Day 194 - Rotorua

After shaky beginnings, I've settled in and having such a great time...

On Wednesday the wwoofers arrived; Chris and Caresa from the USA. They both met at the Kapala (spelling?) yoga centre in the US when they were both volunteering there. They are great fun, chilled and down to earth, and we all get along really well. They both have been in the yoga world for much longer than me, and really know their stuff, so we've all been having some fascinating long discussions about life, the universe and everything. The yoga practice itself is actually getting a bit easier - I think my muscles are beginning to get used to the fact that a yoga lesson is no longer a time to relax and stretch but instead work bloody hard each one of them. The girls are more disciplined than me and have their own practice - so I've been joining in - nothing hard core, just a little pranayama and chilled out yoga in the morning (meanwhile Paul is perched calmly in handstand, or sitting with a foot behind his head).

Paul really is a bit of a character; childish old man mixed with yoga hippy. He's always hopping around with lots of energy and going bouncing off to chop wood or shoot possums. Every now and then he hikes off into the bush to his cave where he stays and goes all spiritual for a few days ("man, and one time I was lying there all blissed out when this rat crawled up me and bit my ear, a I was like okaaay"). He's been encouraging us to go stay in the cave for a few days to meditate "you have a stream and you make a fire - I left one danish woman there for 9 days and she started hearing things and thinking the trees were out to get her - I mean... far out maan". He's also got a huge library of amazing books that we are picking our way through, and an awesome 70's music collection we groove along to when we are slicing the fruit we picked for the dehydrator.

So, all is good, yoga is good, muscles hurt less, mind is expanding and I'm learning how to chop wood and drive a trailer around. It's awesome maan. Who knows - a week in a rat infested cave next? Hmm, maybe not.

Day 191 - Rotorua

I've settled in here already. At first it was a bit like 'oo-er, not sure that I can last a few days let alone a few weeks', but now I think I'll stick it out. Paul, Linda and I have already set into a groove - despite being 60, Paul has a very kiddish sense of humor, so we all joke along merrily.

This is my day: I get up about 7ish and have breakfast, then I take the kitchen scraps to the chickens and, whilst they are fighting over the leftovers I sneak in the henhouse and grab their eggs. Then I do about 4-5 hours of gardening/maintenance stuff - not always gentle, this morning I spent 4 hours in the bush hauling logs about. Then I eat and relax. Then drive Rodders into town, praying that this time I won't go shooting off of the bumpy track to land in a tree somewhere. In town I pootle around a bit & go on the internet before Paul's class at 5.30. Class finishes at 7, or 9 if it is a double, and afterward I drive back in the dark, still praying that I won't go shooting off of the bumpy track. Then we eat a huuge meal, then meditate, then I go to my bed and sleep.

It's all busy - maybe all this hauling butt will burn off my spare tyre ;-). The new wwoofers are meant to be coming tonight - it's v. exciting. Now I'm going to go - time for the buuurrnn, plus I have nothing else to write (you're all going to get very bored reading this the next 10 days or so)...

Day 190 - Rotorua

I started my yoga wwoof yesterday. The setup basically revolves around a guy, called Paul, who runs a studio in town and has a big organic garden back at his house outside of town. The plan is that you do gardening in return for accomodation, and pay a bit if you want to attend the yoga lessons in town (I've attended so far - justifying the cost by the fact the food is included and the cost for a weeks lessons is what I'd normally spend on a weeks food).

I went to a lesson yesterday. Charming old man turned into yoga dictator. "Lift your front thigh muscle, calf goes to the left, tense left stomach right stomach front stomach back stomach, TENSE YOUR ARMS KATIE" aaargh. I've never had a more hard core yoga lesson in my life - or one in which I had to think so hard! Who knew there were so many muscles all having apparently to tense in opposite directions for even the most simple moves (e.g. standing upright). After theknackering lesson I followed Linda, another person staying, to Paul's house. The house is only 15min drive from Rotorua, but is out in the bush so to get to it you have to drive down the longest, bumpiest road ever imaginable. Just when I thought I'd been lead on a wild goose chase, we turned a bend and were there.

The house is built by Paul, and made of wood (they like their self builds here). I have a big room all to myself as I am the only wwoofer at the mo (more coming tomorrow). The house has a big garden, a cat about 15 chickens. The cat is a sweetheart, but got off on the wrong foot when it decided to leave rabbit guts on the floor of my room (niice). The chickens are stupid, but they eat all the weeds I pull up when I'm gardening - and produce nice eggsin exchange.

Looking forward to meeting other wwoofers tomorrow. Not really looking forward to 3 hours of muscle-flexing, sweat-inducing yoga later *sigh*. Still, I'm sure I'll feel very virtuous afterward, and after a while of letting Rodders do all the hard work, I probably need the exercise!

Day 188 - Rotorua

Aah, I'm in a holiday camping site right near lake Rotorua, it's v. posh!

This morning I look the hint and finally gave Rodders a good clean. Not having running hot water is a bit of a pain - I had to walk to the stream and back about 3 times to get fresh water, and then fire up the stove to heat it up. Anyway, I'm glad I did - you wouldn't believe how much filth came out of the foam ceiling - eeew.

After I cleaned up the van (it took a good 2 hours) I set off to Rotorua. As I had already taken the road down the coast, so decided to take a different route, cross-country along the other side of the Coromandel mountain range. I started with a Lemon & Peroa stop at Peroa, home of the famous Kiwi drink. Then I headed south, stopping off at the pretty town of Te Aroha, also Matamata a.k.a. hobbitton and another town who's name escapes my memory, but who's chief tourist attraction is a huge corregated iron sheep!

Te Aroha museum (I think), and behind Mt Te Aroha

Road trip... the back road to Matamata alonside the Coromandle mountain range

"Nasty hobbitses" - Matamaka a.k.a. Hobbiton

Giant corregated metal sheep... random

On the way down I also stopped off at Wairere Falls and hiked for about 45 minutes up a rather steep mountain to reach the lookout. Still, the view was amazing so it was all worth it.

After being obscenely hot all day it suddenly started to rain lightly as I neared Rotorua, and as I rounded the bend and the lake came into view there was a lovely rainbow over the lake. With there being nothing better to do, I followed the rainbow and ended up here,Waiteti Trout Stream Holiday Park (phew, bit of a mouthful). The owners are charming, the place is cheap, and there is a TV room and free kayaks available for paddling on the lake. No pot of gold though.

Below is my updated travel map thingy - lots of question marks because I have no idea where I'm going next!