Syyyyydddnnneeeeeeeeeyyyyy!

Well, the end of my journeys are coming to a close, and the last glorious week of my backpacking adventures brought me to the beautiful city of Sydney. Now, for a farm girl I can tell you straight up that I'm not a huge fan of cities. I've enjoyed spending a couple days here and there, however I appreciate a city that is well planned, put care into it's architecture and has tons of greenspace.

For instance, Adelaide was one of my favorite cities in Aussie, especially because of the amount of green they've left around the CBD. Melbourne, on the other hand, is an extremely crowded and claustrophobia triggering city. As many good things I had heard about it, for the few days I spent there, I was extremely anxious and couldn't wait to see some bush.

Sydney is absolutely gorgeous. Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens allow one to escape the concrete and enjoy some fresh smelling air; the architecture is astounding; and the historical planning of of the city, even with it's convict colony beginnings, is truly incredible.

We flew from Melbourne to Sydney on the 21st, leaving Victoria's rain to hit up a few days of sun in New South Wales. Thursday morning, we took the "I'm Free" walking tour of the CBD, The Rocks, Circular Quay and the Harbour. It was interesting to learn about the history of each street, as well as some of the old buildings, from a resident! I would definitely recommend doing the tour if you're in Sydney - and it's FREE!

On Friday, we checked out the Chinatown and the Paddy markets - definitely a great place to go for fresh produce or cheap Chinese made souvenirs. This is also the day we at KANGAROO KEBABS! Oh my goodness, you have no idea how excited I was for this. Surprisingly enough, the 'roo didn't bounce around my guts, and it tasted fairly similar to very lean beef or bison.

After getting ridiculously drunk on goon (cheap Australian wine that comes in 4 liter boxes) with some other people from our hostel, we slept in on Saturday morning, and headed out later in the day. We took the ferry to Manly, and hung out on the beach for a couple hours; soaking in the sun and watching some surfers try to catch some very delicate waves. Gorgeous beach, pretty packed but not too bad.

Sunday Funday included NRL! We caught a National Rugby Football league game at Olympic Park - the Cantebury Bankstown Bulldogs versus the Newcastle Knights. It was a Bulldogs home game, but to tell you the truth I cheered for the Knights for the singular reason that they were far better looking. The game was pretty intense, definitely is quite the manly sport. There were two 40 minute halves, of completely non stop time. The clock never stopped - consequentially the game only lasted a little over 90 minutes! Probably the shortest sporting even that I have ever been too, but super fun to watch. Beer, sun and rugby resulted in a great afternoon!

My last day in Sydney was quite chill. I checked out the Australian Museum while Brandon figured out some stuff for the car he was buying. We then met up and toured the Hyde Park Barracks - a convict prison that was built when Sydney was colonized to hold some of the more dangerous convicts, as well as some that were on working sentences. It was fascinating to see the living arrangements, as well as hear some of the stories about each convict and how they were treated. Very shocking! I recommend searching on Google for some information on Sydney as a convict city, pretty neat history.

Early this morning (Sydney time) I hopped on the train and headed to the airport, flying back home. I'm sure gonna miss the heat, meat pies, kebabs, cafes, markets, driving on the wrong side of the road, Aussie hospitality, and of course the ocean. Such an amazing country, full of some of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and some of the coolest people I've ever met. Cheers, Australia! I'll see you again soon!

Road Trip? Ummmm.... Yes!

From balmy Queensland, on the 14th we headed south to Melbourne to do some more adventuring around Australia. Brandon and I stayed in Melbourne for a night, checked out the city and the Queen Victoria Street markets. The market is incredible; a huge open air roofed market where different vendors sell anything from fresh produce to digeridoos! Very neat place to go when you're in Melbourne, there is so much to see and you can easily spend a couple hours wandering around. The market runs several days each week, and operates year round. We picked up some fresh fruit and veggies while we were there, and I was amazed at the selection. Super neat place.

We decided to rent a car in Melbourne and begin a little road trip to Adelaide. It's a fair distance in between the two cities, and we got to see a good portion of Victoria and South Australia. We stopped for the night and stayed with Kelsey Suttie, a friend from university who works for Bayer CropScience parent seed production in Mt. Gambier. The next morning, we met Kelsey at the Bayer offices and met some of the staff as well as the other Canadians working there, Giselle Ulrich and Andrew Reese. It was pretty awesome to see the Aussie side of the parent seed production, and the beginning of product that I will be selling down the road!

On our way to Adelaide, we went to the South Australia Field Days in Lucinda with Kelsey, Andrew and Giselle. Similar to our Crop Production Show or Farm Progess show, the field days showcased equipment dealers, new innovations, seed and fertilizer companies, booths for beef and sheep breeds and other farming related booths. It was amazing to see the amount of Canadian designed equipment over there, namely Bourgault and Seed Hawk. I'd never seen a Bourgault tank with a kangaroo on it before! Pretty cool.

After the farm show, we headed north to Adelaide. Adelaide is a beautiful city, with lots of green space. You can tell driving in that it is very well planned, as most of it is laid out in a grid, making it easy to navigate. One way streets were a bit of an issue for Brandon and I when we got into the CBD where we stayed, but after a couple "light" arguments we figured it out. Our first night there, we checked out the Chinatown and the Central Markets, which were really busy on Friday night. Similar to the markets in Melbourne, you could buy all sorts of things at the Central Markets, and there are tons of great Chinese places to eat at!

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to spend the day doing one of my favorite things: drinking wine. We made our way out of Adelaide to the Barossa Valley and hit up six wineries for tastings: Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Saltram, Chateau Tanunda, Peter Lehmann and Jacob's Creek. Because I was driving, I had to lay off the sauce and merely taste and spit out the wine, however I think Brandon was quite wasted by the time we were done for the afternoon.

The Barossa Valley is quite a good place to grow Shiraz grapes, we were told by a lovely hostess at Wolf Blass, and we ended up trying quite a few excellent Shiraz wines throughout the day. Most of the wineries were really good at giving you a background on each wine, especially what each year was like and explaining the differences between the vintages. Needless to say, we had an excellent time, and I purchased a few too many bottles of wine - some of which I am praying will survive the long flight home!

March is festival month in Adelaide, and we were lucky to catch the end of the Fringe Festival - a comedy festival that runs in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival. The Fringe is held in a park at the end of Rundle St, which they name "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" for the festival. Pretty neat to walk around, lots of different types of acts playing in different tents all over the park. We grabbed a couple beer and some food and went to see a Canadian comedian, Mike Wilmot, in a tent called the Hunting Lodge. I'm pretty sure at one point when he mentioned CBC, we were the only ones in the audience who really understood what he was making fun of.

To end the night, we met up with Jill Mackenzie, a sister of one of my co-workers, at a pub on Rundle Street. Jill has lived in Adelaide for seven years, and had given us a list of things to do while we were in the city. It was so great to meet up with a fellow Saskatchewanian, and when her husband showed up to have a beer with us as well, we laughed about the very Canadian things we say (such as loonie and bunny hug). Again, in my travels I have been fortunate to meet some more amazing people!

Sunday morning was a little slower than usual, being post-St. Patty's day, after all. We hung out at Glenelg Beach for a couple hours before hitting the road again, to drive back to Mt. Gambier through the Naracoorte and Coonawarra wine country. We had originally planned on making it in time to get in some tastings, however after an hour and a half taking the scenic route out of Adelaide, we ended up getting down there too late at night and missed out. We stayed the night at Kelsey's again, and headed to drive the Great Ocean Road on Monday.

The Great Ocean road was dope. Some of the most gorgeous views I've seen so far in Australia, and we had a beautiful, sunny, +30 degree day. The limestone coast is really fascinating, and constantly changing. The road starts at the town of Nullawarre and ends in Torquay, a super cool little surf town. There are tons of places to stop off and check out the limestone formations on the coast, and the most famous of all of them is the Twelve Apostles. The impossibility of the formations make them fascinating, and the scenery is breathtaking. They are beautiful, but some of the other (less tourist infested) stops were even more incredible. My favorite stops were the Grotto and the Loch Ard Gorge. My pictures are fantastic!

After driving for about 13 hours, we ended up back in Melbourne, where we stayed in St. Kilda at a really nice hostel called Habitat HQ. Our last day in Melbourne we spent touring around the city and visiting some shops, as well as a couple hours at St. Kilda beach. We met up with my friend Matt, who I had met on the Kiwi Experience bus, and partied in St. Kilda until wee hours in the morning.

Next up: heading to New South Wales to chill out in Sydney for a week until I fly back to Saskatchewan!

