Birthday Fun :)

First off, i would like to thank everyone SOOOO much for the birthday wishes!!! It made me kinda sad I couldn't be with everyone to celebrate! But I did have a good birthday here in NZ too...here are some of the things that happened!


It decided to stay sunny out so you could see the mountain - yay!


Although I got the day off (and got to be lazy and go shopping) I did manage to visit the cows :) They all came over to wish me a happy birthday!!



While out doing a little birthday shopping, I also decided, on a whim, to get some blondie highlights :) So i'm a little bit blonder now! I actually got 2 different colored ones...one is kinda a reddy/honey colored one and the other is blonde. AND, it was way cheaper to get it done here so woohoo! (no blonde jokes please :) ) I'm allowed to pamper myself on my birthday hehe.



Another big event that happened on my birthday was that Jenny was getting two of her paddocks cut for silage (there is a difference between silage, bailage, hay, and straw...silage is grass that hasn't been dried out too much, not quite sure what the difference is between silage and balage but it's pretty similar, hay is really dried out grasses, and straw is generally made from barley...i could have those mixed up, but i think they're right ha)...anyways jenny is getting silage which is grass not dried out so much and this is the tractor cutting it. And today they flipped it over to dry out the other side and rolled it into bales!




First i got to ride around in the big tractor while it was cutting one of the paddocks....

And then I got to DRIVE IT!!! hehe. It was kinda scary, but fun! And yes, there is a guy sitting next to me in the cab telling me what to do hehe...i finished cutting the second field! I felt cool and don't think I did too bad of a job. There are wayyy too many pedals and levers though...like they have 2 sets of breaks - one for each side of the tractor! And the steering is weird ha. It was still fun tho!

Jenny made me (and Jon and the 2 other WWOOFers with us) a huge dinner or Roast Lamb, roasted vegetables, some more vegetables, and multiple desserts which are nicely pictured above :) The square one is my favorite dessert she's made so far...it's a lemon souffle or something...custardy on the bottom, but light and fluffy on top...SO good! The circular one is a pavlova (I've never had one before), but it's really good...basically made with eggs, sugar, and whipped cream:) and those are golden kiwi fruits on top! And, last but not least, a bowl of fresh strawberries from the farm down the road soaked in malibu and covered with sugar :) I didn't even tell her i liked Malibu either! I was soooo full after dinner! :) mmmmm....and jenny says I'm not spoiled hehe.

This picture is for you mom! me and my birthday "cake" hehe :) The candles were actually lit in the pic, but for some reason you can't see them. The necklace I'm wearing was a birthday gift from Jon and Jenny! I thought it was super nice of them to give me that, plus dinner, plus a bag on NZ candies (pineapple lumps...dried pineapple covered in chocolate). But it's a NZ Jade necklace and the symbol is called a Koru-"the unfolding fern frond symbol of new life, growth, peace, and tranquility...the life cycle of the fern is seen to be similar to the life cycle of man."

Here is me trying to cut the pavlova...it was really difficult because the crust on the outside was crunchy! And, that is my glass of NZ wine sitting next to me :) It was a Chardonnay...pretty good!

Umm...this is my flash new phone I also bought while out shopping :) My old phone finally kicked the bucket and basically none of the buttons worked! So i had to get a new one. I wanted another pink one, but no one had any! Anways...this phone is pretty cool/high tech...as in i can listen to music and the radio on my phone! yikes! It's also so small...i feel like Zoolander when i try to use it hehe.

And here is a not very flattering picture of me pretending to use my phone haha. I am sitting in bed really tired and full...I'm still trying to figure out how to use everything on my phone! But time for bed soon since I have to get up and work the next day!

I'm currently trying to use my iTunes gift card lizzy sent me to download the sex and city movie, but it's taking forever to download! ah! The internet is rather slow over here...it says i have 2 more hours until it's done...guess I won't be watching that tonight before bed hehe. But thank you Liz :)

Clothing sizes are depressing over here...as in i either gained 6 sizes in clothes, or back home they just try to make you feel smaller haha.

