Kaitaia - Amber and Inti

Going further north, I headed to the town of Kaitaia. This is one of the most northern settlements in New Zealand. I stayed at a farm about 20km from the town.

Actually, it's incorrect to call it "farm", because there's no farming at all, besides a small garden. This place was owned by Amber and Inti, a young couple. Unlike other farms that I've been to, this one isn't owned by old, semi-retired people. The owners are only 20 or 30 years old. They might be even younger than me!

Inti (who is the guy) explained that his family migrated from Germany, hence his strange German name. As for Amber, she is from USA. She came to New Zealand for holiday. While here, she WWOOF at Inti's place, fell in love, and decided to stay. Both of them have full time jobs. Amber works for the government, while Inti is a carpenter/contractor.

The house is situated on 20 acres on a rather steep hill. Due to the slope, the land isn't suitable for farming. Inti explained that the main industry in this area is forestry. This means harvesting and logging of trees. Those trees are planted for this purpose. It's essentially "growing" trees, instead of fruits or vegetables, for commercial purpose. Indeed, I saw hundreds of acres of trees planted on the neighbor's property.

The house on a hill side

Pine trees planted on neighbor's land

It came as a surprise when Inti told me that they were selling the house. I asked him why, and he explained that he had a back injury, and can no longer work as a carpenter. He had an operation to to fix the problem, but back injuries can be persistent. His doctor advised him to change jobs, or the injury could reappear.

Inti said that since they're selling the house, there's no work for me. Then he asked if I would like to help him with building construction work on a neighbor's house. I said yes, but I wondered about his back injury. Didn't his doctor advised him against this work? He explained he's currently on painkillers, and his back still hurt a little. But he needed the money, and had no choice.

I suppose that, for young people, money is an issue. The cost of Inti's operation was covered by the government, which also paid him disability benefits. But the government pressured him to get back to work as soon as possible. The problem is, the government is trying to cut back on welfare benefits. This is a controversial issue, but there are too many people on welfare in NZ, which is unsustainable. The government is trying to reduce that.

So, I became an apprentice carpenter for a week. I helped with measuring, cutting wood and installing insulation. Inti is an experienced builder, and worked very efficiently despite his injury. I was his assistant, and I learned a little about wood house construction. I feel sorry that he injured his back at a young age, and can no longer do what he wants. I suppose that's the risk of every physically demanding job.

During the weekend, we went fishing. Like sailing, fishing is a favorite pastime for New Zealanders. I've never fished before, so I'm glad to get the chance to learn. We didn't catch any fish, but we did get lots of mussels. They grow on the rocks on the beach, and I enjoyed picking them by hand. They would have cost maybe a hundred dollars at the supermarket, but here it was totally free!

Inti setting the fishing poles