(no subject)
so, i have another pictoral story for all of you!
so, this weekend was the country life weekend. basically what we knew about it before hand was it was a farmstay, all the other butler students said it was the highlight of the trip and that we didn't need a sleeping bag.
we got to the bus at 2:45, loaded on and made the hour long drive to milton, a small town somewhere between dunedin and invercargill. we arrived in milton, and stood around a while waiting for our host mom, elsie to come pick us from the bus stop (by us i mean, me, ryan and matt... they had been assigned to the same host mom as me). she came and picked us up and then we went to the video store and rented whale rider (which none of us had seen, and she said we were only watching new zealand movies). we then went to visit the church... lovely. doesn't compare to the english churches i saw, but still impressive. and then we went to the farm. she showed us our rooms.
mine was a vision in pink...
and then we hopped in some overalls which looked like prision outfits and went out to feed the ducks and the chickens.
ryan quickly made friends with the ducks, chickens and the doves.
then we brought in the sheep because they were due to be crutched. crutching is the process of shaving, or well, shearing the sheep's back end to make it easier for the lambs to pop out and to feed. so we had to bring the sheep into the shed so they were ready to be sheared in the morning.
because i was a little more hesitant about cutting through the shed filled with sheep i ended up cornered with sheep all around me.
but i finally waded through the slew of sheep (there were only 25) to the other side of the shed. we then went in and consumed a feast of homecooked food, and i must say i've never been happier in my life. we started watching whalerider, when pete, the shearer called to ask if he could come over then and crutch the sheep since his brother-in-law wanted to go duckhunting in the morning (yesterday was the last day of duckhunting here). george, our host father said sure and then we all popped out to the shed to look at the stars.
it was amazing. we could see scorpio and the southern cross and all sorts of things, and... an arm of the milky way... it looked like a cloud, but it was always there and its an arm of the milky way!!!
pete soon arrived and crutched the sheep.
we watched the end of whale rider, some of lord of the rings and then went to bed.
when we woke up there was another, more breakfast like feast prepared for us. we quickly consumed the breakfast feast and headed out for the day. george took us to a shed and we watched 3 shearers in action.
they were extraordinarily fast (george estimated they all sheared over 200 a day). and the contracter got paid about 2.90 per sheep, and then, each of the shearers gets paid about 1.50 per sheep.
they had lots of wool.
then this guy smashed the wool and put it in bales.
this is a sheepdog. i asked george about sheep dog trials and he said the season had just ended but if i was lucky i'd be able to catch a trial before i left for the u.s.
after we had viewed the sheep shearing we headed out to a tunnel (formerly a railroad tunnel).
the tunnel was long and dark. and had a few glow worms.
but, i saw the light at the end of the tunnel!
on the way back we stopped at a picnic area, and saw this big tree. i believe its a sequoia.
then we headed back to the farm for lunch, and then out to a dairy farm to see some more farm action.
i remarked on how much it would suck to stare at cows asses all day everyday for most of your life... and thanked the gods that i was in college. especially since i was largely unsuccessfuly at milking the poor cow (she wasn't happy with me and the cow next her almost pooped on matt).
then another host family came over and we had a pot luck dinner and sat around and played taboo. watched more of lord of the rings and then went to bed... we didn't have to get up this morning since our host family went to church so we woke up around 11 and watched more of lord of the rings (we almost made it through all three this weekend). after that we had some lunch with our host parents, elsie's brother, elsis and george's daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. and, of course, elsie's mother.
we left at 2:30, and george invited us back for lambing season... so, ryan, matt and i may take a trip out to elsie and george's around september when the lambs are due!
and that is the summation of my loverly weekend. next weekend? QUEENSTOWN!
so, this weekend was the country life weekend. basically what we knew about it before hand was it was a farmstay, all the other butler students said it was the highlight of the trip and that we didn't need a sleeping bag.
we got to the bus at 2:45, loaded on and made the hour long drive to milton, a small town somewhere between dunedin and invercargill. we arrived in milton, and stood around a while waiting for our host mom, elsie to come pick us from the bus stop (by us i mean, me, ryan and matt... they had been assigned to the same host mom as me). she came and picked us up and then we went to the video store and rented whale rider (which none of us had seen, and she said we were only watching new zealand movies). we then went to visit the church... lovely. doesn't compare to the english churches i saw, but still impressive. and then we went to the farm. she showed us our rooms.
mine was a vision in pink...
and then we hopped in some overalls which looked like prision outfits and went out to feed the ducks and the chickens.
ryan quickly made friends with the ducks, chickens and the doves.
then we brought in the sheep because they were due to be crutched. crutching is the process of shaving, or well, shearing the sheep's back end to make it easier for the lambs to pop out and to feed. so we had to bring the sheep into the shed so they were ready to be sheared in the morning.
because i was a little more hesitant about cutting through the shed filled with sheep i ended up cornered with sheep all around me.
but i finally waded through the slew of sheep (there were only 25) to the other side of the shed. we then went in and consumed a feast of homecooked food, and i must say i've never been happier in my life. we started watching whalerider, when pete, the shearer called to ask if he could come over then and crutch the sheep since his brother-in-law wanted to go duckhunting in the morning (yesterday was the last day of duckhunting here). george, our host father said sure and then we all popped out to the shed to look at the stars.
it was amazing. we could see scorpio and the southern cross and all sorts of things, and... an arm of the milky way... it looked like a cloud, but it was always there and its an arm of the milky way!!!
pete soon arrived and crutched the sheep.
we watched the end of whale rider, some of lord of the rings and then went to bed.
when we woke up there was another, more breakfast like feast prepared for us. we quickly consumed the breakfast feast and headed out for the day. george took us to a shed and we watched 3 shearers in action.
they were extraordinarily fast (george estimated they all sheared over 200 a day). and the contracter got paid about 2.90 per sheep, and then, each of the shearers gets paid about 1.50 per sheep.
they had lots of wool.
then this guy smashed the wool and put it in bales.
this is a sheepdog. i asked george about sheep dog trials and he said the season had just ended but if i was lucky i'd be able to catch a trial before i left for the u.s.
after we had viewed the sheep shearing we headed out to a tunnel (formerly a railroad tunnel).
the tunnel was long and dark. and had a few glow worms.
but, i saw the light at the end of the tunnel!
on the way back we stopped at a picnic area, and saw this big tree. i believe its a sequoia.
then we headed back to the farm for lunch, and then out to a dairy farm to see some more farm action.
i remarked on how much it would suck to stare at cows asses all day everyday for most of your life... and thanked the gods that i was in college. especially since i was largely unsuccessfuly at milking the poor cow (she wasn't happy with me and the cow next her almost pooped on matt).
then another host family came over and we had a pot luck dinner and sat around and played taboo. watched more of lord of the rings and then went to bed... we didn't have to get up this morning since our host family went to church so we woke up around 11 and watched more of lord of the rings (we almost made it through all three this weekend). after that we had some lunch with our host parents, elsie's brother, elsis and george's daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. and, of course, elsie's mother.
we left at 2:30, and george invited us back for lambing season... so, ryan, matt and i may take a trip out to elsie and george's around september when the lambs are due!
and that is the summation of my loverly weekend. next weekend? QUEENSTOWN!