Marlborough Sounds Like A Good Place to Wwoof (Oct. 3 – 19)

Sometime in the past few months, as we were living in Chch, we began to line up our post-Linda and Don plans for our last two months in NZ. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for nine months now, and that we’ve now got less than two months to go. It’s hard to effectively describe it, but at some moments it hardly feels like we’ve been on the South Island for eight months now. On the other hand, there are times when I feel acutely aware of how long we’ve been here. But I digress, since this is making me sound like an old person.

Anyway, we became intrigued with the idea of wwoofing somewhere in the Marlborough Sounds, looking for some isolated place accessible only by boat, where we could soak up the natural scenic beauty, etc. etc. Our recent trek on the Queen Charlotte track with L&D only heightened our anticipation of wwoofing on a lush green island in the middle of Marlborough’s rolling submerged mountain ranges. Thus we were excited to find a wwoofing accommodation with a family living on Arapawa Island.

Arapawa is an island located on the Tory Channel at the northeastern tip of the Sounds, where the Wellington-Picton ferries cruise past every hour. The family with whom we’re staying farm and dive for paua (NZ abalone), and also run a few sheep and cattle on their sprawling island property. When we first contacted them they were keen for us to get there as soon as possible after Oct. 1, so the best we could do was to get there on the 3^rd, after putting L&D on a plane the previous night in Chch.

Back at the ranch on Arapawa Island

We met the husband, Mike, in Picton, where he was making a paua delivery, and rode back with him in their small boat, which is basically the family’s only means of transportation to reach the outside world. As the family lives at the northern end of Arapawa at the end of the Sounds, it’s a bit of a haul to their place, about an hour or so. In fact, from their house on a clear day you can see right across the Cook Strait to the Wellington Hills of the North Island. For those familiar with the Wellington-Picton ferry, their property is the second one on the right as you enter the Sounds, with the red and white maritime markers.

Becky boards the "Freedom" on our way to Arapawa Island

Always prone to motion sickness, Becky had skipped lunch before we boarded, which was smart, as the chop in the Sounds was fairly intense. Arriving at Arapawa we had our most exciting wwoofing induction yet as we had to toss our packs up onto the wharf and then leap from a wildly rocking boat. We narrowly missed a good soaking and lost luggage when a massive wave washed over the wharf right behind us. Antonia quickly came out to meet us on one of their 4x4’s with two dogs and one kid in tow. She then hopped onto the backhoe to pull Mike and the dingy out from the roiling waves. Whew!

The view from the wharf on a calm day

Both Mike, who’s from California, and Antonia, who is a Kiwi, are tremendously keen divers, and met in California some years ago while diving professionally. They’ve been at Arapawa for about 14 years now, and have 3 kids: 9-year old twins Sarah and Jacob, and a 5-year old, James. The kids are tremendously energetic. Mike is often in the States fishing or diving professionally, leaving Antonia to manage the farm in his absence, often with a team of wwoofers. Much like Belinda, she left us amazed at her incredible energy level. There simply aren’t enough hours in a day for her to accomplish everything she’d like to do between teaching the kids, running the house, and all the various tasks in raising paua and running their farm.

Wwoofing at Arapawa gave us an opportunity to do some unique work that we haven’t done previously. Since living on the island requires the family to do correspondence school with their kids, Becky’s background in education came in handy – she helped Antonia in the family’s schoolroom on many days. That was typically followed by sundry household activities (cooking, cleaning, child-minding, pet-minding) until the day eventually wound down around 7:00 PM.

My tasks were generally more varied than Becky’s. In times of better weather, their other wwoofer, Hidei, and I would often go out on the property’s steep hillsides, weeding tarhwini plants and spraying that most hated and invasive plant, gorse. Hidei, who was from Japan, was a good sport and a hard worker, and we got along quite well. Though he spoke almost no English, we communicated reasonably well, which I attribute largely to my excellence in the art of mime.

I’d say I also earned my forestry merit badge at Arapawa, wielding a chainsaw to carve up firewood, which can become tiring, but which I rate as excellent work. It’s surprisingly satisfying to stack up a huge pile of freshly cut firewood. Mostly I was keen to do any job that required use of one of their several 4x4’s. I never mastered backing up a 4x4 with a trailer on the back, but riding around the property, up forested hills and through shallow creeks, I could easily see why you’d want one, or three, as they had at Arapawa. Actually, I think many of their chores might just be convenient excuses to go for a ride on the 4x4…

Andrew's a lumberjack, and he's okay

Sarah and Jacob negotiating turns to ride the blue motorbike

Becky and I both spent heaps of time in the paua farm, especially on the many rainy spring days we endured at Arapawa. If anything, the weather at the edge of the Cook Strait is changeable – some warm, sunny, 20ºC weather interspersed with rainy, cold, 10 ºC days. And the wind is really something there as well; maybe not Canterbury bad, but when a southerly gale is blowing through the Sounds it certainly les you know. On the paua farm our specialty was in separating and sizing small paua, a yearly task that was well-suited for bad weather. We got pretty good at it – I can tell a 45mm paua from a 50mm one by sight.

Becky measures some paua at the farm

We ended up staying with the family for 16 days, and besides a few trips out on their inflatable dinghy never left the island in that time. It’s a unique experience living on an island, and I was interested in how the family lived their life on an isolated island with only a couple neighbors. Though with modern communications, biweekly mail boat visits, and ferries going by every hour, the isolation certainly isn’t complete. They even had broadband Internet and Sky (cable) television, certainly not regular fixtures in all Kiwi homes. We certainly weren’t complaining that they had those things.

We have to say that it was perhaps the most remarkable place we’ve wwoofed at. Between the Sounds, a sprawling property on a relatively isolated island, the outdoorsy 4x4-loving kids, a paua farm and hatchery, and hosts that dive for paua for a living, there were so many interesting things going on. We were properly immersed in the family’s life, even joining them on a family picnic to the “Knob,” the highest point on Arapawa Island. Loaded up on two four-wheelers with two dogs in tow, the eight of us traveled to the Knob for lunch and to take in the views, which were spectacular.

Enjoying our picnic lunch at the Knob

Also, many of the things about wwoofing at Arapawa were top-notch. Antonia is an excellent cook, preparing roasts, cottage pies, and heaps of other tasty dishes at dinner. And don’t even get me started on desserts – they took dessert very seriously, which I was happy to see. There was always a cake, cookies, or a crumble around. Mike says he gains ten pounds when he’s at home, and I could certainly believe it. If I hadn’t been running around as much as I was, I probably would’ve gained weight as well. Additionally, the family had a very good set-up for having wwoofers, as we had our own very nice ensuite room in a small building off the house. Hidei had his own ensuite room separate from the house as well. You could hardly ask for better food or accommodation in a wwoofing arrangement.

After some sub-par wwoofing experiences (see Lemon Tree and the garlic farm), Arapawa Island proved to be the wwoofing tonic we were looking for. We were made to feel a part of this amazing family and learned a great deal during our time here. They benefited from our efforts and 6+ hours of work a day while we enjoyed comfortable accommodation and delicious food. Becky’s cooking will have improved after our stay here, and I’ve learned new things as well (most importantly, I’ve learned I should try and figure out how to get a 4x4 when I get home, hehe). It’s been a great way to spend a few weeks this spring before our quickly approaching departure from the South Island. Cheers, Arapawa!

A final farewell from the wharf