Rua News: She has been staying over at Jock's dairy farm with her bros and sisters...and I was over there the other day milking...and we had the pups over there with us and when we were ready to leave, we couldn't find Rua!! we looked everywhere...eventually we found her curled up in the long grass really sick :( Jock thinks she licked up some of this stuff called BloatAll...it's a foaming agents for the cows which helps them burp and stuff....so she was throwing up and looked like she was in so much pain! Poor puppy!! there wasn't too much we could do for her except try to give her water...but luckily she is better now!! I felt sooo bad for her! She's still over at the dairy farm tho...

anwways...so my birthday was good, i may be getting older, but I don't really feel older thank goodness!

Oh yea...Jenny asked me to watch the farm while they go to Auzzie at the end of Nov. I am considering it...I was pretty flattered they would trust me with that! woohoo!

Hope everything is good back home-miss everyone!

Love,

Pam

Confession of the Weekend

So I just finished an event filled weekend! Jenny's two sons came up, and one of their girlfriends for a wedding. I had all Saturday basically to myself. It was kinda nice but I didn't really know what to do with myself haha, I mean, I had to look after the farm...but I also baked, did laundry, and tidied up a little...it was so weird! But anyways...Saturday night I went out into town with Tony (one of the sons) and we just went to 2 bars...nothing hugely different from back home...like one bar had a band, and one bar was more like a sports bar until later when it became more like a club. it was fun...a little awkward at times because Tony and I had only met once before and didn't really know what to talk about, but everyone else came out and visited us after the wedding and I still had fun!

But...my confession of the weekend is....Tony and I stopped at McDonalds on the way home! We wanted to go to Burger King (because it's better...they think it's better in NZ too), but the line was seriously out the door of the building! I got a 6 piece chicken nugget and a small fries....i have to admit...it was sooo good hehe :)

Other things that have been going on:

-I went milking again...i think i'm getting the hang of it! there is a fine art of putting the suction things on a cow's udder...the only downside is...you do get a lot of cow poo on you...like not cows pooing on your head (which is still possible)...but it's like all over their legs and stuff...ew.

-i got a driving lesson on the wrong side of the road...i drove home from picking asparagus at this lady's house jenny is watching. it wasn't too bad. did i already write that in my blog before...i feel like i did. The weirdest part i think is intersections...like figuring out who turns first...and which lane to turn into! And, the average speed limit here is 100km/hr....which is around 60mph i think...but it feels so much faster...and lots of the roads are windy and the driving here kinda scares me....(kinda like Ireland hehe).

-when i went milking, i brought Rua with me and she had such a good time playing with the 3 brothers/sisters that are left and her mom....she stayed there overnight...I think Jon/Jenny are kinda glad about that :( i miss her. but i'm a tinsey bit relieved at the same time...please no one say "i told you so!" Maybe jock will watch her while i travel around and i'll bring her home with me when i come home? who knows.

-we are getting another WWOOFer here tomorrow...he's a guy from France and I don't know how long he's staying or what his name is. we'll see how it goes!

-I saw a huge tiger slug tonight...it must have been about 5 or 6 inches long...gross. I hope i never step on one (knock on wood)

-took the car i'm looking at to get Warrented (like an inspection), there are a couple things it might need work on, so Jenny and i are going to get that checked out tomorrow and hopefully it won't be too expensive...otherwise i'm going to look for another car. but i hope to get one soon i miss my independence created by owning a car! :)

-anyways...i think that's it for now! It's time for me to go to sleeeep. :) Good night!

Cows for Sale!

