Flying cow and noisy kiwis

I reached my 2^nd WWOOF host without any problems.  Had a nice leisurely drive with a couple scenic detours: Taupo Bay (watch a few surfers in the water) and to Puketi Forest (short ½ hour walk through kauri forest).  I called my host and got directions to his place – keep driving down the gravel road until you hit the last house.  And WOW, what a house!  It’s not grand as in multiple levels, acres of lawn, and a roundabout driveway.  It’s actually pretty modest, just well built with passive solar energy in mind.  Passive solar energy came up within my first ½ hour here – my host, Armin Hanik (Flying Cow in the WWOOF registrar), can’t figure out why anyone would build a house without thinking about this energy.  I would find out later, that there are many aspects about people that make Armin shake his head. 

After I arrived, we had coffee on his deck – it is on the edge of a hill, which has a zen like garden meandering down it (though I haven’t walked through the garden yet).  At the bottom of the hill, is Waipapa river.  On the other side of the river is lots of greenery (though none of it native)with a small break in the trees to see a bit of the neighbor’s sheep paddock.  I could hear birds in the trees across the way, although a fantail is all that showed itself on our side.  Very sweet view. 

Armin showed me my room – yes, an actual room inside of a house! – and gave me a tour of the house.  Not only do I have an actual bathroom with indoor plumbing (instead of a garage with a composting toilet), but I have MY OWN bathroom!!!  Don’t get me wrong, I really like the idea of composting toilets - they make sense.  I just don’t want to smell it when I get in the shower.  After I got my sheets changed and bed made, I told Armin to tell me anything he wanted me to do.  He had already told me that he didn’t have much outdoor work, but had plenty of indoor – so I wasn’t surprised when he asked me to the house.  In fact, I was more than happy to help him clean the place.  A home so beautiful shouldn’t be such a mess.  I was happy to take the vacuum and suck up cobwebs.  I was even happier to start with my room.  I don’t know how many spiders I sucked up (and they’ll probably crawl back out of the vacuum tonight), but at least they’re not in my room right now!

Armin used to be a woodworker.  Due to a nerve problem in his neck he hasn’t been able to work for a while.  He also hasn’t been able to clean much (hence the cobwebs).  His house is furnished with tons of beautiful wood - ceiling, cabinets, benches, sculptures, and an amazing front door.  You just want to touch it all.  Unfortunately, his house is situated in a prime place for bugs.  Including cockroaches!!!  He warned me about them, and asked that I didn’t scream when I saw one :-0  I sucked a few up while I cleaned, but I’ve already come across another one in the clean bathroom.  Oh well, as long as I don’t step on it in the middle of the night!

While we were having our coffee on the deck, we talked a bit about the birds in the area.  Armin has no idea how the Maori slept at night before all of the native birds were extinct.  Apparently he hears kiwi birds all night long – and they are loud!  We heard a male (higher pitch with longer sound) and a female while having dinner.  MMM, dinner was yummy (garbanzo bean salad with cilantro and tomatoe and miso soup that tasted WAY better than any miso soup I’ve ever had).  I think I’ll like it here for the few days I stay.