A Dairy Farm in Taranaki, New Zealand

“What did you do in Tarankai?”

I’m glad you asked!

When I first arrived, well, to be honest, I fell asleep (you try staying up after 36 hours of travel and 3 terrible hours of “sleep”). After my 45 minute nap turned into 3 hours of slumber, I awoke and spent the next few hours playing cards with my hosts and the other volunteers!

I even had a go at making a house of cards!

I walked along the road passing by many cows and incredible landscapes. I even had the wonderful company of Tess, the little fox terrier! She’s a great walking companion.

I walked along the coastal path way,

Found the wind wand,

and climbed up Paritutu Rock!

I visited the Puke Ariki Museum, along with this shiny building, which is the Len Lye Centre - another museum

I visited Pukekura Park, both during the day,

and at night! (During the light festival!!)

I went to the beach and swam in the Tasman Sea!
And encountered black sand for the first time. (It really heats up in the sun!)

I hiked along some paths on Mount Taranaki!!
The mountain was feeling a bit shy that day.

I (finally!) milked some (a few hundred??) cows!

(I also got a bit covered in poo..)

I helped build a bamboo fence! 

And explored the farm.

I helped to run a water pipe through a steep wooded area (which involved crawling down low to maneuver under the branches - it was like a rabbit hole), free fell a few meters, got caught by some ferns, then grabbed onto a hot electric fence. (To be fair, someone else had climbed over it, so I thought it was off…)
No pictures of that specifically (I did not have my camera) but I’ll tell you, I felt like I was running a real adventure that morning!

I helped to move some calves back into the right pastures (of course, the next day after I grabbed the fence, the electric fences stopped working). All of the cows roamed freely to wherever they pleased.

I helped to feed the calves, clean out the milking area, tidy up the house in preparation for a big Christmas BBQ, did some gardening, cleaned a few windows, baked some (weird) lemon squares from lemons off the tree in the yard, went to a few more Christmas BBQs, some dinners with friends of my hosts, and explored the farm.

I met many people, in addition to my hosts and other volunteers. We visited friends and families for several dinners and BBQ’s, set off some tiny fireworks and ate way too much dessert, baked some pizzas, drank a lot of tea, was always offered more food than I could eat, gained a few pounds (which I needed, after losing a few in San Francisco..), took some naps, identified a few birds, and had a wonderful time! My host family even included me into their family Christmas celebration! I had offered to stay behind to keep working (not wanting to intrude) but they had me come along, like it was obvious I was supposed to go. As the younger children were opening their gifts, the rest of the parcels began to be distributed. Much to my surprise, my name was called and bag of wrapped gifts were placed in front of feet! I was honestly very genuinely surprised by such kindness and generosity. Everything I received was also wonderfully useful for traveling!
Even with the Christmas celebration aside, I found a very wonderful family to host me for the 2 weeks I was here, and am so happy to have met them!