To start off this entry, I would like to put up some more cute pictures of Rua :)

Here she is smiling :)

And the day this was taken, we both had a lazy afternoon....i was sitting in the chair reading in the sun and she fell asleep underneath it....then i fell asleep in the chair hehe. I love lazy afternoons when it's sunny!
So Jenny, Lena, and I went to a cow auction yesterday! It was interesting for about the first hour or 2...then I started to get bored haha...we stayed for almost 3 hours i think! But, these are some of the holding pens waiting for the cows to be brought into the auction building.

Here is a sea of Angus beef. mmmmm. hehe. Black cows like these ones are what we get angus steaks from! Jenny says she doesn't think there is much difference between these cows and any other ones, but if you ask an angus farmer he could tell you ha.

This is what the auction looked like from inside. The people on top were the people who kept track of who wants what, and called out the prices and stuff...i could barely understand what they were saying most of the time! I put a video in of one of them calling out the prices...and he was doing it slowly....see if you can figure it out!

Another thing I learned was the difference between a steer and a bull...it's not too pleasant guys, sorry....but a steer is a male cow who has had a ring (a very tight ring) put around his umm...balls. and they fall off. so....a steer is basically a neutered bull!

I also have some sad news to report...Bulgy...the cow with star gazers disease died the other day :( he was doing so much better! and then the other day he started to et worse and he wouldn't get up....and it was very sad :( he was a good little calf!

Lena is leaving today! :( she was nice and I liked having her here. And she has confidence in me driving on the wrong side of the road haha. 2 of Jenny's kids are also coming up this weekend, so that should be fun.

Oh yea...so i'm pretty sure i'm going to buy that car! woo! Jenny took me out driving in it today...like on actual roads! i was a little nervous, but it wasn't that bad. I think i'll get used to it quickly...just need to learn about intersection etiquette and stuff like that. it's not bad remembering to be on the left hand side of the road if there are lines painted on it...i just have to keep thinking i'm driving in the passing lane or something! and something i thought a little funny...Jenny asked me if i've ever driven and automatic car before (because this one is)...i just thought it was funny because back home you'd usually have to ask if someone has ever driven a standard because most cars are automatics back home!

anyways...hope all is well back home, i miss everyone, and rua says hi :) (and no i still don't know what i'm doing with her)

Here is just a funny pic of an unhappy looking cow squished between the rest of them!

ahh!

I'm so conflicted abou Rua! I want to keep her so bad, but the logical side of my brain is thinking it may not be such a good idea :( sigh...she's doing so well too and i bought her some treats today.

i want to make pumpkin pie...however, we have no premade pie crusts here...so i would either have to go out and buy one which won't happen at the moment because i did not buy the car yet...i most probably will, but we're making sure everything works haha....or i would have to make a pie crust which i've never done in my life and i'm a little scared of doing....so we'll see...maybe i'll just make cookies again.

i'm starting to research where to go next...I think i might head over to Rotoua...and stop at Hobbiton on my way over...as in the real Hobbiton from the movie hehe. Rotorua is a big touristy place from what I hear, but they also have a lot of Maori stuff to see and thermal pools and stuff like that. So, it might be kinda cool to check out before i head further south! I'll keep you guys posted :)

Rua Again

She is 7 weeks old and weighs 4 lbs :)

we weighed calves today in the rain, and she did very well, just sitting under the truck on her blanket and watching. we also fed cows and went on a couple walks! so far, she's doing very well, and i think she's starting to recognize her name :)

Ru is very scared of the cows, i think because they are so much bigger than her! and she found a chicken that had 4 baby chicks...and she was scared of them too hehe. i'm sure she'll get over it!

More later I'm sure :)

RUA

So I named the puppy Rua (rooah), or Ru for short. It means 2 in Maori because of the 2 spots above her eyes. She is so cute and i love her so much! However...certain people have been trying to talk me out of keeping her :( apparently it is a hastle and not practicle to travel with a pet :( there has to be pet friendly places in NZ right? Especially if i have a car. i almost started crying when i thought of giving her back! I need a travel partner! So i am going to research pet friendly places around NZ and hopefully will be able to keep her. if anyone happens to find any pet friendly places let me know!

as for getting her back home...well, she'll have to fly with me won't she? i would def. bring her back!

so keep your fingers crossed for me (and Rua)!!!!

