Hej! Inlägget är skrivet på engelska så att våra värdar också förstår innehållet. Om ni vill så kan ni läsa Googles översättning genom att klicka på följande länk (det är faktiskt ganska underhållande! ;) ) http://goo.gl/lY3GKR
A new chapter of our journey in New Zealand started when we arrived in Darfield, late afternoon on the 30th of December. Darfield is a small township approx. 40 km east of Christchurch, which was struck by the devastating earthquake in 2011. After several months of travelling and sightseeing in New Zealand was it time to go to work again! So this was the end of all the lazy days and pleasure of travelling? Well not exactly... We started our first wwoofing/helpx (work for food and accomodation) experience on New Zealand. The basic idea is that you provide your helping hand for a few hours per day for a bed and something to eat.
The family we stayed at lived on a dairyfarm with 1200 cows! Wow, these cows would need a rather huge shed if they would live in Finland. Luckily these cows have the pleasure to stay outside all year. Our hosts Kathy and Bruce welcomed us to their house, which was to be our home for the next couple of weeks.
We had an own room where we could unload all our belongings.
The next day was our first day at work. Frida helped out with various household tasks and was a caregiver for the youngest son in the family. Meanwhile Thomas filled a trailer with firewood.
We also did some weed-wacking and lawn mowing. Another day we had the opportunity to do some gardening and replant a couple of plants.
Bruce got so impressed, well, at least inspired by our campervan so he also wanted one! Actually their plan was to buy a new car and sell their old Chrystler. 'Make your own campervan' became one of our projects and we spent some hours thinking about the layout and features and finally doing the conversion. The progress came in bits 'n pieces and one night Bruce and Thomas came inside just before midnight. Here is the end result, a very handy campervan looking for a new owner!
We went out to the farm and the shed every now and then. Isn't it great when you can have fresh milk straight from the tank!
The cows enter a rotating carousel where each one of them are milked for ˜6 minutes every morning and afternoon. In average the cows produce a bit over 20 liters of milk each day, adding up to a total of 26 000 liters per day on the farm! What a blast for Finnish milklovers!
A great thing with staying at Bruce and Kathy place was that we had the opportunity to take a few days of and do some sightseeing. On the 2nd of January we packed our car and headed towards Banks Peninsula, east of Christchurch. We did a beatiful drive along the winding Summit road which took us up to 600 meters above sealevel overlooking the peninsula and the inlet.
We stopped at Otepatotu to do a short walk up to a lookout point.
We also had to do a short pitstop at the roadside in order to prepare some coffee, before we headed back to Christchurch.
A new chapter of our journey in New Zealand started when we arrived in Darfield, late afternoon on the 30th of December. Darfield is a small township approx. 40 km east of Christchurch, which was struck by the devastating earthquake in 2011. After several months of travelling and sightseeing in New Zealand was it time to go to work again! So this was the end of all the lazy days and pleasure of travelling? Well not exactly... We started our first wwoofing/helpx (work for food and accomodation) experience on New Zealand. The basic idea is that you provide your helping hand for a few hours per day for a bed and something to eat.
The family we stayed at lived on a dairyfarm with 1200 cows! Wow, these cows would need a rather huge shed if they would live in Finland. Luckily these cows have the pleasure to stay outside all year. Our hosts Kathy and Bruce welcomed us to their house, which was to be our home for the next couple of weeks.
We had an own room where we could unload all our belongings.
The next day was our first day at work. Frida helped out with various household tasks and was a caregiver for the youngest son in the family. Meanwhile Thomas filled a trailer with firewood.
We also did some weed-wacking and lawn mowing. Another day we had the opportunity to do some gardening and replant a couple of plants.
 |
| Widened parking area |
Bruce got so impressed, well, at least inspired by our campervan so he also wanted one! Actually their plan was to buy a new car and sell their old Chrystler. 'Make your own campervan' became one of our projects and we spent some hours thinking about the layout and features and finally doing the conversion. The progress came in bits 'n pieces and one night Bruce and Thomas came inside just before midnight. Here is the end result, a very handy campervan looking for a new owner!
We went out to the farm and the shed every now and then. Isn't it great when you can have fresh milk straight from the tank!
The cows enter a rotating carousel where each one of them are milked for ˜6 minutes every morning and afternoon. In average the cows produce a bit over 20 liters of milk each day, adding up to a total of 26 000 liters per day on the farm! What a blast for Finnish milklovers!
 |
| A herd and the mountain ranges |
A great thing with staying at Bruce and Kathy place was that we had the opportunity to take a few days of and do some sightseeing. On the 2nd of January we packed our car and headed towards Banks Peninsula, east of Christchurch. We did a beatiful drive along the winding Summit road which took us up to 600 meters above sealevel overlooking the peninsula and the inlet.
We stopped at Otepatotu to do a short walk up to a lookout point.
We also had to do a short pitstop at the roadside in order to prepare some coffee, before we headed back to Christchurch.
The next day was both a sad and happy day. This was the day when we had to say goodbye to Nissan, our beloved home and friend, which took us more or less around whole New Zealand. We decided to start the selling procedure well in advance. We had listed the car on the internet and stitched a note at a few Hostel dashboards in Christchurch. The whole selling procedure was a lot faster than we had expected. We had received a few enquiries on our Nissan and a young German couple, the first people we showed our car to, actually bought it. Of course, who wouldn't? This was the last picture before we said goodbye, luckily all the good memories remain!
There we were, on the road(side) again... Luckily our fantastic host Kathy saved us and brought us back to Darfield.
Thou Kathy is the perfect chef, we wanted to prepare a dinner for our host family to show gratitude. This evening we made some delicious (at least according to Frida) salmon in taco chipsauce with veggies (vege-tables, hehe).
During the upcoming weeks Frida also made some pancakes in Finnish style, fruit muffins, mocha squares, gingerloaf and "Karjala tarts" a.k.a. karelska piroger.
There we were, on the road(side) again... Luckily our fantastic host Kathy saved us and brought us back to Darfield.
Thou Kathy is the perfect chef, we wanted to prepare a dinner for our host family to show gratitude. This evening we made some delicious (at least according to Frida) salmon in taco chipsauce with veggies (vege-tables, hehe).
During the upcoming weeks Frida also made some pancakes in Finnish style, fruit muffins, mocha squares, gingerloaf and "Karjala tarts" a.k.a. karelska piroger.
More about our stay in the Canterbury region in the next blogpost...
 |
| A sunset at the farm |
Image collection from Darfield can be found here: http://goo.gl/dKIUrX
Banks Peninsula & Christchurch: http://goo.gl/OGgrQl
Thomas & Frida
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar