Thanks to our hosts

This article is a dedication to all the people who had the kindness and the generosity to host us during our travels in the USA and in New-Zealand : Thank you SO MUCH for welcoming us into your homes and your lives !! All these encounter are definitely highlights of our year around the world :-)

Wwoofing / HelpX

We are very happy about our decision to Wwoof during our trip. Reading about all the farms in Louisiana and Florida and choosing our N°1 in each state was very exciting and when both farms told us they could host us we were delighted !!

Mary’s homestead in Louisiana and Richard’s blueberry farm in Florida were very different experiences but we enjoyed them both a lot.

Since it all went well in the USA, we wanted to do more Wwoofing in New-Zealand. We intended to work for 2 months but finally we only did 3 weeks of macadamia picking and 5 weeks of HelpX during our 6 months in New-Zealand. Which is great because it allowed us to meet very nice people, to visit different areas or settle down and rest, and to learn much more interesting things than if we had been picking or packing fruits for 8 hours a day ! We are very lucky that the 5 places we chose were great experiences : we met kind and interesting people and stayed in beautiful places !!

The best thing about Wwoofing / HelpX is that we were able to meet Americans and Kiwis people and to learn more about those countries and the differences or similarities with France. Working and living with our hosts for 1 or 2 weeks allowed us to get to know them and to have deeper exchanges than when you just meet for a few hours. We are really grateful for all the human and cultural exchange that Woofing brought us !

Also it allowed us to improve our English because when it was just the two of us together, Loïc and I spoke French.

We hope we’ll be able to stay in touch and maybe help you discover our country if you ever come to France :-)

Mary's homestead (Keatchie, Louisiana)

We spent the first 2 weeks of our trip near Shreveport. We mostly took care of Mary's animals and garden. It was a beautiful and peaceful place and the work wasn't too hard : the perfect start for us !!

Mary's house next to a little lake : we loved spending our afternoons relaxing on the patio.

Richard's blueberry farm (near Gainesville, Florida)

We worked hard and long during our two weeks of blueberry picking ! But we also met great people and had fun swimming in the lake or making blueberry wine :-)

 With James and Richard.

With James, Richard, Daniel, Carlos and Samantha.

Rosamund and Kyle's house (Waiheke island)

We helped Rosamund to finish painting and prepare the house for the new carpet. In the afternoons we enjoyed discovering beautiful Waiheke island. We spent a wondeful day visiting the wild West part of the island : Man O' War bay and stony batter. It was the first time we saw New-Zealand green hills and Nathalie fell in love with them : one of her Top 5 days in New-Zealand :-)

With  Rosamund, Kyle and Ash.

Man O' War road.

Antoinette's macadamia farm (Helensville)

We spent 3 weeks in July and 1 week in December helping Antoinette on her farm near Auckland. In July, the picking season, we climbed the trees and with our rakes had to pick all the nuts. It was hard work but not boring and we tried to pick as much crates as possible since we were payed 9 dollars a crate. It's the only payed work we did in New-Zealand and the money helped us to do some repairs on our van (new battery and clutch).

With Jacintha, David and Antoinette.

Owen's "dairy" farm (Paparoa, Northland)

In August, we spent one week helping Owen and his parents (Coleen and Randall) on their farm in the middle of the hills. They were shifting from a dairy farm to a cattle finishning farm because the price of the milk dropped so much that it's not interesting to run a dairy farm anymore.
It was rhe beginning of the calving season and each cow had to feed her calf + 2 new calves bought at the auction. It was a bit of a fight and running all over the place at the beginning, but after 3 days the cows and calves got used to each other and we were able to let them in the paddock. And start it all over again !!

With Coleen (a wonderful cook), Randall (who taught us lots of things about farming and the flora) and Laura (a French wwoofer).

Owen (with the green sweatshirt) at the calves auction : a real farming experience at which we were happy to assist !!

Sarah and Peter's alpacas farm (near Napier, Hawkes bay)

We were happy to spend two weeks in Sarah and Peter's confortable and warm house after 3 weeks of road trip in our van ;-)
They were very interesting and very nice people and taught us lots of things about the alpacas which were a totally unknown animal for us ! Sarah was also a very good cook :-)  While they were at the national Alpaca show, our job was mostly to take care of their 4 dogs, cats and hens and make sure no alpacas was stuck in a fence. When they were at home we helped them with the mating and went digging thistles (we hate that plant now). Since it rained a lot we had time to catch up on our blog and discover NZ's reality TV shows :-D

Sarah with India and Peter.

