Hello again!!
Time - what a funny thing - it just keeps slipping away!!
It wasn't long ago that I was stressing about midterms and assignments and making it to New Zealand! Well, I'm here to catch you all up!
As I type this I am happy to say "I made it"!! I am currently in Temuka, New Zeanland having the time of my life!!
But let me back up a bit! I struggled to make it through the semester to be honest! This year has been more challenging than expected and despite the accidents, job changes, and illnesses - I MADE IT THROUGH!! This past weekend the long wait for results finally came to an end and I found out I received two passes and even managed a credit! I AM OFFICIALLY A THIRD YEAR VET STUDENT AND ONE SEMESTER AWAY FROM HALF WAY DAY!! Half way day is the time when our first degree comes to an end and we move into our clinical degree!! Again if anyone would like to support me (and I mean anyone) I still have a few "nude" calendars to sell to any interested parties :)
Now back to my adventures:
I flew out of Perth on Wednesday Nov. 26 at 530am, had a really relaxing 5 hour layover at Sydney exploring the huge airport! And then I flew into Christchurch, NZ at 11:15pm. So unfortunately I had no idea how beautiful this country was! But in my two weeks here, I know whole heartedly I am coming back in the future!!
I stayed at Kiwi Basecamp in Christchurch for two days and met so many wonderful people. I went to the International Antartica Centre and I got to feed a penguin!!! And the girl feeding them said they could always use more vets for the penguin conservation work!! :) so who knows! Friday I walked around Christchurch and went up the Gondola (cable car)! I ended up staying up all night partying with new friends! My travel bug is definitely reignited and backpack life was so much fun! I really gotta do more of it :)
The farm family picked me up at 10am on Saturday the 29th and I've been in Temuka working my butt off! They have red stag deer, sheep, and beef cattle on 800acres. We have been busy harvesting velvet, took some 90kg yearlings to the slaughter house and the farm hand Sam was able to kill one, I was to pussy to do it! We muster cattle and shift paddocks every 2nd-3rd day depending how wet it is, the wetter it is the faster they destroy the paddocks. Same with the sheep. The we have been drafting the lambs ready for slaughter away from their moms - 90 a few days ago and 120 yesterday. And then you put them away and then you redraft the mob to wean all the little lambs that weren't heavy enough for slaughter and as they are drafted we split them into ewes (moms) and boy lambs and girl lambs. After that we shear the poopy bottoms off the butts to prevent fly strike! But flipping 170 lambs a day on their bottoms is a lot harder of work than it sounds! My legs are so bruised and my arms are just sore, but farm work is amazing! I knew I was always meant to be a country girl! I'm still just not that into sheep - I'll stick with alpacas and cows - I do like the deer a lot despite their skiddishness because they are rarely handled and despite one trying to topple me over last week and my arm still hurts!
I did get last weekend off and so I got kidnapped by new friends and off we went! We saw so much in two days it was amazing! Got to hotel in Timaru at 9pm Friday night and just watched movies until sleep. Saturday we had breakfast at a cute cafe, walked to the harbour and walked around the beach playing with seashells, walked up Caroline bay and sat on the cliffs, then played on a giant hamster wheel at the playground, tried to find mini golf for about an hour and we finally found it - it was closed :( on a Saturday?! Who does that?! Anyways we went into the aviary instead where a cheeky parrot tried to nest in my hair. Next we went to the museum. Saw the Christmas parade through Timaru, got some chips and a beer at the pub attached to hotel and then drove an hour south to Oamaru where we tried to go to penguin colony but they were out fishing so no penguins to be seen, but we did get up close and personal with some seals and I mean super close, walked the pier, played on another playground (giant slide!), and ended Oamaru by walking the historic district and finding a really creepy unique art studio! It was really neat but totally different! We made it back to Timaru just after 7 and went to go see Fury in theatres! An amazing WWII movie! It was so good, I highly reccomend it! Then Sunday we drove all day stopping where wherever we wanted. I managed to find an historic building on Lake Tekapo that was on the cover of my friends map and we of course took plenty of pictures! I have never ever seen water so blue and I have seen a LOT of lakes in my life!! It was so blue it looked fake!! And then we travelled all the way to Mt. Cook. So I have been staying on the south eastern side of the southern island and Mt Cook was on the northwestern side of NZ southern island! It was an amazing sight and I even was allowed to drive ;)
Back to farm and we have been doing lots of drafting of lambs again! Tuesday I went with the farm mom 2hours South to Dunedin while she worked on the docks filling two crates with milk powder which is her other job as an inspector! I hiked 3 lookout points in two hours and as exhausted as I was the views were phenomenal! Yesterday we drafted all morning in the rain and then sorted poppy wool from clean wool. And I went to bed super early. We have been out working by 8am and then staying up till 11pm-midnight but last night I showered and was asleep by 930!! Today I got to sleep in till 840 while farm dad was out putting fertiliser down and so I got to stay in and help clean house and I put up their Christmas tree all by myself and I think it looks fabulous! now I'm off to go ride in a tug boat with the farm moms coworker! Full of adventures! Tomorrow is my last full day of farm work and back to christchurch on Saturday! Where I fly out at 1120, a short flight to Auckland on the northern island and then 7 hours from Auckland to Perth! I have sooo much work to do when I get home and back to earning money - I could stay on the farm for another month!! But that's not paying the bills and I miss my fur babies!!
Now that I have passed my exams and had a hard working holiday, I hope to face this summer full on and have lots more adventures!! I promise to get my photos in Flickr soon - it's just taking forever to upload (almost at 600photos already!!) but they are on my facebook page if you wanna have a peak at them there!! Talk soon!!
