Q,

Please could you change the weather forecast thingy ?

I hate seeing the word Auckland on my Blog.

If it is the closest place then apologies but I have no interest in knowing what
the weather is doing in the City of Sails.

I am a pwinceth !

Cx

I have to confess.

I have never GOT Harry Potter.

I have spent the last few years avoiding everything to do with the speccy t**t.

I have long suspected that the whole thing is a hugely hyped crock of poo.

I will admit that anything that gets kids to r-e-a-d rather than push buttons is a good thing but that's as far as it goes. The Redwoods were always trying to convert me & I resisted stoically. The Tanners had a more direct method.

Last night whilst I was on the phone, they tackled me en masse, bound me hand & foot, stuck a chloroform gag over my mouth & nose & propped me within inches of the tv whilst they played the video to indoctrinate me.

Well, as good as. Michelle baked home-made pizzas & poured red wine, both were left strategically in front of the tv & next to slouchy couches. I admitted defeat & sat down to watch. If you are a Potter fan skip the next paragraph.

I thought it was awful. Precocious child actors have always left me cold. The only exception being the kid in Jerry Maguire & Haley Joel Osment or is it Joel Haley Osment, I can never remember ? (sp?) By the same token I always call Tommy Lee-Jones, Tommy lo-jeans (inadvertently) The kid playing Harry seemed only capable of one facial expression (gormless) the girl was eminently slappable & as for the gingwah ? Need I say more ? What does puzzle me is how they persuaded so many good actors to take part. Filthy lucre I suppose.

Still, all was not lost. Michelle & I swooned every time Alan Rickman spoke & tried to explain his attraction to Eric who doesn't fancy him at all. The girls don't get him either, I explained it will come with age, like a rite of passage.

The whole Potter-experience has left me wondering if I am really compatible with my new family. Maybe they will put me into care now ? Still - they aren't LotR fans so I suppose we will just have to try & understand each other's funny little ways.

I had long chats with both Mike & Mal yesterday.

Mal has taken a fall after catching his trouser-leg on a trailer tow-bar. They suspect broken ribs but his idea of convalescence for a 78yr old is no time off work & some pain-killers. They broke the mould with that one. He is glad to hear I am happy & was very tactful about his references to Trish.

The other bad news is Geraldine, Chris's elderly Mum has fallen & been admitted to hospital. She was always lovely to me on Tuesdays when I took Genevieve to visit & I asked Mal to pass on my best wishes through Chris.

Mike cheered me immensely by telling me that the ponies have only been exercised 3 times this week, which means they stood idle for the other 4 days. He also said that the girl was having problems with the 'evil yellow one' who he saw 'acting about & tossing it's head whilst the girl was trying to exercise it in that square thing' (Mike's description of the dressage arena) It seems that Sally, one of the former nannies who had helped for a week had disappeared again leaving Trish to do everything alone.

Oh dear.

The woman who was supposed to cook & clean never materialised which means Trish must be running the household single-handed. Hopefully she will have lots of time to think whilst doing all those menial chores ?

Don continues to progress, now learning to drive sheep away rather then just bringing them. Ginger Tom rules benignly over the humans & Chum is making 'steady, sensible progress'. Mike has had to do 2 caesarians on dead/dying ewes but lost both lambs involved.

Well, the veg plot beckons, where Michelle is toiling. The girls are having a 'Who can hold their foot in the cold pool-water the longest ? competition & Eric has just finished making 1/2 a tonne of home-made sausages. I told him they looked almost as good as shop-bought. he wasn't in the least bit impressed with my compliment.

Anyone else old enough to remember that very funny 'Generation Game' when they made sausages ?

Cx

Just in case we feel the need to compare Kiwi Fire Bods with Brit Fire Bods , purely for all you girlies and those of you that fancy male bodies NZ Fire Service -

No more Prodigy jokes pleeeeeease ????

The best one so far is from Bill who suggested I may want to help British Gas
rekindle their advertising campaign.

Remember their phrase 'Come home to a real fire ...'

I don't think anyone will beat that but feel free to try.

He also suggested we have song titles & has got the ball rolling with

'Come on baby light my fire'

Hot Hot Hot - Arrow
Disco Inferno - Cue Briggsy manic running around
Beds Are Burning by Midnight Oil
Burn by Nine Inch Nails
Burn by Cure
Burn Down The Mission by Elton John
Burn for You by Inxs
Burn Hollywood Burn by Public Enemy
Burn Out by Ash ( double points for that one )
Burned by Barenaked Ladies ( double points for that one
Burning down the house - T. Heads
No Smoke Without Fire by Wishbone Ash ( triple points on that one )
The Unforgettable Fire by U2 ( APT )

I have just come back from Matamata. I dropped off 4 crates of beer for the chaps
& grovelled profusely.

The door was opened by a gorgeous, sleepy-looking 'young man'

I apologised for waking him & said 'You know that fire you attended on Thursday night -
I'm the buerk that started it & these are for you & your mates for saving my hide
for turning up so promptly'

Lunch-time now - will finish this later.

Considering they are all volunteers & had to come from 10 kms away, the Fire Brigade arrived remarkably quickly last night.



Let me explain.

I spent the whole day yesterday raking leaves & fallen branches from underneath the pine trees which line Eric & Michelle's driveway. It has been many years since they were cleared & some parts of leaf litter were up to 4 feet deep. I started many small fires to clear the piles, all of which smoked away merrily without producing too much flame.

Although it was hard work it was enjoyable watching the bulk reduce quickly. Each time I took a breather I would lean against one of the big pines & watch Eric's multi-racial flock of sheep in the adjoining paddock.

At dinner time I looked at the still smouldering piles & decided they would just burn out but that it might be wise to check on them later.

Famous last words.

After dinner we began to watch Ice Age & at 8.30pm Eric headed off to do a night-time drive for work. The residents of Waharoa are somewhat lax with their dog0care & just turn their dogs out to fend for themselves at night-time. There have been many complaints & in response to this, Eric & his colleague Steve were doing a night-time patrol.

As Eric left the farm, the leaves were still smouldering in little piles.

We all turned in for an ealry night & I was listening to a talking book about an hour later, when I heard Michelle calling, no, shouting my name. I thought maybe my tape was on too loud but wondered why she was shouting loud enough to possibly wake the girls.

I turned the tape down & got back into bed.

When she shouted my name for a 3rd time I began to worry.

I looked out of the french doors from my flat & followed her pointing finger.

There was a huge blaze in the place where I had been burning leaves.

'I have called the Fire Brigade' she yelled before dashing off towards the blaze.

In the next few moments I can safely say, I could not form a single, intelligent thought.

I ran a couple of small circles in my bedroom before realising I should put some clothes on.

