WWOOFing with Blueberries

From our couchsurfing host in Christchurch we got picked up by our WWOOFing hosts. Don picked us up on his way home from his job as an accountant in the city. He took us back to their farm, a five acre blueberry orchard. We had asked them to host because after the bad experience at our last WWOOFing stint we liked what Don and Wendy said at the end of their description in our WWOOFing guide: "Family home where visitors are treated as family members." That sounded exactly like what we had in mind when we first signed up for WWOOFing.

The first thing we did after getting settled in their house was flush birds out of their blueberry orchard. They have a net covering the bushes to keep the birds off, but sometimes birds sneak in through various holes and we marched down the aisles making noises with pots and pans pushing the birds toward one end that Don had temporarily opened. Here's a shot of the orchard with the net on top:

From WWOOFing at Blueberry Bliss

We felt right at home at Blueberry Bliss. Their 21 year old son was also at home on his break from University and we were treated just like family. I enjoyed talking with Don about economics and he even let me borrow a book called Around the World in 80 Trades about a Irish guy who travels around the world trading items from one place to the next. Having the two subjects of travel and economics it was a sure hit with me.

Jaimee was also quite popular with Wendy and her sister, mother and aunt. Whenever she took out her crochet projects, the women would swoon around her admiring her creations (Jaimee's crafts are amazing):

From WWOOFing at Blueberry Bliss

So far the work has been about 95% weeding, but we don't mind at all. We work our four hours and then have the rest of the day off to do whatever. They have bikes for us to borrow and they're also on the bus line into Christchurch. We're really enjoying ourselves and actually wouldn't have minded staying longer. But, we've already arranged for another WWOOFing stay in Invercargill, down in the South of the South Island. We go down there on Wednesday morning.

We've taken some pictures of our stay so far. We'll try to take some more before we leave.