Wwoof Hosts- Roger and Jude

At 7 a.m. every morning – 365 days a year – Jude wakes up and goes for a swim in the ocean. Rain or shine, hot or cold, she is out in the waves wearing nothing but the skin God gave her. After her morning dip she prepares breakfast for the bed and breakfast guests, usually two to four people then Katie and me and finally Roger and herself. She spends the rest of the day running the two home businesses – an eco bed and breakfast and Roger's photography; working in her elaborate flower and rose gardens and tending to her multiple vegetable beds and 20 fruit trees; all before 4 p.m. when she fires up the kitchen and crafts a five-star meal for all of us to enjoy around the candle-lit, flower dressed table at 7:15 p.m.

Roger, Jude's husband of over 30 years, is a flower photographer whose voice sounds like Jack Nickolson. He spends his days waiting for magical lighting, playing the flute, fishing, and watching sports. He's constantly shadowed by his two labradors, Jo and Oscar, and his pet doves occassionally drop in to check the football scores. (The animals are allowed in when Jude is gone.)

Roger preferes meat and potatoes to Jude's fresh veggies. And both have the phisiques to match their dietary habits.

Roger's weather worn hands show signs of a life full of stories. He spent 12 years traveling, working in Crete and Sweden herding cattle, before settling in New Zealand and raising five kids with Jude.

Together they have maintained the Ngaio Bay Eco B&B for twenty years. The B&B is 5 km below French Pass in the Marlborough Sounds, two hours of windy dirt roads around mountainsides overlooking the ocean from town. Trip to town are infrequent and Katie and I rode in with the Mail lady, who comes every Monday and Thursday.

There are two guest cottages that Katie and I clean almost daily and one all timber beach house that Katie and I share. Our cabin sits on the ocean with windows that nearly touch the tide. Our second day here we watched dolphins from the comfort of our beds.

At first I had my reservations about staying in one place for two weeks, but I think I can endure.

I've learned how to collect and prepare mussels, build a raised potato bed, set a proper NZ dinner table (forks on the left, spoon and knife on the right), iron the bed sheets with the bunchie corners and act interested in small talk with guests over dinner.

I'm making my way in this new wwoofing site. Jude enjoys having her fridge packed a certain way and the bowls stacked largest to smallest. She is very particular about food rations, weeding and behavior around paying guests. She is teaching me about letting go of ego, and her library offers a delicious assortment of indulgences for the hours I'm not working.

I'm also learning how to relax in the presence of another's business...Roger is leading my example.