Northland NZ
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The best part of New Zealand other than spending time with our friends in Palmerston North, was our trip north of Auckland. I was interested in doing a farmstay, and had contacted a family I met over the internet, about staying at their ‘spray free’ orchard. They generally have paying guests stay at their cottage on the property, but the cottage was being used by a family member. I explained over email that all we wanted to do was camp anyways, and Mark graciously agreed to let us do so.
After making our way to the very top of NZ (34 degrees latitude) and visiting the extensive sanddunes in the area, we headed to the farm. We were greeted by 2 friendly dogs and Mark – and from this first meeting I knew we’d made a great choice. We set up our tent and Mark gave us a tour around some of his property – he grows oranges mostly, but also has bananas, avocados, tomatoes, etc etc. (I know it may sound strange that you can grow this in New Zealand, but it is sub-tropical at the north tip.) We learned that Mark, his wife Sue and daughter Sam are from the UK and moved to NZ a few years ago. The property they bought had not been well looked after, so they have done a lot of work to bring it back to ‘life’ again. Mark told us to feel free to wander the property at our leisure and mentioned that we could go meet the 2 friendly steers they have as well. Sam, who is about 9, is mature way beyond her years and has cleverly named the 2 steers – Stroganoff and another ingenious name which I can’t remember right now – as they will be in the freezer soon enough.
We figured we’d go meet the steers before it got dark, so we wandered up a hill in the direction Mark had shown us. We had nearly given up, when suddenly I saw the 2 of them out of the corner of my eye and they came up to investigate us. At first they seemed friendly enough, and seemed to enjoy the odd pat and our company. However, this quickly changed as one of the steers decided to have some fun with us, and started charging at us! Luckily, there were some small trees around and when he’d have a go at us we’d ‘hide’ behind the protection of the tree. What you have to understand though, is these trees were really skinny and there was no where to hide – we were merely putting the trunk in front of us in the hopes that the steer would hit that before us when he charged. This was starting to get ridiculous…Jim clapped his hands and yelled “Arrrrrrr” at him, and initially this seemed to disuade him. But then he came back at us with a vengence and started bucking and foaming at the mouth. Great. We must have looked ridiculous running circles around the trees trying to avoid contact with his head and bucking feet. I was beginning to feel like I was in a ring holding a red flag….
Finally, I figured I just had to go for it – the fence seemed miles away, but it was actually only a few metres. Jim distracted him (and nearly got stampeded) while I made a mad dash for the fence. I clambered over it, the whole while anticipating a bull’s head coming at my back end, while trying to negotiate over the barbed wire. Phew, made it. Now Jim’s turn. He ran like a bat out of hell and made it to safety on the other side of the fence. By this time we thought the steer was going to collapse or something because it was so worked up…the foam was dripping from its mouth and he had started hacking and coughing violently in between bucks. Little did Mark know that Stroganoff was going to live up to his namesake much sooner than anticipated!
Breathless, with our adrenalin pumping still, we wandered back down the hill along the fence line. Both steers followed us, the one still raving mad, while the other watched the whole situation quite dumbfounded, possibly wondering what had gotten into his buddy?! By the time we made it back down the hill to the gate where the steers could no longer continue to follow, life had been restored to its normal order. The hacking and bucking had ceased, the foam had nearly subsided, and both steers enjoyed a pat on the head over the fence line. Crazy.
Mark and his wife invited us into their home for a drink that night – needless to say we did not recollect our steer encounter, for fear of sheer embarassment. We learned that Sam gives night walking tours of their property to the guests on weekends. However, it was Thursday night…a school night. We figured we were only going to stay one night, so Mark and Sue made an exception and let Sam take us out provided we were not out too late.
Sam once again amazed us with her maturity and her knowledge of the creatures of the night. She took us to a creek and showed us all the glowworms above it when we turned our torches (flashlights) off. She found an eel for us in the creek too, as well as wetas and other interesting insects. The huge weta she found she took back to the house to show to her dad who “I’m sure would want to see it”. Priceless. It was amazing to watch her trounce through the mud, in the creek, up hills, down hills, over rocks, all with no worries of getting dirty or falling…a true nature girl. We fell in love with her…if we could have a child like her we would in an instant!
The next morning we offered to pick some oranges for Mark. It was the least we could do, not to mention it was totally fun! He takes them to the market each Sunday and squeezes fresh orange juice – he gave us a jug to try, and it was amazing. He offered us dinner with the family if we stayed another night, and we simply couldn’t resist. We were so lucky to come upon such a great family. So, after the picking, we left to explore the area – went snorkelling in the chilly sea, and drove around town. We returned to a wonderful dinner and conversation with Mark, Sue, Sam and Mark’s mom. We were very sad to leave the next morning – I wish we had found them at the beginning of our trip as opposed to the end of it. We will always have fond memories of our time with them – thank you to them all.
Tags: Travel
Kristin
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