A few more lettuces later...

So, I am back from my first Wwoof. It was pretty good on the whole, though it will be good to be Wwoofing with Alec for company next time round.

After the first day planting lettuces, the next morning was spent harvesting some of the beds in the greenhouse for the producers market (farmers market) in Whangerei the next day. As I mentioned, it was an early start, but that's ok. Harvested 2 rows of lettuce in a huge greenhouse and it got a bit warm in there as the morning went on!

The market the next day was good fun, and I did indeed manage to find tasty food including avacados for 15p and chilli sauce. I also found some gorgeous calla lillies (are they also called callow lillies or have I been saying it wrong all these years?). I'm used to seeing the white ones but there were natuarally vibrant yellow and red shades. My favourites are actually the ones in-between that are the colour of nectarine skins.

Anyhow- other Wwoof jobs included collecting the pig buckets. feeding the chooks and pigs, weeding, etc, and on my last morning there they 'did' the pigs that I'd been feeding all week. Bad timing - I could have had bacon if I'd gone a week later!

(Pics of the flowers, the market and the Wwoof are available in the Wwoof set on Flickr - though veggies and the squeamish might prefer not to look too closely at the last pic).

I'm getting some ideas of what I would like to grow in the big green house I'll have one day anyway. Not sure how well some things will do back in the cooler Scottish climate, but we'll see.

The 'life style block' (as they call small holdings here) had a few other houses around, but was out in the countryside otherwise. Without my own transport it wasn't that easy to get out and about in the afternoons so I went picked up the car from Alec after the market.

Did some lovely drives up the Matapouri / Tutukaka coast and also hit the shops in Whangerei a few times. I did eventually manage to buy a tent we'd been loking at for a while, though I got a bit confused by the Christmas trees in all the shops when the weather is so warm!

I also managed to go to see 'The Devil Wears Prada' at the cinema in Whangerei too. Good film, but a bizarre experience. (Bear in mind that this is the only cinema in the 'city' of Whangerei). It wasn't difficult to find a parking space in the city centre on a sunday evening - there were no other cars or people on the street. At all.

Then I had to walk through a food court, which was a bit like a ghost town with all the counters shut and all the chairs on tables. Again, no-one in sight. When I got to the cinema lobby there were two cashiers on the desk, but not another soul. I bought my ticket and thought I was going to be the only one in the cinema for the film, but 2 other people turned up just before it started (possibly the 2 cashiers???).

I know there must have been a projectionist hidden in the back because the film did start. At the end though I walked back through the now completely desserted lobby, through the desserted food court and back into the desserted street. Never have I had such an eerie cinema experience. I am just glad I wasn't watching a horror film!

Anyhow - I think I mentioned before that we're moving on from here on the 17th, so just over a week left. I'll be sad to leave as I will miss out little apartment and our friendly neighbours, but I am excited about seeing more of NZ. Currently looking for a Wwoof further south. Watch this space.