Milking and a surprise! :)

Leena, the German WWOOFer and i went to a dairy farm today to milk some cows...this is a view of the farm were on! not too shabby :) you can see the cows walking towards the milking shed...there aer 415 of them i think.

Here is another farm view....see that dog? It's a mommy to 9 pups!

Oh yea...rewind....this is Kelly the cow! :) Very shiny coat!

Another view of the Mtn with sunsetting...

Me being a dairy maid haha....it's a rotary milking place...so the cows walk onto this platform which is circular and it rotates around...it's kinda cool and very efficient...it took about 2 hours to milk all the cows!

Here is me again putting on the suction thingies...

This is Jock and Leena. Jock's dad owns the farm I believe, but Jock is running it right now i think...i'm not quite sure how it works haha.

Here is a view of the cows going into the shed.

And this little cutie is my puppy... i think haha. I have it with me at Jenny's and Jock is looking to get rid of the puppies since there are 9 of them...and I can't resist. She is sooo cute. We're seeing how tonight goes...Jenny won't allow her in the house so she is in a little crate in the cow shed (minus cows) and is not too happy about it :( i feel so bad and want her to sleep in my bed with me! I still don't have a name yet either! any suggestions?

:)

Me and the puppy...don't mind my foot attired please! The mom is a type of dog called a huntaway, but we don't know who the dad is! If i so chose, she would make a very good hunting dog...but somehow i don't see that happening :)

SO CUTE!!!!!

Sorry, i took so many pictures of her today! She's only a couple weeks old...i forget how many though, i will have to find that out.

This is Jock with one of the brothers puppies.

Here is my little girl again :)

Puppy on the ride back to Jenny's she's so small!

One more pic for good measure :)

I don't think she will get very big because her mom is smaller than raja, which will be good while travelling around.....

AND, Jenny has a car I can buy! so i'm seriously considering that so i can be a little more independent and travel with dog in tow! yay! :) I hope this all looks as exciting in the morning hehe :) I hope the pup isn't too cold tonight!!!!!

Nothing Too Interesting...

Hi guys...umm..nothing out of the norm has been happening lately...we have a German WWOOFer staying with us right now, but she is only here for like 4 days or something. She is really nice, so that's cool - from northern Germany and her family groos sugar beet i think.

There were no aliens over New Zealand, at least that I saw...

I tried sorting out my clothes too see if there are any that I didn't need an could possibly send home...and came to the conclusion that no, there isn't much that I can send home and I probably need more haha.

I got to spray cows today with blue tail paint. it was fun. I wanted to use the pink, but the spray can wasn't working :(

There is a cow named Kelly now! i'll get a pic of her up soon :) She has a very glossy coat!

My birthday is in 10 days! yay!

Umm...sorry i'm not more exiting this time, but that's about all i can think of at the moment!

Cows

Below is a picture of the only cows left we are feeding milk to! It was so quick to feed them yesterday! There are 15 of them.

This is what 113 calves look like in a paddock together.

Here is a better view of it...can you count them all?

This is Matt the Cow. He's 2 and the biggest one on the farm. He gave me a scare the other day...I had my back to the cows trying to get a gate open and he came up behind me and mooed...really loudly....sounds like something you would do matt! :P

Other things to note:

- I looked at the moon with binoculars the other night...it was really cool looking and there are different craters from back home! But, I was amazed at how much detail I could see on the moon.

-there is a big thing going on where aliens are supposed to be over New Zealand in the next couple days starting last night I think...i haven't seen any so far!

-bri-yes, i often feel like a dinosaur is going to jump out of the trees at me :) but i don't mind, i think it would be super cool to see a dino!

