WWOOF #7 (Part 1): Be here now

Wellington, NZ

Before heading to our 7th WWOOF host in Levin, we took the train into NZ's capital-city, Wellington. We were overdue for a little taste of city life and Wellington delivered! We fell in love with it instantly and it has not only become our favorite NZ city so far, but likely one of our favorite cities in the world. It has a young, artistic, creative vibe with great cafes, bars, street music and shopping. Our last host's teenage daughter drew us a fantastic map of all the hotspots to check out, all color coded for our exploration. We had some hot drinks at a hip cafe called Espressoholic and checked out lots of different boutiques and music shops. Our train ride home was a little more of an adventure than the way there. We boarded our train with lots of time to spare (you all know how I like to be on time!) and sat wondering if it would ever leave. After about 45 minutes past it's departure time, they announced that the station had lost power and they were making alternate arrangements with the city busses. Needless to say, there was an overwhelming sigh of frustration from the locals as we all climbed off the train. It was absolute madness as a station full of people, at rush hour, who should have left an hour ago, poured onto every platform in sight in anticipation of their alternate transport. When they announced that a train was ready to go in our direction, people rushed across the station, piling on like sardines, many not making it in time to squeeze their way on. Steve and I ended up on opposite sides of a train car holding on to anything stationary in sight! Eventually we made it back to our car and headed to our WWOOF host several hours later than planned. Normally we attempt to arrive around dinner time so we can (a) score a free meal, and (b) have a chance to have some quality conversation over the dinner table – the perfect way to feel out what our stay will be like.

Our home for a few days.

We arrived in Levin at Malcolm and Deborah's house just as it was getting dark outside.  When Malcolm answered the door, he was more than a little surprised to see us.  Having just welcomed another American couple to his property just hours before, he thought he had everyone in place but the confusion really set in as we explained our e-mail correspondence with him and where we're from.  Eventually he gave up trying to figure it all out, set us up in the little caravan outside the house, and told us dinner would be ready in a bit (the plan worked after all). At dinner we met Amanda and Dylan, a couple from Colorado who are a few years older than us, and later Masa, a Japanese guy WWOOFing to gain experience for his own family's farm when he returned home. Masa had just visited the South Island, hitchhiking his way there and back and was an incredibly upbeat guy who Steve and I wished we could have gotten to know better. Dylan and Amanda arrived in New Zealand days after we had and were planning to tour New Zealand for 6 months before heading on a worldwide exploration of Australia, Southeast Asia and possibly Europe if the time and budget allowed. Also WWOOFing throughout New Zealand, their trip was similar to ours in many ways, staying with hosts for 1-2 weeks and taking breaks to camp in between, but their budget was quite a bit different. They had been saving for several years while living in San Diego, Dylan working in construction and Amanda doing real estate. When we all went out together, we had to be a little more budget-conscious but it did allow us to let go a bit and indulge in a few meals and drinks we might not otherwise.

Although we had heard from our friends Paul and Joe in Napier that Levin wasn't the loveliest place to spend your time, it was confirmed when Malcolm's niece told us it's nickname: “ the asshole of New Zealand.” Maybe it was because we didn't know any better, but we still liked it. Right by the beach and with a busy little town center, Malcolm and Deborah admitted that it was a good place overall, close to major cities and central in New Zealand for travelling, with easy access to fishing and beautiful Lake Horowhenua nearby, but they also had their issues with it. Malcolm said that the city council were all very old, right-wing and set in their ways, always seeing everything through rose-colored glasses. Malcolm and Deborah were very keen supporters of the Green Party and believed that the council could do quite a bit more to improve environmental issues in the area.

Malcolm and Deborah's business, Celtic Organic Winery, was started more or less by accident. Malcolm and Deborah had owned a different property in Levin in the 90's and ran an apple orchard. In 1998, the apples got black spot disease, making them unsellable to market (they taste perfectly fine, just dont look appetizing). Coincidentally, a water tanker that had an accident on a friend's property was left behind and a winery was born. They took all their apples to the juicer, filled the tanker and brought it back to their property full of juice. Malcolm had made wine as a hobby and took a few wine courses and decided to go the organic route. Even now, more than ten years later, everything is done by hand. Malcolm juices the plums and other fruits he uses, he makes the wine, bottles, labels, and corks it, then boxes it up for sale (all with the help of WWOOFers like us, of course). He makes all “fruit” wines, with the exception of his Green Ginger wine which is his top seller (and our favorite). He likes to keep it a small boutique winery, only selling from his cellar door or at markets and street fairs when he has the time. A big portion of his sales occur at the Organic River Festival that he has put on for the last ten years at Kimberly Reserve in Levin (usually held in January every year). This year, because the Rugby World Cup is coming to New Zealand, Malcolm decided to take advantage of the excitement and move the festival to October. It also received a name change (Organic Music Festival) and a venue change for better security (Otaki race course). Malcolm says that organic means “the natural process and evolution of things” to him.  His motto is "Be here now," and he says that if you focus on the present moment than you are really living life.

Malcolm, captain of our fishing adventure.

