Sam and Lucy's blog: Peel

"Sam I'm going to chop some wood so we can get tea started" Lucy informs me, as I tap away at the computer trying to find the more interesting videos we've filmed over the past month. Our gas has ran out, so we're cooking on the wood burner again.
We have two more days here then it's back into the unknown again. Here, being a cabin quite literally in the middle of the woods, albeit a small woods it seems just as spooky as wannabe Blair witch project shack. It's one of Peel Forest Outdoor Pursuits Centres eco lodges, an off the grid cabin powered by solar panels, heated by fire and hot water from solar tubes.
We've been here for three weeks volunteering; painting, gardening, rafting, painting, kayaking, walking, filling in pot holes and more painting, but another three would easily pass by if we didn't have somewhere to be and by then we would be semi professional painters! A lot of the work has been the standard maintenance upkeep of the centre; of gardening, sorting and storing of kit and also the painting of a new eco lodge. It's the same as the one we're staying in; with 8 bunks, solar power, solar water, kitchenette, wood burner and a compost toilet. These cabins have a very modern feel, despite being a five minute walk into the woods and our stay has been very comfy with only two of us in an eight person cabin.
The location is great, two hours from Christchurch, thirty minutes from a decent sized town for the essentials but in the sticks enough to have the 'detached from the world' feeling. It's also on the door step to a variety of adventures and since being here we have walked up little mount Peel, kayaked and rafted down the lower Rangitata river, abseiled through some jungle and waded up a stream to a back country valley. Working with groups, but not having the overall responsibility of the activities has been refreshing and comfortable, as has the introduction of raft guiding from the very friendly staff of the centre. I could image nothing better than on a nice sunny, warm day, sat on the back of the raft helping some clients find their way down some fun and interesting rapids, wooping and wailing as we bounce from rock to rock. Just another qualification to chase I suppose...
With only one gas hob and a hot plate on the wood burner we've had to be organised with our meals, but I can comfortably say that this is the healthiest we've ate in a while. No oven, means no pizzas or chips, only fresh veg, pasta rice and stir fry's, and because the shops are 30 minutes away the junk foods of chocolates, cola and crisps are rationed instead of scoffed.
Now it's 9:30 and it looks like it's going to be an over cast night, meaning that the trees won't cast their werid and wonderful shadows into the room, which always seem to play with the imaginations, on top of the racket of the pesky possums that like to play on the porch. I hope I don't dream about painting...