By Eva

There we were on a ferry from the North to South island of New Zealand. We took the Interislander, and because we did not want to be too late we were there about 1 hour before boarding time, and it was HOT. Luckily there was a freezer somewhere where Jelle bought us some popsicles to cool off. We talked a bit with two French guys who were traveling around New Zealand for 4 weeks. After burning our ass off, especially because we were in between some big SUVs who had air-conditioning and refused to turn off their cars, we were finally allowed on the ferry. The ferry was a very nice experience. There were different types of chairs to choose from, a restaurant and café (which some actually good oat-milk-cappuccinos), and places outside to enjoy the view. Jelle and I had some dinner prepared right before we went to the ferry, and had to really restrain ourselves to eat the delicious chili sin carne and NOT buy the delicious fish and chips everyone else seemed to buy on board of the ship. We took our time to read, write, enjoy the view and relax, and before we knew 3.5 hours had passed. Now you might think we would settle down and rest, but no we were on a mission to see someone in Christchurch.

Christchurch

By Eva

It was about 19.30h but we wanted to drive at least a few hours before parking our van somewhere. We found a place on Rankers Camping NZ (an application to search for freedom campsites in New Zealand), and it was only a few hours driving. Tired as I was, I took the passenger seat, and I was glad I did, because the landscape we drove through was absolutely magical. The road mostly just took us along the coastline: cliffs, the ocean, mountains. All that while the sun was setting down embracing all the beauty in the golden hour. I wanted to stay and not drive any further. But we were on a mission. Unfortunately, the freedom campsite (Cheviot Community Library) that we wanted to stay already had two cars, which was the maximum. Too tired to decide if we would actually risk a fine standing there or not we decided to drive further to the next freedom campsite (30 minutes), to only find out that that campsite was temporarily closed (Scargill Motunau Reserve). It was too late to check in by the nearby campsite, and we were both too tired to drive any further. We found a place in a street parallel to the highway and two other freedom campers seemed to have the same idea. When one of the locals heard us and came out of his garden to ask where we were up to, we explained the situation. He seemed to be pretty relaxed and advised us to drive a bit further up the road where it was a bit flatter and bit further away from the loud sounds of passing traffic. He even told us where the public toilet was. (There are public (mostly clean!) toilets everywhere in the country here, which is amazing). 

The next morning, we made our way to Christchurch where we sat down in Ilex café next to the botanical gardens where we met Jamie (Eva’s Highschool friend). Jamie has been traveling in New Zealand for 6 weeks with another good friend of ours (Floortje). Unfortunately, we just missed Floortje, because she already flew back the day before. Jamie was flying to Australia that afternoon. So yes that was our mission. Drive 5 hours to have coffee with a very good friend that I might see a few times a year when I am at home. But wow it was worth it. 

We had a few days to walk around Christchurch and discover the city a bit, and while it was our main job to find a job, we ended up mostly spending a lot of money. First Breakfast with Jamie. Then I decided I really needed a pedicure. Which I still think is very reasonable. I mean, you walk every day on your feet, right? They need some extra love from time to time (said the spoiled Western Girl). Then a coffee and lunch in another café (Coffee Culture the Crossing), which was mostly overhyped and expensive, not even that good. The next day we spent most of the day in the library to send out some job applications and mostly to save some money, but then I realized (of course) that there was such a nice café in the library (Foundation Café) that we decided (I did not need to force Jelle), to have lunch there. The lunch was amazing, and the café indeed was very nice. I asked if they needed any employees, but they had just hired a few people. We spent the night at the Marine Parade close to the beach. It was hard to protect our dinner from blowing all over the place or to get eaten by seagulls, but other than that it was a nice freedom campsite.  

In the end we decided we did not like Christchurch that much. We had a good time, but the vibe which made us feel welcome and at home in Wellington, we did not find it in Christchurch. Earlier we were pretty sure we wanted to settle down and work in Christchurch, but now we knew this might not be the right place for us. 