-devon-haha yes i go hiking by myself...i just used the self timer on my camera:) and sometimes i listen to my ipod and sometimes just the sounds of nature :)

- if you win the lottery here you get the whole winnings - no tax taken out!!! maybe i should get a ticket

-i was looking a pics of the cows from when i first got here - they've grown so much! i can't believe it! Jenny reckons about another 50 of them will be ready to go next week!! :(

-I can't believe Oct. is almost 1/2 way over...i'm going to have to start looking for somewhere new to go!

-Pam and Devon the cows were caught cuddling by the water trough again :)

-um...i think that's all the interesting news i have for today!

-I miss everyone!

This is why I'm so tired today...

Ok..so i thought i had a lot to write about in my last entry...i was wrong, i have a lot to write about in this entry! This entry is like a novel, so only read it if you have some time haha.

Let's recap my life starting from Sunday the 12th to figure out why i'm so tired today.

On Sunday, I woke up did the morning stuff for the calves, then went on that big walk, then came home and did the evening calves. Lately, we haven't been getting around to dinner until like 8 at night...





On Monday the 13th, I got up...did the morning calves, then it was gorgeous out, so Jenny suggested I go on a hike up the Mt. (which I readily accepted, see below)...I hiked from around 1130-4..then I came back and did the evening calf stuff...and I couldn't sleep on Monday night at all...and I woke up an hour before my alarm went off on Tuesday (today)...





Today, I started off physically tired from yesterday and not sleeping...but today we had a big job to do besides feeding the calves, we were bringing all the calves that weighed over 80 kilos to the top farm...that took i think 5 trips. we moved around 60 calves up there (including Pam, Devon, and Sweet Baby James!). Once up at the top farm, we had 118 calves in 1 paddock! By this time, it was around 1230-so we went back, had a quick lunch and we then had to get them all into the yards because someone was coming to pick out some to buy at 1:45 (he eventually picked out 5 that were all over 100kgs to go with the 9 he picked last week). They are all leaving tomorrow. After that we had to feed them all, and get them all back into their respective paddocks. Then, we had to go finish the ones by the house. Around 3ish we went into town to get some peanut butter and mint sauce, drop off some eggs, and get an ice cream :) hehe. On the way back from that we had to stop at a friend's house to pick the asparagus because they are on holiday for a little while. We eventually made it home and had dinner around 8...and here i am...writing my blog which is going to take forever.





So...Here begins my adventure up the mountain. This is my trail map. I went up the Summit Track, and did a loop taking the Makatawa Track back to the visitor's center...then took the Ngatoro track down to the Mangaoraka Picnic area...and then some....You can also note the Veronica loop and Holly Hut tracks which i did last time.

Oh the mountain! Everywhere else in New Plymouth was sunny and in the 80's...but the mountain was covered by a ring of clouds. It was actually better that way because it ended up being perfect tramping weather! If you look at that first ridge, where the grey stuff is like falling down it...that's part of the Holly Hut track which i did the first time :)

Here is me being a dork.

This spot I'm standing in was really cool, you can see the port in New Plymouth and those weird mountainy things in the water in the background! In this pic, if you make it bigger they are just above my left hand. You can also see the ring of clouds which I was under.

Here's a pic of the port a little closer up!

Could someone please make sure Uncle Ricky sees this pic?...look what I'm holding :)

Just a cool pic of the mtn :) This is about as high up as I got this hike.

Here is where I began my decent...that little bldg is the Maketawa hut which I eventually hike down to.

Cool looking stairway up...I feel it could be something out of LOTR :) I have found I like taking pics of stairways and paths in the woods...like this one.

Another cool little LOTR path...I like all the moss hanging from the trees.

Yet another view of the forest...I'm just trying to show how diverse the forests were that I was hiking through on one trail! I was looking for a hobbit or elf or something but didn't find any :( haha.