Malcolm loves anything to do with water. Starting on row boats and canoes as a young boy with friends, he soon learned to sail, and at the age of 12 with the help of his parents, he bought his first yacht. He has always followed yachting closely and loves watching the races. Today he loves to to surf, kayak, fish on his boat, and sail his yacht. We even got to go on a fishing adventure with him where I provided the burly (something like bait that attracts fish to the area around the boat – or in my case, vomit). Malcolm made a rule at an early age that if it's a beautiful day and the water's right and he wants to go fishing, but can't – something's wrong and it needs to change. He has always made his living with that rule in mind. He has never worked for someone in his life. Growing up, his parents owned a supermarket which he ran for a short time when they were away, but mostly he did odd jobs, moving throughout New Zealand – Christchurch, Nelson, Dunedin, Auckland, even spending some time in Australia. He even told us a story about how he put an ad in the paper advertising “Garden Spring Cleaning,” receiving several call backs from wealthy clients who were more than willing to pay him top dollar to use their own tools to tidy up their gardens after returning from month-long holidays.

Malcolm bought their current property about 25 years ago for just $7,000 and bought a little shed of a house which was moved onto it for $10. No that's not a typo, ten dollars. Deborah stipulated that she wanted running water and a flush toilet before she moved in and Malcolm easily made the adjustments. Originally planning to take out a $14,000 loan to buy the cheapest put-it-together-yourself house they could find, when the loan went through they both decided they didn't actually want it after all. Instead they chose to keep the mortgage payments low and add on and improve what they had a little bit at a time. They now have a beautiful split level home with a huge lounge with one wall blank for the movie projector, a beautiful upstairs loft with an incredible view of the lake, two full baths, and Deborah even has her own huge walk-in closet! Malcolm plans to always keep the property in the family and never sell it.

Lake Horowhenua from Malc and Deb's back porch.

Malcolm is very interested in the weather and follows it very closely (as are most New Zealanders because of their island living), but he takes a special interest in how the moon affects it – a very accurate way to predict weather patterns that has long been ignored because of it's pagan history. He also loves to download movies, a hobby that benefited Steve and I quite a bit. We watched the whole “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy in just over a week's time when the last two were still in theaters in New Zealand!

The Hadlums

Malcolm and Deborah met randomly at a party but it wasn't until eight weeks later that they saw each other again. At that point, Deborah was just passing through – she had someone waiting for her – but Malcolm was the one. They fell in love and three months later, they were married. Deborah grew up in Paekakariki (Malcolm's family moved from England to New Zealand when he was a young boy) and has always lived in the same region. She has done a ton of traveling through her twenties and in more recent years; campervanning through Europe and the US, biking through Ireland with a friend, etc. She said her 20's were spent travelling, her 30's having babies, and at 40 she went to school to be a teacher. She felt that going to school later in life and having her daughters at an impressionable age where they witnessed her working hard in school was really great for them and she was glad that she went back to school when she did.

With some of the girls in Deb's class.

Now Deborah teaches years 7&8 and she even let us to come to school with her one day to see what a New Zealand school is like. The kids have a ton of freedom – although Deborah feels like they don't get enough – and it often feels like total chaos. They are given a lot of room to figure out things on their own and don't need constant supervision. The kids were very interested in meeting us, asking us questions about whether the kids in the US eat badly or behave badly and asking to see what our money looks like. Deborah is a really great teacher who loves her job and is always working to do better. She is very honest with her students and finds ways to level with them and by doing so, she shows them that she cares about them. She tells them every year “I will not treat you all as equals because you are not all equals,” explaining that they have to earn her trust and if they break it, it's a lot of work to earn back. She also tells them that she is “the best friend that they could ever have,” making it known that she would like to develop a relationship of mutual respect and understanding with them. She has noticed a change in kids over time, the traditional belief that “children should be seen and not heard” going by the wayside, noting that one of her kids once said “Yeah, I'm really good at that!” She also noted that New Zealanders don't like “tall poppies” (people who show off/have big egos), which is certainly different from the US. The new wave of using CV's (our resumes) particularly bothered her for the way it organizes all your qualities and experience into a document to sell yourself. She missed the days when you got a job because you went into a business, sat down and had a good conversation with someone in charge and then they decided to hire you.

Although their lifestyle has been by no means traditional, especially in comparison to American standards, Deborah has never worried about their financial situation. She said they've always lived on a budget similar to what they would have on the unemployment benefit, and are great about recycling and re-purposing. Malcolm is a self-proclaimed “minimalist,” though the number of sheds he owned full of stuff he might use or fix one day made me wonder... They both said that they have never been materialistic and it never bothered her that they were living on the cheap until their kids were teenagers and she wanted them to have things. But she and Malcolm decided that they would never skimp on making sure their girls could experience everything they wanted, but clothes were often second-hand from their cousin and any special designer things they wanted had to come from their own pockets. Deborah always trusted Malcolm and knew things would work out no matter what crazy ideas he came up with. Once he came home and told Deb that they had leased a nearby berry farm for one year. The girls were babies and Malcolm imagined that Deborah's father must have thought he was nuts. But it worked out – they nearly tripled their costs in profits at the end of the year.

(To be continued)