Broke but happy after so many lovely days in two main cities of New Zealand (Wellington and Christchurch) we were happy to go back to a more remote area. We planned to stay with Peter and Malena in the North of the South island in Pohara for a week of WOOFing (Work on Organic Farm). They own a piece of land and built a permaculture there. We drove out of Christchurch on a sunny afternoon and decided to skip the Freedom campsites that had a review of someone commenting: “And then they arrived: Sandflies from HELL!” and a lot of other people agreeing, and we went all the way to Maruia Falls Carpark. On our way through the dark, Jelle was again driving because I was a lazy asshole (Note by Jelle: she was merely a tired girlfriend) who wanted to enjoy the view, we passed an obstacle that we both never had seen before. First, we saw an oncoming car pass by with many lights and a sign saying “DANGER”. We both (somehow?) thought it was a joke and did not think much of it. Then 2 minutes of driving later, we saw another oncoming car decorated in Christmas lights. We both were a bit unsure what was happening, before we saw a large truck driving behind with a load that was crossing almost whole of the opposite drive lane. Our drive lane. Luckily the road was not that small at that point and Jelle was driving slow, because he was a bit amazed by all the Christmas lights. That was some real experience of oversized weight. 

Safe and sound we made it to the freedom campsite filled with other (camper)vans, we had a good night of rest, and the next morning we walked our way down to the waterfall (only <5 minute walk) to enjoy the view and the sound of the water. After that we made our way over a mountain-pass from Motueka bay to Takaka, to finally reach Pohara. A hidden gem next to the ocean.  

Pohara Woofing on a Permaculture Farm

By Jelle

We had been in contact with a couple on this workaway website for a while. We had the idea that it would be nice to have a quiet week after the ferry, and their permaculture farm sounded amazing. Lodging and food for a week, in exchange for 20 hours of work. Sounded pretty good to us! Of course, it forced us to do a mad dash back and forth to Christchurch, but oh well.

Finding the place turned out not to be too hard, and once we turned up the driveway we were immediately welcomed with open arms. The owners of the farm are named Peter and Malena, two warm slightly over middle aged people, who had left their Software Engineering and Doctor (sound familiar?) lives behind to start something completely different. We were shown our tight parking spot next to the greenhouse, and were immediately taken on a tour around the place. We had a little caravan to sleep in, a shower and compost toilet building a few steps away, and ducks and chickens as friendly neighbors. We were shown around the gardens, which plants were good to eat and we were free to pluck from, and where we would be working the coming days. We were asked for a shopping list so that we could feed ourselves the coming week, and told that they were very happy to have us. Before leaving us to unpack, Peter mentioned that the compost toilet does not handle too much water very well, so could we please pee on their trees instead? These were going to be an interesting couple of days, we could already feel it.

I cannot stress enough how great it is, after two months of living out of backpacks and stowing clothes in packing bags, to finally be able to put a shirt on a shelf. The caravan wasn’t that much bigger than the van, but a few extra square centimeters really matter if you don’t have to worry about a driver’s seat and a kitchen in the same space. We had a bed that was almost twice the size we were used to, a solar powered outlet, and shelves! Oh glorious, glorious shelves. 

After unpacking, having a first quiet night, the work began the next morning. After having a nice breakfast and doing our morning business against a tree of course. (Note by Eva: While outdoor peeing is something I do love, peeing in someone’s garden is somewhat more uncomfortable than expected. Even when allowed. Every time I squatted down I nervously looked around to see if no-one was actually paying attention before showing my butt to the world. It almost felt like committing a crime.)

The work was strikingly similar to what we had been doing at Sacred Earth. Most of it consisted of weeding, planting new plants, and other general garden maintenance. The very big difference was that Peter and Malena not only explained each task very well, they took the time to ask if there were any questions, and to top it off they sat down in the dirt next to you and worked alongside! This is such a world of difference to being told what to do, wished good luck, and then not seeing your supervisor again. It makes for a much better energy, much more tolerable work. And an added bonus is that Peter and Malena love answering questions, explaining their entire process throughout the day. We would have learned so much if either of us had taken the trouble to remember any of it. (Note: Eva is trying memorize a lot of it.)