I was about to run out in bare feet & a dressing gown before realising this was not ideal clothing for fire-fighting.

After pulling on jeans & a fleece I ran out to help.



The scorch marks reach 30' up this tree.

I cannot over emphasise how sick I felt as I got closer to the blaze. It was huge. It covered about 30 square foot, the flames were at least 10' high & they were igniting the huge pine tree which towered above them. This pine tree was the 1st in a line of about 20, all of which led up the driveway towards the Tanner's house. To make matters worse, the tree now on fire was next to an outhouse in a paddock which contained most of the stock, certainly all the sheep.

What followed was maybe 10 minutes of the hardest physical effort I can safely say I have been involved in. Luckily, there was a big, circular water-trough in the paddock adjoining the blaze. We ran backwards & forwards in the dark on an increasingly muddy path throwing water up a bank at head-height on to the fire. The smoke was acrid & choking & it felt like my lungs were going to crawl out of my chest.

To make things more interesting, the fire was circled by an electric fence. I would be lying if I said I didn't expect a shock with every bucket of water I threw over the fence onto the fire.

I am shaking as I type this.

The fire was still going strong but we had taken a considerable edge off it when Eric said we should leave it now for the Briade. Up until now, no-one had spoken. I didn't know what to say & they were too busy.

Within 10 minutes I saw the fantastically reassuring red lights which heralded help.
I have NEVER been so pleased to see a fireman.

With all the right equipment & a thoroughly organised routine, the guys had the blaze extinguished in another 10 minutes. They spent another 30 minutes damping everything down & checking there were no embers.



Charcoal anyone ?

At this point, Eric turned to me & said

'This will make interesting reading on Blog'

Michelle gave me a big hug & said 'I feel awful cos I know how awful you must feel'

Were ever there more understanding people ?

It's no exaggeration to say that my stupidity put their house, farm & selves in danger.
Not to mention the kids.

All they could say was 'Don't worry'

I didn't sleep very well last night as you can probably imagine.

Michelle is a very firm believer in fate & she just said calmly that it would have been a great deal worse if Eric hadn't spotted the blaze when he was coming in from work.

Apparently, he saw an orange glow from quite a long way off. You can only imagine how he must have felt to realise it was coming from his property.

I have been running thru all the 'what-ifs' & can't stop thinking about it.

What if Eric had been delayed at work ?

What if the fire brigade had been dealing elsewhere ?

What if I had just raked & not done the burning ?

Pointless, I know but last night was the closest I have come to throwing up due to shock. It will give me more sympathy now when I speak to shocked people. I couldn't think straight for the rest of the night.

As we walked back to the house for a cup of tea, Eric said 'Worse things happen at sea'

I am going into Matamata today to drop off some crates of beer at the Fire Station.
I think it's the least I can do. Then it will be a case of waiting to see if I am billed for their call-out. As they were cleaning off their gear, Eric pointed out that as volunteers these poor guys would have to be getting up in a few hours to do their normal jobs.

How bad do I feel ?

I can't remember having ever done something which put so many people's safety & livelihood at risk before. I did once leave the gas-taps on at my middle school on a Friday afternoon to see if the school was still standing on Monday, but I don't think that counts as I was only about 13. It was a very sobering lesson & saying sorry just doesn't seem to cut it.

I think I'll stick with weeding today.

Cx

Good evening UK,

Went for my 2nd interview today & spoke with Brent Taylor (the guy quoted in the article below) The place still looked as lovely as ever but something about today put me off.

Brent was at pains to make sure I understood that there was absolutely no riding involved, I replied that I supposed I could ride locally to assuage my need & he said that the only riding you could do would be on horses who are led on a rope for people that can't ride.

Kevin was assisting in the interview (the guy who interviewed my the other day)

When Brent asked Kevin where he saw me slotting in with the yearlings, Kevin said that as an ex vet-nurse he saw me helping out with new-born foals with health problems & that I may be assigned to look after just the one foal for a few weeks.

At the conclusion of the interview Brent offered me the job but suggested I shadow Kevin for a couple of days to make sure I liked what I saw prior to signing on the dotted line.
I am going to work with him on Monday & Tuesday next week.

As a director I know my day-to-day contact with Brent would be minimal but he still left me feeling slightly uncomfortable. I should have been elated when I left but I wasn't - just a bit bemused.

I think Brent wanted me to say that I had a burning desire to work with Thoroughbreds & it was the culmination of my professional life to date. Truth be told, it's a job I am checking out cos Geoff Spark set me up with it & I wasn't prepared to bulls*** him otherwise. Stroppy Tyke that I am.

What I did notice there was how immaculate the sheep-yards were. The tractor was beeyootiful too. The Tanner's neighbour knows Trelawney's farming manager Murray very well & said they might be prepared to put in a word for me.

Job opportunities are like men aren't they ?

I will see how I feel about the place after a couple of days of 'hands-on' next week.

In the meantime I have a couple of other fingers in pies thanks to some local contacts.

Michelle & Eric's neighbour has put me in touch with a lady who is a horsey oracle.

I spoke with her about 10 mins ago & she has suggested a couple of families who may be able to help. The first do beef, sheep, polo & eventing & the 2nd are a well-known horse family in NZ called the McVeans. Daughter Katy is prodigously talented & qualified for the Grand Prix at Hickstead this year, despite being too young to be able to take part.

In the meantime, Trelawney have said I can start mid-September which gives me 2 weeks to advertise myself in the local paper. I told the lady I spoke to that I would consider moving anywhere for the perfect job but in an ideal world I would like to stay close to my new-found friends the Tanners (they do a cracking Sunday morning cooked breakfast)

After my interview I went to Matamata, bought some pansies in a garden centre to put in my newly-weeded border next to the house, browsed around RD1 (u were right Q) a great farming supplies shop which stocks everything from apple-favoured horse-wormer to bottle-green ladies boiler-suits (might have to get me one of those) & then headed back to Cedar Lodge.

A huge slab of Michelle's home-made bread with lashings of home-made lemon curd for lunch & then Eric & I cracked on with shifting a load of decking planks into his trailer to enable me to continue clearing the beds around the top of his pool. Lots more burning this afternoon :-)

Eric has kindly let me use his car whilst I have been here & it was a very pleasant surprise to see what it was after Michelle disparagingly referred to it as 'The Heap' I suppose it is a bit scruffy compared to her lovely big, shiny jeep but I love Eric's car. It is a hulking, great, Nissan Safari 4WD in steel grey. 4.2 litres with a front-winch attached. It makes a very genuine chugga-chugga noise whan you drive it & reeks of testosterone. Fableous. Wonder if Eric will swap it for a Henry ?

After more garden chores we sat down to an early dinner then Michelle had to leave for nights again. The difference between the Tanners & the Redwoods after school makes me wonder if both are part of the same species.

