Enjoy amazing views over the Waikato region, learn about horses and animals and help with gardening in Te Pahu, NZ

Details

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  Description

  We are an (almost) retired couple living on a 10 acre lifestyle block on the slopes of Mt Pirongia in the Waikato. We have animals: 3 horses, 3 steers, 3 sheep, 3 chickens, and 2 dogs. We are developing our property towards self-sufficiency and have an orchard and larg-ish vegetable gardens. We also produce our own eggs and beef. We also have an ornamental garden that we are developing towards being low maintenance.
  We are very enthusiastic about horses and animal training and would be happy to share our knowledge with anyone who is interested.
  Recently we have begun a new hobby, which is to process (card, spin, and dye) our own wool. We would be happy to help you learn to spin if you are interested.
  From our elevated position we have amazing views over the Waikato region. Our location is a good tourist base being relatively close to many tourist sites, such as the Waitomo caves, Raglan beach, and Hobbiton. Mt Pirongia also has a number of reserves and many popular walking tracks, some within walking distance from our home. We absolutely love the privacy and autonomy our place provides.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet

  House sitting
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We have a very mixed background. I am German and my partner is New Zealander. Both of us are (were) academics and have lived overseas for long periods of time including the UK, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. We are broad minded and very interested in other cultures and different ways of doing things. We like to cook and are interested in different cuisines. Given our lifestyle, apart from gardening we are also into preserving (pickling, jam making etc.), bee-keeping, and making products out of bees wax. Our local community is very much a dairy farming community with good old fashioned Kiwi values of helping each other out and being neighbourly. Pirongia has a monthly craft market, and the local community organises fun events from time to time, such as a the annual tractor race.

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  Help

  Both of us have recently had health issues / injuries which means that we are not currently able to do some of the heavier gardening tasks. This includes pruning fruit trees, cutting out some weed trees, flax bushes, and agapanthus, and digging out some small tree-roots. We would also like help with some more creative / productive gardening tasks though such as planting potatoes, growing new plants from cuttings, and landscaping (building a small step).

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  French: Beginner
  Maori: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  I would really love the opportunity to practice Te Reo Maori and chat in German.
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  Accommodation

  We have a comfortable 3-bedroom house with a modern kitchen, underfloor heating, and two living areas. The guest accommodation we can offer is a double bedroom with its own en-suite and a separate toilet.
  The guest accommodation and our own bedroom are at opposite ends of the house with the shared living spaces in between, offering a lot of privacy.
  We enjoy cooking healthy, wholesome food, much of which is produced on our property. Our own food includes beef, eggs, fruit (turned into our own jam and marmalade) and vegetables as well as our own honey. We are very happy for our guests to contribute to the cooking though and would love to learn about the cuisine of other cultures.
  We generally have just two meals a day: a late breakfast and a good dinner. We will provide you with what you need to prepare your own lunch though.
  We also love a good cup of coffee and have a nice espresso machine, though we also keep a good supply of various herb teas, green tea, and good old English Breakfast tea.

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  What else ...

  We live in a rural area, which means that we are not close to public transport. We can offer the loan of an e-bike though as well as the occasional lift into town (Hamilton or Te Awamutu) or to one of the many beautiful local walking tracks. Cycling is also popular in the area with some excellent cycle tracks nearby (e.g. along the Waikato river, some of the local lakes and Cambridge). Te Awamutu has a beautiful old cinema that is definitely worth a visit. It is one of the oldest cinemas in NZ and operated by a charitable trust.
  We love to stay home and enjoy our animals, music, board- and card games. You are welcome to join us any time.
  With winter just around the corner, we are only a 3-hour drive away from Mt Ruapehu (and its ski fields) Lake Taupo, and the Tongariro National Park. Rotorua is just over a one hours drive away. At the time, Auckland is also only 1 1/2 hours away with a number of public transport options (train and bus) from Hamilton.
  Raglan, a cute small surfing town with its beautiful black iron sand surf beach and cute small shops, cafes and bars is just a 40 minute drive away.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  There are times when I work from home and need bandwidth for video calls. So, some flexibility is required. Our internet connection can be slow.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  There is plenty of space to park camper vans and plug them into a power source.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Any pets (and small children) would have to get along with our two very friendly but large dogs. They would also have to be safe around our farm animals.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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