A Milking Experience

Our lovely friend, Sandra, picked us up from the Whataroa store just in time for the rain to hit. We grabbed some dinner from the local hotel, took it to her dairy farm of 350 dairy cows and got to know each other over some yummy burgers! Sandra and her husband have two dairy farms. One here and another near Nelson. Her brother in-law Brian was helping her down at this farm while her husband was running the other. On a dairy farm, you have to milk the cows twice a day at the same time everyday, 4am and 4pm. Thankfully, we didn't have to get up for the am shift but we helped with the afternoon one. Boy is that an experience! You are down in this long pit, surrounded on both sides by the backsides of about 60 cows, knowing that at any moment you could be hit with a warm, green shower....One must always be on guard. Boy, does it make you put those milkers on the utters fast! :) We got pretty good and had a couple close calls, but thankfully never actually got hit by that green shower! Not directly, anyway. :) 

Along with the milking, we stacked fire wood, helped move the cattle, and bring the dairy cows in using a truck one day, a 4-wheeler the next and, yes, even horses. :)  We really felt like cowgirls then! On our day off, we drove over to the Franz Joseph Glacier listening to a good ol' classic country cassette tape. :) The glacier was beautifully tucked away surrounded by plenty of waterfalls and luscious green brush. The West coast is so beautiful! It's a whole new world over there! It is completely different from the rest of New Zealand! Once we hit the west side of the mountain pass, our jaws dropped in amazement! It is spectacular! We had a great time on the dairy farm! Brian even took us spot lighting one night in hopes to kill a deer. We didn't see any deer, but Trina did shoot a rabbit! booyah! 

After our lovely stay, we took a 9 hour bus ride to Nelson, driving the west coastline the whole way. That was the most gorgeous 9 hours! The bus driver stopped at the Pancake rocks for us to take a gander. Pretty cool to see huge towers of rocks shaped like a stack of pancakes! Once in Nelson, we stayed at our first backpackers called Paradiso. We treated ourselves to some yummy pizza and a movie! :) such fun! The next morning, the 6th of April, we hiked to the top of the Centre of New Zealand, overlooking all of Nelson, with a breathtaking view of the mountains surrounding the area! After our lovely hike, we checked out the sites of Nelson, stopping at the cathedral, the goldsmith shop where the One Ring of Middle Earth was made, and the Saturday market before hitchhiking our way to Blenheim. Two wonderful German ladies, who were on vacation while their husbands were back home making the money, picked us up. :) They were the jolliest ladies, blasting their happy German music as we wound our way around the mountains. They even offered a place to stay at their holiday home, but we already had a place for the night with Sandra's niece. After dropping us off right at the door, we said farewell to our German mothers, as they called themselves. :) 

Here in Blenheim, today, we found a baptist church close by that we walked to for some worship. We haven't seen so much joy in a group of people in quite a while! It was so refreshing to see people so full of the Holy Spirit and just glad to be alive! They were so welcoming and even invited us to join them for lunch, which, of course, we accepted! Our new friends, Rosemary and Steve, took us to the potluck, where we met so many lovely people and were spiritually encouraged in so many ways! We are so thankful for their warm hospitality! It was such a good way to spend the day! 

And now, here we are, about to head out to catch the ferry up to the North Island, where we will stay the night in a backpackers in Wellington and pick up our rental, which will be our home for the last two weeks of our travel here in New Zealand! phew! wow! two more weeks! Has it come to this already? How the time has flown! Two more weeks of playing in the beautiful countryside of New Zealand, maybe spotting some hobbits along the way, and then it's back to the states! See you all soon!!!