Wwoofing in Whangarei II.

Second host, second chance. Our stay at the beautiful Sandy Bay was quite different to our first host in Whangarei. 

Our new host had a welcoming smile on her face when she picked us up in Whangarei and took us to the Tutukaka coast (30 minutes by car) to have a first dinner with her family.

On the next day she took us to the Retreat in Sandy Bay, which became our home for the next two weeks. We stayed in a small cabin and shared our kitchen, work and experiences with two other Wwoofers from Germany. It is just incredible how many young Germans we meet along the way! No wonder they call some areas where a lot of campervans a staying over night “little Germany”. Anyway, the Retreat is a place for art, gardening, DIY, nature and exchange, we had a really great time there.

Of course we also had to work, but this time the work was much more varied. Pulling weeds, planting, caring for succulents, we even did some fencing. On other days we cleaned holiday homes with our host. It was hard work, but it was not as boring as with the last host, so we had quite a lot of fun. Dealing with the crazy black sheep was not so much fun, he always tried to ram you, when you entered the paddock. Towards the end of our stay, we developed a sneaking in technique, but it did not always work.

The host was much better organized for wwoofing and gave us some pamphlets at the beginning of our stay with informations about work hours and the Retreat. She showed us a lot of local things, like the hidden Whale Bay and the Louqat fruit you can find on the side of the road in Northland. Every weekend she took us to another market, first the farmer’s market in Kerikeri and the next week a new small market in Ngunguru. We were introduced quite well to the local Kiwi life. 

She also showed us the best beaches in the area, like Sandy Bay and Matapouri Beach. We saw the Whangarei falls and went on some walks. We even had two days off. On one of them we took part in a boat tour to the Poor Knight Islands and went snorkelling there. It was incredible to get so close to the seals and swimming into dark caves. The water was really clear, giving us a good view on all the fish.

But there was something about our host herself that was different. She had a good sense of people and was able to see inside us quite well. She had a very positive attitude and a good and supporting influence on us and which enabled us to consider some big personal decisions. Dear host, thank you for being there for us! Without you, we maybe would not have realized, how we want to change.

The two weeks were over quickly and we had to leave, but we were very excited about the next part of our journey: the far North.

Some Pictures: