Swanson

This past week has been so full of laughter and limes and such good times. We have been WWOOFing at Singing Heart Farm in Swanson, Auckland and man, this place is incredible! It is one of the most peaceful and tranquil places I have ever stayed. Far from the city noise, clean and fresh air, a huge variety of birds to sing you to sleep, and lime trees as far as the eye can see. Our work has been mostly weeding amongst the limes and clearing trees for a better view in the garden. (Don’t worry, all parts of the trees will be recycled and used in the gardens!)

The people we have been staying with, Jane and Hilary, have been so incredibly nice and fun to be with. We had dinner with them every night and we always laughed and laughed over the silliest of conversations. Never a dull moment at this farm! They have just been so kind and lovely. They really enjoy life and all it has to offer. They deal with difficulties and setbacks with such grace and joy, it has been truly inspiring. And their sense of humour and laughter have been so contagious. I don’t think we ever expected to laugh quite so much with any of our hosts! Staying here has really been a breath of fresh air.

The weather has been so hot and beautiful for most of the week. We may have gotten a few sunburns and sweat our faces off many times, but we are really trying to soak in the beautiful hot summer weather we have been blessed with here. Especially when we hear there is 17 inches of snow at home!

We have really taken advantage of the nice weather and ventured out into it each day. There is a trail called the Peripatus trail just through the back of the farm that was a really nice walk but very much uphill and so we got as far as our legs would take us but eventually turned back. Another day we went the other direction down the path and walked through a freezing cold and slimy creek  a little ways which was such a great way to cool off (but kind of gross at the same time!).

We also visited Fairy Falls which was a gorgeous set of waterfalls not far from the farm. The waters are said by the Maori people to have healing properties, but it was so freezing cold I could only manage to dip myself in quickly and run back out! I felt very refreshed for the rest of the day, but I’m not too sure there was any healing. The views at this place were just incredible though. The falls were really breathtaking!

We took a couple walks into town as well and tried our first Tip Top ice creams, which were so welcome on these hot days. Swanson is a cute but tiny little town and we found one really nice little park that we chilled in and even once took a nap in.

p.s. Lime milk? Really?

The most incredible experience we had while in Swanson, though, was our little trip to O’Niel’s beach in the Te Henga reserve on the west coast. Oh man it was incredible! The water was such an amazing blue and teal colour. The sand at the edge was black and so hot you had to run! The water was warm and the waves were so much fun to swim in. We felt the whole time like we were looking at a picture in a magazine and it was so hard to believe we were actually there, in a place we only ever dreamed to be. We just had such a great time there and did not want to leave.

Tomorrow we disembark and move on to our next farm in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay. The farm is close to both a beach and some waterfalls so we are pretty excited to see what amazing adventures we will have there!