WWOOF – (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms)
My name is Petra Campbell. I was born in Wellington and I grew up in Te Whanganui o Hei. I went to school for 13 years at Mercury Bay Area School. As exams rolled around in my last year of school, I was still clueless as to what I wanted to do; I had only decided to enrol in my last year of school as a last-minute decision. While everyone was getting ready to start their lives, all I could think was that I needed more time. So ensued the idea of a gap year. I decided I would travel around New Zealand for the year. Then, as exams were in full force, my sister asked me if I would come and interrail Europe with her. Impulsively I agreed and bought a ticket to London Heathrow. Soon after though my sister was offered a job at the school and could only travel for 3 weeks, but I had already decided to stay on. That’s when my friend Phoebe (who also went through 13 years at MBAS with me) reached out. She was already on that side of the world, and asked to join me on my travels. So Phoebe and I travelled around Europe by train for nine weeks.
For five days of this trip, we stayed and worked for accommodation (otherwise known as WWOOFing) in Greece. We stayed and worked for a man named Thanasis in a village close to the city Volos. This is a diary entry from one of the days we were there.
Phoebe and I woke up late this morning (around 10 am). We still managed to wake earlier than Thanasis and his two friends Tatiana and Jason who had stayed the night. It was a beautiful Greek summer morning. The day was already warm at around 30°c. As it was a Sunday, we wouldn’t be working so instead after a Greek coffee at the village cafe under the shady horse chestnut tree, we set about making our way to a beach in Pelion. This beach was chosen by Thanasis’ friends who would be making the trek with us. This started with an hour and a half drive through dense forest and over mountains with sheer drop cliffs staring out towards the blue Mediterranean sea. The roads were winding and mostly single lane, but that didn’t stop the Greeks, Thanasis included, from driving full speed around the sharp corners. Coming down off the hill after what felt like a journey in itself we stopped at a beach with a lot of tourists. Thanasis explained that we would be walking from there to the beach we were going to.
So off we went, rock hopping over the coast line and through bush tracks in bare feet. It was a familiar feeling, yet everything that surrounded told me that I was far from home. On the walk, we passed a man who lived on the beach over the summer. He was using the running creek by the path as a fridge. He had built a clay oven there too. We learned that many people in Greece camp on small beaches over the summer. We continued out to the beach which was a nice and shady cove filled with Greek holidayers. We found our spot and spent the afternoon in and out of the water. At around 7:30 pm, we rock hopped for half an hour more to sit down at a taverna (a casual Greek restaurant, typically on a beach) looking out over the sea. The sun was starting to sit low in the sky as the most beautiful Greek food arrived at the table (including very strong olives and an obscene amount of feta). After enjoying our food and some good conversation, we began our trek back to the first beach and over the hills to Thanasis’ house. By the time we all arrived back, it was dark and Phoebe and I were ready for bed. So we took ourselves to sleep while Thanasis and his friends stayed up late into the night in typical Greek fashion.
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