I've settled into the hills on the Coromandel Peninsula for the last week.  I found a family, Tim and Viv, to take me in, giving me room and board in exchange for half a day of work each day.  They're a great couple whose three kids have all recently moved out.  The property they have has an abundance of "projects" on it.  Tim, an Apple Orchardist by training, and Viv, ran an orchard in Nelson for a number of years before Tim took a job at a steel mill.  And now, after ten years of that, he's putting his full attention on the "Farm" they live on.  It's about 90 acres located on a steep side slope of some spectacularly green mountains.  From the upper pastures you can see almost the entire valley, scattered with dairy farms and green pastures as far as you can see.  Up valley there's a dramatic basalt stone peak, the remnants of a huge volcano from thousands of years ago.  Tim and Viv have four cows, ten chickens, one goat, two cats and a dog.  They recently planted over 1500 young trees and are in the middle of completing the construction of an earthen and timber framed home…(they started six years ago).  Tim has endless projects and I've been helping with the gamut.  I've done gravel drive work, fencing, bike mechanic work, built a low stone wall, and oiled an earth and tile floor, amongst many other things involving heavy lifting and time.  It's been nice feeling productive and I've probably put in an average of eight hours a day.  I enjoy listening to the insight Tim has on native tree species, or the hopes he puts in my head about getting a job on a big sheep, cattle, or trophy station in the high country of the South Island.  The day, in true English fashion, is broken up by a tea time at mid morning, a pleasantly long lunch and tea at about four in the afternoon.  So I've been highly caffeinated and have learned a thing or two by soaking up the many unique aspects of the lifestyle here.  Tim has so many projects, I have to give him pressure to finish one before moving on to three more, but it's been fun.  I've been eating well, a lot of beef that they've raised, and vegetables that they've grow.  It's been fun to partake in tea time talks with random neighbors who periodically stop by, reaffirming to me just how nice the folks here are.  Tomorrow I go to another family's farm about a half hour from here, to spend a week with them.  I think it has more animals than here so it should be another good experience.    

Crystal blue and snow white
Emerald green at dawn's light
Fading gray twilight

Here's shot of where I did a Birthday Bungee Jump.  153 feet above the Waikato River in Taupo.  Since then I've made my way up through Rotorua, in and out of various hotsprings, and on to Opoutere on the Coromandel Peninsula.  The coast is absolutely beautiful and there is hardly anyone here.  Those who are have been incredibly nice.  I've been staying at a hostel that's an old school.  It's been cool, but still managed to get a swim in, go kayaking, and dig some cockles (like mini clams) up for dinner.  Off to Paeroa tomorrow for a farm stay.