Pindari Station and the Queensland Outback - March 7 to 13, 2012

My travels next took me up into the Outback of Queensland, to Pindari Station. Brandon and I flew to Emerald on March 7, where we were picked up by our host John Watkins.

I met John and his wife Debbie when I was staying at Kauri Glen Farms, near Matamata NZ. Pete and Dulcey Barton have known the Watkins for years, and when I had mentioned that I wanted to see the Outback of Aussie, Pete, Dulcey and Tony offered to get me into contact with John. It is amazing who you can meet while traveling, you never know where it will take you! I have been so fortunate to have met such amazing people during my travels, and I know I have met lifelong friends.

Anyways, getting back to the story. John picked us up at the airport in his ute, complete with an extraordinarily large spider clinging on to the air intake, and we began our journey to Pindari. We stopped in Springsure for tea, where Debbie lives and works. After some delicious Aussie beef, we headed out to the station in the moonlight, seeing the odd rabbit and pretty faced wallaby, as well as far too many Cane toads (which, by the way, are massive and absolutely horrible creatures).

Pindari is fairly "close" to town, just 46 km south of Springsure, located in some mountain ranges. The station is 50,000 ac and runs 2000 head of breeder cows, mainly Droughtmaster with Limosin and Brahman influence. During our time there, we helped muster cattle, in order to administer pour-on onto the cows, and brand and process calves that were born in the spring. I fell in love with the true Aussie cattle, the Droughtmasters, which come from the cross of Shorthorn and Santa Getrudis breeds. Not only are they hardy cows, but they are excellent mothers and they have beautiful udders. Droughties take a little bit to get used to, mainly just the look of them is quite a bit different than our Canadian cattle, but they sure grew on me. A hardy breed of cattle for a hardy country!

It was interesting to see the difference in Canadian and Australian management on a beef operation, basically just because of different problems that need to be addressed. For example, in Australia, cattle need to be heat tolerant and be efficient on larger expanses of land, because they may need to walk a long ways to find good grass or water. Ticks and buffalo flies are a major problem, and cattle need to have pour-on administered every few weeks throughout the entire year for tick control.

We learned quite a bit about the Australian beef industry during our time at Pindari, and about where Aussie beef gets marketed internationally. One hot topic was the recent Gillard government's, to put it lightly, near-sighted ban of live Australian cattle exports to Indonesia, which completely turn the Northern Territory's beef market upside down in a day. It is too much background to put into my blog, but if you would like to Google "Aussie live cattle export ban Indonesia", I'm sure you could get a few articles to give you a background on the situation.

John also took us over to Arcturus Downs, a 20,000 acre farm that grows cotton, sorghum, wheat, corn, sunflowers amongst other crops. In Queensland, there is 2 cropping seasons, and farms are able to plant winter and summer crops. Summer is the wet season, and winter is dry. It was very interesting to see the flood irrigation systems they use, as well as the massive reservoir ponds they use to hold water for the dry season. The most exciting part of our tour (well I thought so, haha) was seeing my first fields of cotton and sorghum! The cotton that had just been desiccated, just a couple weeks away from harvest. Pretty neat!

On Saturday, we got the chance to go to the St. Patrick's Day Races in Springsure. I don't think I got the memo, but apparently in Australia the point of going to the races is to dress the fanciest that you can. I was amazed! Debbie had lent me. Beautiful black dress for the day, and I thought I was quite dressed up for the event, turns out, I had no flipping clue! I saw the most beautiful ladies in fancy dresses, hats and fascinators, as well as some very well dressed men! I'm not going to lie, as good as the thoroughbreds were to watch, the people watching was even better! Definitely a trend that I wish would catch on at home - getting fancied up to go to the races!

I had an absolutely amazing few days at Pindari, and we are so fortunate to have been able to see the Outback. To me, it was a true Aussie Outback experience as soon as I saw a kangaroo hopping alongside my horse as I herded cattle through the bush. Also getting to experience some true Aussie pig hunting made the trip! Unreal!

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Australia is hot. I had always heard that is, but to tell you the truth I didn't really believe it. We landed in balmy Brisbane on March 3rd, coming from a rainy 16 degree Celsius Christchurch. I kid you not, as soon as we landed and walked out of the plane, I was sweating profusely. I can't complain, Australia is an amazing place, and I'm very fortunate to be able to travel around it.

Anyways, as soon as we arrived in Brisbane, we took the Airtrain to South Brisbane to meet up with Lewis, an English friend Brandon had met on Kiwi Experience who is going to Queensland University Tech. We were lucky enough to call his place home for the nights we spent in Brisbane, and him and his roommates also toured us around while we were there. It was great to have some residents give us an inside look at the city.

On the 4th & 5th, Brandon and I headed to Byron Bay for a couple days, where we tried out surfing with Mojosurf. Honest to goodness I can tell you that surfing is easily the most fun I've ever had in any type of water. We had a great instructor, named James; and he taught us how to read the tide, current and rips, how to get up on our boards and balance ourselves when up. Going into it, both Brandon and myself had no expectations of being able to even stand up on our boards, but after a few tumbles and mouthfuls of salt water, we actually started improving! I don't want to brag, but for beginners I think we did pretty well. We both got up on our boards at least 7 times, and stood up for a few seconds each time. Yup, the two Saskatchewan kids crushed surfing. Who knew?!?

Back to Brisbane on the 6th for another tour around a little bit more, we checked out Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for an afternoon. It was absolutely splendid! We saw bats, possums, birds, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, echidnas, platypuses, kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, lizards, sheep, ponies, pigs and of course: koalas! Lone Pine is really neat, because it is very hands on. We each got to hold a koala (which, by the way, are as cuddly as they look!), as well as feed and pet the kangaroos and wallabies! It was a great time, definitely filled our need to see Aussie wildlife up close and personal!

That night in Brisbane we experience "Goon" for the first time. Goon is what backpackers, university students and otherwise cheap alcoholics drink because liquor and beer is so bloody expensive in Australia. After a few drinking games, we headed to a bar called Down Under (what a fitting name, I thought) for a night of real Brisbane partying with Lewis and his roommates. A bloody good time!

Silver Fern Farms and Christchurch - our last days in New Zealand

Bright and early on Thursday March 1, Brandon and I traveled down to Ashburton area in our little rental car to tour the Silver Fern Farms sheep plant at Fairton. We met our tour guides Scott and John in the office at 7:30 am, put on some tyvek pants, grabbed some tyvek shirts and hairnets and began our tour.

Silver Fern Farms processes sheep, beef and deer at processing plants throughout the North and South Islands, and is one of the biggest meat processors in the country. At Fairton, sheep (lamb and mutton) and veal calves are processed. The plant was originally built in 1894, however since then there have been many upgrades and expansions. The plant runs two lines, each killing and processing 3500 head, making the maximum kill capacity for the entire plant 7000 animal units each day. I found it very interesting that 100% of the animals killed at Silver Fern Farms are Halaal certified - regardless of whether they are being marketed as Halaal or not. There is a Halaal certified worker on each line as well as a spare, and if for some reason an animal is not killed using Halaal, it is tagged and sent to a different area of the plant.

The plant also uses robots to remove the hides and make certain cuts as the carcasses move along the line. The system uses cameras to measure the carcasses in order for the robots to make cuts in the correct place. Once the carcasses are gutted, each one is inspected by government employees for any type of carcass contamination. If they do not pass inspection, the carcasses are tagged for removal of any type of contamination, or they are condemned.

From the kill floor, the carcasses are tagged with a plastic tag and an RFID chip, in order to trace each carcass as it moves through the plant. They move into chill rooms first, at around 15 degrees Celsius for four hours, and then are moved into cold storage at 6 degrees Celsius for two to six days.

The majority of lamb processed by Silver Fern Farms is cut up, vacuumed packed and shipped frozen to overseas markets. Europe makes up the largest market for New Zealand lamb, as well as the United States and Asia.

The last part of our tour was through the yards, where each lot from each farm is penned separately. Lots of lambs from one farm are all killed at the same time, and farms are paid by carcass yield. The yards were very calm and quiet, and virtually stress free for the animals. Dogs are not used in the yards anymore, due to government regulation.

It was very interesting to see the plant, specifically the lamb plant because very little sheep is eaten in Canada. I learned a lot, and I would recommend touring Silver Fern Farms to any agvocates traveling to New Zealand, it's a great way to see how food is processed in a different county.

Our last couple days in Christchurch we spent by touring around the city to check out the earth quake damage. It is devastating to see the damage throughout the entire city. At one point cruising around the city, we got lost, and found ourselves in an area where entire communities of homes had been condemned. I couldn't even imagine how tragic it would be to lose your home that you had made for yourself, and have it taken away from you by multiple earth quakes. Just awful.