After two days of working, it was weekend, and we were ready to start exploring a bit. We had already heard that there was some climbing to be done in the area, and we could hardly wait. The area is called the Golden Bay, and for good reason. The beaches are long, quiet, and gorgeous. The bay is so closed off by some natural rock formations and the northern island being so close by, that the seas are the clearest azure blue that I have ever seen. Driving around a little bit, we found a lovely little climbing wall just five minutes from the road. The view on top of the tallest route, called Franklin’s Tower, is just magnificent.

We had some more really nice events happen that week. There was a free yoga / sound healing / mantra live band evening in the local community center that we attended, which was just as colorful as it sounds. 

Malena’s daughter Mila also lives on the farm, and one evening we were invited to participate in a potluck dinner with a whole lot of people. We met Mila properly for the first time, and her boyfriend Bram who turned out to be Belgian, his parents, and his infant son. We had a lovely evening eating all sorts of tasty foods, acting out animals in a kid-friendly game of charades, and ended with a quiet bonfire passing around a bottle of hooch.

Life was not all about roses, while we were at the farm we made the wise but scary decision to look at our bank accounts. Woops. We had spent so much money on nice lunches and pretty cafes that our resources had dwindled dramatically quickly. We needed work, the paying kind.

In a frantic afternoon of sending out dozens of resumes and application email, we eventually got a handful of replies. Most of them rejections, but one stood out to us: an invitation to come and have a talk about opportunities at a place called Anatoki Salmon Farm and Restaurant. We were intrigued, especially since our reply was written in Dutch! Without knowing it, we had applied to a restaurant owned by Dutch people. We immediately sent a reply back agreeing to a meeting, and went by to have a look a day later.

The restaurant is a little ways from Tākaka, and is basically a salmon farming operation with a lake attached to it, where customers can come and rent a rod to fish up their lunch, hand it to the kitchen staff, and have the freshest Salmon possible in the adjoining restaurant. The owners were very courteous, told us their story, and listened to ours. We immediately felt a very nice vibe in the place. After hearing nothing but good stories from all the employees, and sleeping on it for a few nights, we agreed to a two month contract! The 13^th of February would be our first day, and we would be working 5 days a week, paid! We will be earning our very first dollars in not too long, and not a day too soon!

First, we had a final two half-days of work to do at the farm. We weeded around some trees, dug a trench in the burning sun, and failed to have a goodbye dinner with our lovely hosts. Lovely, but sometimes somewhat absent minded and disorganized. Not to worry, we will be in the neighborhood for the next two months anyway!

We said our goodbyes, and set out to enjoy our last weeks of freedom.

Hangdog

By Eva

After a beautiful week in a beautiful place, with hard work but also enough time to relax, we decided we wanted to dive more into the climbing community in Takaka, our home for the next 3 months. So, after: 

1. spending a rainy day in Wholemeal Café in Takaka – an overpriced cozy hippy café with delicious coffee and absolutely AMAZING vegan sandwiches,
2. Driving all the way to Motueka bay to buy a bicycle, some groceries, and some gas for the hike we were planning to do the next week.
3. Camping at Hawkes lookout, where we had a nice dinner and beers, and where we met Sanna a Dutch girl who had dinner in our back garden (behind our car),
4. I finally attached our new (battery powered) fairy lights to the roof after trying to make our solar panel powered fairy lights work for almost 2 months. Note: we mostly forgot that the solar panel was still on our roof of our car when we started driving. So the last months we had to stop multiple times along the highway after hearing some distracting sound, realizing it was the solar panel ticking to the side of Tūla, to run out the car and put the solar panel inside again. Jelle was very happy that I was getting over my stubbornness to make these lights work, was not really sure if it was worth all the effort of putting new lights on, but after Sanna even approving that I put on the new lights, he was kind of convinced. And when I turned them on, he was actually really happy. 
5. Some yoga at the lookout before it started to rain. 
6. Driving our way back to Takaka. 

We found our way to Hangdog campsite. A place well known through all of New Zealand as the climber’s campsite. In the high season you are only allowed to stay on the campsite if you can proof that your main purpose is to go climbing (at least that is what they tell you at their website). With a new rope and climbing gear always easily accessible in the back of Tūla, our goals were very clear.