Here, the girls come home, are asked to tidy their rooms, do their homework & most importantly, no TV. As I weeded yesterday I could hear Harriette's gentle warblings on the treble (large recorder minus the screechy dying cat overtones) & Alice practiced piano.

Chez Redwoods I would have been esconced in the kitchen preparing a meal which would have gone mostly uneaten whilst the brats would have been screaming, fighting, eating junk food & worshipping the god that is tv in their household.

Please don't think from reading this that the Tanners children are angelic cherubs with shiny, happy faces always leaping to do their chores. There are the usual disagreements, contradictions & 'he said, she said' that I suppose go on in any family. Bedtimes are the same as they were at the Redwoods and as far as I can remember with me as well. Procrastination, (can I get a drink then ?) denial (but I'm not tired) blackmail (but I need a cuddle) & finally acceptance.

The difference here is that when I ask one of them to do something for me, they do it 1st time not 4th time or never. They also eat the food that is put in front of them which is very gratifying & makes cooking a pleasure. At last I get what my Mum was always telling me.

Well, it's time I wended my way off to Bedfordshire, so I'll bid you all goodnight.

Lolly - forgot to say yesterday, nice to know you catch up regularly, look forward to
a real e-mail. When can I publish 'The Photo' for all of Blogdom to enjoy ?

Cx

VAN NISTELROOY TO TRELAWNEY STUD IN NZ.

Van Nistelrooy - the world's most expensive yearling sold at auction in 2001 - has been retired from racing due to injury. He will shuttle to Trelawney Stud in New Zealand for the upcoming season after a deal was brokered by New Zealand Bloodstock and Adrian Nicoll of BBA (Ireland). The son of Storm Cat will enter quarantine later this week and be shipped to New Zealand in early August.

A $6,400,000 yearling purchase, Van Nistelrooy impressed many observers when landing his first three races as a two-year-old, all at Ireland¹s racing headquarters The Curragh. The third of these was the Group 2 Futurity Stakes in which he recorded a faster time than recent winners of the race and subsequent superstars Hawk Wing and Giant's Causeway. Three weeks later, in the Group 1 National Stakes, Van Nistelrooy was narrowly beaten into second by this year's Group 1 English 2,000 Guineas winner Refuse To Bend.

As well as a race record, Van Nistelrooy has the pedigree to make a stallion. He is bred on the same Storm Cat/Halo cross as the ill-fated Harlan, who sired multiple Grade 1 winners Harlan's Holiday and Menifee before his premature death. Enthusing about Storm Cat as a sire of sires, acknowledged expert Alan Porter noted in Owner/Breeder magazine that sons "Forest Wildcat, Hennessy, Storm Boot, Harlan, Future Storm, Delineator, Storm Creek, and Illinois Storm have all sired at least one major stakes winner better than themselves."

Trelawney Stud's manager Brent Taylor commented: "He was a top notch two-year-old; he's by the right sire; and you couldn't find a nicer looking individual anywhere in the world. We're really excited about standing him and I think he'll offer breeders here fantastic value."

Good evening guys,

Firstly & most importantly, condolences to all the poor sods who have to work 'Carnival'
this weekend. Those whistles should be taken & forced where they can't be heard.

Had a good day today. After yet another lie-in (3 now) I weeded the bank behind the
pool & burned all the dead stuff.




The bed what I weeded



Doesn't sound a big job but the bank must be 12 foot high & probably 4 times that height in length.

I took all day & still haven’t finished.

Good to be out though & very satisfying to see a tangible result to your labours.

Unlike cad juggling.

Lovely pasta carbonara courtesy of Eric & the chickens (5 eggs laid yesterday!) then
kids to bed & Michelle off to start night duty.

She had an interview today for the district co-ordinator for the whole of Waikato.

They were so impressed with her experience they offered her the job there & then.

The package isn't all she had hoped for financially but they are offering 4 weeks leave & working from home so she is giving it some serious consideration.

I had a call from Trelawney stud asking me to see their director tomorrow at 10am so I will let you know how it goes. Still undecided as to whether to take the job or not.

Another possible link into farming is Bill's sister. She knows a family in Matamata (doesn't everyone?) who have a large farm. He doesn't know what kind of farm it is but has said he may be able to put me in touch with them.

I am also going to put an advert in the local paper along the lines of 'I am .... & I would like ...' & just see how it goes.

Yesterday was a lovely day.

In the morning we tagged, tailed, marked & vaccinated the ewes & lambs.

Eric tags his ram lambs in the right ear (r = ram) & ewes in the left (l = errr).
This is so he can see at a glance without looking at the business end, which is which.
The equipment for tagging looks similar to the things you punch holes in leather
except that a yellow plastic tag sits in the jaws ready to go in the lamb's ear.

The lambs don't seem to object as long as you do it quickly; the ewes are obviously much braver than the rams. Only one lamb had serious reservations & as soon as I had put the tag in she kicked at my arm & tore the tag straight out leaving a split ear & Eric wearing a lot of blood on his t-shirt.

Tailing consists of stretching a very tight ring over the lamb's tail so that in a month's time the tail falls off. This is because leaving the tail on encourages fly-strike. They take tails off shorter here than they do in the UK & I can only think it's because they shear larger flocks more often & the shearers find it a nuisance shearing around a bit of tail.



'Michelle at the business end of a ram lamb'


Marking is when a ring is placed around the rams testicles; they too go the same way as the tail once the blood supply has been interrupted. An occasional ram lamb would lay down convinced he couldn't walk due to the ring. Cissies.

Vaccination was a 5-in-1 job for the nasties that sheep get. I have just asked Eric what they get & promptly forgotten & I don't want to disturb him as he is doing research for his job.

All the ewes & lambs were also given a dose of something yummy which resembled molasses as a tonic.

Michelle is a dab-hand with the foot-trimmers & so she got busy with some chiropody whilst Eric removed 'dags' with some hand-shears. A stripe of pink raddle on the head finished each ewe & lamb.



1. \Rad"dle\, n. [Cf. {Ruddle}.]
A pigment used in marking sheep, and in some mechanical
processes; ruddle. ``A ruddle of rouge.'' --Thackeray.


1. \Dag\, n. [OE. dagge (cf. {Dagger}); or cf. AS. d[=a]g what
is dangling.]
A loose end; a dangling shred.

Daglocks, clotted locks hanging in dags or jags at a
sheep's tail. --Wedgwood.



Pepper was also given a dose of the tonic as well as a jab of penicillin after her swimmimg lesson the other day. She seems to have picked up well now that she is segregated & she has filled out considerably in the last couple of days.

Hopefully, her ill health is behind her.

After our lamb-wrestling we went off to Tauranga & Mt. Maunganui which is North East of here for the afternoon.

