Amberley

We got to Amberley mid-January after dividing our first week between Auckland and Wellington. Amberley is a small town in the Waipara Valley a bit north of Christchurch and one of the driest regions in the country (with a rainfall comparable to Sonoma County, for all you Bay Area kids). That, plus the fact that it's a coastal grape-growing region framed by foothills dried golden from the hot summer, made it feel as though we hadn't travelled very far at all.

For about 4 1/2 weeks, we stayed with Nick and Angela and their 3 kids Ruby (5), Matilda (2), and Flynn (5 mos.) on their 16 acre certified organic property. They're working with permaculture principles and have accomplished a lot in the four years they've been there.

Our work was full and varied and completely satisfying - what you'd expect from a place that has their shit together. Enjoyed beautiful harvests of strawberries and carrots and beets and greens, put in the fall planting (in February! and north-facing! - southern hemisphere reality), wrangled sheep for slaughter and greener pastures, babied the chicks, made compost, preserved food on rainy days, weeded, wandered. Time too for swimming - in the ocean and the river and the dam at the vineyard.

A hard place to leave.