We also got to meet up with some friends I had made from Tahora Farms at the pub out in Lincoln. Turns out Thursday night in Lincoln is quite the happening night, and we had a good time. It was really cool to go to the pwon with some friends one last time before we left New Zealand.

On Saturday morning before we left, we toured Silverstream Charolais, a stud located south of Christchurch on the highway out to Akaroa. We spent the very rainy morning touring around the beautiful farm in the ute with Bruce Fisher of Silverstream, looking at some of the cow herd as well as the bull offering they have for their sale in June.

Saw some great cattle, definitely very comparable in style to Canadian cattle. Again at Silverstream, the cattle are grown on grass and hay, without grain added to their diets, so choosing the right genetics to use in the herd requires some different qualities for them as it would be in Canada. Very interesting, and an absolutely gorgeous farm. Such a great tour, even though it was short and it poured rain the entire time.

Although it was raining and cold for our last day in New Zealand, leaving the country on our flight to Australia that afternoon was bittersweet. I am very excited to see Aussie, however leaving New Zealand was very sad. I grew to love the country. Not only the bacon and egg pies, gorgeous landscape and Tui beer, but I also fell in love with the people too. Kiwis are extremely friendly and hospitable people, and I absolutely reccomend visiting New Zealand to anyone who wants an idea of where to travel to! It's sweet as, mates. Sweet as.

The Glen Charolais Stud - February 27 - 29

After my stay at Tahora Farms, I met back up with Jackie, Morgan and Brandon for the weekend. On Monday morning, Brandon and I went to stay at The Glen Charolais stud near Hurunui, about an hour north of Christchurch. We stayed with Bill and Geraldine Hassel, and once again were treated to great kiwi hospitality!

The Glen raises Full French Charolais and sheep on the foothills of the Southern Alps. The farm runs about 40 cow-calf pairs and 400 ewes, who average lambing around 150%. The farm was absolutely gorgeous, and this year because they have been getting so much rain, the paddocks were still lush and green, whereas usually this time of the season as autumn sets in, the grass begins to dry out.

Sparrow and I were lucky enough to experience sheep shearing, tagging ewes, watching working dogs move cattle an sheep, help with cattle performance recording and ate some delicious New Zealand Charolais beef!

We had an absolutely fabulous week, and saw some great cattle. I was quite impressed how efficient New Zealand cattle are, seeing how they are only grown on grass and hay, and grain does not play a huge role in beef production in the country. Some of the country is rough land to farm, and the cattle need to be very hardy to withstand cold and rain in the winter, and need to be able to convert grass and roughage into beef, instead of a higher energy source like grain.

We left The Glen Charolais on Wednesday after a great couple days, on our way back to Christchurch for our last days in New Zealand.

Tahora Farms - February 20 to 26, 2012

I spent five days at Tahora Farms, a Holstein and Jersey dairy south of Christchurch owned by Dean & Jo Geddes and Jim & Judith Geddes. Tahora is situated on the Cantebury Plains, with beautiful flat land looking onto mountains. I was a great opportunity for me to stay at Tahora because not only do they have absolutely excellent cattle with lots of Canadian and American genetics, but Dean is also an avid polo player and he raises polo ponies. I had never before seen a polo match, and I was quite excited to see the horses!

Polo is an intense game, and the horses and players are incredible athletes. It's an impressive thing to watch, with horses running full out across the field and players making almost impossible shots from underneath, in front and behind their horses. I was quite amazed, and it's definitely a sport I would love to be able to play. During my week at the farm, I got to help out the grooms with the polo ponies and got watch a polo match for the first time.

Jim and Judith own a few Standardbred race horses - their horses Dixie Commando and Gumboots raced at Addington Raceway while I was there. Dean and Jo also do hunting and eventing, and I got the privilege to ride Dean's hunter Lucky a couple times - easily the largest horse I have ever been on.

The main reason I had come to Tahora was to see their cattle, and I was lucky enough to be able to milk in a rotary parlor for the first time! Being located in the Cantebury region, which is the largest grain producing area in the country, access to grain a lot easier than on the North Island. Tahora's cows get grain on the rotary during milking. Milking on the rotary was very interesting, as I've only ever milked in a herringbone before. I was taking cups off of each cow, and I found and it's such a nice way to milk because the cows come to you! Each cow was on the rotary for about 8 minutes, and if a cow was still milking by the time she came around, we would just put a chain up behind her so she couldn't back out and she would go around again. It was very different than a herringbone, as if there is one cow who milks slower, she can hold up an entire row of cows. I really enjoyed seeing the different system, but it is hard for me to pick my favorite type of shed to milk in, as there are different management aspects I like about each system.

As for the cattle themselves, Tahora has some strong cow families, and I got to see a lot of great cows and heifers from the Murribrook Insp Toni, Tahora TB Leyma EX and Tahora Linmack Lara EX families. The farm has a very impressive show record, winning multiple champion titles at the Cantebury show as well as the New Zealand Royal show, with both Holstein and Jersey cows. The farm has an upcoming production sale in April, and I was able to help out with some of the sale calves. Some very impressive prospects, and I suspect the sale will go very well!

All in all, I had an incredible week and had a ton of fun with everyone at the farm, especially some of the staff. It turns out that the pub, The Famous Grouse in nearby Lincoln, is a pretty fun place to go any night of the week! I also got the chance to go out to Akaroa one afternoon with Philippa (one of the grooms) - it was an absolutely stunning place along the coast in the mountains!

Good bye to the North Island!

When I left Kauri Glen Farms, I headed up to Auckland to spend a couple days with Judith, my friend from N. Ireland who we met on the Kiwi Experience bus. Judith works as an au pere in West Auckland and is working on becoming transferring her nursing accreditation from home to work in New Zealand permanently. We hung out in the city for the weekend, cruising around, doing some shopping and hanging out with her friend Karu. They dropped me off at the airport for my flight to Christchurch, and I was sad to leave. I've been very fortunate to have met such wonderful people (like Judith) during my travels, and I can't wait to see her again in the future.

I left the North Island that evening, hopping on a flight down to Christchurch to meet with Jackie and Morgan. After 3 weeks of not seeing them, it was such a sweet little reunion. And to my complete surprise, Sparrow jumped out from behind some benches, I had no idea that he had been with them!

The four of us hung out in Ashburton for the weekend, where Jackie and Morgan were staying while they worked construction in Christchurch. On Sunday night we drove Sparrow down to Geraldine to the Hargreaves' cattle station, where he stayed for the week. And on Monday morning Jackie and Morgan dropped me off in between Lincoln and Tai Tapu for my week at Tahora Farms, just south of Christchurch. After a quick weekend together, we were all splitting up again! More amazing adventures to be had here in New Zealand, that's for sure!

Kauri Glen Farms - January 31 to February 17, 2012

On the morning of January 31, I hopped on the bus in Auckland to head south to work for Tony Barton at Kauri Glen Farms, a Holstein stud near Matamata. Matamata is in the Waikato area - one of the largest dairy regions in New Zealand. As a matter of fact, there are more dairy cattle in the Waikato region than there is in all of Canada. In 2010, there was over 1.8 million dairy cattle in Waikato, whereas in Canada in 2010 there were 1.4 million dairy cattle. The dairy industry is extremely important to New Zealand, it is the largest industry in the country and in 2008/09 contributed over $10 billion to the New Zealand economy. In the last couple years the price of milk has been increasing, encouraging more investment into dairy farms and there has been a massive turnover of other types of farms into dairying.

Kauri Glen Farms milks purebred Holsteins and calves year round, similar to dairies in Canada and the US, yet vastly different from many of the farms in the area. Many farms in Waikato milk crossbred Jersey/ Fresian cattle and calve once per year, in the spring. This was new to me, as dairy farms in Canada also calve year round and I have never seen a crossbred herd at home. It was very interesting to see the difference in management practices between Canada and New Zealand.

Tony uses a lot of Canadian and American genetics in his herd and has built up a beautiful herd over the years. His hard work has paid off, and his cattle did quite well at this year's NZ Dairy Event in Fielding this January. Kauri Glen took home the titles of Junior Champion and Reserve Junior Champion, Intermediate Champion and Reserve Senior Champion. To say the least, I got to work with some excellent cattle!

I spent two and a half weeks working at the farm; milking, feeding calves, moving stock from paddock to paddock, processing calves and generally loving the beautiful scenery of the farm. Kauri Glen is made up of beautiful flat, lush, green paddocks with the Kaimai Ranges in the background, just a short drive from the farm. From the farm you can see the 153 meter high Wairere Falls, which are used as a background for all the Kauri Glen cow pictures. The view from the cowshed will always be one of my favorites, so nice to be milking great cows and be able to look out onto the Kaimai's. In one word: incredible.

