Settling Into My New Surroundings

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Over the past few days, I have been given a pretty thorough insight of life after university...man its hard work! Being a student seems like a long long time ago now because I have to actually work to earn my keep...scandalous lol! I will admit though, I have learned several new skills, such as putting up fences, walking alpacas without them trying to bid for freedom, and running from bulls...and yes that last one is true!
However before all that, I went to collect mine and my Grandad's new car from Palmerston North (he flies out in December), roughly a 2 and a half hour drive from Hastings. When I initially asked how long it would take to drive to Palmerston North, the response was and I quote 'not long, about 3 hours'. Unfortunately there is no such thing as walking to the paper shop or a short cycle ride to get a pint of milk, because everything is miles away. Despite the long, yet scenic journey to Palmerston, I arrived in good spirits until I saw the Rover 1.6 automatic I would be driving away. Hardly a babe magnet if i'm honest lol! However on the drive back home it was alright, reasonably nippy and held the road quite well, so not all doom and gloom.
The following day, after several hours of putting up a fence, my relationship with the bull and in fact the entire herd of cows took a turn for the worst. I had forgotten to bring a shovel down to the work site, so I ran back up to the tool shed through the bull and cow field in order to retrieve it. On my return journey however, they were angry, the cows mooed a lot, and the bull made a snorting gesture as if to imply he was going to charge. Without meaning to sound too Hollywood, although I suspect I will, I decided to recreate the running of the bull at Pamplona, so with a 40 metre head start I unleashed my Usain Bolt impression and ran like hell. For a split second, being chased by a bull and his cow entourage was quite exciting, then it really wasn't. I half expected to find that my boxer shorts were a different colour! Since then they have expressed their anger by staring for long periods, but to put it simply...we aren't friends.
On a more positive note, I am having a good time feeding the alpacas and walking them in preparation for their entries for national shows around the country. They are quite shy, tentative creatures, but over the past few days I have been bottle feeding a 2-month old who drinks the milk without any fuss, which is really satisfying, considering I have only been here a week.
In between doing some overdue triathlon training at both Ocean and Waimarama beaches (roughly 20km apart), my mate Daryl (whom I met on the plane) and I decided to get tickets for the Australia vs USA game in Wellington on the 23rd. It will be great to get down there and experience what the city has to offer.
The holiday finally starts tomorrow, I'm flying down to Christchurch first to catch up with my cousin Joel who I haven't seen for a few years and then on to Dunedin on Friday with the game on Saturday. Bring it on!

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Photos

We've got company
Two of the many residents of Gilt Edge Alpacas

Comments

[Jill bacon]

Hi Tom .. Great blog darling ...had us all in stitches. X