Another round of updates, courtesy of Lundy’s quick thinking bullet points because, frankly, I am just too lazy! :-)

 Friday, February 5, 2010

  • Drove 3 hours from Queenstown to Manapouri/Te Anau to visit my old college friend Soan.
  • Mimi & I, picked up a bottle of Champange & NZ Merlot for Soan’s fiance Pete’s birthday.
    We arrived at Soan’s fiance’s family farm around 3pm NZ Time (21 hours difference in PST, 18 hours different EST)
    Soan’s future in-laws consisted of: Pete (fiance’), Keith (Pete’s dad), “Mum” (Pete’s mom…hehe…so cute!) and the family sheep dogs: Katie & Jess.
    Soan’s future in-laws were soooooooo generous in sharing their 1,000 acre farm filled with 50 Bulls, Cattle, several white & red huns, dogs and over 4,000 sheep!!!!!
    We all enjoyed a cup of tea, strawberry milkshake, chocolate brownies, and desserts during Tea time, a great reprieve from the hot sun.
  • The farm was absolutely amazing, totally organic/free range farming which is a rarity in the states.
    We saw how Keith “shaired” a 6 month sheep, (shaving a sheep with motor power razor) and threw it into a huge pile of wool.
    Then Pete took us in his pickup truck and we went off roading on his family’s farm to see the bulls/cattle and sheep free range over the 1,000 acre farm…it totally felt like I was in a Kiwi safari!
    Afterwards, we got a chance to play with the sheep and the pet the sheep dog which round up the sheep. ( Jess barks to herd the sheep, while Katie uses the cool/calm approach of staring them down).
    Keith and Mum worked exceedingly hard in the blazing hot sun (in mid 80s) 12 hours a day for 7 days a week while their in their 60’s!!!!
  • We departed from the farm at 5pm, so that Pete & Soan can make their way to the Lake Wanake Music Festival to celebrate “Pete’s b-day weekend”.
    From the long hard day of hanging out on the farm, Mimi and I rewarded ourselves with a gourmet “Godfather” Italian Pizza dinner by the lake front at 6pm…hhhhhhmmm..
  • Then we took a glow warm cave in Te Anau.
  • After the tour, we settled into a camp ground with full bathroom/bathing facilities, electric (to plug in our camper van to run the refridgerator) and a play ground set.
    Finished the night drinking beer on a swing set and looking at the night sky to see shooting stars!

Now we’re off to to a day cruise in Milford Sound! 

. . don’t burn the day. .