Tauranga, city in New Zealand, in northern North Island, a seaport on the Bay of Plenty. Located on a main rail line, it is a major shipping center for wood products, wool, and dairy goods. Manufactures include processed food, building supplies, clothing, and printed materials. An Anglican mission was established here in the 1830s; the community then grew as a port and a defense post. The name is from a Maori word meaning “sheltered anchorage” or “landing place for canoes.” Population (1998 estimate) 89,800.

Mount Maunganui: "Mauao - Mount Maunganui literally translated meaning 'Big Hill', is the dominant geological feature of the Tauranga District.
Guarding the entrance to Tauranga Harbour the dormant volcano rises to 232m (761 feet) above sea level.

The plan was to walk around the Mount & head for the thermal pools. In reality we were all too knackered to do the walk so we did a gentle stroll on the beach & then went for a long,hot soak.

The pools were as busy as Eric & Michelle had seen them but we were comparing it to a similar type of place in the UK & saying that we could not imagine being able to find anywhere to sit if we turned up at 5pm on a Sunday at home.

The beach was beautiful at Tauranga, white sand & ickle scattered islands of lush vegetation. It's possibly the most posey place I have been to since arriving with a long, wide, boulevard in front of shops. Needless to say the young kids had gravitated there to cruise in their cars & show off their shiny wheels & wide exhausts. I would have done just the same at their age (except I always had Minis, not the same pose value)




Tauranga

Even so, the mood was lighthearted, no Old Bill being heavy-handed & just the one overly loud car stereo. Michelle said good afternoon to 5 Maori youths. They were dressed in the regulation street-wear, surfer shorts, huge trainers or barefoot. Every one of them returned the greeting.


pics 627 & 628



As I type this, one of the labs, Ben, is snoring contentedly. He is sleeping head-to-head with his brother Inca, like bookends & I have just taken a lovely piccie.



The Boys


Will try again with my foties after this. I have asked Q how to insert my pics directly onto Blog without having to e-mail them to him 1st so fingers crossed you will get to see some of the Tanners environs soon.

As I was weeding today, I heard a car arrive home & my heart sank.

I wondered why & then realised that I used to associate that noise with Trish returning home. I hadn't realised it was so engrained in my sub-conscious. It was good to realise that the car belonged to Michelle & that I was looking forward to hearing how she had got on with her job interview.

Things are so much more together here. I would love to see Michelle take charge at the Redwoods & show Trish how to really organise a household. It is only 8pm here & yet the girls have been in bed for 30 mins. Zoe would routinely be arguing about going to bed at 10pm. The girl's lunch-boxes have been prepared by Eric & the kitchen is clean & tidy with the dishwasher humming away.

I don't think I ever started Blog earlier than 9, despite officially finishing work at 8pm.

Mike's news from Marfell Downs is that the sum total of horse exercise done this week was 30 minutes for Honey (the She-Devil). I can't imagine why this is as they are now employing someone specifically to do the neds but I will ask when I next speak to him. He delivered 160 lambs this week, losing only 4 to wet & cold weather on Friday. One of the deliveries was by Caesarian. Would love to have helped with that one.

He has said he will happily provide a reference for any farming job I apply for.

It's been a while since I left any messages here so by way of apology for my outburst yesterday when I was feeling badly done to, here are some quick name-checks.

Lindsay - Great aid parcel thank you. It was well-worth the wait.
Can't decide whether the tt's are most appreciated or the pic of BM
(which has always been my favourite as you know)

Ang - Poor you, updating your CV on a BHW. You still haven't told me what's happening
at work but if you are updating your CV I am guessing it's more of the 'drowning not
waving' scenario. Chin up poppet, come & do farm-work with me, long fingernails
are so over-rated. Thanks for the incredibly regular mails & the consistently
entertaining 'funnies' you forward.
I don't always have time to reply but I appreciate them hugely.
Especially loved the 'keeping warm' one.


Trudes - Yes, it was weird, will e-mail you separately, loads to tell.

Di - Where are you ????? Are you deep u/c ???? Good luck for 27th.
36 weeks to go.

Stu - Fantastic news about your sister (say hi to her for me) Your folks must be thrilled.
Can't believe she has actually decided that town-life sucks after all.
Good luck in the new job, think you start this week ?
Remember, flares & platforms obligatory though not necessarily the matching
tie & sister's dress thang that your Mum was so fond of.
Aim 'Burnside' & you won't go far wrong. Slaaaaaaaaaaaaag.

Weeny - Do I need to commence a f.585 or are you just bogged down with moving-type
stuff ? Neeed tales of Murphy & smelly office Kylie-fan.

Cocky - Know you don't have access to e-mail so I don't know if you know about the stud
yet. They asked if I had any Irish in my ancestry whan I went for the interview.
Apparently the prospective owners love to hear a bit of Blarney.
I told them that I knew some Irish people & did that help ?

Mum - To clarify my text. He had 2 young kids in Oz & his wife had taken them there to
prevent access. He wasn't truthful & I got some very bad vibes about the situation.
If, in real life he is a sweetie we can laugh about this later.
Anyhow, the Subaru rep sounds much more promising.
Have written Granny's card, just need to get my ass in gear to post it.

Andy - You must have some credit by now. Come on, don't be a stranger.

KW - Introducing him back to the public. Who needs protection from who ?
Missing the BHL double-bubble but not the hedge-clipping disputes.
Please forward some 'must-sees' for me via Q when you are not doing
hours of interminable paperwork (ha) How's the golf going you bandit ?

Lovely Col - Mentor ? Mental more like. How's it going ? Acquired any more bike bits
to test Mrs.Colin's patience or still trying to shift the last lot ? I am thinking of
buying a bike as everyday transport rather than a car for over here. The weather
is more conducive to a bike than the UK & doing the off-road stuff really
whetted my appetite for bikes. It won't be anything flash like the Blade but I
am seriously thinking about it.

Finally, I felt upbeat enough last night to look at my little going-away package of cards & foties for the 1st time since arriving. Mistake - blubbed immediately, especially looking at a particularly gormless one of BM with her looking like she had borrowed a bigger dog's tongue. Oh well, Mums always recommend having a 'good cry' don't they ?

Bye for now, off to soak my poor aching back in a deep tub.

Take care everybody,

Cx

Hello again,

Cant believe my time is going so quicky, I blink & two days have gone & Blog is neglected.
I am struggling on this laptop too, everything takes me twice as long so these entries may well be shorter than you are used to.

I think I was telling you about my interview. It was certainly the most laid-back one I have ever had. It consisted of a tour on the quad bike whilst Kevin gave me the history of the place.

Every now & then he would stop to point out some day old foals or brood mares.

The place is enormous, about 450 acres & some of the most pristine countryside I have ever seen. I could already imagine myself giving some of you the guided tour.