During my two weeks I also got to experience Tuberculosis testing, processing calves to prevent facial excema, and the Semex On Farm Competition. Tuberculosis is a disease not yet eradicated in New Zealand, and each cow was injected with the modified virus by a veterinarian, and then left for a couple days. The vet then came back to see if there were any cows that reacted to the injection and were positive carriers of TB. Luckily, there were none. Facial excema is also another common problem in New Zealand caused by a fungus in rye grasses. This fungus produces spores that, when ingested causes liver damage and photosensitivity in cattle. To prevent facial excema, each animal is given a bolus of zinc, which combats the disease. It was really neat to see different issues from home, and how they are managed.

I was also really lucky to be able to do some really cool things while I was there as well. The first weekend I was there - Tony, Mark (Tony's son) and I went up to the Coromandel Peninsula to Whangamata to visit Tony's sister Patria and her husband Shannon's batch. I had a great time, got to go out on the boat to pull up some crayfish pots, enjoyed some great food (I'm now additced to lamb and venison) and drink (Also addicted to NZ red wine), met some amazing people and received true kiwi hospitality!

The second week I was there, Tony took me up into the Kaimais to do some deer hunting for Red Deer. Unfortunately we didn't come back from our hunting trip with any venison in our packs; but I got to do some wicked hiking through the Kaimai bush, saw lots of deer tracks and pig tracks, and got to look out over the top of the Wairere Falls. An absolutely amazing view of the Matamata/ Waharoa/ Te Aroha area!

The next weekend, we went up Whangaparoa to go fishing with Tony's cousin Scott his wife Michelle and their daughters Sam and Georgia. It was a great weekend even though we didn't reel in any huge fish, we still caught a few red snapper and even a couple baby sharks! We spent the rest of the day snorkeling and riding a sea biscuit around and Scott dove for some scallops. For the first time in my life I tried a raw scallop straight from the ocean! To be honest, it tasted quite good, however I almost couldn't handle the slimy texture. That night we enjoyed incredible seafood, and I tried whitebait for the first time. Absolutely delicious! I was treated to more great kiwi hospitality and I had a blast!

I also got the opportunity to tour Hobbiton movie set where they filmed the Shire in the Lord of the Rings movies as well as the upcoming Hobbit movies. Quite a fitting thing for myself to experience while in Matamata, as those of you who know me know that I am a shorter person, quite reminiscent of a hobbit. Super cool to be there!
Tony and I also went out to Muangatautri Scenic Reserve, an fenced off bird reserve around Mt. Muangatautri to keep out possums, stoats and deer. The reserve was really neat to see, as there were no pests, so the bird life was diverse and the undergrowth of the forest was denser than in the Kaimais where we had hunted the week before. Very beautiful place!

I left Kauri Glen on February 17th after such a great two and a half weeks, so I was very sad to leave. I met some amazing people and have great memories to look back on. I am so lucky to have been able to stay at Kauri Glen, and I'm so thankful to have that experience! I can definitely see myself going back for a visit!

The Trek up to the Northland and back- January 27-29

On the morning of the 27th, Thomas, Sparrow and I said goodbye to Jackie as she was getting ready to leave for her "vacation from her vacation" to her brother Ryan's wedding in Mexico! The three of us girls were all going different directions, and after spending every day for the past month with them it felt pretty weird to be splitting up. 

That morning, the boys and I began our little journey up to the Northland in our little rental car - a Toyota Corolla we nicknamed Godzilla. We made our way up highway 1, going over the Auckland Harbour bridge. Our first major stop was at Whangarei Falls - apparently one of the most photographed waterfalls in New Zealand - or so the sign said. Definitely a stop worth making if you have some time on your way up the North Island.

After we got back onto the road, I passed out for a while and Sparrow took over as navigator. Next thing I know, I wake up and we're on some windy flipping road in the middle of no where along the east coast. We made a stop at Lang's Beach to stick our feet in the Pacific, and I got us back on track onto the main highway.

We ended our travels for the day in Paihia - had fish and chips for lunch and checked into a hostel. Paihia is in the Bay of Islands - there are over 144 islands in the bay. And of course, like everywhere also in New Zealand the scenery is incredible! Our day finished off with a fine NZ steak supper we cooked up at our hostel, and a few too many Tui's. 

The next morning we were up bright and early at 6:00 am because for some reason, we let Thomas convince us to go King fishing with him out in the bay. To tell you the truth, I'm sure glad we went! At 7 am we boarded our beauty of a boat, named the Major Tom II, met our skipper/fishing guide Jeff and one of the coolest dogs in the world: Poppy, a little Jack Russell terrier "fish hunter".

We headed out into the bay to catch some live baitfish - some yellowtail. Our baitfish lines had a few hooks on them, and we could catch multiple fish at one time. Thomas and Sparrow were catching up to 4 fish at a time, and I was helping to take the hooks off and throw them in the tank at the back to keep them alive. I'm not trying to brag (well, I am sort of, haha) but my first line I put out for baits had 4 fish on it, and my second had 6 fish. Yea, for my first time fishing you could call me a damn lucky angler! 

After catching a mess of yellow tail, we headed out to the bay to find a good spot. On our way out, Jeff saw some bottle nose dolphins and cruised on by so they would jump into our wake. Three dolphins cruised in our wake for about 10 minutes, only a couple short feet away from the boat. One of the most incredible animals I've ever seen, these dolphins were huge. They had to be close to 1000 pounds and around 7 or 8 feet long. Absolutely beautiful!  Anyways dolphins are great, but they are bad for fishing so we made our way away from them and anchored the boat above a reef, hoping to find some Kingies!

I'm not going to tell you what exactly we caught, because I fear the boys may have a different story than me for bragging purposes, but all in all the fishing wasn't great. We caught some snapper for a good feed, and the day involved too many bait fish getting stolen, too many sharks and barracudas and not enough King Fish. It was still an incredible experience, the ocean was calm, the sun was shining and we saw some beautiful boats go past us.  When we made it back to the harbor, got back into Godzilla and headed up north! Our destination: Cape Reigna.

The drive up north is through some pretty rough country, definitely would be a little bit difficult to farm some of the land up there, but as for scenery the rocky hills and hilly landscape is beautiful to look at. Our first stop along the way was past Kerikeri at Cooper's Beach for a swim in the ocean and a lie in the sand.  We continued up north, stopping at Rarawa Beach - a white silica beach on the east coast. Beautiful white, squeaky sand ran for miles, we dipped our legs into the ocean and ran back to Godzilla.

Back on the road, we reached the Ninety Mile Beach sand dunes around 7 pm, and for a bargain of $15 bucks got some sand boards and went sliding down some steep sand dunes. A face full of sand and a couple tumbles later we found our way back in the car and ended at Cape Reinga at sunset. My breath was taken away by the view walking down to the light house right on the edge of Cape. From the light house, you can see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, and the waves crash against each other. This area is very special to Maori culture, as spirits who have passed on return to the homeland of Hawaikii from Cape Reinga.

I felt very humbled by the scenery, and at that moment so thankful to be there, and to be living the life I have.  Brandon, Thomas and I enjoyed a bottle of red wine and watched the sunset, then headed to our hostel to cook up our catch from the day, red snapper in dill and lemon, and enjoy a few beers. 

Our next day's adventures took us to Ninety Mile Beach on the west coast of the North Island, where Godzilla ventured out onto the sand and drove into the ocean for a bit... Pretty crazy little monster! The beach is glorious, and appears as if it goes on forever.  We headed down the island, stopping to see a bit of the Puketi Forest. Then back on the road again along the west coast to see Tane Mahuta - the largest Kauri tree in New Zealand. The tree is 51.5 meters tall and 13.5 meters in circumference, and it is estimated to be over 2000 years old. Very neat. 

Muriwai Beach was our last stop of the day, and we arrived to run into the ocean just at sunset. We checked out the gannet colony near the beach. Gannets are large white birds that dive into the ocean for fish, and they are incredible athletes. I've heard that they can dive up to 40 meters deep, however don't quote me on that, haha. Anyways, still very cool. 

We ended up back in Auckland, grabbed some late supper and ended our journey.  The next day was January 30th, Thomas left us for his flight home to British Columbia to get back to pulling tits. Sparrow and I wandered around downtown Auckland and checked out some stuff, hung out in the hostel and got organized for the next few weeks. On the 31st, Sparrow got onto the Kiwi Experience bus to finish his tour of New Zealand, and I was about to begin my next Kiwi adventure on my way to Matamata to work on Kauri Glen Holsteins for a couple weeks! Stay tuned for my next post!

