything more unusual than others. This led to us not really being able to enjoy the actually good food anymore.
To be fair, we have to say that the two of them gave us fair work, we enjoyed talking to Brian, and we really didn't live badly in the ten days.

Nevertheless, we were now even more looking forward to the new German-New Zealand family in Napier.

Jana and Jasmin