New Zealand 2018-2019

New Zealand will always be a country close to my heart. My longest stint (to date) was when I lived there from 2018-2019, a little under two years. I met and created friends for life, found my 4 legged best friend and top colleague Jane, made memories which I cherish, experience and overcame challenges in a way which I could have never imagined. I hope to write about more of those later on. This post is a generalised one, although impossible to fit 2 years in 1000 words, I'll do my best to summarise.

I left the UK in February 2018 as a head strong, independent traveller; I'd spent a summer alone in Cyprus before so I felt prepared for this. A long plane journey was something I looked forward to rather than feared; time to sleep, relax, read, prepare for what was ahead of me. I had applied for a Working Holiday Visa, received a positive acceptance email a few days later, then for a job on a dairy farm, accepted within a similar time frame.

I knew that milking cows wasn't what I wanted to do in NZ, I wanted to Shepherd, ride horses, have dogs and be in the hills of the High Country. Every shepherd role I looked to apply for either wanted qualifications or people with their own dogs and horses: with just a suitcase full of clothes... I was lacking in farming qualifications, dogs and horses.

I decided my best way to become a NZ Shepherd was to accept a job working on a Dairy Farm, there were so many advertising it seemed easy to get one... Well there's a reason for that, no doubt I'll write later on about this but for the purpose of generalising - it did get me into the country.

With DF and the ChH

Whilst in NZ I was working on a Dairy Grazing Block (feeding Dairy Cows over Winter, when they're not being milked) and one day, we were testing sugar beet. The tester was a man called Rowley (said like Roll-ey) and another colleague. Like most friendly Kiwis, Rowley was asking me about the UK, why I came to NZ and my aspirations here. I expressed how I really wanted to know people with horses and if I could help at all, there seemed to be horses at most local, rural properties but I didn't know anyone and had no idea how to approach them. Rowley leaned back and said "I think I might know someone, I'll give you his phone number, call in the evenings". I was thrilled.

Desperate to call this number, when it was finally 6pm and 'late enough' for it to be deemed evening, I rang this number and a deep-sounding thick kiwi accent came through the phone

"G'day, D** F** speaking"

My nervousness must've been obvious, I must of said something like

"Hi, erm yes hello, I met with your friend Rowley and he said to give you a call about helping with some of your horses, perhaps, maybe?"

DF replied with

"Ah Rowley, good bugger, yes, oh are right..."

This bizarre interaction (I presume he thought) ended with the agreement that I would come to the kennels on Monday at 9am to ride out with him.

I could easily write on and on about my time spent with DF however I promised that this would be a generalised post!

To summarise; this first phone encounter lead to me assisting DF, exercising his horses and hounds, helping him around the kennels. Later, this led to invitations to go hunting and borrow his horses, then even the opportunity to live at the kennels in the little sleep out (a glorified shack - truly the polite way to describe it!). Even so, this initial conversation was the start of one of my fondest friendships, inspiring horseman and learning from a true legend.

Visiting Queenstown, This is at the Ski Field in Summer

After about a year in NZ, I wanted to see more than the area I worked in. Yes I'd worked some distance, travelling south to the Otago region and north to the Cheviot area. However, I'd never been a true 'tourist' walked around annoying locals, photographing every last detail, stopping in the middle of a busy road to look at something that others pass everyday (ok I never want to do that but no doubt have at some point!).

At the time my boyfriend (now -ex) also from England and much like me, he had stayed in the area that he'd worked in. We planned a big road trip, contemplated going to the North Island but decided for the length of time we had away from work, a big trip around the South Island would suffice. We were both workers - enjoyed big days at the 'office' (on the farm) and realistically, even now I struggled to go away to purely 'look-around' or 'relax' for more than a week. It's almost the opposite of claustrophobia and not homesick as such but work-sick? Anyway, I miss my animals and my work.

The trip was a success in that we were tourists and saw lots of NZ, this photo was just outside of Queenstown - the Ski Field was called 'The Remarkables' very apt for NZ.

Case Combine Harvesting NZ Radish Seed

My quest to become this NZ High Country Shepherd was still in my mind when I went for an interview to work for a Specialist Seed Company. I had one dog at the time and 0 horses of my own, I'd worked on stations but more the casual side (weaning, tailing, marking, shearing etc.) when there are teams of people working together than any solo work, for that I still needed dogs - and good ones.

I was accepted at the interview and became an 'agricultural operator', a far cry away from my high country dream. However, it paid well, I could work almost unlimited hours during the busy spring, summer, autumn and conveniently during the winter hunting period I worked only a few days a week!

I'm looking forward to writing more about the specialist machinery I was trained to use and some of the process of growing, nurturing and harvesting specialist seed crops.

New Years Day Ride Out with DF & Friends

For New Years Day it doesn't get much more beautiful than a hack through the New Zealand High Country. A small group of us took the horses to a station not far from Kirwee and rode through the hills. We stopped near one of the cliffs to find an opening for a now-disused mine. As I learnt throughout my time in the hills, it's not uncommon to find history amongst the High Country in NZ. It wasn't that long ago that coal and metal mines fuelled the industrial era of NZ with it's expanding immigrant population. There are disused rail roads and even remnants of old buildings, if you're lucky and the older shepherd you're working with is in a good mood you might be lucky to get a history lesson on the old buildings and traces of a previous era.

When riding in just a small group you're able to speak with everyone, enjoy the landscape and relax without any pressure of 'holding up' anyone if in a larger group. I remember this day being a really fond memory and those who were unable to make it (potentially a little more hungover than I was!) were very jealous to have missed a ride in such glorious weather and landscape.