It's been quite an interesting time for me and by interesting I basically mean tough! The last you heard from me I was back on the farm, Mark broke up with me and I had just been party-ing hard on the Grasslands Christmas do.
I stayed at Mike & Gaye's place for another week. They were on the north island and asked me to nanny. Yep Maria and two little kids, well actually three cause Craig was also still living there ;-). Yes I see your smiles, me who has always said never to have kids, don't know how to deal with them. Well it surprised me but I actually didn't do to bad!
Jonty is 4 and Micheala is 7 and even though it was a struggle to get them out of bed in the morning, last week before Christmas, I managed to get them on the schoolbus in time! Normally they are brought to school by mom because they're running just a little bit late. Even the other kids on the farm came home that afternoon telling their moms that I had got them on the bus!
We had our little routine in the afternoon. They would come home from school, we would sit down and have a cup of tea and then we would do homework. Jonty is hilarious. He just started school and they have books to learn how to read. But his memory is so good that he just looks at the picture and remembers the text form that day at school, flicks the page even before I have seen the text and finishes the whole book in 10 sec. There is no way to keep a straight face!
I also worked three days on the farm with the sheep and beef guys. That was really cool! The lambing is over now and they have to tail all these little adorable animals. They say it's better for them because otherwise the tail gets so dirty from their shit and gets infected and that causes them a great deal of pain so the solution is to get rid of the tail. Yep we basically burn of the tail with extremely hot scissors. You get used to the smell of burning flesh trust me ;-).
After tree weeks in that house I needed a change. They have been great for me but that household is just to chaotic for me and I needed time for my self. So I did a little road trip and came back a week later for Christmas.
This time I stayed at Trudie's. Trudie and Toby also have two kids Tiffany is 7 and Elise is 5. So on Christmas morning at 6.45 we were all woken up by two enthusiastic voices running trough the house saying Santa had come! It was really good fun to see them opening all their presents and after breakfast it was our turn. Kristy had invited me for a champagne breakfast so that was the next stop and for lunch I went to Gaye. The rest of the day I spent back at Trudie's and ended up playing cards till midnight.
On new year we had a party at Jonesy's place. It's supposed to be summer here but we were sitting in the garage freezing our ass off. So we closed the door, brought out the heater and after an hour the place was warm enough to take of those layers of fleece ;-). Toby and Trudy had brought over sing star, which is kind of karaoke on the playstation and you have to compete. Well you can imagine that the more alcohol consumed the more enthusiastic everyone was singing. It was good fun!
I had done two milkings that day so was up at 4. Felt a bit tired and didn't argue with Toby when around 1 he said I didn't have to milk in the morning if didn't want to. Morning was an over statement, more like in 3 hours time! Don't know how the girls would like the smell of bourbon, although I could ask Jonesy that question because he and Pete were milking with the beer in one hand! Crazy night!
I spent a lot of time with Trudie. It was really nice to talk to her and we became very close. I was really a part of the family cause the girls decided I was their step-sister! Tiffany went down to Invercargill with Nanna after Christmas and Trudie invited me along to pick her up. It's a long drive down, 7 hours but it also gave me a chance to see the beautiful scenery of the south again. I didn't go back up with them, instead I booked a bus to Franz Josef, one of the glaciers, and met up with Shaz.
My goal for that week was to have some fun, get my spirit back because even though everyone on the farm has been absolutely wonderful and I have had good times I was still very hurt and lost after breaking up with Mark. I just couldn't let go. Unfortunately for me Shaz was also in a bad place. She had just quit her job and was confused what to do next. She came to NZ on a one way ticket, really wanting to build a life in NZ and wasn't to sure anymore if it was going to work out. Normally we can help eachother, talk, listen but because we both needed that we couldn't help eachother.
She came with me to the farm for a night and experienced one of the famous piss-ups. It was Toby's birthday and Trudie had arranged a surprise party. I had a good night then. It's so funny every time I go away and come back I feel this excited happy feeling as soon as I'm in the area. The farm has become my "safe place". It's familiar, I know all the people but that feeling doesn't last because what I'm looking for isn't there anymore...
I had to make a decision, my time in NZ is running out only 4 weeks to go. I spent 7 months on the south island and have driven practically every road, done all I want to do and see all the different sceneries the south has to offer. From golden sandy beaches to rain forest, from the rocky, snow covered southern alps to the green hills around Gore and desert like grass covered mountains on Lindis Pass. It was time to go and find a new adventure on the north. I'm in raglan now and hopefully will find a job and surf for the next couple of weeks. I just have to really want it and think positive and then it will happen!
