Frank Lloyd What?

Hana and I spent a couple of days meandering our way up the stunning west coast and stopping every now and then at hidden gems (with obvious turn-offs) like sheep world and modern art public toilets. The scenery along the way has been incredible, and satiates the visual appetite for variation and vibrancy. In fact, if the landscape were a sandwich, it would be roasted vegetables with brie cheese, pesto spread on either side of olive and sundried tomato foccacia, and every now and then a surprising bite of some wonderful unidentifiable spice. Sigh, and then you remember you have problems digesting bread. And if this sandwich were truly meant to represent the landscape there would be a lot more lamb on it. Hmmm… My vision not yours!

On our way up we drove through a fascinating beach town called Mangawhai Heads. This place had the most uniquely designed private residences I’ve ever seen, and we spent a good while driving around in awe of what looked like a swath of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired houses. They all seemed to incorporate elements of the local landscape and became extensions of the hillside. It was really interesting as it appeared as though most have also found a way to include aspects of sustainable home design such as passive solar heating and massive windows to maximize lighting. We wandered up people’s driveways until they came out of their houses so we could ask questions (well only one nice lady came out to talk to us, no one else was home… or were simply avoiding the random strangers standing outside. Weirdos).

Naturally, all this talk of eco-design, coupled with the desire to sleep in an actual bed led us to look into WWOOFing….