Sheep, Horses, and Waterfalls!

Six other GlobaLinks Learning Abroad students and I spent this weekend about 110 km south of Dunedin at a farm in the Catlins, a national forest.  When we arrived at the farm on Friday night, we spent a few hours having tea and biscuits while chatting with our hosts, Karen and Grant.  After being surrounded by university students for the past month, it was nice to have a conversation with people who have so many experiences to share, and to stay in a home that was so warm and welcoming.

Saturday morning, we woke up to a delicious breakfast of porridge, homemade yoghurt, toast, boiled apricots, and tea.  After breakfast, we took a tour of the farm, pulled a 4-wheeler out of the mud, and hung out with three of the herd dogs!  We had morning tea with biscuits (cookies), and then split our group in half for the rest of the morning.  Half went to ride horses and the other half hung out on the farm, herding sheep and cattle!  It was so cool to watch the farmer and the dogs do their work over hundreds of acres of land!  We drove through the fields in an old pick up truck and when Grant needed a mob of sheep or cattle moved, he sent the dogs out.  There are two kinds of herd dogs: huntaway dogs, which bark to direct the sheep, and heading dogs which sneak up and use a “stink eye” to direct the sheep.

After lunch, the groups switched and I got to go horseback riding for a couple of hours!  I rode a horse named Stubby, and all he wanted to do was to be first and to eat grass whenever we stopped, but he was cute and I enjoyed riding him.  We rode up into the hills of the Catlins, through farm fields, and among livestock.  The scenery was outstanding, even though it was a cloudy day! I found a bit of home on our horseback riding adventure- the young girl that was helping the horse owner out with our riding expedition was wearing a South Haven, Michigan sweatshirt!  She said a lot of people wear things from places in the U.S. and she got this sweatshirt at a re-sale shop.

Me & Stubby, Alecia & "Shed"-rick, Gavin & Louis, Siri & Harley

When we got back to the farm, Grant took us out to the barn where they shear the sheep.  He had rounded up a gang of the sheep and they were waiting in the pen.  Grant demonstrated on the first sheep, then he helped each of us try our hand at it!  It was so cool, and I can now say I have successfully sheared a sheep!!!

After our sheep-shearing extravaganza, we ate a delicious meal prepared by Karen: mutton roast, kumara (sweet potatoes, and the best kind at that!), potatoes, cabbage, carrots, gravy, and a ginger bread-pudding for dessert.  It was all “yum” as New Zealanders say!  Once our bellies were stuffed and dinner was cleaned up, we piled in the car and drove out to Kaka Point to see penguins coming in to nest for the night!  There were 3 penguins at the beach and we watched them (probably sleeping) for a bit before we walked up to Nugget Point.  At Nugget Point, there is a lighthouse and there are “nuggets” sticking out of the sea right near the shore.  It was dusk and there was a beautiful mystical haze created by fog and the setting sun.  Back at the farm, the clouds cleared so we stargazed and went to bed.

Nuggets at Nugget Point

The haze and the sun behind a cliff on the shore.

Sunday morning, we got up a bit earlier than Saturday morning, had the same yum breakfast, and packed up.  We headed out to some hikes where we hiked to three different waterfalls in the middle of the Catlins forest!  They were all beautiful and serene.  I even climbed a tree that hung over one of the falls!!  I don’t have any words to describe how amazing it was!

Purakaunui Falls

All in all, this weekend was filled with blessings and adventures.  It is amazing to continue to see more and more of God’s Creation that He has tucked away into breathtaking corners of the Earth!

Now for another week of school… I have my first test this week!

P.S.  Check out more pictures on my Shutterfly site- the link is in the right hand corner of my blog- "My NZ Photos!"