Last time we wrote we were in Tauranga waiting on a promised job, however this didn't work out. The chap who had offered us the work kept saying 'another day or two and then you can start'. The trouble was all the while we were waiting we were spending money, in a pretty unremarkable place. We did approach a couple of other people about work, but every time we just seemed to be a day too late !. So we decided for financial sake to phone our next help exchange as although we wouldn't earn any money, we wouldn't spend any either. We were due to arrive with them on 10th of October but it was actually the 26th of September when we called. As luck would have it a German couple had cancelled on them at the last minute so we jumped in the van and headed South ! The help exchange job was in Porangahau, about two hours civilised drive from Hastings and about 400 k's from where we were. We got to Napier at about 1800 and as it was my birthday had a slap up meal of super noodles beans and cheese ! The next day we made the rest of our way down to Porangahu, on the drive down, it really reminded us of the fateful campsite experience as it was pretty remote being a good 45 minutes from the nearest town. We got there a little earlier than we'd told them so went down to the beach to have a picnic lunch. It was a gorgeous sunny day, beautiful sandy beach and a dog adopted us whilst we were down there so played fetch with him for a while. We eventually found the farm, which was only about 2k's from the beach and crossed our fingers that the people there were nice. Well we needn't have worried. Sheryl came and greeted us as we pulled up to the house and it wasn't long before we were introduced to Andrew and later Aiden, Andrew's teenage son. They own a sheep farm of about 650 acres, with a handful of cow's, chickens, a crazy goat and three great dog's. Andrew has been in farming all his life and spent quite a long time in the UK teaching our farmers how to shear. Sheryl grew up on a farm, had a stint as a towney, but is now very much a farmers wife. She is an excellent cook and a very talented painter. It wasn't long before we got our hands dirty ! They realised I'm a bit handy with a hammer so got me to work rebuilding an old cow shed and chicken shed which had seen better days. It involved taking off and rebuilding the front flashing, replacing all the rotten timber in the framework, re-roofing the badly rusted corrugated iron roof, squaring up the walls of the chicken shed and putting in a kind of cat flap a la chicken ! Sam was put to work painting doors, floors and anything else which required it. She became a surrogate mummy to three orphaned lambs, nicknamed the three Musketeers, baked some lovely cakes, cleaned out the chicken shed (not nice !) bare back horse riding and lot's more besides. I think I probably had the more exciting end of the deal as I next took on putting up a new fence with Andrew which went over the highest point on their property which had amazing views out over the sea. I also repaired a few walls in Andrew's wool shed and some of the fencing in the runs. We were only supposed to be there for two weeks but Andrew offered me some work on his next door neighbours farm, docking lambs and it would mean earning some money !. Sam wasn't allowed to work there as the farmer in question is a bit old fashioned and doesn't like women on his farm ! I wasn't sure quite what to expect from docking. I knew that in the UK they normally put a rubber ring around the tail and it eventually falls off, but not in NZ !. We worked in a team of four blokes and several highly trained dogs. First thing to do was set up the mobile yards, which allow the easy seperation of the lambs from the ewe's (in therory). The dog's are amazing to watch, with very little command, they go straight to work and know exactly what's required. They use two 'seeing' dogs which don't bark and round up the sheep initially, then when the sheep are all together the 'talking' dog gets involved and barks, moving the sheep ever closer to the pens. Once all the sheep and lambs are in the pens you can then seperate them, by channeling them through a narrow section which has a door in it and only opened when the lambs come through. Once you have just the lambs, the real work begins !. I was lifting which involved getting in the pen with the lambs and lifting them onto the 'rack'. It was quite tiring work as a lot of the lambs were pretty big, up to about 25 kilo's and I lifted 4000 during my docking experiences ! From there one person clipped their ears and castrated the boy's, another person scratched a virus on their inside leg to help prevent them getting scabby mouth and the last man docked their tails with a red hot searing iron. It cuts and seals the wound in 'one easy action'. It's then that there returned to there mothers. It was such an amazing experience, being outside in beautiful countryside, working in a small team and I had a real sense of acheivment and satisfaction when we finished. We were also treated to BBQ lambs tails, apparantly it's a maroi delicessey. They just throw them on the fire, wool and all, when their nicely charred, you take them off and the skin peels off, leaving you a rather horrible fatty boney stump to chew on. Let's just say, I don't think you'll see them on the menu at Claridges. I chewed on two to be polite, luckily there was a box of beer to wash them down with ! Another neighbour of Andrew's also had his docking to do and this time Sam was invited ! I was still lifting and Sam was the scratcher and also administerd