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| WWOOFing in Clive Hawke's Bay. Playing with Saul in the downtime. |
It feels like I have been away from home for a century, even though it
has only been a week. I can’t believe how many people I’ve met, places I’ve
seen, and mountains I’ve climbed. But now I’m on to the next leg of my journey:
WWOOFing. WWOOF stands for Willing Workers Organization for Organic Farmers and
promotes a cultural blend by exchanging work for room and board. When one is
backpacking, one only meets backpackers. When one is WWOOFing, one meets kiwis.
I am staying in Clive, part of the conglomeration of towns along the
eastern edge of the North island that are gathered along Clive Hawke’s Bay.
This is the wine country of New Zealand. Napier and Hastings are both famous
for their New Zealand wines. The volcanic ash and rich land from the geological
activity feed the grapes and the grapes feed the wine and the wine feeds the
people.
It’s only been two days, and I’ve already tasted the finest wines,
hiked the finest hikes, witnessed the legendary rainbows, and biked into
Napier. The real goal for this visit (along with learning the life of a kiwi),
is to spot some New Zealand orcas off the coast. Whether is a bicycle ride for
some coffee or an evening walk with the dog, I constantly make excuses to walk
along the ocean so I can, hopefully, spot an orca.
When I ask people about it, they laugh and think I’m joking. But one
lady I met actually saw a pod of orcas fishing from the point that I have
walked multiple times now. New Zealand is famous for having a specific “species”
(depending on the scientist you ask) of orca that lives in New Zealand waters
and travels along the New Zealand coast, searching for manta rays. I could tell
you a million things about this special type of orca, but I’ll save it for the
dinner conversation over Chardonnay and lamb meat.
There are many things that kiwis do, but one of the most consistent is
that they love to drink and they love to eat. Now, this is probably not very
different from any other culture, EXCEPT for a very special addendum. They love
to drink kiwi drinks and they love to eat kiwi food. Spanish wine is not for
them, French wine is not for them. California wine is sometimes for them. Kiwi
wine is always for them. In the same vein, their grapefruit is from their
neighbor’s sister, their lamb chop is from down the street, their asparagus is
from their childhood friend, and their tea is out of their garden.
They can get it from wherever they want, but it’s all kiwi to me.
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| Clive Hawke's Bay, overlooking a rock formation called the Sleeping Giant. I am living beyond the river in the middle right side of the picture. |
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| WWOOFing Clive Hawke's Bay. The view from my window after a sunny rain. The goats graze in front of the trees and the sheep graze behind the trees. |