While at first it seemed that they were fully booked, after explaining that we really would like to spend 4 days at their site, but before we were not sure of our plan yet and could not book ahead, the true climber behind the desk seemed to understand. A climber wants to live by the moment. So, he squeezed us in between some other cars and we were welcome to stay. 

We bought a little booklet of the climbing area and parked our car. Unfortunately, it was raining again on Saturday. The weather forecast told us something else. This is not what we planned. I could not be bothered that much though because the new fantasy romance novel was just released. So, I spent the morning at the couch in the cooking shelter at the campsite. While Jelle was… I don’t know what he did? Probably writing, making sudoku puzzles, playing games on his phone. Meanwhile I was in another world. That afternoon the rain stopped and Jelle managed to pull me out of the other world (not without some annoyed remarks from my side), and we found our way to the crag (which was only a 10 minute walk from the campsite!!). The rock was different. Even the easy routes felt pretty hard and asked for a lot of mental and physical strength. After three routes at the first Creese wall we decided to call it a day. That evening we met Eva, a Dutch girl who happened to live in Amsterdam. After talking a bit we even discovered she learned how to belay in the Klimmuur (where Jelle and I used the work and met each other) by our beloved friend and amazing climbing instructor Tessel. She was here by herself and really wanted to go climbing but did not have the skills yet. Jelle and I did not need to discuss to invite her to go with us the next day. During dinner we were surrounded by other climbers and it was easy to chitchat with some people, but most people where there only for the long weekend, and not staying. So we did not find our way into the local climbing community yet.. We did find an ASAC sticker on the door of the toilet (Amsterdam Student Alpine Society), a student club Jelle and I both were members off. Actually still are members of considering that we both still pay the membership fee to support the “poor” students. 

The morning the next day we spent some time at the Little lost wall, climbing some supposed to be “easy” routes and explaining some outdoor techniques to Eva (note: our new friend, not me). We had a long lunch break to escape the sun (and to read). The afternoon we spent at the Creese wall again, now trying a more difficult route. It took Eva and me a few goes (read at least 10) to get the first move right, Eva finally used Jelle as an additional climbing hold for her foot, and I somehow managed to do it when Eva and Jelle were talking to each other instead of focusing their attention on me. What a fun route! With all the trying and two stubborn go-getters who do not stop trying after only a few goes, we spent 2 hours on this route. Which made Eva hurry to the supermarket since she wanted to get some beers for the evening to thank us for taking her. Jelle and I did another short route before making our way back to the campsite. That evening we had some lovely local IPAs and some snacks, and we taught Eva the game we bought earlier in Auckland (Ecosystems). 

The next day we wanted to go climbing but decided we needed a day off. After a lazy morning, I decided I needed to go out and I went for a run. Perfect timing with the sun shining bright in the sky. I did not plan ahead that much and just started running along the river, soon enough I realized the trail would bring me to East Takaka road and I was pretty sure that road would be an easy loop back to the campsite. Oh how wrong I was… The East Takaka road is a road for cars, barely place for hikers/walkers, and mostly uphill. It was a tough way up, and I had to walk some parts, because I was not run-fit after all these months of not properly running. In the end I made it. My “little” loop turned out to be almost 7km. Sweaty and exhausted I did some stretching and yoga in the shade. 

The afternoon we biked (hell yesss!!) – me with my newly bought bike, and Jelle and Eva with a shared bike from the campsite – to the supermarket. Wad a lovely lunch and dinner together, and Eva taught us some new card game (Kabum), while all climbers around us were preparing pizza and sometimes sat next to us to chitchat and share experiences. A very relaxed evening. 

The last day at Hangdog we packed our bags for the hike, did a bit of climbing, but were done soon enough after me falling out of an overhang route about a trillion times into a pine-like tree, cursing a bunch in the bright sun. We went for a swim in the river, which seemed to be a local youth hang out place (way more beautiful than the places I used to hang out when I was younger) before making our way to the freedom campsite in Takaka town for a nice amount of sleep. 