The only thing that wasn't perfect was the accommodation. Remember in the 70's when we all liked brown ? It was shared & the 'designer' certainly was fond of brown. It wasnt dirty or anything just utilitarian. And brown.

I know I must sound like a princess.

I thought about the job all day yesterday wondering if I would take it if they offered it to me.

I reasoned that if I am working outdoors in such fabulous surroundings then my room is really only where I lay my head come the end of the day. having said that, I do like to live somewhere nice & staying in my pretty ickle holiday villa chez Tanners hasn't helped.

What to do ?

The place had a really organised feel about it, I won't elaborate more now cos I have other stuff to tell you but I suppose I don't need to think about it any more until I go back. The way it was left was that Kevin said he would like me to go back for an interview with one of the directors.

I will keep you posted.

At the end of our chat he asked if I had any previous stud experience. I was totally honest & said none whatsoever but I am willing to learn. His reply was that he was pleased as they had just had a couple of bad experiences with stud staff from the UK who were a 'pain in the arse' as they thought they knew it all.

NZ's like that.

He told me his pet hate was people who walked past obvious jobs to come & ask him 'What can I do now ?' At that point a gormless looking lad came to find him to ask just that.

'See what I mean ?' he said.

Yesterday evening I went to my first Kiwi rugby game. What an experience.

Michelle, Alice & friend were sensible & stayed in with chocolate & videos whilst Eric, Harriette & I headed out into the rain to the game.

Their local team, Waikato were playing Wellington who were expected to win.

I think I have been accepted here because not only did I get a goodnight kiss from Harriette but Alice loaned me her most prized possession, her ludicrously expensive Waikato rugby top (in the colours of the German flag if you are interested)

We picked up Eric's neighbour Ian (ex professional polo player) & his son Daniel. After a stop to pick up Ian's brother David where I was treated like a long lost friend we headed off to the game. Ian's wife Carol asked how long I had known the Tanners.

'Erm, 2 days now' I replied.

When we explained that I was a friend of a friend she just laughed & asked the question all Brits over here do

'Will you go back?'

I had been forewarned about Waikato's most vocal fan. he is called 'Possum' & he watches the game from a cherry-picker parked outside the stadium. His encouragement for the team is displayed by revving his chainsaw in time to the chants.

He shouted for the full 80 minutes & at the end threw sweets to the homeward-bound crowds.

Can you imagine the authorities at Twickers allowing someone to watch the game for free every week & rev their chainsaw throughout the match? Me neither.

I offered to drive on the way home so that Eric could have a drink. What I hadn't anticipated was trying to navigate my way home through a strange town (Hamilton) with 4 drunken back-seat drivers all shouting conflicting directions. Very amusing.

We had a very late night which meant that I didn't get up til 9.30 today. Lovely.

I was in the process of beginning some weeding when it was announced that 'Pepper was in the ditch' Pepper is a cow who has calved recently. Her calf had problems walking & Eric & Michelle have been a lot more involved with them than they would be normally.

Pepper has been bullied by the other cows & was consequently in poor health & very lean. She had either fallen or been pushed into a water-filled ditch & did not have the strength to get out again. Luckily, Eric noticed she was missing when he drove past to go to the dump (no rubbish collection in rural NZ)

10 minutes later saw the 3 of us collected at her side pushing, pulling & straining to get her out. The ditchwater was just deep enough to go over your wellies as Michelle soon found out. Initially, Pepper stood & we thought she would be able to walk out. After one step, however, she sank to her knees again back into the mud & water.

Eric had been supporting Pepper to prevent her from completely lying down & Michelle had been trying to encourage her to her feet. After a while, they swapped & Michelle propped her up & Eric went to the business end. Pepper kept peeing in the ditch but Eric said at least it was keeping his feet warm !

At this point, one of the Tanner's neighbours arrived & so she was despatched to bring the other neighbour John with his tractor (a lovely John Deere since you ask)
He made short work of roping Pepper around the neck & after attaching the rope to a chain pulled her out of the ditch.

It looked quite brutal but was over in less than 10 seconds. Like most Kiwi farmers he had very good knowledge of how much more punishment animals can stand than us suft Poms.
He explained that a live cow could be totally suspended from the neck with no ill-effects as long as it was literally only for a few seconds.

After her ordeal, Pepper accepted some sileage & apart from being shaky, looked surprisingly ok. Losing a cow would be hard for the Tanners anyway, but losing one which is suckling a calf would mean Chilli being hand-reared or put on another cow. All time-consuming stuff which farmers can do without.

I have some good pics of the place & the stock & as soon as I can work out how to get them to Q I hope you will see how lovely it is here.

The countryside here is gorgeous. Much softer than the part of South Island I saw. Without the snow-capped mountains it is not as majestic but the softly undulating green hills here are so gentle on the eye. I stopped that car after my interview yesterday in a spot which Michelle had pointed out to me. As far as I could see were dips & dells, like a softly rumpled duvet & every spare inch of grazing here is devoted to dairy cattle. It occurred to me that if I got the stud job I would be looking at that countryside every day.

I must disappear for now as Michelle is cooking for 10 tonight & is busy in the kitchen so I am going to offer a hand (or at least lick the cake tin)

I had a v funny 3-way conversation with Q & Turbo on Thursday evening.

How can it be that there is no time delay speaking to Turbo but loads when speaking to Q ? Hmmm.

Can I whinge please & say that apart from 1 notable exception there has been a distinct lack of contact from the shores of Blighty these days?

I know Blog dried up during the last 2 weeks but that doesn't mean you lot can't tell me what's going on in your lives you know.

Are you lot just trying to tell me that Trish was right & I am boring?

Don't answer that.

Whinge over.

Time for a cuppa. Something else the Tanners observe with wonderful precision here.

Take care you lot,

Cx

Pls excuse any sp. mistakes, spell-check too fiddly with these ickle keys.

Is it just me or has Naive Z been ace this week?

Sorry no Blog last night, Michelle & I spent 2 hours trying to get e-mail working with Pearl with no luck. Too shattered to Blog by the time we admitted defeat.

V easy day yesterday, did the riverside walk in Hamilton,



Riverside walk from Hamilton Gardens to town centre.


had to instigate International Rescue to find me, it failed but luckily I was found anyway (will elaborate later)

Today I went to Trelawney Stud for an interview at 11am.

Stud Tours

I went in a very relaxed frame of mind not being too keen to work on a stud.

That changed when I saw the setting. Imagine working in the grounds of a stately home.

The driveway to the Stud was at least a mile long & bordered with camellia trees & immaculately manicured lawns. The theme continued all the way around the grounds. I have never seen such an immaculate place to work.

