New Zealand, North Island: Waiheke Island

A Workaway in Waiheke

We had just picked up Mikeo from his ‘kindie’ (kindergarten) class and walked toward the house. As we looked up, we noticed a chicken clucking at us from the balcony high above. Simona let out a sigh and muttered “Ugh, not again”. The chicken had snuck into the house while we were gone, and made itself at home. Apparently this sort of thing had happened before. Luckily this was one of the ‘good’ chickens who didn’t make a mess in the house, we were told. The chicken actually did the opposite of mess… he cleaned up the crumbs on the floor from the kids’ breakfast that morning!

This was definitely something I hadn’t experienced before. Back home we are used to locking (and dead bolting) our houses up when we leave. Yet here I was in a place that not only didn’t lock up, they rarely even shut the door when leaving.  It allowed one of the twenty chickens on the property inside, but aside from that no harm done. Needless to say, this place felt pretty different.

We were on Waiheke Island, a short 35-minute ferry ride away from Auckland, yet a world apart in so many ways. In the past, Waiheke was known as an island of artists. People who wanted to get away from the city and live differently than the traditional city slicker in Auckland. In recent years, it has seen an influx of affluent buyers. They’re drawn to the natural beauty, dramatic scenery and amazing weather that the island has to offer within a stones throw of a major city. With these new buyers has come a budding new wine scene, filling up pockets of what was once empty land into acres of vineyards. The island is an extremely popular place for the rich and famous to vacation in their summer homes, and hosts many destination weddings.

We decided to spend our last week in New Zealand on the island doing a work exchange for a local family. They were a family of 5 with 3 beautiful kids, ages 4, 7 and 10. They were generous and welcomed us as part of the family the instant we arrived.

Our hosts Simona and Hemi were some of the most unique people we’ve met on the trip. Both are travelers, who met picking fruit in Australia. They immediately ‘clicked’ and ended up traveling around the world together. After many interesting adventures they ended up on Waiheke Island to raise their family. They are a very free spirited couple, who go against the grain.

To me, this means a few things. First, choosing to live the way that you want to live and not necessarily following the mold of what society tells you to do. Secondly, make money to fulfill dreams instead of making money to buy into a certain lifestyle. Basically the opposite of the traditional American way of ‘keeping up with the Joneses.’ Their different lifestyle showed up in a variety of ways and was very interesting for us to learn about during our stay. The youngest boy attends a Steiner kindergarten, and the two older kids are part of a homeschool group who follow Steiner practices as well. We didn’t know what that really meant, but we learned that the concept is to focus on practical, hands-on activities and creative play first before diving into the traditional reading and writing. The school focuses on fostering a calming environment to learn about nature and life skills including teaching social skills. Their toys are made of all natural materials, mostly wood, not using any plastics or chemicals. The colors of the classroom are muted and soft. They often bake homemade bread or other organic foods as a class and eat lunch together.

At home the kids have very limited screen time, and no tv is allowed during the week. Lots of outdoor games are played, and books read. The family eats a very healthy organic lifestyle, and many of their vegetables eaten are grown in their gardens at the house. Their eggs come from their chickens. The milk is sourced from a local farm. They don’t eat chips, instead they have milk biscuits.

Being that Marissa and I don’t have kids of our own yet, we haven’t thought about a lot of these things. We learned a lot during the week, and picked up some things we’d like to do with our kids.

The work we did while there was mixed and varied each day. One day we prepared an area which would house their guinea pigs and the biggest rabbit I’ve ever seen (the Flemish Giant). On another day we landscaped along the long, narrow and extremely steep driveway. We also did inventory for their online costume business (similar to selling on eBay). Our favorite job we did was work at the ‘Fall Harvest Fair,’ a local festival that benefitted the Steiner school.

The festival was such a unique experience and felt like it was out of a fairlytale as you walked through it. It was incredibly creative. There were people dressed in costume. There were homemade games set up for kids of all ages and various different food and craft booths. There was a stage with local bands and people sitting on hay bales listening intently. Everything had a very artisty and authentic feel to it. Marissa called it ‘cute’ on numerous occasions.

Marissa was assigned to work the ‘Fishing’ little kids game. She sat in a real fishing boat and had a little kiddie pool next to it filled with seawater and colorful magnetic fish. The kids would stand in the boat with Marissa and use fishing poles (a stick with fishing line and a magnet) to catch the fish. With Marissa’s help each kid could catch up to five fish. As their prize, they could pick a homemade shell necklace of their choice. It was a great game for Marissa and I’m not sure who enjoyed it most, her or the little kids!

I was assigned a job that fit me perfectly as well. I worked the Sausage Sizzle booth. Basically I was the grill man. The job was hot and intense particularly when people started to pour in. It was a pressure packed start because I started chopping up onions a few minutes before 10 am (the festival start time) all the while throwing the first sausages on before our first customers. One of the toughest parts of the job involved remembering all of the different sausages in various different stages on the grill. There were all sorts of different kinds including beef, pork, chorizo, boar and chicken. I’m 100% sure that multiple people received sausages made of different meat than what they ordered, but what can you do? We really enjoyed working our jobs and found the fair to be a blast! It allowed us to feel like part of the community, which is something we miss on the road. We were locals, if only for a day.

Besides our four hours of work each day, we had free time to explore. We went running, hiking, checked out a local winery and hung out at the beautiful beaches the island is blessed with. The runs on the island were quite a workout as I am convinced there is not a flat spot on it. We were distracted however by the amazing scenery the surrounded us. The coastline is incredibly dramatic and breathtaking, helping to forget about the pain in our bodies from running the hills.

A few of the days we walked over to the beach and enjoyed a happy hour during sunset. The island is blessed with some amazing beaches. The water wasn’t the warmest but we managed to take a dip on one of the warm afternoons. On that day, we had a few friends swim near us as we jumped in. A mom and a baby dolphin were swimming back and forth in the secluded cove, really close to us! It was awesome to watch them playing around and having fun. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the people swimming either. I couldn’t believe how close they got. It made for a pretty entertaining few hours at the beach.

We will never forget our time on Waiheke. It allowed us to experience a completely different way of life. We knew nothing about raising chickens, landscaping, growing veggies, or homeschooling kids. Our hosts were really laid back and went with the flow. They were non-conventional. It made us realize just how organized and regimented we can both be. We love achieving things, and checking off our ‘to do’ lists each day. We were pretty different from our hosts, but it was enlightening to spend time in their shoes and gain a new perspective. You can always learn something from other people if you talk to them with an open mind. You may not always agree, but that’s ok. This is one of the paramount reasons why we travel. Meeting people you wouldn’t encounter back home shakes things up. It provokes questions, and makes you think about who you are and what you stand for. We were glad we met our Waiheke family. They made us think about so many of these things, and allowed us to experience family and community even though we were far from home.