Where to
begin when the last few days have been so unique? Not to say that this whole
trip would not have been unique or special but this time we really felt we got
to be part of something really precious.
We arrived
to the Karaka Point Vineyard in the Saturday evening 14th of June. We were
immediately greeted by our lovely hosts Anne and Alex, who had prepared a cozy
accommodation and wonderful dinner for us accompanied by their very own wines.
Even though we had seen only a glimpse of their lovely property in the fleeting
light of the evening we were immediately sure that in this place we would feel
ourselves right at home.
We started
our last WWOOFing duties on the next morning and once again could not be but in
awe for the surroundings we HAD to work in.
Our work
was once again mostly raking, weeding and tidying the premises but in those
surroundings time literally flies. Like in every place we had been in, it was
totally different from the rest and as such so precious. We had to keep reminding
ourselves not to fall in love with the place and the people as we would stay
here less than a week. We failed miserably. However we felt somewhat comforted
by the fact that we would not leave our hosts in trouble as two other WWOOFers
joined us on Tuesday to help Anne with the pruning of the vines. We did not
have that many days to get to know our French collegues but they seemed eager
and experienced enough to be helpful when the pruning would start. In the mean
time we got to contribute to the vineyard’s yearly cycle by labeling by hand
total of 408 bottles of wine. We sort of hope the first box of 12 bottles would
never end up in display as we were still quite unsure about all the pointers of
the art of labeling. However after we got the hang of it we were quite happy to
the results and to the even quality of our work.
But as
always the time flew by so quickly and on Friday we were, for the last time,
forced to leave our wonderful hosts and change our location from Karaka Point
to the central Auckland. In Auckland we will spend our last few days enjoying
the sun and the city life before we’ll have to leave this awesome country
behind.
With love
Miia & Lotta