Auckland - January 25/26

Our first full day back in Auckland was spent by doing a day trip out to Rangitoto Island - a 20 minute ferry ride from the downtown ferry terminal. Rangitoto is a scenic reserve that is completely pest free - meaning no mice, rats, possums or stoats remain on the island, making it a reserve for native birds and plants.

The island is volcanic, and lumpy dry hardened lava covers the majority of the island, along with bush and trees. Thomas, Sparrow and I walked up to the summit of the volcano and checked out some caves formed by lava flows. It was really neat seeing volcanic evidence so close up, very unusual scenery for us Canucks. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and from the summit it's quite easy to see the CBD and harbor, as well as see Waiheke Island and the Coromandel Peninsula off in the distance. Very neat. 

 That evening back at our hostel, we met a guy from Alabama and a couple from Gatineau, Quebec. We enjoyed several beers and talked about all sorts of things from traveling, food, agriculture, hiking, nature and culture. One of the great parts about staying in hostels is meeting people from around the world (even if they are from the same country as you!) and getting to know the differences in perspectives and cultures.  I can honestly say that I changed a persons perspective on agriculture and how livestock are handled and managed. The amount of misinformation given to consumers is absolutely mind blowing.  

Our next day in Auckland was pretty chill. Judith, our friend from N. Ireland who is working in Auckland as an au pere, picked Jackie, Morgan and I up from our hostel and we cruised out to Piha Beach for a couple hours. Piha is a black sand beach, known for it's strong rip tides and great surfing. The scenery is stunning, the ocean a bright turquoise, New Zealand flax grows along the wide, long beach and the sand is hot on the feet because it's black! A pretty cool as afternoon, I'd say! We had supper that night at Judith's place and that evening Judith and Morgan took off to Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton for the long weekend.

Days Twenty One to Twenty Three - January 22-24 - Last Days on the Kiwi Experience Bus!

The morning of January 22nd, we left Kaikoura and headed across the Cook Strait by way of Interislander Ferry to Wellington.

On the way, we made a quick stop at a breeding seal colony. It was very interesting to see the seal pups play with each other, similar to dog pups. Unlike the seal colony Brandon and I had visited in Kaikoura, this was a breeding colony, and the seals were far more territorial and protective. I wouldn't recommend getting too close to a breeding colony, as they can be very aggressive.

When we arrived at Picton, we got our ferry tickets and headed out of the terminal into town for lunch. Picton is a pretty little town, situated amongst low bush covered mountains, and it has a great beach. 
After a 2.5 hour ferry ride, we finally arrived in Wellington. For anyone looking to travel NZ, you should know that the entire CBD of Wellington has free WIFI!

That evening, our bus mates got together for a faiRly historical event - Ben, a guy from Aussie on our bus was allowing a few other guys to cut his hair for $100. Ben's hair is fairly long, and he had it in a pretty cool style. David and Daniel from London, as well as Henrik and Rasmus from Denmark did the honors of giving Ben a horribly awful haircut, which was then fixed and cut pretty short by a girl from Denmark on our bus, Sibene. After the drama, we all headed to the bar for a night out.

The next day Morgan, Jackie, Sparrow and I were getting on the bus, and we were splitting up with a lot of the others we had been on the bus with for a while.  From Wellington we made our way up to Taupo, and stayed there for a night. Sparrow and I checked out some thermal hot springs, right near the river. It was really neat, because could sit in a small stream coming from the hot springs, and when you got too hot, you could jump into the cold river flowing past. A very neat experience. 

The next morning we made our way up the north Island, through Matamata aka. Hobbiton up to Auckland. It was in Auckland where we met up with our friend Thomas Cuthbert, and did a hike up to Mount Eden that afternoon. Definitely an incredible view of the city.  Later that night we headed in to the downtown CBD to a bar called Cassette 9 to meet some friends from the bus that were with us earlier in the trip - Mitri (Brazil), Frances and Leigh (Ireland) and our bus driver, Olly. Great night for partying, that ended similar to any bar night back home - at McDonald's!   I had such a fabulous time doing the Kiwi Experience, being able to see so much of New Zealand in such a short period of time (22 days) was mind blowing, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone traveling to New Zealand for the first time!

Day Twenty - January 21 - The Day We Swam With DOLPHINS!!!

We started the day early, heading to Dolphin Encounter to gear up in wet suits, snorkels and flippers for our swim with the dolphins. After a video and a short bus ride out to the bay, we boarded our boat the Delphinidae and headed out on the ocean to find dolphins!

The ocean was quite rough - with large swells and a "sea sickness warning" - and the ride out seemed quite long. Unfortunately Jackie got a bit seasick on our way out to the dolphins, but she's a trooper and didn't let it spoil her swim. 

There are a few different types of dolphins at Kaikoura, but the main species in the area is Dusky dolphins. There are several pods of Dusky dolphins that stay around Kaikoura year round to take advantage of the canyon and fish population. Dusky dolphins are black and white, range from 165-195 cm in length and can from 60 - 90 kilograms.They are very impressive creatures, as they are very acrobatic and like to show off. 

 Our skipper finally spotted the dolphins, we got our snorkels and flippers on, sat on the back of the boat and when he turned off the propellers, we jumped into the water. We were surrounded by over 300 Dusky dolphins! 

We swam out to be amongst the dolphins and as we were told, made high pitched noises and tried to swim like the dolphins to get their attention. And it worked! Each one of us had a unique experience because the dolphins are wild, and each one reacts differently with each person. It was amazing!  The dolphins swam alongside and underneath us, sometimes less than a foot away. Occasionally a dolphin would circle you, which happened to me a couple times. I made eye contact with the dolphin and tried to swim along side it, and it would circle again. It was pretty cool that a wild animal would swim with you in this was. 

After hopping off the boat 3 times to swim with the dolphins while the pod moved around, we finally finished and started heading back to shore. Lucky for Jackie and I, we were both sea sick the entire way back to shore. You could definitely tell that these Saskatchewan girls don't have sea legs! Haha. It was well worth it though, as the dolphin swim was one of my favorite things I've done in NZ. I'm not gonna lie, I was almost questioning my career path.

Later that day, Brandon and I did a hike out to the Peninsula Seal Colony to see some New Zealand fur seals. This seal colony is non-breeding seals, so they are less aggressive than other seals on the coast, and we were abel to get up a little closer to them than usual. It was pretty neat, and definitely a good end to the day. Not only did I swim with dolphins today, but I also found out that I was the album cover picture for Chive Everywhere on theChive! Such a great day!

Day Nineteen - January 20 - Christchurch to Kairkoura

Today was a sad day: Judith, Phil and Martin left us in Christchurch. We spent our last morning with them walking around the Botanic Gardens across from our hostel, and it was pretty difficult to say goodbye. Kiwi Experience allowed us to become friends, and we were so lucky to be able to share our trip together.

Phil and Martin flew home to England, and Judith flew back to work Auckland. Such a sad day to lose such great friends. The bus is definitely not the same without them. Every time I hear "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida, I almost hesitate for a minute expecting Judith to start singing along. I miss them all very much. 

Anyways, our little Canadian family consisting of Jackie, Morgan, Brandon and I continued onto Kaikoura on the Kiwi bus. Kaikoura is just north of Christchurch on the east coast of the North Island and is one of the best kept secrets of NZ. The town is right on the coast, where the mountains meet the sea, and the scenery made it one of my favorite stops in NZ. The ocean area surrounding Kaikoura is rich with sea life - whales, seals, sea birds, fish and dolphins. There is a massive underwater canyon at Kaikoura which located at the meeting place of two ocean currents. It has one of the most diversified underwater ecosystems in the world and was one of the first places in the world to begin ecotourism based around the sea life in the area. This is where Jackie, Morgan, Brandon and I swam with wild dolphins.

Day Eighteen - January 19 - Queenstown to Christchurch

We hopped back onto the Kiwi Ex bus and made the journey from Queenstown to Christchurch in a few hours, out of the mountains and into the Cantebury region. We made a quick stop at Lake Pukaki - a brilliant blue lake right beneath Mt. Cook, however the peak was in the clouds so I didn't get any great pics of the mountain. We passed by Twisel - a town near the base of Mt. Cook. There is a lot of area around Twisel featured in the Lord of the Rings movies, and driving past felt pretty neat.   We made it into Cantebury, and I realized that it reminds me of home: because it's flat. The region is largely farmland - we passed wineries, fruit and vege farms and tons of dairies.

