“I rode a MOA today” -Laura

Today is Friday and we leave on Sunday. This week is going very fast. Today is an even warmer day than yesterday, because it was less windy) and just as sunny! We found 1 egg on our morning rounds. I had the usual cereal and 2 pieces of toast for breakfast. We were given our list for the day at breakfast then Sheila left for the morning/afternoon. We were to do the dishes and the laundry, wash the windows and mow the lawn. Most of the work was not too exciting, but the mowing was the highlight.

What kind of bird does the landscaping?!
A lawn MOA!!!

Laura had never mowed a lawn before, so this was a MOAmentous occasion...it was a riding mower so that made it even more fun. They had quite extensive lawns to be mowed. Laura did the first half and I took over for the second half. There were a bunch of trees to go around and a steep side hill, this was a definite test of my moa skills. I had forgotten how much fun it is to mow on a riding mower. :)

We heated up the left over fish pie for lunch and tidied up the house. With full tummies, a good day’s work under our belt and sunshine outside we planned an epic adventure. We decided to hike/walk through the paddocks behind the farm, through the neighbor’s paddocks and to the BEACH!! We were told that this would take about an hour.

Well after a half hour of walking we could see the ocean and thought we were almost there with plenty of time to spare. Cocky Americans. We came to a pine forest and a huge patch of NZ bush between us and the beach. Not knowing how thick it was we plunged into it. It got the better of us and we had to turn back and try another route. We followed a few fences. We found a creek and I was keen to jump in and follow it to the sea until we remembered that these creeks are where all the eels hang out. No longer so keen.
We moved on to follow some hog trails through some bushes...these poky bushes

that I have named “Death Bushes” started to surround us and close in. Then we were all the way trapped and we were still far from the beach. SUCH A FAILED ATTEMPT. We had to head back because we didn’t want to be late for dinner again. So back we trudged.

I took a much needed shower. Read my nerd book on the trampoline. Set the table for dinner. Ate dinner. Looked at my Borland report that I have to do, didn’t do anything. Watched rugby and American Idol. Sleep till the am.