NZ - North Island - Auckland - Starlight Organics

Kia Ora good friends!  (Good Health, or "Hello," in Maori)

My flight from Fiji to New Zealand went off without a hitch, a little over three hours and I had landed in Auckland.  The woman in customs checked my hiking boots and camping equipment before letting me exit the baggage area.  New Zealand is very strict about bringing in foreign flora and fauna in because of all the damage that's already been inflicted on indigenous species with introduced pests.  (Funnily enough, the hedgehog is considered a major pest in New Zealand.  Birds in NZ never learned to fear land based predators and many would nest on the ground instead of trees.  When land based critters were introduced, they went buffet style on the bird eggs, thus endangering over a dozen NZ species.)

The moment I stepped off the plane and into the Auckland airport all the previous stress lifted.  The familiar sights, sounds, and smells of this foreign country really seemed to jolly my spirits and renew my confidence.

I rode the city bus to the hostel my IEP visa office had set up for me, right downtown on Queen Street.  The hostel was enormous, over ten floors, the reception desk felt like the information desk at a train terminal.  My first roommates were Kirk from Toronto and Derek from the Netherlands.  They had the same visa and knew the ropes better than me for where the IEP visa office was, what orientation was like, and where to find the cheapest food in Auckland.

Most people with the same visa as me were concerned with one thing and one thing only, finding a paying job.  I suppose I was surprised, figuring most people would be WWOOFing, but that was quite incorrect.  Most backpackers with a work holiday visa are in their twenties and looking to travel for a year or two through NZ, Australia, and SE Asia.  Finding a paying job in NZ and/or Australia will help them to fund their travels.  Retail seemed to be the most popular choice in Auckland and fruit picking a close second in neighboring cities, especially Kerikeri and in the Bay of Plenty region.

The following day the three of us wandered down to the IEP office and split off, I went to an orientation class (which was just me and a very sick German guy who looked miserable), and the boys went to the computers to continue their job search.  The IEP visa office is actually quite a helpful place - free computer access, wifi, printing, and tons of resources and discounts for activities to do as well as help with CVs and job placement.  They also help you set up a bank account and tax number in case you do want to find paying work.

I focused more on some activities I had tentatively planned while back in the States that I wanted to firm up once I arrived.  I made a huge 180 and decided instead of walking the Queen Charlotte Track (one of the NZ Great Walks), I would walk the Abel Tasman Track (also one of the NZ Great Walks), which required a lot of canceling and researching for what the new walk would entail.  In addition to that switch-a-roo, I also decided to do a backpacker bus tour around most of the high points of the North Island between Farm 1 and 2.  That took some interesting finagling and scheduling with the bus folks to get that to work last minute.  As I was working with one of the helpful ladies in the office, I saw a man fall off the Sky Tower out of the corner of my eye.  I let out a yelp and ran to the window before realizing that it was one of many bungee jumpers I would see during the day.  I don't care how often I see it, it's just not natural folks.

The following day I was off to my first farm, Starlight Organics!  What a whirlwind - I was nervous, but felt ready to just take it all in.  The first snafu hit me pretty early - I had bought a bus ticket for the wrong day and had to madly dash into the bus terminal and purchase and print a ticket before the bus left with my backpack already stowed in its belly.  Thankfully that worked and the rest of the transportation was relatively calm - bus from Auckland to Whangarei (pronounced Fun-gah-ray), then a smaller shuttle from Whangarei to Dargaville where I waited along the street for Nye to pick me up.  I met an American woman on the shuttle who had been living in New Zealand for ten years and worked in horticulture therapy, super cool - just goes to show you learn something new every day.

I waited for awhile at the bench the shuttle had dropped me at.  After a waiting period, I began to worry that Nye had forgotten I was coming.  When just at that moment of doubt, a van pulled around the corner and Nye popped out all smiles.  We ran around the town doing about half a dozen errands before picking up her kids, Skye (11) and Josh (9) from the local swimming pool.  Nye is Vietnamese but born in China and raised in New Zealand.  She and her partner Ashley own some land between Dargaville and the Waipoua Forest on the west coast in Northland (area north of Auckland).  They run an organic farmer's market garden, so their primary form of income (and purpose for farming) is to sell vegetables and fruits at the local farmer's market.