We ended up in Christchurch around 6 pm that evening.  Christchurch is devastating. Since September 2010 there has been close to 10,000 earthquakes and aftershocks recorded in the area, the worst earthquake occurring in February 2011, causing the most damage and shutting down a lot of the downtown core of Christchurch.

We ended up staying at the YMCA, which was a short 10 min walk from the "Dead Zone". We took a walk around the destruction and I was taken aback at the devastation in the area. The downtown core in Christchurch is a ghost town, no one is around, all the shops are closed, huge buildings are falling apart or crumbled and the whole area is fenced off. Police patrol the area to make sure no one enters the dead zone, and basically the only people waling around are tourists. The whole area is very eerie, and it reminded me of a zombie movie - the sense of terrible devastation hangs in the air. Although Christchurch is shut down in many areas and there is not a lot to do anymore, it was worth spending a night there just to see it.

Days Fourteen to Seventeen - January 15-18 - QUEENSTOWN, BABY!

Queenstown is the "Adventure Capital of the World", and I'm not gonna lie, with the amount of extreme activities that you can do there - it sure lives up to it's reputation! We stayed at Nomads in Queenstown - one of the only hostels that provides breakfast and supper, which was nice actually. Sparrow met us at the hostel and started his travels with us from there. Good to see Burdman down here in NZ, just another addition to our NZ family. 

 Two of the most extreme things I've done in NZ were in Queenstown: bungy jumping and the Canyon Swing.  On January 15th we journeyed to the Kawarau River Bridge to bungy at AJ Hackett. Now this guy AJ Hackett is, to put it lightly, a lunatic. This is the man who invented bungy jumping by, quite literally, attaching an elastic rope to his legs and jumping off stuff. It all started back in the late 80's when hair was wild, fashion was brightly colored, and - I'm assuming - there were some crazy drugs around.  But seriously - AJ Hackett is a crazy dude. Originally he and his crew would jump off of bridges and cliffs around NZ including the Auckland Harbour bridge. Eventually that got old and they ventured overseas, and AJ jumped from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 

The Kawarau Bridge is the "World's Home of Bungy" - literally. This bridge is the first commercial bungy jumping location in history. And it is also the place where Jackie, Morgan and I made history and also jumped off of this bridge!  I'm not going to lie - bungy didn't seem too scary for me at first. I knew that it was safe and that thousands of people had done it at AJ Hackett with zero fatalities.  But when I got onto that bridge and stood in line to get harnessed up to jump with waist and leg harnesses - my brain sure didn't think it was a great idea, my phobia of heights kicked in and I was scared shitless.

We all waited in line on the bridge to move onto the jumping platform, and my heart was racing.  Morgan jumped right before me and Jackie was a couple spots behind me, along with some other fellow crazy people from Kiwi Experience.  Watching Morgan jump was insane, at first she was on the ledge standing with her toes on the edge, and then POOF she was gone! And then it was actually my turn. All harnessed up, I was helped to hop to the edge of the platform by, coincidentally, a fellow Canadian from Edmonton who worked for AJ Hackett.

I was so flipping scared I almost didn't let go, but he told me I wouldn't die, and eventually I got enough courage to let myself fall off. The bungy is insane! Such a weird feeling that I can't really explain. I'm definitely glad I did it.  At the viewing platform I got to watch Jackie jump - and that girl is a true adrenaline junkie! Her jump was so awesome - she jumped way off the platform and threw her arms out like a pro. Definitely got some great pics of that crazy girl! 

The other extreme thing we did in Queenstown was the Shotover Canyon Swing. This swing is the World's highest cliff jump: the cliff is 109 meters high, the free fall is 60 meters, and the swing is 200 meters. Sure doesn't sound like a lot, but if you are about to fall off that cliff it's flipping big. Jackie, Sparrow, Phil, Morgan and I got weighed up, checked in and met our jump guide - Logan - at the office in Queenstown. Jackie, Sparrow and I wore our "Keep Calm and Chive On" shirts for the jump - and they were a HUGE hit with the Canyon Swing guys! We were the first people to do the swing wearing these shirts! 

Getting on with this insane story, we headed down on to the swing platform, where we were all geared up in full body harnesses. The Canyon Swing is pretty cool, because there are hundreds of different ways you can do it. Backwards, forwards, upside down, pin drop, starfish, superman, flips... and the list goes on and on! Jackie jumped first, and she chose to jump off the plat form forward. Morgan went next, followed by me. We both chose to do The Chair: which is where you get seat belted into a chair, and lean backwards into the fall.

The guys at Canyon Swing are super fun, and are great at getting you freaked out right before the swing. You sit on the chair with your back to the ledge, and they get you to lean back on your chair with your feet off the ground. You are connected to the swing cable on your chest, and as you lean backwards, they hold on to the cable for a "dry run" - meaning you lean back and then they pull you back in. They did about 3 dry runs with Morgan before letting her go - just screwing with her head and getting her pretty scared, which was funny to watch. When it came to my turn, I was expecting that as well. I was freaking out a bit about how high the cliff was, but the guys just told me to keep calm and chive on, and I felt a bit better.  However after I pushed myself back and got my feet off the ground, he pulled me back in and I thought I was safe for a bit - and then he let me go! I did a couple flips on the way down on the chair, watching the rocks and trees fly by me as I plummeted 60 m towards the ground at 150 km/hour and then moving into a swing across the canyon. Definitely one of the most awesome feelings ever - almost as good as skydiving! 

The rest of our time in Queenstown was a blast - great bars, great scenery and of course one of the most tasty burger places in the world: Ferg Burger. I may have enjoyed one of these after the bar one night. These burgers are MASSIVE (probably about the size of a one pound Fuddrucker's burger for your Saskatchewan folk), and they are also extremely delicious gourmet with all sorts of toppings or meats - you can get beef, pork, chicken, lamb, venison, fish, falafel or tofo. Definitely a must have when you come to Queenstown, although the lines do get quite long, even at 3 am. 

We also experienced the Below Zero Ice Bar in Queenstown, which is a straightforward concept - a bar made of ice where they give you boots, gloves and a parka, and you stand around and drink in -8 degrees Celsius! It was pretty damn cool (ha ha!) and it sure reminded me of home! 

The last day we were in Queenstown, we took a day trip out to Milford Sound- which is easily the most beautiful place I have seen in my life. Milford Sound is really a fjord, created by glaciers thousands of years ago. The sound is lined with gigantic mountains that rise straight up out of the Tasman Sea. If you google Mitre Peak, you will most likely recognize it if you have ever seen pictures of NZ. It is the highest peak in the sound, and the most photographed mountain in New Zealand.  Milford Sound is not easily described, as everything is so massive - the waterfalls, mountains, cliffs and length of the sound. If I can get pictures to post on my blog, I will put some up. Definitely a must see for anyone traveling to this gorgeous country.

Day Thirteen - January 14 - Franz Josef to Wanaka

We left the rain at the West Coast and headed inland across the Southern Alps to Lake Wanaka. On the way to Wanaka we stopped at Lake Matheson for a short hike and tried to see the peaks of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman, but alas it's the West Coast and it was cloudy and rainy, so the view was terrible.

The drive into Wanaka was incredible! We made it through Haast and its beautiful vast river valley, then followed by jungle covered mountains we drove along the Haast river and up through the Haast pass. We made a quick stop at Thunder Creek Falls, and then continued on through Makarora, then finally along side Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka, surrounded by beautiful rugged mountains. 

Wanaka is situated right on the lake, surrounded with mountains. Stunning views from our hostel's balcony kitchen, definitely made it a great stop. We enjoyed our time in Wanaka walking around town, down along the beach and taking in the scenery. It's a nice little town in the summer - with a population close to 10,000 that close to triples in the winter because of the great snowboard and ski hills in the region. We also had the pleasure of visiting Puzzling World while we were there - which is a world renowned activity centre built with many illusion rooms and the worlds largest outdoor 3D maze that takes at least an hour to complete. Pretty cool, definitely a fantastic stop.

Day Twelve - January 13 - Franz Josef Glacier Hike

I've been far too busy being awesome and living life to post on my blog lately, so the next few posts I'll hammer out quickly to let you know what we've been up to.

So, Friday the 13th was upon us, and as likely as it sounds that something bad was about to happen to us, it turns out that the exact opposite did. Jackie, Morgan and I along with the rest of our Kiwi Ex "family" - Judith, Martin and Phil - headed to Franz Josef Glacier Guides to begin the hike up Franz Josef Glacier.

Martin and Morgan originally were booked in to do ice climbing, however the lovely West Coast climate decided to not allow that and the extremely rainy and "moist" conditions forced the ice climbing trip to be cancelled.

