Ozzy and Mike reporting from the farm in Takapau, down towards the eastern shore of the North Island. We headed to the farm between 8 and 9:30 AM on Thursday morning, and most of the group did not even arrive at the farm until 7 PM that night. Luckily, our bus rides down to the farm consisted of amazing scenery, knitting, good sushi for some, and an incredible waterfall in Taupo, the town where we switched buses.
Once everybody made it to the farm, we were greeted with incredible meat and vegetable quiche, and we met the White Family: Tom (Father), PJ (Mother), George (age10), Ben (age 8) and Rosie (age 6). After dinner, we were given a quick orientation about the farm, and given our room assignments, the girls in the schoolhouse, and the boys and the leaders in the main house. For the first two days, the girls were allowed to sleep in while the boys went to work at 6 AM to milk the cows and feed the calves. For the next few days, the girls also woke up early to feed and milk, and finally the boys got to sleep in last night, after watching the All Blacks beat up Argentina in the Rugby World Cup. Watching the sun rise on a nice cool early New Zealand morning is an experience like nothing else. Over the course of the past few days, jobs have included calf weighing (and for Ozzy, Mike and Rita, wrasslin), thistle grubbing, poop shovelling, chopping wood, digging holes, making gates, collecting firewood, and collecting sticks for a bonfire on Wednesday. Meanwhile, everyday two group members are in the house cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids, and any other odd jobs PJ and Tom can think of so their lives are just a little bit easier (i.e. cleaning the outside fridge). Meals have included lasagna, tuna and egg salad, burgers, beef and gravy, and amazing pudding (dessert for all you yanks) such as Pumpkin Pie, brownies, Hokey Pokey ice cream with home-made chocolate sauce, and 10 square (all I know is that is was sweet and DANK). Super excited to continue our hard work throughout the week and enjoy all that this experience has to offer. We will report back one more time before we leave the farm. By the way they have two dogs, Holly who is an old girl at 12, and the working dog, Ruby, who is a Border Collie (yes Randy, they have a dog named Ruby, I know).
