The Christmas party

"Shaz and me on my last day in Nelson"

It's Sunday and we're all still recovering from the big grasslands Christmas party that was on Friday ;-)!

The last two weeks have been very busy and I haven't really had time to myself. Gaye was organizing the party and I've been helping her out a lot together with Kristie.

Sinead was in charge of the cooking so that meant that every minute she wasn't working, she's a chef, she was busy in Gaye's kitchen. Eventough we all had been busy all week with doing the shopping preparing as much food as possible, decorating the woolshed offcourse Friday was the BIG day!

Sinead started cooking at 9 and alltough she appreciated the fact that we all wanted to help, standing in a kitchen with about 5 people is crazy! So the rest of us got busy with driving up and down to the woolshed bringing all the salad's that were done, setting up the bar and laying the last had to the decorations.

You have to remember that it's a part with farmers so the main ingredients had to be beer and a lot of meat. Sinead had a great master plan to get the four sheep, 3 hams and 7 cube rolls of steak cooked. We used the ovens in gaye's, pete's, the office, and sinead's, the bbq was cooking on the porch and there was another bbq at the woolshed. The lamb was set up next to each oven and at 4 the chef gave the signal and we all went to our designated houses to put the meat in.

At 7 we were ready, all dressed up and looking pretty. The shed was already full of people and we could be proud of all our hard work. The lights were blinking, the tree was standing proud and the food looked amazing. pff we needed a drink!

I was an amazing night, the band was good and a finally got to dance again. I just makes me so happy, should really do it more.

I think my head hit the pillow at 5 and when I woke up I made my way up to the shed again for breakfast. Tradition is to have shops and eggs but I just kept to coffee and a bun ;-).

Us girls went home after a few hours to have a sleep but the guys were back on the bear and that went on till about 6. That's when we saw Mike zigzagging his way over the lawn back to the house! I feel for the guys who had to work this weekend because those cows won't milk themselves.

It's been way to long...

More than a month has past without a post on my weblog! But to be honest their hasn't really been very much exciting to tell.

Two months in Nelson just flew bye! The first month Shaz and I stayed in the hostel and then we moved to our apartment. My job in the restaurant when on and I worked practically every night. My days off I mostly spent with Mark. After my trip down to the farm he came to Nelson and we made a road trip to the Marlborough sounds. Wayne, one of the chefs, had recommended to go to French Pass and it was truly amazing!

Meanwhile I made some good friends in the restaurant. Gabby, Julia and I went for a girls lunch and my last weekend Ben and John joined us for drinks. Yep they definitely made my time in Oceano fun. But the work itself... I had never been a waitress before so it was a good learning experience, seeing that the restaurant was 4 star and that meant a certain level of service. I got into it fairly quickly and I think I did a good job. But it also is a restaurant in a hotel and that meant we had a lot of work to do after our guests had left. That was the part that I really didn't enjoy. It's just routine: folding table cloths, setting up all the tables for breakfast, making resets, and lifting all the heavy elements onto the buffet, you know for the eggs, bacon sausages and finally polishing the cutlery!

So a part of me was sad for leaving but another part was relieved. I stayed in Nelson for a few extra days just to relax and say goodbye to everyone. My plan was to make my way down to the farm in two weeks and then spend the whole of December there. But unfortunately plans changed a little. I got a call for Mark and he basically said he wanted to end things. This was a big shock to me and we did agree that we had to see each other and, even if this was it, end it in a way that we both could look back with a smile. So last week I got in the car at 11 after having my last coffee at Zippy's with Shaz and Gabby, drove for 6 hours and arrived on the farm.

Mark and I had two really great days together. He just makes me feel so happy and peaceful and yes I did get my hopes up that maybe it would still work out. But it didn't so we said goodbye. And even though I'm sad about it, I will remember him with a smile.

I was really looking forward to staying on the farm for a while and Mark understood that so I'm still here! Gaye has welcomed me into her house. I'm helping her out a lot in the garden, cleaning the house and with the kids. She and Mike have also asked me to be a nanny for a week in December so I'll be here till Christmas.

Friday we had a party on the farm and I got to catch up with everyone. It was so good to see them all again and really had a good time. At the moment I'm just glad that I get the chance to enjoy this beautiful place again and if the weather starts cooperating we can all enjoy the sun, bbq's and Christmas in shorts ;-)!