Anyways, we geared up in rain pants, jackets, wool socks, boots, gloves, toques and given crampons for the hike - hopped on the bus and we were off to the glacier.  The hike started off (in pouring rain) with a quick 45 minutes through the valley and up large rocky hill to the base of the glacier. Soaked already, there we stopped to attach the crampons onto our boots and got a quick lesson from our guide - Michael "Rookie" Rook - about how to walk with crampons on, without tripping or catching the spikes on your legs.

There were several groups ahead of us on the hike - and the guides of those groups had cut stairs in the glacier to allow everyone to get up. As we walked, Rookie would use his pick axe to fix any stairs if need be. It was quite surreal to be hiking up the glacier, and even though the pouring rain soaked us right through, it made the whole experience even that much more extreme. Huge waterfalls poured from the mountain cliffs on either side of the glacier, which would not have been there if it had been clear. The glacier looked so mysterious with the clouds hanging so thickly near the peak, and it felt more dangerous being up there in such conditions.

Glaciers are basically flowing rivers of ice, so as we ascended we could see the ice flow pattern appeared to break apart as it flowed over cliffs around 60 m below the glacier. Franz Josef Glacier moves up to 5 meters per day, so each day the track could be very different than the day before. On either side of the glacier, we saw the remains of several rock falls from the cliffs, and our guide told us that they now guide up the middle of the glacier to avoid possible rock falls. On the way up we saw some rocks fall off the cliff to our right. Extreme!

Eventually we made it to the top of the glacier, devoured some lunch we had packed and explored a bit on the top. We saw some ice falls near the top, which looked like frozen water falls, and we took some pictures. The way down was a lot easier than the way up, and as we descended we stamped our feet into the ice with our crampons to avoid slipping. It was so much easier to enjoy the views on the way down - waves of brilliant white and blue ice flow down the glacier, appearing almost like a river frozen in time. Pretty neat that's for sure!

At the bottom we removed our crampons, hiked back to the bus, dropped our gear off at Franz Josef Glacier Guides and headed to the Glacier Hot Pools to heat up! It sure was nice to sit in the warm water, heat our muscles back up and relax. We ended the day with supper at the Monsoon Pub at our hostel, where I ate my first meal of bangers and mash in history. Bloody delicious if you ask me!

Day Eleven - January 12 - The Bushman Centre

After a nice sleep in, to recover from our late night, we got on the road for our morning stop at the Bushman Centre. West coast people are... well they're from the west coast. Cut from a different cloth. But don't get me wrong, they are very cool people. Very concerned about maintaining their environment

The centre set up bu a man named Peter Salter to explain to others the west coast way of life. The first part of the museum tour was a video showing the hunt and eradication of the deer that were released into New Zealand by Europeans in the 18th century to add "diversification" to the landscape. What actually happened was that the deer destroyed the natural environment of NZ and needed to be controlled because the population ballooned quickly. So these crazy Kiwis hunted the deer for the venison market, on foot and by helicopter using 303 rifles.

 Eventually when the population got so low and the market for venison still demanded a supply of venison, these Kiwis invented a net gun to catch the deer to use in farming to keep the supply up for the venison market. Sometimes to catch the deer, men would just jump out of helicopters on the the backs of deer, pull them down and hog tie them. Basically an insane version of steer wrestling, but with a helicopter and a deer. Kiwis are crazy! Pretty neat story of how the deer farming industry began in NZ - which now brings in revenues of around $260 million to the New Zealand agriculture industry.

We pulled into Franz Josef around 2 pm and checked into the hostel. Jack and Morgan went on a kayaking tour for a couple hours on Lake Mapourika while I chilled out in the hostel and tried to nurse a sore shoulder from an old injury. Tomorrow we do an 8 hour hike on the Franz Josef Glacier - the fastest moving glacier in the world - moving at 5 meters per day. Should be a good time! So Kia Ora for now! Another blog post in a few days hopefully!

Day Ten - January 11 - Westport to Lake Mahinapua

I started off the morning getting picked up by Buller Adventures for a solo morning horse trek. The rest of the bus went off to see the seal colony at Cape Foulwind, while I got to ride on a little sorrel Standardbred gelding named Joey, through some farmland and a creek on a sunny NZ morning.

I got a personal tour from Lisa, one of the owners of Buller Adventures. She has working on farms around Westport her entire life, and she told me a little bit about how the dairies in that area run. The farm she works at calves from August to November, then artificially inseminates all the cows from December to January. Bulls are released with the cows after AI'ing until the end of February.

Most of the cows in the area were either Jerseys or Fresians (Holsteins) and are rotational grazed in paddocks. The dairies are probably around 350-400 cows on average, and most dairies have rotary parlours. I was almost more excited to hear about the agriculture industry in the area than I was to be on a horse, riding through the stunning scenery.

After the ride, I was dropped off at the Kiwi Ex bus and we were off to our next stop: Punakaiki National Park along the coast, to see the famous pancake rocks and blow holes. Honestly, this entire tour around the pancake rocks felt like it was off of a postcard, and I can't even describe how beautiful it was. Pictures don't do it justice either.   Anyways, at around 1 pm, we got to see the high tide come in to burst through the blow holes, sending huge sprays of ocean water over the pancake rocks. I don't even know how to explain how neat it was.

After Punakaiki, we made it to our destination for the night - the Mahinapua Hotel (aka Poo Pub). The Mahinapua Pub is famous for having the oldest barkeeper in NZ. His name is Les, he is 87 years old, and he seemed like a complete beauty! He served us up a glorious meal or steak, potatoes and salads, and we enjoyed a few pitchers of beer in his pub after supper. The pub walls are covered in polaroids of past Kiwi Ex groups that have stayed at the pub, and the roof is covered in hats, and different mementos from past guests (including a few bras and pairs of gitch, haha). The pub has been doing exclusive Kiwi Experience functions almost every night for many years. Some of the pictures on the walls date back to the late nineties.  We dressed up that night for a "P" party - all the costumes had to begin with the letter P. Morgan and I were paper bag princesses, Judith was a Polynesian and Jackie was a party animal (quite fitting, I may add. Ha). It was a great night!

Day Nine - January 10 - Kaiteriteri to Westport

After a leisurely morning on the beach, we hopped on the bus off to Westport. Westport is situated along the West coast of the S. Island, and alongside the stunning Buller River. We stopped at Buller Adventures right before West Port to go jet boating on the river.

Jet boats are a NZ invention, able to travel through extremely shallow water (down to 10 cm deep), as well as being able to accelerate very quickly. The jet boat we were on seated about 16 people, plus the driver - and had a 850 HP engine to power the jets used to turn and propel the boat forward. Our driver told me that the boat cost around $95,000 to purchase. The jet boat ride we had in Westport was one of the best values in NZ - $75 for 75 minutes. Compared to the jet boats in Queenstown, which are $120 for 25 minutes, it was quite the deal. But seriously, I didn't decide to do the jet boating because it was cheaper - it was FLIPPING AWESOME! We all piled in the boat, and our driver took us up the river to Hawks Crag. The river at that time was about 1.4 meters deep, but the most recent record flood was 11.8 meters deep. It was almost unbelievable to see the marks on the Crag where the river had been up to.

Apparently the river can get up to 8 km wide in places when it floods, and it has been known to carry local dairy cattle down the river with the flood waters when it overflows. Farmers then just pick the cattle up in Westport and take them back to the farm. I didn't believe that at first, but according to another Kiwi Ex girl that had seen it happen, it is true.

After a tour up the river, our driver started the fun parts - doing the crazy 360 degree turns and moves that jet boats are known for. We ended up getting pretty wet, and our knuckles were quite white after holding onto the railing so hard, but it was a great thrill!

We finally got into Westport just before supper, checked into Bazil's hostel, had supper and then grabbed a bottle of wine and our bus driver took the whole Kiwi Ex group down to the beach for a bonfire. I'm not gonna lie, but there isn't many other evening activities that can beat drinking wine by a fire on the beach by the ocean under a full moon. Incredible!

Day Eight - January 9 - Welcome the South Island!

After a leisurely morning on the beach, we hopped on the bus off to Westport. Westport is situated along the West coast of the South Island, and alongside the stunning Buller River. We stopped at Buller Adventures right before West Port to go jet boating on the river. Jet boats are a New Zealand invention, able to travel through extremely shallow water (down to 10 cm deep), as well as being able to accelerate very quickly. The jet boat we were on seated about 16 people, plus the driver - and had a 850 HP engine to power the jets used to turn and propel the boat forward.