Have to go for now as we are taking the girls to piano practice & dropping into Matamata

Bye for now,

Cx

Good Evening,

Feeling a lot more chilled now I am surrounded by greeeen & no traffic.

Big thank you to Bill who had to get up early this morning to take me to the bus station.

I left Auckland in the pouring rain & after sitting in a traffic jam to get to the bus station can honestly say there is not a single aspect of city lfe I miss.

4 hour bus journey to get here & my first sightings of Matamata which looks pleasantly small & friendly. Looking forward to having a look around tomorrow.



Cedar Lodge

The Tanners were just as friendly as I had remembered & how can you not be impressed with a host who says 'You can't have had lunch - here, have a bacon sarnie' Top drawer.



Si - it !



"Get orf my laaand !"



Chilli

This afternoon I unpacked, spread my things around the lovely little flat which will be home



I live here !


and then we swapped potted life histories as we ate an incredibly tasty curry & quaffed some delicious red wine (Ribena for adults)

My story was tame compared to the Tanners offerings & all I can say is if ever a family deserves good luck then it's these guys. They laugh at calamity & should be offered up as a role model to the type of UK resident who whinges that 'the state owes them a living'

I don't want to speak too soon in case I get asked to leave in disgrace but it is such a refreshing change to speak with people who are 'normal' & whose values & ideals are so appealing.

I have spent so long considering my every statement & looking carefully at people's faces to see if I am offending them (or boring them) that to be able to relax & have a giggle over a good meal has made all the difference.

I also love the way Michelle came straight out & asked me about my personal life & my family in a way that was interested without being intrusive. I can imagine she must be a damn good nurse.

Tomorrow Eric goes to work in the morning & Michelle is taking the girls & I into Hamilton. She has said we will take a nosey at the Trelawney Stud on the way. She has also recommended I look at the Hamilton Gardens (apparently a bit like Kew but smaller & free)



Rhododendron



Orchid

I am keen to look around Hamilton, the little bit of it I have seen when driving through it was tremendously appealing. (not so the out-of-town end, a business park, redolent of the Purley Way) The Waikato river wends through it & it is a proper honest-to-goodness river not a sad, dried-up stony bed. It is very reminiscent of the broad stretches of the Avon.

I have offered to do any work around the place I can help out with so hopefully will get stuck into some jobs in the fresh air.

Hope to take & publish pics to Blog to show you guys around.

I am out of tx credit for now & won't be able to top up until tomorrow so if I don't reply to any good-night texts you'll know why.

Just before I go tonight, I heard today that the guy who bought my Blade had binned it. It seems he lost it on a country road & damaged the right hand side. He needs a new pipe & fairing but it's not a write-off.

If I didn't bore you with the tale at the time, this was the chap who said the Blade had broken down when it ran out of fuel & asked me to feel sorry for him due to his escalating insurance costs.

I was torn 2 ways when I heard. Part of me was glad he had smashed it up as I never thought him a capable enough rider to deserve the bike. But a bigger bit of me felt real physical pain to think that my (it's still mine despite money changing hands of course) baby had been damaged. Strange priorities I know but perhaps I am getting a more balanced outlook as I thought that Bill's youngest William was very easy to like.

Imagine that, Auntie Cruella is mellowing.

And on that bombshell (Alan Partridge fans, take note) I will bid you goodnight & go to my quiet ickle sanctuary.

Night-night,

Cx

ps. How did I almost forget ? The Tanners are Radio 4 fans & have said I can listen to R4 on-line. Wonder if they like ELO or would that be too much to ask. Deep joy.

Hey Guys,

Just a quickie as it's past my bed-time & I have to be up early to catch a bus tomorrow.

Ugh - buses - common people. How I loathe etc (Weeny)



Bills manor


We went to see Bill & Linda's new house today. Massive hacienda-stylee drug baron's nest.
If they invite you say 'yes' just for the tv. Easily the size of your average Odeon.
I made friends with the gorgeous grey long-haired moggie in residence. I am suffering
serious aminal withdrawal symptoms.

After doing SkyTower today to fulfil my obligations as a tourist to Auckland
(well worth it, even on a grey day the view is stunning)



Auckland


Highlight was watching
7 grannies leaning on the glass with just their foreheads goading their friends saying 'Come on chickens'

After that I did a l/t in the station office at Auckland Central Police Station.



Clueless

Honest.

Or to be more accurate, I called in to see Bill in his Group 4 uniform & ended up staying chin-wagging for most of the day, listening to him apologise to the people of Kiwidom for not knowing his way around the crime-reporting system.

At grubtime (4M over here ?) we popped out for pizza & had a bit of fun playing 'follow-the-cop' doing silly traffic manoeuvres. It was one of those 'woah, where am I moments ?' when I was following him around the city & you think to yourself, 'Reality check' Me & Bill, 10,000 miles from home driving around Auckland to get pizza in a police car. Odd.

During our pizza we talked about life, love & all the stuff you normally only talk about when you have had too much vino collapso. That's one of the benefits of having bloke friends who are token chicks I suppose.

I had calls from Mal & Mike separately to tell me that they had got the bulldozer going (bugger - I really wanted to drive it !) & also that one of the old Redwoods nannies had come back on a temporary basis to look after the kids. Mal heard her telling the farrier that Trish was silly to let me go as she wouldn't find another nanny prepared to work so hard. That really cheered me up.

What didn't cheer me up was what Mike told me. He had gone to collect one of his boys from school & saw Genevieve standing outside on her own. He asked her what she was doing & she said 'Waiting for Carol' He had to remind her that I was not there anymore & it turned out that their new nanny, Sally, had forgotten to come & collect her. I felt really upset to think that Gen thought I had forgotten her.

It turns out that Trish has employed 3 people to replace me.

An old nanny to look after the kids.
Another girl to exercise the horses
And another lady to do the cleaning/cooking.

Which kind of underlines what I had been saying all along.

Oh well, on the upside, working on the farm did strange things to my body.

I turned over in bed the other morning to feel something hard underneath me (simmer down at the back) I looked to see what it was & it was my forearm. The last time I had muscles in my forearms was when I did a milk-round in 1990. I have lost 1/2 a stone & I have muscles in places I didn't know I had places.

I won't be the new Vin Diesel but it's the best I have felt in a long time. During this 3 days at the Lawrences I have felt lazy, unhealthy & downright fat so I am hoping the Tanners have got some large amounts of physical labour lined up for me.

On the job-front, Geoff e-mailed me today to say the Stud want to meet me (there's a sentence I don't type very often) & I need to arrange an interview this Thursday or Friday. I wasn't overly impressed with the area around Cambridge but he stresses it's a beautiful place to work so I will keep an open mind & go for a look-see.

On another front, Mal has a sheep contact way down in Dunedin in South Island. He thinks she may need a hand with lambing so that's another possibility on a back-boiler.