One of the many little streams I had to cross over...this pic looks almost fake to me...but it was very pretty to look at!

Umm...another stairway in the woods hehe...see where that bottom step is? See where the stream is at the bottom? The water can get up to that bottom step! I had to be especially careful when crossing them because a woman last week got washed away in a sudden "flash flood" in a stream she was crossing on this very mountain! I hurried across them, don't worry. Sorry mom...I know that probably worried you!

Here is me being a happy hiker hehe. And yes, I am holding my cell phone...I had to text Jenny to let her know I was almost done so she could pick me up....now if only I could find some cell phone service....

This is the big stream on the Ngatoro track that I had to cross (it starts with a W...you can see it on the map)...anyways, it doesn't look that big in this pic, but I was actually a little nervous crossing it...there was no good way across and all the rocks were wet!

But don't worry! Here is a pic from the other side...I made it across safely!

Some more stairs in the woods with a picturesque tree and sunlight scene :)





Here I am standing next to a big fallen down tree. I just thought the tree was cool :) Ok, so at this point in my hike I am on the Ngatoro Track and am supposed to text Jenny when I am almost done so she knows when to leave to pick me up...so of course, there is no service...

So...I start walking down the long windy road which goes up the mountain...until I am able to find some service enough to text her...I eventually ended up walking out of the entire Egmont park...it was a long road...

Once out of the park...I kept on walking...Jon was on his way, but I figured I might as well keep on walking...I think i started walking around 3:20ish...

This is the view ahead of me while walking....farmland...lots and lots of farm land...sorry it's sideways...

Eventually, this is how far from the mtn I walked before Jon picked me up...boy was I tired! I had been hiking since 1130 that morning with no real break! It's about 4pm at this time. Even still, I had a great hike :)

Oh yea...there should be a movie in this blog (high tech i know)...I'm not sure where it will show up once I post, but it's cool :)

-Jesse-CONGRATS!! i heard you got your black belt - that is so cool!! :)

-Oh yea, there is a native Wood Pigeon...I think they feel it is fun to dive bomb people...I got startled so many times on my hike by these stupid wood pigeons dive bombing out of the trees! There was no one else around, so it was pretty quiet while Hiking, and out of nowhere, this rather large bird will swoop down right in front of you, or over your head!

-The funniest thing ever to hear, is a cow farting HAHAHA...sorry if you don't think that humor is funny...but the little babies will just let out these little farts while drinking there milk, i am laughing about it just thinking about it...hehe.

-Dad-the tree fern thing is called a Ponga!

-The cutest thing happened today. The two calves Pam and Devon (#'s 918 and 917 respectively), were bought at the same time and lived in the same pen up until about 3 weeks ago. Today, they were put back into the same pen together, and they actually went up to each other and cuddled each other! they like hooked necks together, like a nuzzle!! it was so cute i wish i had my camera with me!! See Devon, we still like each other even when we are reincarnated as cows :)

-i have started operation thin out pam's bangs (which are known as fringe in NZ!!). I feel like I have too much fringe on my head haha...so i'm trying to grow out a section of them and trim another section...we'll see how this goes!

-Matt-Matt the cow is older than the calves so he's in a diff. pen :(

-Devon-freckles are cool! and I want to watch Lonesome Dove!!!

-Bebe Panda-ahh! i miss you sooo much too! i am prob. a combination of sunburned, windburned, and tan haha...i do wear my sunblock every day tho! and i am going to miss dressing up and going on halloween so much!! it's not really big over here, though jenny said it has gotten bigger within the last 5 yrs or so...we'll see, maybe i'll at least get to eat some good candy! Oh yea...I don't get like a notice or anything if you post a comment...i have to go back and check them...so i might miss it if you post a comment on older ones (i did check this time tho :) ) So, it's best if you just post everything on the latest blog entry because that's most likely the one i'll be checking :)

omg...so my novel is done for today...i hope i remembered to write everything! Miss you guys!!