About a year ago, I joined WWOOF New Zealand. See the country, meet people, live the organic life - what could be better? I was travelling in NZ for 2 months, and it seemed like a good way to go. I could move from farm to farm, paying only the cost of transportation, because room and board would be provided.

I had a fabulous time. I scraped paint and picked kiwifruit and planted beans. I played with kids and was taught how to make cheese sauce by an 80+ year-old woman, introduced to me only as Grandma. On my birthday, in April, I raked fall leaves.

However, I would give this recommendation to anyone considering WOOFing: do not use it as a means to travel. Go just to work; or travel and stay on a couple farms along the way. What I didn't take into account was that farms are in the middle of nowhere. I was in a beautiful country, and all I was seeing were crops and sheep. Eventually I gave up and just played tourist. Which was also fun, until I ran out of money...