There is nothing that backpackers love more than an “authentic” experience. If you can say that you “immersed yourself in traditional culture”, or that you “made great friends with the locals’ you will be the envy of all other hostel dwellers. This is why the HelpX website, and other work exchange companies are such brilliant ideas. Masses of backpackers from around the world will be overjoyed to live with and help out a real Kiwi family, and farm owners across the country will finally have someone to paint their garage. It’s a win-win!
My first HelpX hosts owned a boarding kennel and cattery near Wanaka. They are great people, and I spent my days playing with exercising the dogs, weeding the greenhouse, building a shed, and of course re-painting the office. I slept in a little camper van by the chickens, so one of my jobs was to catch the rooster before going to bed and put it in a cage. This cage would theoretically prevent the rooster from crowing at 4am. The first night, this task was demonstrated by Mary, a vet nurse and confident handler of animals. “Easy peasy!” I thought. The rooster was just sitting on the perch, and all you have to do is reach in and grab him! What could be simpler? The next night, brimming with confidence, I made my way to the chicken coop and encountered my first problem. The rooster was facing the other way! This changed everything! Should I still use the same reach-and-grab technique? Will the rooster peck me in the face? Should I wait outside the coop until he turns around? I stood there thinking about my plan for a while, with my headlamp illuminating all the sleepy chickens. They became aware of my presence, and all started to cluck in what I interpreted as an aggressive manner. This prompted a whole new set of considerations. Would the chickens attack me if I grabbed the rooster? Should I go and get some protective goggles? Clearly, the chickens were planning something, because by this point they had formed a protective barrier around the rooster. Gathering my courage, I took the only action I could think of; grabbing a long stick and poking the angry chickens until they moved out of the way. My path to the rooster was now clear, so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and made a grab for it. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to close my eyes. I managed to snag the rooster off of its perch, but I didn’t have the best grip on its wings so it started flapping wildly, calling the other chickens into action. Thinking that I would need my hands to defend myself from the impending hen attack, I dropped the rooster and got into a defensive position. At this point, the rooster was making a weird gasping sound, so I took the opportunity to shove it into the cave, reflecting that I may have squeezed it too hard. Mission accomplished, I scrambled out of the coop and spent the next ten minutes washing my hands of imaginary chicken poop. Of course, even after all that effort, the rooster still crowed at 4am.
HelpX adventures on the sheep farm coming soon
