Evenin' all.

We did indeed go to the cinema last night.
Kylie wanted to see 'Love Actually' (the film which Stan slept through)
& as I enjoyed it so much the 1st time, I was happy to see it again.

Surprisingly, nothing happened to us but we were fortunate enough to
witness another patron who opened a pair of substantial wooden
doors with his face.

He approached the doors at a smart walk & tried to to that thing where you
push the door open with your toes before catching it on your opened
palm & pushing it away from you.

His timing was awry though & he planted his nose & forehead firmly against the
unmoving door. The crunch was clearly audible, especially to his partner in the 1st row.
Kylie & I stuffed our fists in our mouths to stifle our giggles as the poor chap
did the only thing he could, & pretended he meant to do it, striding bravely
from the auditorium, scarcely pausing to staunch the blood.

It was some considerable time before he returned to his seat, I can only imagine
he spent the intervening time weeping copiously in the toilets.

Today we belatedly celebrated Natasha's 30th birthday
by going to Waitomo Caves to do a spot of black water rafting.



It was a fantastic day, despite being cold, wet & at times decidedly scary.

The trip consisted of about 3 hours underground, amidst torrents of water.
We walked, swam & 'tubed' our way around the caves system, the highlight
of which was floating in total inky blackness, gazing upwards at a
phosphoresent firmament packed full of glowworms.

On two occasions we had to leap, backwards, from waterfalls with large inner
tubes wedged firmly around our nether portions to break our falls.

Natasha said it was one of her most memorable birthday treats & even the
American tourists (the 1st ones I have encountered over here) proclaimed
it to be 'better than anything you get back home ...'

Praise indeed. (sorry Romana & JR)

No pics unfortunately, as there was no way I was risking Pearl in
a wet environment. Claire took a disposable waterproof camera, so
hopefully she should have some shots.

I have lots to impart so a preceed version will follow,
I am so addicted to Blogging now that I feel out of sorts when my
daily encounters aren't recorded.

I have just asked Michelle what day I went to the rodeo,
'Is that how far behind you are ?' she asked looking amazed.

The Rodeo

When the 1st batch of staff from the stud went to Karaka or Crackers (Bill)
with the K1 neddies, as you know by now, Ellie, Kylie & myself stayed to
watch the farm & prepare the K2's.

During our downtime on the Sunday, we went to the rodeo in Huntley.
Apart from the fun I had texting friends in the UK saying as casually
as possible 'Me ? I'm off to the rodeo', I can't believe I've never been before,
what a fantastic mixture.

Neddies & gorgeous, brave cowboys in chaps, what more could you ask for ?

'Charlie' in particular, took my fancy.



Lean as a whip & boy, could he sit on a horse. Mx, Trudes & Linda, you
would have been speechless with admiration, as I was.

The most memorable part of the day came during the junior bull
riding section. Kids of 10,11 & 12 were riding bulls & had to stay on a
demented 1/2 tonne of beef for 6 seconds.



A 12 year old called 'Sunny' was badly crushed when the bull he was riding
took a violent dislike to the metal pen it was to be released from.
As Sunny was thrown to the floor, after being squashed against the pen,
the bull caught him in the face with a hind foot.

The crowd went very quiet whilst the St John's ambulance attended,
squeezed a magic sponge over him & told him to 'run it off'

This kid only got up, dusted off his chaps, & got back on the SAME bull,
this time with mangled leg & bleeding face to try again.

After he successfully sat the Satan for the required time, he hopped
off, took the mike from the compere & thanked the crowd for their
support, whilst doffing his stetson.

It brought a huge lump to my throat & I found myself thinking that if there
was any guarantee your kids would be that gutsy, I might even give
the parenting thing a shot.

I don't know what it is about Kiwi kids, but they certainly breed them tough.

There is another rodeo on the 21st at Kihikihi, I shall definitely be going.

The Sales at Karaka

I am so relieved I only had to do 4 days worth of work at the sales,
I had little or no idea how physically demanding it would be & really
admire the girls who were there for the whole 10 days.

The schedule went along these lines

Up at 0330 to start work at 0400.
1st 'break' at about 1030, I use the word break advisedly as all food &
liquid refreshments were taken 'on the go'
If a horse's name was called during your drink, you put it down &
ran to prepare it to be looked at.
Lunch, was again, on the move.
Finish anytime between 1800 & 2000.

By the time I arrived, the start time was a more sociable 0530 & we were
finishing at about 1900, which I still found very hard work.

My feet were throbbing & my hands were unrecognisable.

I have to say though, it was a great experience.
So much of NZ's approach to things equestrian is a bit 'make do & mend'
so to say I was taken aback at Karaka would be an understatement.

The venue was immense, at least 10 times the size of Earl's Court &
the attention to detail was certainly on the same scale as say
Hickstead, Olympia or Burghley.

Everywhere you looked were potted plants, manicured lawns, polished
brass & ornate woodwork.

The indoor sales arena was tremendously grand & intimidating, even to
people, so I was very impressed with how the babies (only a year old remember)
handled it. The setting was more reminiscent of a Crown Court than anything
equestrian.

None of our neddies played up (too badly) & a couple of them really shone.

My neddies fetched the following

K1 Sustaad $180, 000

K1 Real Success $150,000

K1 What Can I Say $105,000

K2 Racy Belle $24,000

Trelawney were happy with Sustaad's price but a little disappointed with Real Success'
as he is a Zabeel colt & they were expecting him to fetch more.

Claire has developed some pics of my babies for me as I was unable to be there to watch
the K1's & I am very grateful as they look stunning (especially Watties)

Changes at work

The following staff are leaving, most of them worked their last day on Thursday.

