Long Hitch!

Wow…this past week has turned out to be a really great time. In Muriwi the work was really quite easy and mostly fun. Martin is an older guy probably in his 50’s who is just a kid in a man’s body. He surfs and skateboards and lives a really simple life with he and his family owning the surf shop. Our work consisted of a couple different things. Picking up cut grass, washing and cleaning out the company van, weeding, digging trenches, and pulling out fencing. Mostly physical labor but Nolan and I both really enjoy those types of things.

The day before we left the waves were really good! Low wind and they were just rolling in really smooth and they were just about head high. After work I went out and the waves were breaking so far out. It took me about fifteen minutes just to paddle out and by the time I got out there I had to rest. Just sitting out there waiting to catch my breath as the waves past by me I was taking in the beauty of the New Zealand waters. It is really special out here. I ended up surfing for about three hours and caught some amazing waves! The waves were bigger but they were rolling in so smooth that your barely even had to paddle twice and you were in it. Powerful and graceful it was a beautiful combination. I was so exhausted by the end of the session.

Nolan and I decided to leave Muriwai on Friday and get going to our next destination. Nolan had e mailed a farm on the lower South Island a couple of weeks ago and they juset got back to us and informed us that they had room for us at there place. Worked out quite nice actually. This was going to be a very long hitch from Muriwai, which is actually North West of Auckland and is pretty close to the top of the North Island. We had a pretty serious hitch ahead of us! We began hitching at 11AM. We got a total of ten rides! Our last ride of the day was quite comical really. (Not so much at the time) We were in a town called Waiuru and it was about 8PM. The sun was going down and it was raining. Nolan had just got off the phone with the host that we would be staying with. We had thought we were only about 25 KMs from the house that we were going to be staying but it turns out our host’s were at there other house in Palmerstone North which was another 200 KMs south of where we were. We thought we were screwed at this point standing out in the rain and it was almost dark. We got picked up by a Maori truck driver that told us that he wasn’t going to let us stand out in the rain all night and not get a ride. His truck route was going to Palmestron North so that was perfect for us! We rode with him for two hours and we met up with Sue who is our host on the side of the road in a town called sanson which was closer to her house then Palmesrtion North. We eneded up getting to there house after all was said and done at around 10:30PM. Longest hitching day yet! Sue was very nice she cooked us a large dinner at 11PM because we hadn’t eaten since 12 the afternoon.

It’s February 5^th 2012 and I’m resting after knocking off a first time experience off of my list! I just got finished riding a horse. It may not seem like that big of a deal to some but it was really wild for me! Nolan and I are now working on a horse trekking farm. It is in the lower North Island in a little town called Owakuni. The horse farm is home to over twenty horses. All who are very well trained and quite calm. The horse that I rode was named Mia and she was one of the calmest horses so I was told. Riding wasn’t to difficult it was just an experience being so high off the ground and noticing that it was quite a ways down if I was to fall. Nolan and I had free range to do what we want with our horses in a smaller size paddock. We were riding side by side and I felt like all I needed was an old Smith and Wesson on my hip and I would have made the perfect cowboy haha! When the horse began to get a nice trot I was just being bounced up and down and I felt really awkward almost as if I was doing it wrong. Even if I was it was still a great time first experience.

Don and Sue don’t live in Owakuni on the weekdays. They live in Palmerston North where the manage another business. They are both very busy people! Meaning Nolan and I are left at the farm on our own. There HelpX system works a bit different from what we are used to. They have a white board and they simply write our tasks for the week. They go back home and they just leave us to it. We have lots of freedom and that is really cool. They allow us to ride the horses whenever we want and take care of the rest of the animals that are on the farm.

It is now February 6, 2012 and this morning I had quite an interesting experience. I woke up and began my daily routine with about a 8AM wake up, coffee, and some cereal. I decided shortly after that I would take the dogs for a walk and let them run around the farm. Sue told me that they need excericise and that the need to run around daily. Once I let them out I fed them there breakfast and began my walk around the farm. The dogs were acting great! Running around coming to me when I  wistled and called ther names it was really sweet. We walked into the stabe and they were sniffing around. After they ran into the closests paddock and were barking at the horsese which they are not supposed to do. I called them back…when I did they took a big loop and ran at the goat that was to my left and started nudging it. I wasn’t to worried until Snoop, one of the dogs bit the goat. As soon as snoop bit the goat the other dog who’s name is Goldey jumped on the goat and they both began to bight it. Goldey latched onto the goats ear and then it began to get serious. Goldey was ripping the goats ear off and Snoop was pulling on the goats leg. I ran over and they goat was yelping as it was completely defenseless. The goat was tied up so it had no where to run to or get away. I was really panicing beasue if I didn’t do something this goat was surley going to die. I ran and grabbed Goldey and started chocking him and puncing him in the face and tell them to get out of it. I was screaming for Nolan because he was still in bed. He jumped the fence and ran over as Goldey wouldn’t let go of the goats ear. Goldey ripped the goats ear right off of its head and I picked the dog up and smacked it head. Nolan ran after Snoop and grabed him and got him off the goats leg. We both picked the dogs up and hrew them in their kennel. The goat had is whole ear ripped off and a wounded back leg. I was really shaken up because I’ve never seen dogs act like this before. The goat is ok and Sue told me she is going to put Goldey down. It was so strange because they were such cool dogs until they got around the other animals. Don told me farm dogs should know better and he can’t have this on his farm. What a wild experience.