Abel Tasman

By Eva

The next morning we had to leave early because the freedom campsite required that you leave before 7AM, and we were heading to the North of the Abel Tasman National Park for a 4 day hike. We were planning to go kayaking for 2 days and walk back for 2 days, but renting the canoes was more expensive than we thought, and organizing the pick-up was also a bit of a hassle because of the campsite we wanted to stay in (we all had to organize everything around the high and low tide). So we decided to walk a bit back and forth and around. 

We parked Tūla at the parking lot and gave her a goodbye-hug before we started our hike. 

The first day brought us all the way around the Northern part of the Abel Tasman National Park, through beautiful forests with beautiful views over the ocean. Separation point was the highlight of the day. You could walk all the way down to the rocks and were surrounded by all types of birds just living their life. It felt like being in a National Geographic documentary. Really surrounded by nature. On our way back to the main track from Separation point we saw some seals playing in the sea. We stood there and watched them play for a while, and when Jelle got bored of it and walked further I saw a mother seal with her young making their awkward move over the rocks towards the ocean. What a sight. When I walked back to the path I saw Jelle’s backpack standing next to a sign but no sign of Jelle. When I looked around, I found the man lying in a tree, acting like he was sleeping (and waiting for hours). (Men will always be the same like that, won’t they?) He was disappointed that I saw him so fast. 

We had a Noodle – with some eggs we boiled that morning – lunch under a tree next to the beach at Mutton cove. Then we walked to the next beach (Anapai Bay) to have a swim, to finally make it to our campsite at Tōtaranui bay. Unfortunately, I did not realize when we booked ahead, that it was a massive campsite with mostly big glamping tents and campervans. While actually the information that I read about the campsite told us that there are 850 campsites, but somehow, my naïve brain thought: “Wow that is impressive, all these people coming in on foot and by boat.” So, we walked to the campsite to find out that there was a road leading to this place. We slept in between big (camper)vans and glamping tents. Oh well. People were nice and peaceful. And I was just verry happy to be there, because of my wise decision to go for a run (after not running for a while) 2 days before a hike, my leg started to hurt somewhere doing the walk. Luckily the next day my legs were fine, but the last stretch of day one was a pain in the leg. 

The trek was in some way similar to the trek at Lake Waikaremoana. Walking up and down in a jungle like forest with beautiful views now and then, but then along the coastline instead of a lake. A swim a day to relax and wash off the sweat and mud. 

A big difference was the fauna. While at Lake Waikaremoana we found our rubbish bag stolen out of the outer tent space one night by a possum, in Abel Tasman National Park they did a great job already of getting rid of most pests. Here, the national birds took over and aren’t they rude. There, at the previous hike we learnt that we needed to store our rubbish protected by a waterproof back in our inner tent at night, and luckily possums only live at night (in big numbers we saw them one night around our tent, freezing when you shine your light on them). Here, Jelle put away most of our food, but we both forgot about the ziplock with protein-bars that we left outside the tent while were having dinner at a picknick table 20 meters away. At one point I saw a bird (a Pūkeko) from the corner of my eye moving around through our stuff. I immediately stood up and ran back to our tent, to find the bird struggling to carry the ziplock (still containing 5 massive bars) towards the forest. Right on time.

Later on the trip, Jelle forgot to put the food away from a picknick table while we were dishwashing. He did put everything in bags and tied these bags up. Later when we walked back we learned that one of the Wekas stole our last apple and our little compost-bag zip lock. He did leave a bell pepper on the table but clearly tried it by picking in the skin of the fruit. Luckily, he decided he did not like bell pepper, so more for us.. After these accidents we were very aware of specifically these types of birds. They might be nice looking, but that’s about it. 

Other than the incident with the Pūkeko, we had a peaceful evening and morning at Tōtaranui. The morning we had enough time to relax, because we only had to walk 2,5 hours and we had to wait for low tide to make the crossing to our next campsite. We left around 11AM, and still we had plenty of time. So, we went for a swim at Goat bay and even then we were arriving at the crossing point of Araowa bay just at the right time: 1,5 hours before low tide. The walk to the other side was beautiful. It was like “wadlopen” but surrounded by hills and jungle. Little crabs run away in little holes in the sand when you walked towards them. Birds were walking around searching for these delicious meals. Since we were at the beginning of the timeframe for crossing, we still needed to walk through the water, where we even saw some fish quickly swim away in the direction of the ocean. For Jelle, who does not own sandals (Teva’s), it was a bit tougher journey over all the shells with a heavy backpack, but I enjoyed the beautiful surroundings for the both of us. We arrived at the campsite in the early afternoon. After lunch I walked around the bay to find myself only surrounded by birds and mountains. Wow. I was, and still am, really impressed by this place. 