As we wound our way through the lovely countryside, Nye told me lots about the farm and I got to know the kids a bit better who were currently in their summer holidays from school.  Once I got to the farm I met the other two WWOOFers - Tom from the Netherlands and Thea (pronounced Tey-a) from San Francisco.  I also met the two farm dogs - Mia and Bella, and of course Ashley who was still in the fields when I arrived.

Mia showing Thea some doggie love

Bella stops for a moment in between adventures

The farm is very beautiful and peaceful.  There is a natural small river that winds through the property providing free water to the farm for watering and potable water for the humans.  The house easily fits the four family members, two dogs, Nye's mother, and then tips on the crowded side when you add in three WWOOFers.  Thea invited me to share the sleep-out caravan with her, parked right outside the main door to the house.  It was quite comfy, like camping with a girlfriend for two weeks.  We had a small heater for the colder nights and a small sink in case we needed water late in the night.

The primary focus of the farm was vegetables, mainly garlic, elephant garlic, kale (two types), courgettes (zucchini), cucumbers, lettuce (multiple types), silverbeet (rainbow and swiss chard), New Zealand spinach, spring onions, and carrots.  I also saw rows of Maori potatoes and beets planted throughout their fields, but it wasn't time to harvest them yet.  There were lots of additional plants throughout the garden, some used as nitrogen fixers (to help with the soil content), some to attract bees and butterflies, others to ward of negative insects or even to accentuate the plants through companion planting.  There were sunflowers, sweet corn, and Jerusalem artichokes for their strong and powerful carbon stalks (perfect for composting). 

Twice I was asked to go with Nye to the Whangarei Farmer's Market to help her sell the vegetables.  It was a lot of work to prepare for market the following day - everything needed to be harvested, washed, and put into appropriate containers.  In addition to the things Nye and Ashley grew, Nye had made deals with other organic farms to sell their items (for a small fee).  So we picked up baskets of organic kumara (sweet potato), washed, bagged, and weighed them for market.  We also bundled and displayed lemongrass, rhubarb, carrots, herbs, courgettes, plums, lemons, and runner beans for a Thai family that owned a Thai restaurant in Dargaville and had a relationship with Nye.  I will say Nye was an excellent saleswoman.  Not only did we sell all of this, but she would find other things to sell, like wild watercress we would collect from the river, herbs from her kitchen garden (basil, mint, rosemary, chives, and lemon verbena), and once we put together little posies of wildflowers from their garden.  We also soaked lentils and mung beans, combined them once they sprouted, weighed and bagged them - excellent addition to any salad I'd say!

Market was so fun!  I normally helped bag the spinach, lettuce mix, watercress, kale, and silver beet for waiting customers.  Nye has a head for numbers, prices, and bargaining and was a whirlwind at tying off the bags I would weigh out for her.  I thought we made a pretty good team.  I loved seeing the bartering going on - such a wonderful way to be a part of a farming community.  We traded vegetables for fresh eggs, sheep feta cheese, avocados, and even kina (sea urchin)!  At the end of the market, a service would come around collecting any leftovers to feed the homeless and Nye always gave generously to them, mainly bags of fresh greens.  She also sold large amounts of kale to the local organic store which ensured us selling out of kale both times we had the market.

The social aspect of the market was really interesting to me.  I met a few other WWOOFers that were helping, notably Max from San Francisco that was working on an avocado farm.  I tried some German black forest cake and also lemon kombucha (two tasty treats).  I walked around to see what other stalls were selling - organic blueberries, plums, and strawberries were common, also a few more vegetables vendors, kumara, eggs, etc.  It was quite a fun little market and I really enjoyed learning the ropes from Nye.

