Two weeks in Lake Tarawera

Our first NZ Wwoof host was located 20 mins drive from Rotorua overlooking Lake Tarawera. The beautiful wooden open plan house has been on the market for a while and the owner was keen to sell and downsize. The majority of our work was to maintain the grounds which were divided up into paddocks. Animal care was limited to cleaning the troughs, moving the sheep to a different paddock and feeding the oldest of the animals called Blossom. So lots of pruning, weeding, sweeping and cleaning. Our host Mandy was really friendly and easy to talk to. She has spent many years traveling and living overseas in Europe and Africa. She told us of her husband who was German but had chosen NZ as his home. While she visited her daughter in Wellington we looked after the place and got it ready for viewing.

Working 4,5 hours a day gave us plenty of time to explore the area or just relax and enjoy the stunning hill top views. I was busy reading the doorstop that is "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" and was happy to lounge about with the most adorable Felix the cat.

In previous trips to NZ I hadn't appreciated Rotorua before and only associated it with the sulphuric stink. But I had to go to Wai-O-Tapu (meaning the Sacred Waters) thermal reserves and see the bubbling mud, mineral terraces and the Champagne pool. We visited NZ largest Kiwi recovery  programme where we got to see Kiwis and see how they are being protected from extinction. I was a bit wary of being to see really commercialized Maori concerts but Mandy suggested Mitai Maori Village. It's family run and all the performers are related. The concert was followed by a buffet which had been cooked underground in a pit called a hangi. The evening was rounded off with a glowworm bushwalk. We stayed and chatted with the host and asked him more about Maori culture.

We enjoyed many wonderful meals at Mandy's place. She had friends over that brought fresh fish and we were also invited to have breakfast on the lake with some of Mandy's friends who had a boat and had also hosted wwoofers. All in all a very enjoyable stay!

Em x x