Farmer Jones

I hope that some of my overseas readers will APPRECIATE this post about Oak's milking job.  

When I mention Oak's job to people around here, I get sympathetic - but respectful - groans and sorry looks.  I'm counting on some of you overseas folks to see the GLAMOR and HUMAN INTEREST in Oak's job that I see. 

How many people get to spend five months living in a remote area of New Zealand, working 11-hour days as a farmhand?

850 cows need to be milked twice a day.

in the milking shed

how Oak gets around the farm and rounds up the cows

the front porch of the house where Oak lives with Tony ("Woozle")

Mercy and Noah got to work alongside Oak for a few hours.

I woke up to see Oak and Noah off at 3:45AM, but then I gratefully went back to bed.

'Cups on.'
Oak and Noah took about an hour to round the cows up from their paddock and herd them to the milking shed.

Mercy, too

another view of the house where Oak lives

I took this photo while standing near Oak's house, but looking away from the house and out toward the dairy shed.

Oak's bosses are Poppy's aunt and uncle, who have made Oak welcome in many ways.  According to Oak, all of the employees appreciate working for such good people.

There's not much that the bosses can do about the fact that there is VERY LITTLE cell phone coverage . . . but they HAVE stocked two freezers with beef.  

In addition, Oak drinks as much fresh milk as he wants - warm from the cow or cool from the vat.

Cooled milk comes out of a firehose-sized spigot on the side of this vat.

Oak has discovered that 1) butter is expensive, and 2) he can MAKE butter by taking some fresh milk in some small jars when he goes on his daily run.

Oak appreciates sunrises.

"majesticow" - Oak

nothing like a gumboot tan and an intense look

Besides the manual labor, Oak writes poetry, reads cool books, stir-fries vegetables, attends the 4-person church in Gore, and goes on epic adventures on his days off. 

We played Code Names and Scum, but, on our last night together, this drawing game took the cake, and we "laughed until we cried."  -Noah

I feel very thankful that we had the chance to visit Oak and glimpse his life on the farm.

Books:

Thanks, Jen

Twizel and the Greenstone: South Island Summer 2018-19

We traveled to the South Island with 3 goals:

• visit Cory in Twizel 
• hike the Rees-Dart track (later we decided to switch to the Caples-Greenstone)
• visit Oak in Clydevale

1- Visiting Cory in Twizel

    Cory is Noah's good friend from high school.  He is a 3rd-year engineering student at Canterbury with a summer internship in Twizel.  Cory and his brother, Cal, are training for the Coast-to-Coast race in February.

  Cory showed up at our campsite with his kit.

This is the campsite where Sage attempted to skip a rock and, instead, sliced Joyce under her eye.

The next day, Cory took us to North Temple Fork, where he, Noah, and Mercy hiked/ran up one valley, over a saddle, and back down a different valley...

...and the rest of us hiked part of the way, ending at a beautiful cirque.

I counted 11 main waterfalls in a semicircle around me in the cirque.  It felt like a special place.

MAVY is a good place to play games when it's wet or dark.  

A couple of days later we drove down to Glenorchy and to our old friend, Sylvan Lakes Campground, to prepared for a 5-day tramp.

A reminder that traveling is only glamorous is retrospect. 

How to Convince your 7- and 10-year-olds that they want to go backpacking . . . again?

  2- The Caples-Greenstone Track

The swim spot on Day #1

We slept in huts at night.  They were at full capacity.

Lunch Day #2

A homemade "Code Names" game.

above the Greenstone Valley on our rest day

Oak caught up with us for Day #4 and #5

 This track was longer than our recent Around-the-Mountain tramp, but the trail felt easier because it was less technical.

Classic South Island scenery - glacier valley, clear streams, and no other people.  

Swim spot on Day #4

It rained on Day #5, but, even in the rain, look at the color of the Greenstone River!

Joyce pulls through.

Highlights:  Looking at Noah's uni photos on the ferry. Mercy opening her birthday gifts from Noah (light-weight hammock and a camping bowl). Dolphins jumping in the sea near Kaikoura.  Family church in MAVY on Lake Pukaki with a storm rolling in.  Stretching session with Cory.  Math games on the trail.  Pitfruit.  Dunedin.  Visiting the Nicholsons in Christchurch.  Finding our exact same lunch spot and swimming hole on our drive back up to the ferry.


Keeping it Real:  Lots of driving.  Lots.  Some rain.  No A/C in MAVY.  Lots of sandflies.  Lots.  Lost hat and sunglasses.  One hut without any more available bunks by the time we arrived.  Random stress and frustrations.  Loud snoring in every hut.  Noah's Achilles tendon.  Expensive gas and groceries.  Repairing MAVY's tire alignment.  Seasick on the ferry back home (but Sage won the ferry coloring contest!)

Sunflower surprise when we arrived home!

Books: