Does that make me a duck?

I'm currently sitting in the airport in Auckland, NZ waiting for my flight back to the states. It's hard to believe that 2 months has flown by. What great experiences I had! I spent this last week hanging out at Linda's house. It was a great end to a wonderful trip. I'm so glad that I met Linda and can call her my friend. I hope that she comes back to Isabella Friedman. I'll have to work on convincing them that she needs to come back. So, how am I suppose to end my blog for my trip. What can I say, it was amazing. Looking forward to sharing all my adventures with friends and family back home. I guess I'll have to begin working on my scrapbook. When we were in Taupo, a question was asked to the group that I was hanging out with about your favorite animal. One of the girls said a duck because it can fly, walk, and swim. I got to thinking, I flew from the sky while skydiving (well maybe I fell, but it sure felt like flying), I walked on many hiking trails around the country (even to the tops of mountains and volcanoes), and swam in oceans, rivers, and streams (while scuba diving at Poor Knights Island, swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura, exploring the caves in Waitomo, braving the cold water on the south island, and many more)....
......does that make me a duck?

'til next time New Zealand

My Nose and Taste Buds are on Vacation!

I want to describe the breakfast that I had this morning but before I do this, I’ll start from waking up. The past few days I’ve been staying with Linda in Kohukohu up on the northern part of the north island. As I woke up this morning the blinds in the room that I’m staying in were open. I watched as the sun came over the estuary and hills in front of Linda’s home. I watched as you could see the first glimpses of the orangy-firy glow of the sun until it was well up over the hills. I got up and began cutting up feijoas (it’s a new very yummy fruit that I discovered at Linda’s. They’re green, round, and about 2inches long. She warned me that it’s hard to eat just one and she’s right. Yesterday I was climbing all up in the bushes collecting them. I came away with many worthwhile scars from the adventure.). I was cutting them to make feijoa jelly and dry some of them to bring home. For breakfast I had sourdough bread that Linda made the day before with organic cream cheese from a dairy not too far from here and feijoa jelly that was made the day before from feijoas that I collected from Linda’s trees. Yummy…..my belly was happy. There have also been such wonderful smells with all of the cooking. Every night the meal is packed with locally grown food and baked fruit that leaves the whole house smelling fresh and yummy.

If you think this sounds great, it hasn’t been all fun and games here. I’ve also been working hard (Linda doesn’t work me too hard…I’m actually enjoying it). I’m wwoofing (it’s something that’s international that connects people to organic farms where you exchange work for food and a place to sleep). I collected fruit, moved rocks to create a new garden, shoveled dirt, watered plants, helped organize things inside, and more. My two favorite jobs have been cutting down a banana tree to collect the fruit and babysitting the chickens. Babysitting the chickens is tough. I usually sit up by their pen and read while they’re out. One of them likes to roam down by the house where she’s not allowed to go. I then have to chase her back up to the pen. I’ve also had the task the past few night to put them to bed. The first night it was challenging. I had to chase them around to get them in. I think they know my voice now because I got all seven of them in on the first try…success! I also collected three eggs from their nests.

I’ve really enjoyed spending my last few days in New Zealand with Linda. She taught me to make pickles and jelly (and she’s also fun to be around). I can’t wait to go home and try for myself. She puts me to work but she also feeds me well. I also get time to relax and read. It’s a great end to a wonderful trip!