I am aware of the lack of foties, all I can say is that when I do down-load them, there are some corkers. Hopefully I can get them to the Blog when I get to the Tanners.

Must go for now, have to be up in less than 6 hours.

Night-night,

Cx

Fostering techniques in sheep

Confinement in animals is one of the most common issues raised by animal welfare groups and consumers. Modern breeds of sheep commonly have more lambs than they can sensibly rear and it is common to foster lambs between ewes. Some techniques used involve severe restriction of ewes and these can be replaced by more effective and non-invasive methods.

‘…..the facts’
The bond between a ewe and her lambs is very strong and once this bond is established ewes do not accept other lambs easily.
One of the most commonly employed techniques used to foster lambs is the fostering crate where the head of the ewe is placed in a yolk in order to
allow the lambs to suck without being butted off by the ewe

Fostering crates can cause problems for the ewe such as:

inability to lie down comfortably
restriction of access to feed and water
inability to turn round

Experience shows that the fostering crate does not allow for a good bond to be made between lamb and ewe and when the ewe is turned out she will often not actively care for her lamb(s) and lamb losses/poor doers can be high.

Even simple, effective fostering is time consuming.

Fostering crates are not allowed but there are three techniques which DEFRA consider to be humane:

Wet fostering is a simple technique whereby lambs are moved between ewes at the point of birth.
When lambs are newly born and wet, a ewe does not differentiate between her own and other lambs.
Wet fostering can also be used on very young lambs which have been licked dry but the lamb must then be re-wetted either by copious amounts of foetal
fluid or warm water mixed with foetal fluid.

Skinning of dead lambs is a technique which is virtually foolproof as long as the skin is well fitting, the tail is left on and the skin covers the anus of the foster lamb.

As a last resort ewes are long haltered for a limited period if they are butting their lambs.

Good Evening Folks,

I am bushed so this may be a short one.

Spent the day looking around Auckland Zoo with Linda, Matthew & William whilst Bill did l/t.

We saw lions, tigers, notters (hurrah) giraffe, hippo, rhino & loads more.



Kiwi sparrow



Nuff said



It is a lovely zoo & the enclosures are at least attempting to replicate the conditions the animals would live in their natural habitat.

Then back here for dinner, kids bath-time & bed.

Bath-time was very funny. Bill's youngest William is a 'mini-me' of Bill.

Identical, right down to the facial expressions. I remarked to Linda that I felt a bit odd watching a mini-Bill in the bath.

I desperately wanted a lie-in this morning but the 1st text awoke me at 0519 (no names, no pack drill) after that I dozed until 0730 when the traffic noise commenced.

It's a noise I haven't heard in 3 months & I would be happy never to hear it again.

I wanted to tell you about my last day at Marfell Downs whilst it's fresh in my memory as it was a corker.

After saying goodbye to everyone I carried on with my packing.

I wanted to try & be clean & tidy for getting on the ferry so had decided that I would leave the lambing run to Mike & just have a farewell bike ride with Don & Chum before leaving.

Mike had other ideas.

At 0930 he came & found me & said 'This is it ... an up to the elbows job ... if you want it?'

He had promised me before I left that he would find me a tricky lambing. One where I would have to go 'up to the elbows'

The lamb was presented feet-first & the ewe had no chance of lambing alone.

She was in the windiest, coldest paddock on the farm.

Before we left the kitchen, Mike told me to find vegetable oil as a lubricant.

All I could find was extra-virgin, 1st pressed olive oil, nothing but the best for Mike's lambs.



As I was lubing my arm I said it was the 1st lamb to be marinaded whilst still in the womb.

The 1st part of the lamb trying to make an entrance was it's hocks.

It was such a big lamb that there was no way the ewe could pass it.

Mike told me to put my hand inside, push the lamb back through the cervix & then, grasping hold of one back foot at a time, pull the feet around so that the feet were exiting 1st. On top of the physical strength needed to do this in such a tight space he said 'Don't forget to try & cover the feet with the palm of your hand, otherwise the feet can tear the uterus' Mmm, not much to ask then.



He also stressed the need to work quickly as the insides of the ewe can be so tight that they cut off the blood circulation to the arm meaning you lose feeling in your fingers.

I have to say I was quite nervous about this lambing as I didn't want to tear the ewe's uterus. Apart from the fact that it's a live animal, each ewe is part of Mike's livelihood & too valuable to damage.

After a couple of minutes I managed to push the lamb back in but couldn't get sufficient leverage on the lamb to turn it's legs the right way around.



At this point he took over & only when the legs were pointing the right way did I resume trying to pull the lamb out.

It was a huuuge lamb as you will see by the photo, at least half the length of the ewe & I had to actually step on the ewe to get sufficient leverage to pull him out.





Unfortunately, he was stillborn.

Mike said what had probably happened was that the ewe had been incorrectly scanned as a twin when in fact she was expecting a single. She had been fed enough for 2 lambs which had made the one she did have too large to come out easily.



It was disappointing that the lamb was dead but worse still that the smell did not leave my hands for at least 48 hours, despite numerous hand-washings & I knew I was headed for the North & civilisation.

My other first last week was skinning a lamb on Friday.

When a ewe loses a lamb, if there is another lamb available, you skin the dead one & drape it's skin over the live one so as not to waste the ewe's milk.

I had told Mike that I would skin the next dead lamb.

I don't think he really believed me, but I had watched him do a couple & thought I could make a decent job of it.

I know it sounds distasteful & I apologise if any of you are eating but my rationale for doing it was that farming is made up of good bits & bad bits. If I am to seriously think I can make it as a farmer then I need to know as much as possible.

On Friday my opportunity came when a ewe had a still-born lamb & I was looking after 3 orphans. We took one of the orphans & I placed the skin I had taken & put it over the orphan. I will spare you the details of how exactly I did it as I know some of you are soft townies. Suffice to say I was given a 9 out of 10 for style & a 2 out of 10 for the time it took.

The fleece was intact & I was impressed with myself anyway.

The good news was that the ewe which had the still-born lamb accepted the impostor, so the skinning was worthwhile.

I had a phone-call from Mike yesterday whilst driving to Auckland. I had asked him, upon leaving, to look after Don for me. I felt guilty because, having established a routine for Don where he was off his chain every afternoon for a couple of hours & accompanying me, he was going to be chained again all day. The sad thing is, Chris said he was useless & I thought that if I were on a chain for 23 hours & 30 mins of each day then I would do my own thing when I was finally let off too.

Anyway, I'm ranting.

The point being that I had asked Mike to let him off for me.

The highlight of my day was that he told me, not only had he taken him out & worked him but he was contemplating buying him from Chris as he needs a nice quiet eye dog.

Anyway, I have spent the last 30 mins chatting with Q & am bushed so will call it a night.

