I've been working with Chris on the farm for most of the week ... Waking up at just before 7 AM to enjoy a cup of tea then breakfast (not at the same time). During the morning Chris and I exchange only a few words, mostly about the inclement weather for the day. The house sits atop one of the taller hills and it's pretty wicked to wake up and find yourself in the middle of the clouds as the fog nestles into the gullies in between the paddocks. We finish up our bowl of cereal along with toast topped with Waitomo honey (so dang good) then roll out on the four wheeler to carry out the daily farm duties; bring hay to the horses, cattle, and deer ... round up and shift the sheep to another paddock, maybe slaughter a couple lamb. On my first day, we headed to one of the lower paddocks steering across steep terrain, me sitting and holding onto the back while we traversed the massive hills ... Chris asked me to take the motorbike and head back down to the road, ride for a kilometer or so, open a steel gate on the left then ride til I saw a wooden gate to another paddock where we would lead the sheep. I said "alright" and hopped on the bike quickly trying to recall the direction where we came as the vastness of the hilly land is daunting; before I left, he told me, "remember, on the road ... left side", gotta admit, without the notice, probably would've forgot. It worked out well though, I remembered our route, made it back to open the wooden gate and watched as Chris directed his dogs by a series of whistles to funnel nearly one thousand sheep through the gate. It is absolutely awesome to watch him and the dogs go to work ... with each pitch of whistle meaning a different direction and the dogs responding instantly, even better when they don't a stern reprimanding accompanied by a cursing rant that echoes throughout the canyons.
Susie (the wife) has been fantastic. Contrast to Chris' quiet demeanor she is extremely talkative. She owns a haircut salon in town, I headed down there last Thursday for a free haircut, gave a healthy tip to one of her girls (any tip is a bonus down here as it is not apart of their culture to do so). One weekday afternoon I spent helping Susie paint a theater set at the local elementary school. The director was from the UK and he needed a log cabin set painted by the next week ... The man was extroardinarily technical, even pointing out that the logs would've most likely been from redwoods given the setting of the play and therefore should be 'this' specific width instead of the random foot or so measurement Susie and I had already started using halfway through. It was good to spend some time with her though as I had spent the majority of my time on the farm with Chris ... We finished up later in the evening, hopped in the car and with a large exhale she said, "Well, I reckon it's beer o' clock what do ya say?" It's a good thing they got goin here, work hard throughout the day then throw back a few beers at home.
On Friday before we headed into Hamilton to pick up Mitchel and the girls, we had to string up a couple pigs by their back legs and I was in charge of holding them still by sandwiching them against the fence with my leg while keeping their head from not moving by holding onto their ears as Chris threaded a steel wire through their nostrils to discourage them from digging holes under the fences ... The entire process took a few minutes and throughout the whole thing the pig screamed viciously like the world was about to end ... It was pretty intense, Chris figured he'd take care of it prior to the American girls' arrival so as to not scare them away.
Anyway, the week with them has been extremely comforting. I stayed there for 7 days and it starting to feel like my home in New Zealand as I was welcomed to anything in the kitchen or fridge, had farm work as well as household responsibilities like laundry, setting the table, and starting the fire. Toward the last weekend, Susie kept commenting on how we had guests coming from America and I'd remind her that I was one that came just a bit ago and she'd say somethin' like, "Yeah but you don't really count anymore, you're like apart of the family now, you've got to fend for yourself." Although, I'm sure they wouldn't have minded hosting me a bit longer; I figured that one week was enough of a burden and made plans to move on and out but with the intention to definitely return before I leave New Zealand.
Currently, I'm on the coast ... just about fifty paces from the Tasman Sea that sits between New Zealand and it's western neighbor Australia. I left Monday from Te Kuiti to head to Ortorohonga, another rural town only 10 kilometers away. I'm staying with a few of Chris & Susie's friends, Ged & Kay, who own a dairy farm as well as a beach house that needed repainting ... so Monday night Kay and I drove out to their beach house in Raglan, Ged made sure to pack me up some beer to enjoy after the day's work (checked the bag and their were 9 bottles for me, Kay doesn't drink beer ha). Yesterday (Tuesday), we spent the day priming the kitchen and living room with undercoat. It was surprisingly warm outside, the Raglan FM station had variety and was good for the most part, I was in a jumpsuit painting the walls and looked outside to see the water and realized, damn, I'm in New Zealand on the other side of the world with no agenda whatsoever, kinda rad...
Ged showed up in the afternoon and after we finished painting for the day, we got to enjoy a few of those beers he packed. He tossed one my way once I'd gotten my jumpsuit off and said, "Go ahead and get some New Zealand piss in ya." Ged is a staunch fellow, built like a boxer; he shakes your hand hard but even moreso, he pulls your arm down a bit when he grabs it, caught me a bit off-gaurd the first time. Both Ged & Kay are another prime example of Kiwi hospitality. We went out for dinner at the local pub later that night, Ged bought me seafood chowder, dozen or so mussels, and a basket of chips (fries) for all us to share; oh yeah, and a couple pints that came in the big handle-glasses too, always feels better drinkin' beer out of a glass with a handle for some reason, maybe it's because you get to stick your elbow out a bit when you raise your glass, makes it feel heavy, like a man's drink. The seafood was spectacular, the chowder might've had some curry in it as well and the mussels were dipped in a spicy sauce that was delicious. Ged asked if I was ready for the T-bone steak by the end of it, dead serious as well, I declined politely as I wouldn't had even been able to make a respectable dent in it if I was served one.
The plan for now is to paint some more tomorrow ... May head to a town called Rotorua, it's the main Maori (indigenous people of NZ) location later on in the week. After that, I am going to start to make my way south toward the South Island with a couple stops planned, the first to visit a friend whom I met in Kenya last spring. I'll keep you updated. Hope all is well where you are!
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