The cutest Airbnb ever

Today we woke up and had been visited by the "breakfast fairies" AKA our host's 8 and 6 year old daughters. They'd left us a lovely breakfast outside with homemade breads, eggs from their chickens, home grown grapes and tomatoes and locally sourced cheeses. The eggs even had cute knitted egg cosies on them. The mother is German and the style of breakfast definitely reminded me of when I visited Germany in school and was so put off by all these cheeses and meats laid out for breakfast that I had a week of nutella on toast, something I hadn't really had prior. Sitting outside eating our breakfast on the decking we still couldn't quite believe where we are and we decided we needed a day of just enjoying our surroundings. Our hosts and their 4 neighbours all came together to sign a legal agreement that their land can never be used for farming, even if they sell the land. This included the stream that runs by our cabin and the spring it comes from so all the water is completely pure meaning the water from our taps is coming straight from the stream. It's deliciously ice cold and crisp. The cabin also has a composting toilet so nothing's wasted there and soon they plan to utilise the waterfall in their stream to generate their own power. We found all this out by talking to the mother and her children this morning. She was on a working holiday visa in Australia when she met her British now husband. After going home for a while they decided to come to New Zealand on a working holiday and have never left since. They were working in Christchurch but moved out to Little River to achieve the lifestyle they really wanted for their children. The husband still commutes to Christhucrch for work and the mum does Airbnb full time. Most months in summer they are booked up completely and in winter it's about a 70% booking rate. It's all very inspiring really and if New Zealand wasn't so far from home I think we would move here in a heartbeat. With only 4 million people it just has a much nicer vibe than back home and a real sense of community everywhere you go. The collective landowners have come together and made a walking track that takes you right up to the top of the hill and down again. We did this walk today and loved the fact that more than likely no one else would be on the track with us because it's private land. We got some great views and sat on the bench at the top of the hill just soaking it all in for quite a while. We even had a couple of fantails leading the way, they are definitely becomming my favourite bird. After visiting the waterfalls we came back to our lovely cabin and I gave making scrambled eggs on a bbq a go. It wasn't a huge success but it was edible at least!Read more