and injection. She also comforted the ones that looked a bit scared !! We did 2023 in total and again it was a great experience and Sam really enjoyed it as well. Lucky for her though she didn't experience tasting the lambs tails !. So now here I am writing this a month after we arrived when we were only supposed to be there for two weeks, we had such amazing experiences, the time just flew. We planned to leave today and find some orchard work. However we were down the village pub last night celebrating finishing the docking and someone has offered us a few days work helping with shearing from next Tuesday. So we are having a few days away for our's and Sheryl and Andrew's benefit, then going back for a few more days shearing and possibly longer as they've asked us if we'd paint their house ! Also whilst down the pub, one of the locals needed a pair of extra hands to haul in the crayfish pots this morning. So I went off at 0730 and hauled in potts and got given a couple of crayfish for my trouble ! It really is a nice community, everyone looks out for each other and it'll be sad when we eventually leave. David Derby's wife (the farmer that Sam and I did the docking for) is a real horse enthusiast and organises several high profile events each year. He asked us if we would like to go and help judge, so on the way back to the farm we stopped off at Arun station and somehow became judges for the Pre Tazman trial's !! I was hoping that Sam and I would be on the same fence, but sadly not. Thank god all the competitors cleared my jump, sam however wasn't quite so lucky ! She had refusals, falls and stray horses. As much as I dislike horses, it was a really good day out and we were glad to be able to Help out David and his wife as they had been generous in giving us the work. Well we returned to the farm and had a couple of days before the shearing started. We did a few job's around the place one of the more memorable ones was docking the calves. They only have about ten but they needed to be tagged, injected and castrated (where appropriate !!!). Calves are a bit more of a handful than lambs and they can give you a very good kick in the shins, so we approached them caution !! Most of them behaved themselves, but there's always one, so Andrew to wrestle it to the floor, I stood on it's head as apparantly if you have their head they can't go anywhere easily, this allowed Andrew to do his business !. We set off for the shearing job a little nervous about the job, accomodation and food which were being provided. The farm was in a very remote location, 20k's down an unmade road, so once we were there, that was it. When we eventually got there we were pleasantly surprised !. The farmhous was lovely, a nice kitchen with a dishwasher ! and a lovely bathroom with a gorgeous roll top bath !. There was about 1200 Ewe's to shear, which meant there was quite a big gang of us working. Andrew, Ross and Ringer where the shearers, Sam & Hanah were the sweepers, clearing up the dirty belly hair, I was picking up the fleeces, picking off the s***ty bits (I always seem to get the mucky jobs !!) then also helping Dane press the wool. There were a few others who where moving the sheep into the shed. The shearers follow a very strict regieme, they start at 0700 and shear for two hours, then stop for half an hour where tea and sandwhiches were provided. Then start again at 0930 on the dot and shear for another two hours untill 1130, then an hour for lunch. Start again at 1230 for another two hours, then half an hour break till 1500 then the final two hours untill 1700. They are relentless, during the two hour period, they don't stop, as soon as one is finshed, back in the pen, dragging the next one out. Each two hours they would do about 50 sheep each !. I have a massive amount of respect for shearers, having seen them working close up. Having said that, what Sam and I were doing was pretty hard graft ! I was sweating like a P.I.G. trying to keep up with the shearers and Sam's back was killing her. Despite the discomfort it was a great experience, the other people who we were working with were really good fun as well. John the guy who employed us bought a keg of Tui (a very good local beer) which we made a good dent into on the first night, then a freind of his turned up at the farm who is a bit of a legend, so they went and bought another keg !! So on the second night having finshed all the Ewe's and just 40 rams to go the next day, we polished off both keg's plus a few stubbies !!! I haven't laughed so much for a long time and went to bed at about 0100 I think. Andrew, Richard and I had a great plan to go hunting at 0500 in the morning, thankfully when we woke up they were feeling as rough as me. After several cups of coffee we tackled the Ram's, they can be quite fiesty, but they were pretty well behaved, so much so that I was allowed to shear one, well part of one !! Sadly we didn't have the camera so there's no photo proof !. We got back to Sheryl and Andrew's and set about painting their house. It had'nt been done for at least six years so was looking a little sad. It took five days and I think we did a pretty good job ! It was a real bonus as the weather was gorgeous so we got a decent tan as well. It was with real sadness and seven weeks after we arrived that we left Sheryl and Andrew's, there really neat people and did so much for us, including help sort out our working visa which we now have thanks to them. I'm sure we'll meet again, Andrew has threatend to come to England next year to do a bit if shearing. so look out England !!