Barnyard Backpackers (Te Anau, Fiorland)

In November, we did one week of HelpX at Barnyard backpackers. We did 3 hours of weeding or cleaning in the mornings in exchange for a room in the hostel. Since we were not living or eating with Inge and John we didn't get to know them as well as other hosts, but we had a few nice chats with Inge. In the afternoons we went to the library to write articles for the blog and started reading our guidebook about Indonesia. And we went 4 times to the pie shop: they were so good we had to taste them (almost) all  :-D

With Inge.

Barnyard backpackers was another beautiful place to stay !

American family and friends

It was wonderful to spend a lot or a little time with all of you and to see you again after almost ten years !! I’m also very happy that you got to meet Loïc and that he was finally able to put a face on all those names ;-)

Thank you so much for welcoming us into your lives, showing us amazing places, taking us to yummy restaurants, helping us to get to know you a bit more and so many other things !! We had a great time !

I’m happy that Loïc enjoyed our trip in the US because we will certainly be going back in the future.

With Dana and Sue in their house near Portland, Oregon. We stayed one week with Dana and Sue in their house with a beautiful view on the Columbia river and the cargos. Thanks to them we discovered Oregon and visited Astoria, Mt St Helens, Portland and the coast.

With Stephen, Sarah (Nathalie's godmother), Byron and Danielle at a wine tasting near Corvallis, Oregon. Byron (who is a teacher) gave us a private tour of Oregon University in Corvallis ;-)

With Karen and Dick in their house near Santa Cruz, California. We stayed 5 days with Karen and Dick who were lovely hosts : we visited lots of beautiful places with them (Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey aquarium, the redwoods...) and they took us to lots of good restaurants :-)

With Eric (Karen and Dick's son) and Diana in their house near San Francisco, California. We spent 2 nights with Eriac, Diana and their twins Zoe and Luke. We spent 3 great days wandering all around San Francisco !!

In Laura and David's house with Jennifer, Mike (Nathalie's uncle), David, Laura (Nathalie's aunt) and Grandma in Fresno, California. We spent our last 12 days in the US with Nathalie's family in central California. We relaxed, prepared a bit our arrival in New Zealand and enjoyed spending time with them.

With Les and Karen (Dana and Sue's daughter) during a wonderful sailing week-end in San Franscisco bay and Sausalito !!  We were very lucky and thrilled about this wonderful experience :-)

With Mike and Panda, Jennifer and Lola in their house in Fresno. We spent 2 days with Mike and Jennifer in amazing Yosemite National park : we admire the view from Glacier point, saw the giant sequoïas and hiked to the top of Vernal fall.

Last dinner in Fresno for Laura's birthday : we ate very good burgers :-)

Thanks also to Emmanuelle and her son Lucas who hosted us during 3 days near Palm Beach, Florida. Her parents, Gilbert and Christine, who are friends of Loïc's parents, were visiting from France and Loïc enjoyed talking with them.

Thanks to Joanna and Walter (friends of Nathalie's Mom who live 6 months in Key West and 6 months in a small village in Dordogne) who welcomed us for one night in their house even though they had never meet us. Thanks to them we were able to visit beautiful Key West which is otherwise a very expensive place to stay in. Joanna : Nathalie really enjoyed reading your book and she thinks about you and your heroïne each time we see a lighthouse now ;-)

Thanks to Yolanda (AirBnB) who hosted us during 4 days near Miami and helped Loïc surviving his fever and sore throat with her lemon and honey hot water ;-)

Thanks to Carlos and Samantha for their kindness and the guided tour of Miami they took us on. We are looking forward to see you in Paris one day !


Once again THANK YOU to all of you for making our trip even more meaningful and unforgettable !!

And to all those who read this article : definitely think about Wwoofing / HelpX for your future travels, especially if you are lucky enough to spend a long time in a country !!


Love and bisous XX  :-)


Nathalie and Loïc