Transform to housekeeper, great wwoofing experience

After quit the vineyard job, I was so lucky that got the offer to do wwoofing at Tasman Bay Backpackers at Nelson. Here, my solo backpacking life started. For those who didn't know what wwoofing is, wwoofing is exchange for food and accommodation between traveller and familities. It's an oppportunity for traveller with limited budget to immerse themselves in local culture, lifestyle and community. 

From Blenheim to Nelson, 114km and took approximately 1.5 hours by bus.

Accommodation exchange at Tasman Bay Backpackers that famous with the free chocolate pudding was my first wwoofing experience. 

Simple little things that make this BBH unique, cozy and warm.

The work arrangement was clearly defined (toilet, bedroom & kitchen), our duties were to keep the BBH clean. We work for about 2 - 3 hours each day doing the housekeeping around the BBH and then would have the rest of the day off. It was a fair arrangement, work an average of 2 - 3 hours per day and in exchange for accommodation and other benefits such as free breakfast, free internet, bikes and a day off.

The other 5 lovely wwoofer: Anna 2 (Germany), Nadine (Germany), Andrea (Canada), Charlotte (France) & Anna 2 (Germany)

The work was not particularly hard and we had lotsa fun while doing housekeeping. 

Needling, one of our recreation.

8.00pm free ice-cream & chocolate pudding time.

I must say that I had a lot of good and interesting experiences at this BBH, and for the most part enjoyed the fun time with other backpacker from different corner of the world.

The combination of enjoyable wwoofing and meaningful friendships made this experience memorable and fulfilling. This, truly, was what I had envisioned wwoofing to be, something I'd probably never have found had I followed the normal, routine traveller's trail. 

Abel Tasman Coastal Track

Abel Tasman Coastal track is one of the spectacular walks in New Zealand. It is located at the northen part of the South Island, near Motueka. To complete the Abel Tasman Coastal track needs 3 - 5 days, however, we took 3 hours to explore only some part of the tracks around the bay. 

It can be sightseeing by boat, sea kayaking and track walking.

We found horseshoes was nailed under the post box, which was believed to bring good luck.

Beautiful scenery all the way, framing panoramic views of Abel Tasman.

Stepping into the track was like stepping into another time zone. The quiet stillness and cool shady atmosphere created by huge overlapping trees and leaves gave a sense of peaceful mystery.

It is covered in native bush, interlaced with walking tracks and surrounded by clear blue seas and golden sand. 

We enjoyed walking the picturesque track, and broke the walk with self-prepared lunch on the rock and enjoy the spectacular view.

We went down towards the beach, through a small inlet then a long stretches of golden sand appeared.

Then, went up to inland track that lead up to the landscape of hill to enjoy the overview the Tasman Bay.

Abel Tasman Coastal Track is essentially a nature walk, which provides an interesting insight into the forest where fauna and flora thrive. This exotic track offers spectacular undisturbed natural beauty and photographic opportunities. I would said, it's definitely a great place to track.

Fantasy Pavlova - Chris can bake too

Pavlova is kiwi's dessert with a meringue base, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Pavlova has a light and delicate crisp crust and soft, melt in the mouth inside like a marshmallow. It's also my first time making pavlova, thank to my lovely host that supervised me at side. It's also easy to make so I would highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

- 6 egg whites

- 1 pinch salt

- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar

- 2 teaspoon cornflour

- 1 teaspoon vinegar

- 1 1/4 heavy whipping cream

- 1 pint fresh strawberries and kiwifruit

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and draw a circle about 16cm diameter using a plate as guide. Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric beater.

Whisk in salt,

Imitation vanilla,

Vinegar,

and, cornflour.

Slowly add sugar with the beater running.

Beat for about 10 minutes at high speed until thick and glossy. Mixture should be tick enough not to fall form the beater when lifted.

Use a big spoon to dollop it into the circle on the baking paper. Bake for 5 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 130C and bake for a further hour. Turn off oven and leave pavlova to cool in the oven.

When cool, it should be hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.

Combine the cream and sugar, and whip until thickened. Spread the cream to the top of the meringue.

Decorate with strawberries and kiwifruit.

This was easy to make and turned out really well. Collapsed a bit on cooling, but had a crispy outside and soft center and tasted great.