Back at the garden, Ashley took charge of us and had us planting seeds (into small flats to store in the greenhouse until they matured enough to harden off), transplant hardened off seedlings into the ground once we had thoroughly weeded and prepared the beds, harvested everything under the sun... then harvested it all again, thinned carrots, strung up harvested garlic to dry for longer periods of time, weeded overgrown beds of more mature plants, watered wilting plants after hot days, and general activities that came up out of the blue.  We did split our time between helping in the garden and also preparing for market which involved more indoor activities (aside from harvesting).

It was fun to listen to Ashley ruminate on different ideas he had for the land, how he would like to change it over time.  He wanted to push the farmer's market garden to be more than just selling vegetables and incorporate a more community based approach to farming.  This became a real common theme I felt between the farmers in New Zealand, going back to a more community based approach of horticulture - sharing, bartering, sustainability.  Organic farming is really complicated and challenging, the labor is much more intensive than chemical farming.  But people also seem much more passionate about organic farming than chemical farming and that's the type of spirit I believe it attracts - passionate, caring people who want to support our environment and leave the land better, not worse for the next generation.

A few days after I arrived, the family left for the Coromandel (a peninsula that juts out east of Auckland) for Christmas, to spend time with Ashley's extended family.  That meant the WWOOFers were left to our own devices at the farm.  We were fortunate enough to be invited to the neighbor's house for Christmas day, to participate in their Maori hangi (pronounced hung-ee), or feast.  What a cool adventure!  We wandered over after a little bit of work and were delighted to find large chunks of pork covered by a blanket (like the head with all its teeth was smiling cheekily at me) to ward off the flies.  You have to remember we were all meat eaters who had been living on a vegetarian diet, so alcohol and meat were truly Christmas surprises for us.  We enjoyed our ginger beer and a little Maori moonshine, listened to the kids sing some Maori songs, and then wandered home by way of a wall of glow worms, once it got super dark.

The glow worms were pretty radical - it looked like I was staring straight ahead at the night's sky even though it was perpendicular to the actual sky.  The glow worms were spread out underneath the fern cover.  It was quite a beautiful way to spend Christmas, even though we were far away from family and friends.

On New Years Eve day, Nye took Thea and I up to the Waipoua Forest to see Tane Mahuta, a 6000 year old kauri tree.  Tane Mahuta means Lord of the Forest in the Maori language.  Tane Mahuta is the son of Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatuanuku (the earth mother).  Initially these two were joined together and their children were stuck between them (bummer), not allowed to see daylight or night.  Tane separated his mother and father, leaving her below on earth covered in his children (trees and birds) with his father high in the sky shielded by a cloak of woven stars.  Pretty trippy, eh?

Thea, Nye, and I at Tane Mahuta

Me hugging another beautiful kauri tree

Thea and I had a great time on the farm, playing with Bella and Mia, going with the kids to the waterfall or the rope swing, and chatting about life in the caravan.  The days passed quickly and pretty soon we found ourselves heading in different directions.  Thea was leaving for Auckland a few days before I left the farm but I planned to see her again once I left.

I spent a memorable afternoon feeding Otis, the goat that Ashley somehow ended up looking after.  Otis would baa.. neigh... bray... yell? (what noise do goats make?) all afternoon for Ashley.  It was actually pretty endearing, but drove him crazy.  Otis likes peanut butter sandwiches and lots of leafy greens (especially once they went to seed and had flowers, he really liked those flowers).

Sustenance for Otis

On my final day, Nye and the kids drove into Dargaville to drop me off and we said goodbye as I boarded the shuttle.  I will miss the Tattons, they were truly a wonderful family to begin WWOOFing with, I learned a lot and was well cared for.

Once I arrived in Auckland I hit the ground running, I ran into Thea on my way to the hostel from the bus stop and had lunch with her.  Then I ran into Kirk at the IEP visa office and had a second lunch with him.  And then I figured out the bus system, bought a pass, and went out to Ponsonby (suburb of Auckland) to have dinner with Marina (from Fiji) and her friends at a nice Indian restaurant.  I was exhausted by the time I checked into the hostel and found my bed among three Norwegian 20 year olds.  Thankfully they were consumed by their phones and iPads and I repacked, changed, and went to bed.

Ponsonby

The Stray Bus was picking me up at 7:30am for my North Island adventure...