Take care you lot,

Nite-nite,

Cx

Arrival on the North Island

Te Ika A Maui (The Fish of Maui) = The North Island

First things first.

Happy Anniversary Malc & Justine & may you have many more.

I am sitting in Bill & Linda's place in Auckland ( Tâmaki-makau-rau ) having travelled from Marlborough yesterday. I feel just as jet-lagged as I did when I flew all the way here & I have only driven 650kms.

I caught the ferry yesterday,



Ferry Ride


2 hour crossing to Wellington( Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara ) , picked up my rental car from a man with a very small penis (just guessing by the way he drove) & headed up to Palmerston North ( Te Papa-i-oea ) where I was booked into a motel for the night.

The journey was stress-free & I arrived in time for the haka at the beginning of the crunch match of the Bledisloe Cup. Result. NZ won after a nail-biting last few minutes.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand I apologise in advance to any Wellingtonians when I say the best thing about it was that I was driving through it.

I don't know if it's particularly ugly or it's just that I have become city-phobic so I'll let you judge from a couple of snaps I took. I was very happy to see the back of it.




Hole? Not hole ? You decide.

Some 20 minutes out it improved dramatically & I was driving along State Highway 1 with huge breakers crashing onto rocks on my left.

My rental car is a surprisingly nifty Mazda Familia, I was expecting a poky, ickle Daihatsu Charade type thing so was pleasantly surprised to pick this up




Hire car


I was even spared the moron-speech of 'Here's the accelerator' type stuff from Mr. Small-Willy.

After a very enjoyable breakfast in the motel



Motel



Humpy on the road

I was on the road again for 9am headed for Matamata or whassamatter ? as Bill calls it.

Just North of Palmerston North is some of the most dull & uninspiring countryside I have seen since arriving.

Flat flat flat.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's pleasant & green & perfectly acceptable if you haven't seen the rest of NZ. It's pleasant in the same way that Lincolnshire is. The problem is that NZ has scenery which knocks most of the UK into a cocked hat so with your expectations raised way above what they would normally be, disappointment is inevitable.


On the road again

Luckily, the boredom was relieved soon by gentle rolling hills.

Then the drive through Desert Rd. I had been warned by Mal & Mike to expect harsh driving conditions here & the road is quite often closed off in Winter so I knew what to expect. Most of the land either side of the road is closed off to the Army to practice shooting each other & dropping bombs. Quite frankly, I can't think of a safer place as no-one in their right mind would want to get out of their car.

Mile upon mile of parched, dry, brown tussocks, horizontal hailstones & wind strong enough to permanently re-arrange your facial features. Nice.

If you have ever driven alongside Saddleworth Moor on the Pennines & experienced that very uncomfortable feeling of wondering what you would do if you broke down alone then this place has a similar air about it.

I approached Matamata at about 1.30 thanks to some very excellent directions from Michelle (we'll discuss Bill's later) & met the lovely Tanners. They were exactly as Queenie had said they would be. Great welcome & a beautiful place to park my bones for a couple of weeks while job-hunting.

Imagine if a kid drew the perfect farm with cows, sheep, rolling hills, a lovely house & even a pool & you have imagined Cedar Lodge. It is an idyllic place & they have got it looking lovely.

I have my own little flat to live in with a lovely sunny yellow bedroom & they expect me to leave again when I have a job.


My bedroom in my own flat
Hello ?

They also have 2 of the biggest, friendliest black labradors I have ever seen, Ben & Inca.
They wrestled me on the floor just to make me welcome (the dogs not the Tanners)

Within minutes of arriving one of the cows, Twink, had calved & as the girls, Alice & Harriett went to look I remarked to Eric that I couldn't imagine a better place to raise kids.

I am going to like staying there :)

After a very quick hello & goodbye & dropping all the bulky bits of luggage there I headed off to Auckland & Bill & Linda's which is where I have to drop the rental car.

Bill had warned me that Auckland was a s***-hole as have most other Kiwis. He also told me that they were looking to move from here to a quieter place & a bigger house. To say I was unprepared for where they live is an understatment. It is palatial. As we drove in to the (electric) gateway I saw what I assumed was the block of flats where they lived.

Wrong. It's all theirs.

Enough cars to open a garage.

Huge, huge house with wooden floors, lots & lots of rooms & floors & very tastefully decorated (obviously Linda then), beautiful gardens & lovely balconies. Bill has the added advantage of being able to look straight into his neighbours teenage daughter's bedroom which would explain the binoculars !

Right - enough for now, I have monopolised the computer for long enough.

I hope everyone is well, I know I have neglected Blog just lately & I feel a bit isolated because of it. Trouble is that as much as Q tells me to 'tell dem how you feeel' whenever I am blue I find it easier to retreat.

The last couple of weeks have been the weirdest in my working life.

The best ever cos of everything I got to do & the worst ever cos I have never felt so unwelcome before.

I wish I had Blogged every night because I am sure I will forget loads but I just felt too fed up to concentrate & get it all down.

Right, time for dinner,

Later you lot,

Cx

MAL

You would think with all this practice I would be getting good at goodbyes.

Not so.

Today, said goodbye to kids, Mal, Mike, Don & GT.



MIKE


Us humans were all choked, animals just bemused.

Then goodbye to Marfell Downs, as I drove away Don chased the car.

V.hard.

Now in an internet cafe in Picton with 30 mins before my sailing.

Ahead of me a 1,000 kms drive to Auckland in a rental car.

Lots of time to think.

Have to go, bye for now, catch you on the other side.

:( Cx

Visit Matamata

Matamata is a rural town near Hamilton in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. The total population is about 12,000, of whom about 6000 live in the township. Matamata is an easy two hours' drive south of Auckland on State Highway 27.

The filming of The Lord of the Rings movies in the area has created a lot of excitement and pride in the town. The Alexander farm near Matamata was used as the Hobbiton movie set in the big budget film version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

To celebrate the launch of the first The Lord of the Rings film, the town changed its name to Hobbiton for a short time and Hobbiton burgers were on sale.

Matamata has much to offer visitors. The Matamata Information Centre, under the trees on 45 Broadway, can help you plan your stay in the region. You'll be able to obtain expert and impartial advice on activities and attractions in the area and get help in finding accommodation to suit any budget. The centre is just over the railway line at the junction of State Highway 27 and State Highway 24.
Directions to Matamata

Matamata's central location makes it an ideal place to base yourself.

From Auckland: About two hours' drive south; take State Highway 27 to Matamata. The turnoff is just south of the Bombay Hills.

From Rotorua: One-hour drive.

From Taupo: One-and-a-half-hour drive.

From Tauranga: 45-minute drive.

Matamata offers a range of accommodation options and restaurants to suit any budget.