Ginger Beer

It's not beer, it's not ginger ale, it's not soda, it's not juice. It is refreshing, thirst quenching ginger beer. One of my favorite drinks(even if it is from Oz).

The Blue Pools

After strolling through a beautiful rain forest

and walking on a tiny, swinging suspension bridge over a bright turquoise river, we got to a couple of sparkling blue, glacier fed pools.

I stepped in.... It was chilly. I got up to my waist...it was cold. I ducked my head under.....HUUUUUHH!

I got out of there FAST!

Exploring Lake Hawea and Moms

We were in the jingle bus on a winding, windy mountain road with no guardrail and a STEEP drop. We pulled over at a lookout over a glistening, turquoise blue lake. After taking some pictures, I was high on a rocky outcropping thinking about life and the universe and New Zealand and..."GET DOWN!"

Mom....

Dinner at the Grouse

We had no plans on where we were going to eat dinner, but we found ourselves sitting down at a table in the Famous Grouse Pub in Lincoln. The Grouse is named after a brand of whiskey, and for a long time it has been the only pub in Lincoln.  It was destroyed in one of the early earthquakes in 2010 but was completely rebuilt. I ordered one of their burgers for dinner. When it arrived, everyone just stared at it for a moment. IT WAS HUGE. Bun, burger, cheese, burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato (toe-mah-toe), pickles, tomato sauce, and the top bun. Nobody thought I could get it in but, I smushed it down, opened wide and took a huge bite. It was delicious!

Our First Sunday in Christchurch

On Sunday, we went to the Riccarton Market, the Canterbury Museum and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The weekly market is held at the Riccarton Racetrack and there are many stalls hawking various wares.  You can find everything from dusty old secondhand treasures to fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers and newly constructed furniture.  It is a bustling assortment of stalls, tents, vans and people. We also had breakfast at the market.  I chose a bacon and avocado sandwich from a food truck.  It was prepared for me by a rugby shorts-wearin' kiwi who grew the bacon himself.  AMAZING!

This is a replica of a home that an early British settler, who was a doctor,
built from shipping materials. He lived in it with his wife and three children
who were all under the age of 5!

Immigration advertisement to entice people to
come to New Zealand

Then we went into the city of Christchurch to visit the Canterbury Museum and Botanic Gardens.  At the museum we saw exhibits on Antarctica and the history of Antarctic exploration, birds of New Zealand, the Maori,and Fred and Myrtle's Paua Shell House.  We learned about the early English who were crazy enough to travel to and try to inhabit 2 tiny islands at the bottom of the world.

Maori carvings

Early motorized Antarctic exploration vehicle which eventually led to today's Hagglund.

The New Zealand Antarctic program logo

Once out of the museum, we finally had lunch at a Greek food truck called Dimitri's that serves real messy souvlaki.  It's my mom's favorite food truck and she has been searching it out in Christchurch for nearly twenty years now. Judging by the lines, the locals like it too. Mmm, good.

Dimitri's for lunch- one of our favorites

Miranda is the same color as the hydrangeas

After lunch, we went to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, which has lots of beautiful flower beds and ginormous trees like Californian Redwoods and Giant Sequoias.  After strollin' through the park, we returned to the bus and went home, though I have plans....  To return, of course.

I am fascinated with these giant trees in the
Botanic Gardens

Our First Few Days in New Zealand

I went to class for a couple of days to learn about the basics of New Zealand agriculture from my mom and Aunt Lesa and then we went on our first farm visit.

On Thursday, we walked to the Lincoln University's Demonstration Dairy Farm.  The farm is used to teach people about how to produce as much milk as possible on just grass while minimizing the impacts on the environment. Peter Hancox, the farm manager, talked to us about pasture based dairy farming and some history and information on the farm.  The farm is 160 hectares with 560 milking cows.  They milk on a 50 cow rotating carousel platform and the farm is managed by just 3.8 labor units.

We learned that the farm is the most productive all grass farm in the South Island, and we learned that the cows on the farm only eat grass, unlike in America, where they eat almost all grain.  Then, we got to look at the milking shed and the Kiwi Cows.  We even got to go into a soil pit to look at the soil that the farms' pastures are on. We learned that the soil is much deeper than most areas in New Zealand, and some of the effects of that.  They use something called a lysimeter to measure the amount of nitrates from cow urine that leach through into the ground and can get into the water supply. They also use moisture meter to tell how much moisture is in the soil so they know which areas of the farm are in need of irrigation.

Peter Hancox talks to the students about the farm. The farm has had 40,000 visitors since it opened 17 years ago.

Cows waiting to be milked. Most are kiwi cows which are crosses between Holstein Fresians and Jerseys.

Peter talks to the students in the soil pit. You could see all the layers of the soil. My mom called it the soil amphitheatre.

Seeing the cows being milked on the rotary platform

Today, Saturday, the 6th, we went to visit Peter and Marie Kidd and see a herding dog demonstration.  There are two main types of herding dogs, the huntaway, which is unique to New Zealand, and the heading or eye dog.  The huntaway has a deep bark to chase or hunt away sheep into the hills or away from the farmer.  They are big, black and tan dogs with a very loud bark.  Heading or eye dogs, on the other hand, are small, collie like dogs that never bark and bring the sheep back to the shepherd.  They are usually black and white and are called eye dogs because they use the force of their gaze to silently move the sheep down the hill.  There are also other, less common types of dogs like handy dogs, which do both heading and huntaway work, and backing or yard dogs, which I think are the coolest type of sheepdog.  Backing or yard dogs get onto the sheep and run up their backs when they are tightly packed loading in a truck or into the woolshed and bark in the ear of the lead sheep to get them to move forward.  They repeat this action with every sheep until all of the sheep are where they need to be. 

Walking out to a sheltered area of the farm for our demonstration because it was a very windy day

Peter sending Punch out. Punch is a Huntaway.

Punch sending the sheep up the hill.

Peter uses a whistle to communicate commands to Punch.

Punch at work.

Pip is a heading or eye dog. She brings the sheep back to the shepherd.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Chief, the two National Champion herding dog. He is now 13 and has been retired. 13 is old for a dog that has worked the hills.

After the demonstration, Peter showed us how he trains the dogs, and Marie showed  us all of her beautiful flower gardens and massive lilies.  We also got to meet two time national champion herding dog, Chief.  After the Kidds, we were on our way to the town of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.

On the way to Akaroa, the bus broke down, so we had to wait a while for another bus to come.  In Akaroa, I went hiking, we visited stores and ate dinner at the 5th best fish and chips shop in the world.  Once we got home, we showered and got ready for bed, and I worked a little bit on a felted rooster that I am making.  All in all, it has been a fun and exciting first few days in New Zealand.