Kylie, Natasha & Emma. Naomi left just prior to the sales, citing family problems.
Kylie flies back this coming Thursday, giving us one last weekend together.
She flies at 0700 & has to be at Hamilton airport for 0530, I stupidly
volunteered to take her, not realising the ohmygod time involved.

Trina, Claire, Kirsty, Lynn & I will be staying on until Easter to prepare the next batch
of 7 gees for the Sydney sales. There is no guarantee that any of us will be asked
to go to Sydney.

Another person who may be going home is Bill.

If you haven't met him, Bill is the ex-Met copper who came from the UK with
his family to try life over here. He was one of the 80 or so British bobbies
who relocated to Auckland. Unfortunately, things haven't been quite as
his family were expecting so it look as though he will be headed back to
the Northern Hemisphere.

It's a great pity as hearing some stories about the Old Bill over here,
it's quite evident that someone of Bill's calibre will be a loss to their Force.

On a selfish note, I will miss having an friendly, sympathetic ear in NZ.
Can't believe I never got to watch the TV either !

Good luck poppet.

Farm news

Eric has his head in his books every day now, studying in earnest for his forthcoming
legal exams on the 16th. The topics are immensely unwieldy & incredibly dull,
making even Police exams look interesting. I really admire his drive, especially
as he fits in his studies around a job & still doing things on the farm.

Today, I arrived home to Michelle declaring in sotto voce that 'You don't want to be
here now'. When I enquired why, she said that Eric had decided to explore a possible
leak in the kids bathroom. He has been worrying about this leak for some time &
will grab anyone unfortunate enough to wander past the bathroom to
demand 'Can you hear it, can you ?'

Today, being Waitangi Day, has been a public holiday, so naturally, when the joint
Eric was trying to loosen, came apart in his hands, there were no plumbers on call.

Fortunately, the cottage has it's own water supply, so for the time being, we are
using the facilities over there.

Never a dull moment.

The pigs are growing quickly, Eric keeps muttering darkly about slottings.

The dogs diets appear at a standstill, it has been some time since they were
taken to be weighed. I suspect the vet will be slapping some paws next time.

Michelle continues to make good progress with her veg plot. We have exhausted
the broad beans & silver beet & are now making headway into the sweetcorn,
new potatoes, radishes, beetroot & green beans. I have never eaten this
many vegetables.

She is still enjoying work although admitting finding it hard
to get back into the routine of working after the Xmas break.
The other day she picked up a newspaper before asking herself out loud
'Hang on, have I finished work for today ... yes'

Harriette began her new school 2 weeks ago. She has gone to intermediate
a year early, as she is very bright. I am a bit lost with the terminology over here
'when I was a girl', it was secondary school, so I'm assuming it's the same here.
She has decided she would like to play alto sax, as well as continue with piano.

She has gone through a period of being quite foul, with mood swings galore,
Michelle sympathises saying she too was a 'dreadful teenager' then we laugh &
realise Harriette is only 10 & has the worst of it still to come.

Ma & Pa Smith, pack your sense of humour, you'll need it.

Luckily, the last few days have seen her smiling a little more & being easier to
be around. She has also started a fitness campaign, swimming lengths of the pool
after being forced to run around the games field numerous times by a new teacher.

Alice, who is more laid back & consequently less stressed than Harriette continues
to amuse. She has a lovely, kind nature & when I arrived home, after a thoroughly
wet, miserable day at work on Tuesday she said 'Come here, have a hug'.

Alice can always be relied upon to listen to Stud tales when Eric is yawning
through clenched teeth & Michelle is making her 'I'm listening, but not interested'
noise. Imagine a high pitched humming noise which starts at one level, raises
a tone & ends on the same level as you began at. Do it out loud if you like.

Alice seems to be in the wars every day, this morning gravely informing me that
she has sprained a ligament in her wrist after coming off her bike yesterday and
almost going through the electric fence.
I heard the incident from the cottage yesterday & from the volume & number
of screams, I assumed she had done a Steve McQueen & become impaled.

Well, I think that's about it for now, I am working Sat & Sun (to make up for actually
having a public holiday off, I suppose ?) so will be heading for beesies.

Thanks for the foties so far Stin.

I love the one of Kylie & the big neddy on the previous posting & plan to have it
developed & framed as a leaving pressie for her.

The horse in the pic is a 10 year old retired racehorse called 'Trans Siberian'.
There are plans afoot to send him hunting, I think he would be terrific as he's
too big to fall from. (if that makes sense ?)

The picture of Hadleigh & I makes me smile. Hadleigh is Murray's Jack Russell
terrier & has personality to spare. When the others were away, I would take Hadleigh
with me to check the farm. His preferred method of travel is to plant his
hindlegs on the driver's thighs & look out of the driver's window.

The passenger is definitely not worthy of standing on, in Hadleigh's book.

On one occasion, as I checked a paddock, Hadleigh escaped the heat of the
ute by climbing into the long shady grass at the side of it. I forgot to put him
back in the ute & drove off without him. After a 100 metres or so, I realised my
mistake & looked in the rear view mirror.

I expected to see him running after the ute, trying to get my attention.

Not a bar of it. He was sitting alert & unflustered where I had left him,
obviously waiting for the stupid human to come & fetch him. His look as
I arrived back on scene defintely said 'About time'.

The other foties which Stan should have now, are of the day we went
jetboating, some random ones of fillies (the one with the brand 57 over 2
is Dresden Doll, one of my favourites) & some shots of our by now,
traditional weekend night out at the Prince Albert.

I fear these nights will be less fun, now there are fewer of us.

There is also a group one of most of us, if you publish it Big Guy,
I will stick the names underneath at a later date.

Cheers.

Goodnight all,

Stay safe,

Cx