“Another busy week. Monday was a normal busy day on the farm, then i went off to Young Farmers in the evening. Over here they only meet once a month so wont see much of them. They have got their Christmas party on Saturday but i will miss it as i will still be in Queenstown.
Went into town with Linda on Tues, went to the centre of Christchurch, i felt like a proper tourist, oh yeah i am one.
We set off down to Queenstown on wed 9am after another exciting birth. Shirley the owner seemed more nervous than the alpaca giving birth as it was the 1st of her cria she had seen born. In all the excitement she accidentally pressed DELETE ALL on her camera, and deleted all the birthing pictures she had just taken, she was devastated.
We had to take a female and cria with us so we loaded them into the back of the van. On the way down we called into various places, dropped off some fibre, then on to a salmon farm where we picked up a large piece of salmon for our tea (i cooked tea and it was rather tasty, you would be proud!!). We stopped in some amazing spots so i could take photo’s, the views were awesome. We then had to drop the female and her cria off to Deer Park near Queenstown, if any one ever gets to visit New Zealand this place has the most amazing views in the country! Unfortunately once let out of the van the poor female got pounced on by a male. What a welcome!! Frank the owner is in his 80’s and he and his wife are fantastic. The park is also home to lots of Goats, Kune Kune Pigs, Llamas, Fallow Deer, Miniature Horses, Himalayan Thar, Sheep, Highland Cattle, Bison And lots and lots of Ducks. It only costs $20 per car to get in!! The trip took us approx 6hours, so as you can imagine we were pretty tired by the end of the day.
Thursday was my 1st day off so i thought i would make the most of it, i had pre booked to go Sky Diving, Speed Boating, Helicopter ride then White water rafting, not bad for a day off. I had to be in Queenstown centre by 8am but Unfortunately the sky dive got cancelled as it was too cloudy, so i booked it again for Sunday. I spent the morning looking around Queenstown then set off at 12.30pm for my 1st activity. The speed boat down the Shot Over river was fantastic, missing rocks by inches, and doing 360 spins. I could tell our boat driver Mike really loved his job (i mean who wouldn’t!!). On the trip i met a couple of girls, Lisa from Milton Keynes, and Mika from France although she lived in Bude until she was 5 years old. Both were back packing around New Zealand on there own. We then headed up to the rafting centre where we were given our wetsuits, life jackets and helmets . We then got taken by bus up to the helicopter pad, then flew up the Skippers Canyon where we were starting the rafting, I’m seriously thinking about investing in a chopper ha ha!! It was the most amazing experience. Once of fthe helicopter we started our trip down the river on our rafts, my team consisted of Lisa, Mika, a couple from London, and a couple from Australia. And what a team we were, we got voted the best raft of the day!! Think i may take up white water rafting as my new hobby, it was brilliant!! Once back in Queenstown i caught a bus up to Linda’s house, unfortunately in doesn’t drop me that close so i had to hike the rest of the way, which is up the side of a mountain, this nearly killed me, and i had to sit out side for a while to catch my breath. The shearers had arrived, Ron and Kathleen who are from Owaka right down on the south coast. They were lovely people both in there 60’s. They even invited me to stay with them if i ever got down there on my travels. They are both passionate about country/folk music, and often travel to Australia on tours. Ron even had his guitar in the back of the truck. After the introductions it was off to bed for me!!
No time to recover though as we left the house by 7.30am Friday. This was to be the start of an extremely long days shearing. We started at the 1st farm 25 Alpacas, the lady who owns these also has 20 cats living in her house (oh my). On to the next farm where we had 3 Alpacas to shear, then onto our next farm which had 2 Alpacas, 2 Sheep and a very friendly Goat, Oh and about 5 terriers, maybe more. Once finished here we moved on to farm 4 where we only had 2 Alpacas to shear. Our 5th and final farm of the day was 8Alpacas, we got there at 8pm, and finished at 10pm. Sat down to tea by 11pm and in bed by 12pm, oh what a day we had!!
We started even earlier on Saturday morning. We had to go back to Deer Park as we had 17 Alpacas up there to be shorn, fortunately they had decided to leave the Llamas this year (phew!!). We had to shear them out side in the extreme heat, i was lucky as Ron lent me his genuine cowboy hat!! Once we had finished up there it was on to our final farm, only 5 Alpacas and a sheep. Our extra help was not needed here so Linda took me into a little village called Arrowtown. It looked like a western village, and it also had the remains of an old Chinese village. It was very interesting to see. On the way back we popped in to see how the shearing was going, unfortunately we were just in time to help catch the sheep. This sheep was so fat that it ran around the paddock once then collapsed into a heap, it took 3 of us to lift it into a wheelbarrow and cart it into the shed. What a picture opportunity!! That’s how they shear sheep in New Zealand.
Up early again Sunday as i had to drop Linda down to catch the bus for 7am. I had to make my way back to Christchurch in the van later on, but 1st i had to do my sky dive, but surprise surprise it got cancelled as it was too cloudy AGAIN!!!!!!! I left Queenstown mid day and made my way back up the south island. I arrived back about 7pm, an early night was needed.
Up at the crack of dawn again this morning as we now have to start preparing for shearing up here on Tuesday. Nic is helping us with shearing then he is joining Linda down in Queenstown so i will be house sitting for a few days, they get back Dec 22nd and i leave for the north island on the 23rd to spend Christmas with Becky. I’m flying from Christchurch to Palmersand North then catching a bus to Hawera where Becky will meet me, only conditions of me staying there is i have to help her milk, they have over 400 cows so should be fun. Not sure how long i am staying up there as Becky does’nt know how much time she has off yet. I have to be back by the 5th Jan as Nic & Linda are off to a wedding. I have yet to find a handsome rich New Zealand farmer, but i’m hopefully off to the cinema on Thursday with the young farmers, so we shall see ha ha !!
I hope this email finds every one well?
I know i said this email would not be as long but i have so much to tell! Any way i need the practise as i have been asked to write an article for a magazine over here, a bit like the small holder magazine back home, so any help or information on what to write would be gratefully received.
Take care
With love from Txx”
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