The following day and hours away we stayed with a couple on a 5th generation farm (circa 1860s). Around 2000 acres, and home to 5000 sheep (plus a bunch of cattle). Pretty rad place, and with a distant view of one of the country's other big volcanos. They seemed to be quite well off, but the 3 boys weren't interested in running the farm in the future, so there was a bit of apprehension about the future. A side project for the wife was to photography and document long standing farms that were finally being sold (and inevitably divided). She would basically make a picture book for each family who was selling their farm, making a cool $3,000-8,000 off of each project.
We've been struggling to track down the WWOOFing farms that aren't full up at the moment. Likewise, our preferred CouchSurfing hosts seem to be busy as well, so it's really come down to last minute luck in finding a place. We managed to get in a night at the Radical Social Centre in Wellington. It's run by Anarchists and seemed like a cool, if rundown place, but I didn't get a chance to visit with anyone, so further impressions will have to wait until our return trip to Auckland. We tried going to the national museum, which is free, but got burned out pretty quick. Wellington easily trumps Auckland, save for the constant wind, but again, we'll explore it more on the way back up.
The ferry across the Cook Strait to the south island took about 3 hours, and if you've been on the new BC Ferries boats, it wasn't anything too impressive, and despite the rain, there were a few nice views. Still, for a scenic ferry, you'd think they'd have a few more windows...
-Dan
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