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Published: March 5th 2008
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Date work began: 21.02.2007 for 7 days
Despite checking the woofing hot list, emailing hostels for cleaning/management/reception duties, and looking out for farming or fruitpicking when passing through an area, we have been unlucky. Many places require a minimum of 2 weeks commitment (tiying us to a particular spot) or 2 months in some cases. People have beaten us to it already, or we have already passed through the area by the time we are aware of the advert.
Finally though , after what feels like ages since we 'worked' (Judy's farm being the last) we got lucky when we noticed an ad in a tourist information centre for woofers to help at a large farm in Glenorchy - perfect for us to sample more of those great walks!
And now having worked here...
This farm it has to be said was in a stunning location situtated in the real high country a 40 minute gorgeously scenic drive from Queenstown where snow capped peaks only felt as though they were in the back garden itself. Definitly the most scenic of our woofing adventures.
The Lady Farmer, a wise middle aged woman called Iris (complete with cowboy
Stocking up the firewood
Ben making a drystone wall from logs! hat!), greeted us with a warm friendly smile. Our room was in the 'west wing' of the big farm house!
On our first evening we were cooked a tasty stir fry followed by white chocolate cheesecake (our second pudding since New Years Eve!) YUM
It was nice to just chat over the dinner table, asking her questions upon questions about her (get this) 47 000 acre Marino Sheep farm! ;o
Our first day couldn't have thrown us more in the deep end. She declared to us whilst I was digging into my 5 grain Muesli combo over breakfast, that we were to assist in the crotching of 2000 sheep. I thought she was joking regarding the figure. I also didn't realise how tiring this task would prove to be. We were taken up in an old-skool land rover before being dropped in a field where we greeted the 2 sheep shearers (and team). The location might as well have been filmed for some typical New Zealand postcard scene! (mountains behind, forests, lake etc).
Ben tried to ensure the 'flow' of sheep continued through the race which amused me - especially with the accompanying grunt noises he
did haha as I was pushing them (tugging and booting them at times (the stubborn things) through the channel so the shearer could fluently get their asses clipped (the muk and crap around it that is).
I didn't mind the work and it was all a 'new experience' but for 6 hours non stop, 1000 sheep later you appreciate how hard this must be as a full-time job! As much as I like the fluffy things, staring at sheeps butts all day long could get a bit tedious!! It also takes some skill to avoid getting sprayed by the machine as it pops air out as they pass through the race and indeed avoiding the odd droplett of blood land on your skin whilst your sweeping up the wool (if the anus accidentally got the clip and started bleeding).
(nice).
It gave me a somewhat heavy taste (and smell) of sheep farming thats for sure, but I took it in my stride.
After an interesting first day we were given the next day off to explore a local goldmine track up the river and admire the local scenery. Very nice indeed. This day concluded with
a fishy barbecue with yummy frittas coutesy of Kate (Iris's daughter).
The third day was mainly spent taking a stroll up a mountain road walking the 2000 sheep (at their pace, not ours!) to the higher fields and watching the dog-team which were quite hilarious. 3 dogs all with different roles (1 for just barking and keeping at the back of the flock called a huntaway, 1 at the front called a heading dog and the third dog whose role I never found out as it was so timid it spent the majority of time hiding between either mine or Ben's legs!) One of the dogs was so overly enthusiastic it often did more harm than good startling the sheep with its zig zagging and barking when it shouldn't!
On the evening of this day we revelled in yet another dessert which was a home made blackberry pie (and omelette for main).
On our fourth day we cleared out their firewood shed and tidied it all up her, re-stocking it for her winter fuel. I got to drive a truck for the first time wohooo , and practise my stacking skills thanks to the totally deformed shapes
of firewood.
Iris is a seriously capable lady. Not only running Rees Station along with her daughter, but is also the village vet and manager of the skiing business which they established from scratch (building the hut on their land, advertising, producing a promotional DVD). She also gets a bit of money from International advert film crews who use her land as a backdrop for promoting products. Impressive. As often is the case out here, people are not only are multi skilled, agile people but they HAVE to be to make enough money. Iris used to make enough from the wool, but in recent years the price has fallen so she has had to resort to using her land to the max in other ways.
The only task at Rees Valley which I shall forget I think haha was the ditching we were asked to do (which clears the waterway down the field for the sheep etc to drink from). The ditch needed digging out so this would flow but we ended up in a bog in the end, with the added luxury of having to build a bypass around a decomposing sheep. mmm
Generally the whole
"Black" has things all under control..
When dogs are this well trained it doesnt leave much for us to do! week was fab. We really enjoyed chatting to Iris and Kate in the evening and learnt so many random facts. My brain was soaking it up like a sponge - most refreshing. The mountain air, the home made puddings, the long chats at night (and the laughs when we watched awful New Zealand tv), a comfy bed, the sheep education! and all the dogs. About 10 of them - but after a week- rather than thinking it was a scene out of Hound of the Baskervilles, they all seemed harmless and friendly in the end 😊
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