How beautiful the bay was, how awful the campsite. Yet it was a beautiful campsite surrounded by trees right next to the bay, but it was the home of MOSQUITOS from HELL. Wow I never saw so many mosquitos. I have never been bitten so many times. Mosquito repellent helped a bit, but not enough. When we found ourselves in our tent that night, I think at least 50 mosquitos were flying around in our tent. We could safely watch those from the inside of our inner tent and tried not to think about getting out of our tent the next morning. 

The next morning we stayed in the tent as long as possible. I could stay there forever reading my book, but Jelle got bored and hungry. He managed to get out the tent getting bitten of course, but nothing we could do about that. I followed soon after that (when I finished the chapter in my book, and maybe the next, and the next).

We spent the morning closer to the beach because the amount of wind there was not a very friendly environment for the mosquitos. It was high tide at 10 AM so now the water was high enough in the bay to even go for a swim. So, we did. It was a very chill morning and afternoon. Enjoying the sun and shade and seeing the water slowly pull back. We crossed the bay again just before 15.00h, and followed the same road back to the bay/beach at Anapai bay where we pitched our tent right at the beach. I went for another swim while Jelle enjoyed using some driftwood at the beach as a sort of slackline. The next morning we woke up early to just open up the front of our fly and watch the sunrise from the comfort of our sleeping-bags. 

We took a somewhat different route to walk back to Tūla. We used the Gibbs trail. We had to walk back to Tōtaranui and take a right turn just before reaching the campsite. It was a nice trek, a bit challenging with the humid weather and a bright sun, but nothing too bad (Gibbs hill is only 405 meters high). We arrived at Wanui bay in the early afternoon, with the ambition to do some laundry and freshen up in the river after that. 

However, when we reached Tākaka we realized that we were both too tired to do anything like that. We threw all our adult responsibilities out of the window, parked Tūla at the freedom camper parking space right in town and went to the Dangerous Kitchen to have a beer instead. We just put on a fresh T-shirt and some deodorant (Did we? I am not even sure if we did that). That evening another surprise was waiting for us. Another friend who I met in Vancouver and had not seen in 5 years happened to be in Tākaka. Sima. What a wonderful feeling to see this beautiful woman again in my life! She joined us with her boyfriend Lawrence for a beer and pizza. The pizza was so good (they had multiple Vegan options!!) that Jelle and I ordered another small one to share after both finishing our medium pizza. 

There was a lot of catching up to do with Sima, and it was beautiful to hear what life brought her after changing her lifestyle to a nomad way of living, and how she faces challenges right now. We talked a lot about healthcare and how we both agree that alternative/traditional and western medicine both have benefits and should be more intertwined. We have a long way to go though. Saying my goodbyes again was tough, but also easy. I would like to think that life will find a way to make our paths cross again. 

Jelle and I had a good night of sleep. The next day we spent in Wholemeal café again while we did our laundry in the Laundrette. After that we were ambitious enough to think we wanted to climbing. We made it all the way to the crag, but arriving there I realized I was too tired. The hike and being in my period made me doubt everything. Eventually Jelle said that we could also just watch a movie on our bed in the back of the van. My whole body screamed yes when he proposed this and it even put a smile on my face. So that is what we did. Watching Pulp Fiction in the back of our van, right next to the climbing crag. What a life to always have your home with you. 

After this we managed to get to the River Inn where we can park Tūla, use the showers/toilets/laundry/kitchen/living-space for a reasonable price (we think). We will probably stay here until the end of April. Tomorrow is our first day at work! All about the River Inn and work-life you will hear next time. The story about a software engineer and a medical doctor working for minimum wage in hospitality in New Zealand. (Note: Meanwhile DUO just asked/forced me to start paying back my enormous student loan). Yes. I am very, very excited for this.