Raglan - Edge of Heaven

I had reached Cape Reinga, the most northern point in New Zealand, and there was nowhere to go further north. I had explored most of Northland. So I headed south, to Hamilton. Located about 1.5 hours drive from Auckland, Hamilton is the 4th largest city in New Zealand. I stayed at a hostel for 2 weeks in Hamilton. It's is a nice city, with a little "university town" feeling to it. Perhaps it's because the University of Waikato is located in the city.

Hamilton city center

After Hamilton, I headed to Raglan, a coastal town about 45 min west of Hamilton. Located on the west coast, this is a seaside tourist town, popular for its surfing beaches. I stayed at a farm owned by Heather and Mark. It's a small farm, about 40 acres, situated on a hillside overlooking Raglan. They call it the "Edge of Heaven", perhaps due to the great view from the house. From the house, you can see small town of Raglan. The view of sunset is magnificent.

View of Raglan from the farm

Raglan sunset

Heather and Mark's house

Manu Beach, a surfing beach 10km from the house

On this farm, they have a herd of about a dozen cattles. Heather explained that this is a special type of cattle called Dexter. It's not popular due to its small size, which makes it less profitable. This is a lifestyle block, means they're not depending on the cattles for their main source of income, so I suppose it's not a problem.

Dexter cattles on the farm

A cow getting too close to the camera

For their main source of income, Heather works as a hypnotherapist. She uses hypnosis to help people with their problems, such as pain and stress. Mark works for Earthquake Commission (EQC), the government agency that manages the rebuilding after an earthquake.

However, Mark is currently not working, because he suffered a stroke 2 months ago, which paralyzed the left side of his body. He is going through physiotherapy, and is able to walk with a cane. However, he still has limited mobility in his left hand and leg. Heather has to take care of him.

The work on the farm got a little neglected. Because of that, weeds were taking over in some places. So my main responsibility was weed removal. As this is an organic farm, we don't use herbicides. It's manual work to dig out and pull out the weeds. Removing weeds can be described as a never-ending battle, because they always grow back eventually.

This is my second host that has suffered a serious injury. This made me realize one of the pitfalls of farm ownership. If one's sick or injured, it's hard to keep up with the work. Farming, especially organic farming, is very labour intensive. Big farms can hire more workers, but small farmers usually don't have the money to hire full-time help. Some may use temporary help or WWOOF volunteers. Others might just give up and sell their farms.