t-minus 14

Auckland is NZ's biggest city. I've been told by books, friends, and websites that the first thing I have to do is get out of Auckland. So, on their advice I'm only going to spend a week there.
I've been to big million+ people cities like Boston, DC, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Mexico City, and I pretty much liked them all. I feel like I can get a feel for a city like Auckland pretty quickly, even though it is 1/2 a world away. Of course I'll be back there, as every main route goes through the city, but I'm more excited about the smaller cities.
I've also been to smaller cities like Taos, Nacogdoches, Sheboygan, Fairbanks, Ozona, and I think I like those better. I think they're harder to get into.

I'm gonna spend a week in hostels there, this one being the first. I like the idea of taking a day to walk as far in each cardinal direction. I've done that before and it worked out pretty well. I don't know what I'll do or who I'll meet. Kinda the point of the whole trip!

After that first week though, I have a cool gig lined up with a family that lives in the very northern tip of the island. I'll be helping a hostel/organic farm with a few chores that include fixing their website. This is pretty much the perfect job. After a few days of getting to know the family, we'll all agree on a time period, somewhere between 1 and 6 weeks. I got in contact with them through wwoof.co.nz which is the NZ brand of the world wide organization "Willing Workers On Organic Farms". They've been pairing hosts and travelers up for over 30 years. I am a member of this group, so I can contact any host who has a listing and see if they need a hand at whatever they do. Besides the free room and board (which is going to be 90% of my total expenses) I'll learn about the real NZ from real Kiwis. Learning to grow organic food and how to make the necessary tools for sustainablity is really exciting. My hands are gonna get really dirty.

Here is the bio that my hosts to-be wrote:

Come and help us run our beautiful backpackers hostel and campground set in 30 acres of native New Zealand bush near Matauri Bay. In your free time you can: Dive the Rainbow Warrior, visit Kauri trees in The Puketi Forest, soak in the thermal springs, snorkel and swim at nearby beaches, surf, go for bush walks, have a picnic at the waterfall, paint, swim in the river, meditate in the forest and watch the wild parrots, play with Noodle the goat, chat around the campfire with the backpackers, and soak in the hot tub under the stars.

I'll leave you with some NZ trivia:
It is ok to call a New Zealander a Kiwi, that's what they call themselves, but the fruit we call Kiwis is called Kiwifruit, to avoid confusion. Boom! and you thought you weren't going to learn anything today.