Wwoofing

This past week I have been living in a winery in Levin (near Palmerston North) and helping out around the place in exchange for food and a place to stay. It is called wwoofing, meaning World Wide Organization of Organic Farming. I had a total blast staying at the Celtic Winery. I bottled some Feijoa and some Green Ginger wines, and labelled every kind that they make! I would work for a few hours in the morning, then read and chill out all afternoon. It was a really sweet trade! I lived with Malcolm- the man in charge/dad, Deb- his wife, and Kyoko- the Japanese exchange student staying for the year. They had 2 sheep, Bill and... another one, and a nameless goose and a dog Molly. For a few days Malcolm and Debs' girls came home from staying in Wellington. Zoey is 21 and Emily is 19, and they were both really cool! Since we all live in Wellington we changed phone numbers and hopefully they can show me some cool kiwi things to do here in town! The Celtic Winery is fully organic and everything is done in the traditional Celtic method. I bottled the wine with a small pump and then used a cork press that was over 100 years old. There are similar presses in museums which I think is very neat! The 10 days flew by and I am so so happy that I went wwoofing at the Celtic Winery. They even took me out to the movies, to see Mama Mia, and Pierce Brosnan sang? What? It was not okay, but the movie was entertaining none the less. And it was fun to go out with Malcolm and Deb and 2 of their friends. Also, when the girls were home we went to the beach and walked around for awhile with Molly, their doggie. I got some cool shells there and saw some great views, too bad I forgot my camera =( I loved getting home cooked food and just having that homey feel.  Here are some views from the winery/house:

The house looked out over Lake Horowhenua. It was the most gorgeous place to relax. I had a great break =)