When Sean and I were roughly planning this trip, we knew we would camp most of the time but we also knew that we wanted to stay sane during a month-long road trip so we booked a few nicer places along the way. During the months leading up to the trip we kept our eye on different coupon sites and if we saw a good deal we jumped on it. All of the non-camping spots that we booked we got two nights for the price of one, sometimes with breakfast and wine included! After camping and being generally grungy, we really looked forward to these particular stays, one of which was Millers Haven Homestay - a small farm in between the cities of Tauranga and Rotorua.
Homestays can be a lot of fun but they can also be really awkward depending on how everyone gets along with each other. In this newer homestay, Simon and his wife Rena were very enthusiastic and excited to have visitors. Simon had just retired from dairy farming and because they both get a little lonely being retired and out in the middle of nowhere, had decided to buy a section of land, build a house with guests in mind and have another little mini farm. They had advertised their homestay on a deal site in hopes to generate interest and it worked!
We arrived in the late afternoon and after touring the brand new house complete with a huge private guest wing and chatting with Simon and Rena, we had cookies and tea and took much-needed showers. We spent the evening walking around the farm and checking out the cows, chickens, gardens, ponds, budgies and canaries. Simon and Rena are very into being self-sustainable and we looked forward to farm fresh eggs in the morning.
We all met for breakfast the next day and over eggs, bacon, juice and coffee we chatted about life in the States and New Zealand. They had a lot of questions about the U.S. as their daughter had just gotten accepted to work at Disney World in Florida and they were planning on visiting her. They said they definitely wanted to visit Vegas, New York City and Los Angeles. Sean and I suggested checking out some of the national parks along with some other parts of California and New York. (Every single Kiwi wants to visit Vegas at some point in their life - more so than NYC.)
All in all we were very happy that we did the homestay. We learned a lot about being Kiwi during our breakfast conversations and received a lot of individual attention regarding local attractions and trip planning. I highly recommend opting for a homestay instead of just another chain motel if you ever get the chance.
Post a Comment