Our driver told me that the boat cost around $95,000 to purchase. The jet boat ride we had in Westport was one of the best values in NZ - $75 for 75 minutes. Compared to the jet boats in Queenstown, which are $120 for 25 minutes, it was quite the deal. But seriously, I didn't decide to do the jet boating because it was cheaper - it was FLIPPING AWESOME! We all piled in the boat, and our driver took us up the river to Hawks Crag. The river at that time was about 1.4 meters deep, but the most recent record flood was 11.8 meters deep. It was almost unbelievable to see the marks on the Crag where the river had been up to. Apparently the river can get up to 8 km wide in places when it floods, and it has been known to carry local dairy cattle down the river with the flood waters when it overflows. Farmers then just pick the cattle up in Westport and take them back to the farm. I didn't believe that at first, but according to another Kiwi Ex girl that had seen it happen, it is true.

After a tour up the river, our driver started the fun parts - doing the crazy 360 degree turns and moves that jet boats are known for. We ended up getting pretty wet, and our knuckles were quite white after holding onto the railing so hard, but it was a great thrill!

We got into Westport just before supper, checked into Bazil's hostel, had supper and then grabbed a bottle of wine and our bus driver took the whole Kiwi Ex group down to the beach for a bonfire. I'm not gonna lie, but there isn't many other evening activities that can beat drinking wine by a fire on the beach by the ocean under a full moon. Incredible!

Day Seven - January 8 - River Valley to Wellington

I woke up early this morning for yoga at the River Valley Spa. The yoga studio looked out over the river, so not only was I stretching out my sore muscles from the Tongariro hike, but it was so relaxing to enjoy the views and get chilled out after the last few insane days.
Morgan, Jackie and Judith along with some others from the bus went white water rafting on the grade 5 course they have on the river.  After some lunch we hiked up to the bus and got going at 1 pm. After a quick pit stop in Taihape, we got back on the road to stop for a snack in Bulls. Bulls is a super cool "hick town" as our bus driver says. Everything in the town has Bulls in the name - the pharmacy is Indispensabulls, the bar is Sociabulls and so on. The town had a recent ad campaign with the slogan "Our milk comes from Bulls". Pretty hilarious play on words if you know anything about cattle... Ha.
We have been driving through lots of flat farm land today. I've seen tons more dairies and sheep operations than before. Saw my first mustard crop today, wheat, flowering alfalfa, maize, barley and grass fields. Today was also the first time I've seen irrigation - large pivots over grass fields. Looks a lot more like home in this area - still small fields, but the land is nice and flat! Definitely helped with my homesickness.
 After some more boring driving we got to Wellington around 6 pm. Wellington is a very artsy city - comparable to Melbourne Australia or San Francisco USA. Went to the supermarket for some wine and groceries, and now back at the hostel for a chill night. Catch the ferry for the South Island tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, so it'll be a fairly early morning.

Day Six - January 7 - River Valley

After that hard night partying, we were lucky to sleep in. The Kiwi Ex bus left Taupo at 9:20 am, with a first stop in Turangi for food. Or next stop was Tawhai Falls - aka Gollum's Waterfall. *insert some kind of Katie-is-a-hobbit joke in here.* Anyways, these water falls are very beautiful, and very Lord of the Rings-esque.  We arrived in River Valley around 1 pm. The drive there was along a very winding and narrow road, amongst huge hill ranges covered in sheep and dairy cattle. River Valley Lodge is a beautiful and remote place, the river runs right along the lodge, and it is very relaxing. It rained the entire time we were there, but I still couldn't help being stunned by the scenery. That evening before supper I did a session in the wood fired sauna with some Kiwi Ex girls from Ireland. So glorious to steam in the sauna, and then run out into the rain when we got too hot. Supper was a charcoal BBQ'ed lamb roast and fresh salads. So delicious after the very busy last few days. 

Days Four & Five - January 5/6 - Taupo

We left Rotorua at 8:45 am to head to Taupo. Our first stop was Te Puia to see active geysers, volcanic mud pools and kiwi birds. Our guide boiled some eggs in one of the boiling springs for us, so cool! We stopped at some other mud pools after a short drive on the bus. There is so much volcanic activity in the North Island - lots to see in quite a small area.
Our next stop was Huka Falls - a brilliantly blue and stunning waterfall near Taupo on the Waikato River. The falls are 11 meters tall, and the channel from the river to the falls looks man-made, however it was actually formed by an earthquake.

Finally we arrived at Taupo, and I waited nervously with some other Kiwi Ex's to sky dive over Lake Taupo. At 2:45 pm a bus picked us up to take us to FreeFall Taupo. They geared us up in red jumpsuits and harnesses were put on us by our tandem guides for the sky dive. I was so nervous at the time that I have completely forgot what my guides name was, however he was an English fellow who had been doing sky diving for over 9 years. (this was fairly reassuring, as I was about to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet to free fall for 60 seconds before letting the parachute out)  After gearing up, we hopped in a little pink plane.

There were 6 of us from Kiwi Ex jumping, so we were in the plane along with all of our guides and a few camera people filming some of us. There was an awesome quote on the side of the plane - "Fear is temporary, Achievement is permanent". I felt that it was quite fitting for the activity that we were about to do.

The plane took us up to 15,000 feet. We were about 9,000 feet above the clouds. I was last to jump out of the plane, so I got to see all the ridiculously scared faces of each person who jumped before me. My guide and I made it towards the side door at the back of the plane, put our feet out and jumped! The first 5 seconds of the 60 second free fall, my heart was racing and I was trying my hardest to breathe while keeping my hands held tightly onto my harness and trying to stay in "banana" shape. After my guide tapped my shoulders, I could let my arms out. I'm ridiculously scared of heights,  but after letting my arms out, it felt like I was flying! (Instead of what was actually happening - plummeting towards the earth at 200 km/hr.) One of the best feelings I've ever had, and I would definitely do that again! I think I may be an adrenaline junkie now.... We'll see how it pans out...

 After the rush of sky diving, I had a perma-grin on my face for the rest of the day.  Jackie, Morgan and I headed to Mulligan's - and Irish bar near our hostel for a burger and beer with some other Kiwi Ex guys. That evening we headed to Element Bar for Ladies' Night for free drinks. A few of the men on our bus felt that it was appropriate to dress up like ladies to get free drinks as wells, and it actually worked! A great day, all in all.

Our second day in Taupo started bright and early at 4:30 am - at 5:30 we boarded the Tongariro Expeditions bus to head out to Tongariro National Park for a 19 kilometer hike of the Tongariro Alpine crossing. Easily the hardest hike I've ever done in my life!  The first half of the hike was basically all uphill. We started the trek at 7:30 am at an elevation of 1150 meters. The first hour was a nice level walk to Soda Springs.

From there we climbed the Devil's Staircase - which really was the Devil! So difficult. The trek goes up past Mt. Ngauruhoe, which, for you Lord of the Rings fans, is Mt. Doom. It was optional to hike to the top of Mt. Doom, however it was 2.5 hours return, and the first 2 hr ascent was straight up hill on loose rock. I opted out of this, haha.  We hiked up a little bit farther up to finish Devil's Staircase at the South Crater - a large crater caused by a massive volcanic eruption.

The hardest part was the trek up Red Summit Ridge - the most dangerous and steep part of the hike (unless you were crazy and had taken the optional hike up Mt. Doom.)  It was so hot, and it was quite difficult to make it up the hill, because the ground was quite loose with gravel and stones. The Red Summit is the highest point of the trek - at 1886 meter elevation. We were so far above the clouds and the view was so spectacular, it almost didn't feel like real life. After reaching that high point of the trek, I couldn't believe what I had accomplished already.

 From then on, the rest of the trek was basically all down hill. I split up with the rest of the Kiwi Ex group I had been walking with so I could make some better time. The last 10 km of the walk was a lot easier than the first 9 km. I passed the Emerald Lakes (bright green volcanic sulphur lakes just down from Red Summit) and then walked through Central Crater to Blue Lake (another sulphur lake on the top of the mountain range - but was more blue in color)

 

From Blue Lake to Ketetahi Hut (the next major stop) the trek was mostly on the side of the mountains, and was downhill. The farther down you got, it became colder and colder. I had to put my sweater and jacket back on to complete the rest of the trek.  By the time I got to the last 3 km , I was getting pretty tired and sore. I finally completed just before 3:00 pm - it took me just under 7.5 hours to complete the 19 km!

We got back on the bus for the 1.5 hour ride back into Taupo, and basically passed out for the entire ride into town, out of sheer exhaustion.  Of course, when we got back into Taupo, we had to celebrate what we had accomplished! After a quick supper, phone call home and a nap - the Kiwi Ex group headed to Element Bar for a few beverages and we partied until well into the night. We had an excellent couple days in Taupo, and we sure celebrated it in style!