Ahhh, there’s nothing like beer. Even better, there’s nothing like good, organic beer. Picture this: A small organic brewery set on the west coast of New Zealand above the White Cliffs. Two beers, ale and lager, masterfully brewed with the finest ingredients–barley, hops, yeast, and rainwater. That’s right, four ingredients. Nothing else. Outside of the brewery is an avocado orchard full of fruits, and when things are quiet, the sound of the waves crashing on the cliffs. At night, a brilliant starry sky with Orion and the Southern Cross shining bright illuminates the path to a small cottage among the avocados. Can it get any better than this?
For the past four days we’ve been here at White Cliff Brewery enjoying our first week of WWOOFing. The brewery was easy to find–it’s just off the main road that takes you down the west coast and a giant beer bottle greets you from the road–there’s no missing it. We arrived here on Sunday and have spent the last four days working (there must be a better term for this) and having fun. The brewery is a true family business–Mike, Rene, Ron, Jill, Dylan, and Christie run the brewery and adjacent White Cliffs Estate function center. Our hosts are an incredibly generous family and it’s a real pleasure to get to share their company, work alongside them, and help out however we can.
Helping out has come in the form of weeding the grounds, transplanting comfrey, cutting firewood, tasting beer, bottling, and our favorite task–labeling! Ever since we visited Maker’s Mark, Joanie has wanted to try her hand at labeling bottles. Now she is a real pro at the job and hopefully Smuttynose will take notice! The brewery just underwent a rebranding and the labels are just one of many improvements that have been made in the past two years. Check out the brewery website here for a look at the new brand. You might even want to order a shirt once they update the online shop–and at the same time see my first “modeling” gig. I think I’ve found my true calling in life–beer shirt model. There must be someone out there willing to pay me for that!
We work about 4 hours each day and then join everyone for a delicious lunch usually consisting of lots of fresh food–tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, plums, breads, cheeses, an African style beef jerky, etc. There’s a bunch of chickens on the property here too, so we’ve got our pick of fresh eggs every day. After lunch we’re usually finished with work, grab a pitcher of beer and are on our own for the rest of the day.
We’ve been taking advantage of that time off to walk along the beach below White Cliffs (only accessible at low tide), head into New Plymouth to see the Festival of Lights and listen to live music, or catch up on skype calls, reading, or finding the next WWOOF farm. There’s a beer and wine festival on Saturday that we’ll be helping with and the next few days will likely be busy with preperations for the festival. We’ll be sure to post some pictures–it’s being held at a winery a bit south of here with an absoultely incredible view of the ocean.
Show on map
We are just getting started here. Spent a great deal of time looking at this blog today. Saw all the pictures and am feeling quite jealous. We need some summer and wind and sun and ocean.
Maybe next year we’ll work abroad. I’m going to need some sort of get away from it all plan after reading all about your adventures!
We have skype and a webcam right now. Let’s set up a time to see your smiley faces.