Ya, Chris can bake too after coming to New Zealand. lol

Wonderful experience of homestay @ Motueka

Doing a homestay with a host family while working and traveling is quite common here as homestay usually charged cheaper than BBH. Also, imparts special insight into the culture and daily life of the host country. You'll be able to stay in local style accommodation and live a daily life with your host by gaining an insight into other cultures. Our host was originally born Holland and Philippine respectively and are now permanent resident of New Zealand, we are lucky to immersed totally in Kiwi, Holland and Philipino culture in one go.

The best things staying homestay is that you can access to use all the facilities and don’t have to fight over the kitchen and bathroom like in BBH. This is our host's home sweet home

One of the best way to learn English is doing homestay, you can practice English daily through daily conversation and interaction with a native English speaker.

Doing homestay is like being in a family atmosphere, we were treated as part of the family. And get authentic home-cooked meals especially dessert after dinner that never missed, and learn how to make scrumptious local delicacies.

I'm totally savored the relaxed and leisurely pace of life here.

I also asked to participate in birthday party which I would not normally be invited to Filipino party.

Not forgotten, panda....

Some people find it difficult to adjust to host family's way of doing things with regard to cuisine, mannerisms etc. However, I don’t found it as my hosts they are very easy-going and don’t have any strict rules at home. I'd say homestay experience is enriching and an ideal for traveller like me that never lived away from home. It's undoubtedly be one of the most memorable of my New Zealand working holiday life. 

Centre of New Zealand

The Centre of New Zealand located at Botanical Hill, is one of the popular spot of Nelson. This 360 degree viewpoint tophill was used as central survey point for doing the first geodetic survey of New Zealand back to year 1870's.

The track wasn’t difficult instead a moderate steep climb to the hilltop, we took approximately 30 minutes to reach the Centre of New Zealand. It was a lovely walk, because you would greeted by other walkers that passed by.

 There are extensive information panels here providing details on the area’s history and landmarks.

In there, you can enjoy the amazing 360 degree views of Nelson and its surrounding.

We were enjoyed the spectacular sunset, array of dusky colors in the sky and photosssss......

Being cheap foreign worker @ vineyard

Blenheim is a town in the region of Marlborough that famous with thousands hectare of vines planted. Most of the people staying there for the vineyard work as you can see many backpackers there to earn extra money.

After apple packing work finished, we also followed the trend and shifted to Blenheim to have a try on vineyard work as vineyard work is the only available seasonal work during winter. There are jobs pruning trimming wrapping striping vines. Mostly men do pruning stripping and girls doing trimming wrapping.

After arrived at Blenheim, we got the offered to work as wrapper in vineyard and were headed there the next day to start work immediately. We started work early in the morning, before the sun rise. The temperatures were frosty, and though the sun had already come up, there was no warm to thaw our frozen bodies.

In order to work at vineyard, you must be good in physical health and keen. Because you are outside all day, exposed to sun, strong wind, rain and the job was very difficult, tricky and taxing.This tough job need to be done over the cool winter, therefore clothing is essential. Gloves, wind breaker, long sleeved jumpers, hat and sensible footwear are very important to protect yourself. My feet got injured as a result of inappropriate shoes wore.

Work need to be done: Firstly pull out and remove all broken canes, follow by trim the extra nodes and canes and finally roll and wrap the canes onto wires. 

The only mobile toilet at vineyard, it easily take you 10 minutes or more from the place you work to the mobile toilet. Crazy, and I know it!

It wasn't a good pay job, because minimum wages doesn’t applied instead of piece rate basis, NZD0.39 per tree. The more tree you trimmed and wrapped the more you get paid. However, I can only get 80 trees a day in average which is approximately NZD 50 in total of 3 days hard work. That's ridiculous!

After 3 days of hard work, we reward ourselves with spicy Indian foods.

The only good thing work at vineyard is that you could enjoy a spectacular sunrise, and array of dusky colors in the sky when the day well into dusk. However, I wasn't in the mood to take photo on that as I'm was subdued, exhausted with what I have done after work.

All in all I would say it was a decent experience and the pain was simply unforgettable. Itsn't a good way to make some money for travels in New Zealand.