8am up and at ‘em...the rest of the family had been up for who knows how long, but the chickens need food at 8:30 and we run on their schedule. We woke up and got dressed...our morning routine is to turn the water on in the longhouse (green house) and water the zucchini, pick the ripe tomatoes (pronounced tom-Ah-toe), head over to the chicken coop and feed “King” “Leon” on their hens, then go back and turn the water off. Breakfast was beans and sausage on toast (typical) and a mug of tea afterward (also typical). After breakfast and tea Sheila gave us our first job...clean out the chicken coop. We did it in record time and had fun. (“Evacuate the chicken coop!”...lol inside joke).
Tea again. [I have drank the most tea here in one day than I have in my entire life] Next, we did a bit of laundry...striped the beds and hung the washing. The Welsh guy had moved his stuff out of the shed, so we moved our stuff in! I love it! It’s two rooms, one bed room and a sitting room. It’s really nice on the inside, but the outside looks very shed-like. :)
We headed to Curio Bay to drop of the Welshman. Sheila dropped us off at Porpoise Bay to have a walk around. It was beautiful...one spot with a bunch of huge rocks had some spectacular crashing waves. We took pictures like it was our job. We saw two male sea lions swimming in the surf and we followed them to a female on the beach and watched them fight it out. They look so incredibly awkward walking on the sand. Sometimes they just had to lay down and rest a bit on the way back to the water. After an hour or so we walked up to Rata’s parent’s farm where the kids were hanging out. We met Rata’s mom (Nanny) and a few relatives. It was an experience. She is a real Maori Grandma and it was an honor meeting her. She is a very nice, welcoming lady.
We made it back to the farm and were told to help out Rata with sorting lambs from ewes. This was a big moment for Jena and Laura becoming REAL sheep farmers. So we stood on the edge of the fence and watched the dogs do all the work. We did open and close a few gates, but we really didn’t help much. The dogs are amazing though. I had never seen a sheep dog work. They are so sensitive to the shepherd voice, Rata just yelled out this random stuff constantly and the dogs were going right where they were told. They jumped over fences and gates all the time like it was no big deal. The dogs also would run on top of the mob of sheep to get to wherever Rata says to go. It was captivating. It made me love dogs even more.
After than we had a noodle lunch, tea, then we went to chill in our shed for a bit. It has been a hard few days in the chocolate department. I will explain: It was Easter a few days ago and this is NZ, the home of Cadbury, the kids have huge amounts of chocolate eggs and what not and so does everyone else. Except us. Well this normally wouldn’t be a big issue except that we have NO WAY of getting chocolate for ourselves and we aren’t going to ask for anything extra from anyone. When I get back to town I’m going to have a small chocolate splurge...then I think I’ll be ok. ;)
We played rugby with Tea, Mitch and Blaze for a bit then sauntered on to hop fences and traverse paddocks. We just started walking and hoped if we walked far enough south we would be able to see the sea. We did and it was a very pretty sight.
We saw about 5 dead animals in varying degrees of decay. I guess that’s just how it rolls on a farm. Once we got back I went to take a shower. Now that we are in the shed, our shower/bathroom facility is in the barn. To get to it we have to walk past some sheep legs, open a big sliding barn door and walk through the shearing part of the barn, in between huge piles and bags of wool. It smells strongly of sheep. Then you enter a small bathroom that contains the best and cleanest shower I have used since being in New Zealand! Ironic eh.
Dinner was next. It seems that the Smiths are so hospitable that they always have people over for dinner. A father and son who are around deer hunting during the Easter holidays came to stay for a few days. They brought a yummy casserole and some delectable fudge...”yum as!” like Tea would say...I really need to ask for the recipe! Laura and I did the dishes. Drank tea. I got on to the computer for two shakes of a lambs tail (AKA a short amount of time). Mitch started singing the popular song “Replay” and it was hilarious...It’s a rap/hip-hop song and he is a 7 year old little boy. Haha. Classic. We al watched a bit of telly (AKA TV...but I don’t know how to spell it). At about 10 we headed over for our first sleep in the shed! It was pretty uneventful till about 5am. [Background Info: I NEVER have to get up in the night to use the restroom.] After drinking all that tea today, when my body is used to s subdued dehydrated state as the norm, I had a borderline emergency on my hands. I grabbed a coat and a head torch (aka head lamp) and headed through the shearing shed and to the bathroom in the dark. I went back to sleep of a few ticks (AKA a very short amount of time), but that was not the way I would have liked to start a day...
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