With Easter and Anzac Day close together, we decided to head home for a catch up with everyone. We managed to get ten days at home but with plenty of people to see, it was still a whirlwind trip. It was great to catch up with everyone, see a lot of the bottom of the South and eat a lot of roasts.
We flew into Queenstown where Mum, Dad and Shanon met us. Shanon drove us to Edendale. The next day we caught up with Ross and Liz and family in Invercargill, then up to stay a night with Hamish and Chantel and go on farm tour number 1.
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| Kelley with Hamish and Chantel at their new hut. |
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| Inside Hamish and Chantel's hut. |
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| Looking back along the ridge, Hamish and Chantel's farm at The Key. |
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| Towards Te Anau, I think, or maybe more toward Manapouri |
Then it was back to Edendale, dinner with Julia and Brent and family, farm tour number 2, catch up with Jill and Jake and family before driving to Mosgiel to stay the night with Juliet and Kev, take Mikayla to the park and enjoy roast number 2 on the trot (beef on the kettle BBQ by Kev).
We were all in Middlemarch for the next night after some mustering for me, some magazines and a sleep for Kelley, some unsuccessful pig hunting and roast number 3.
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| Bevan holding Edward, Mikayla and Olivia |
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| Kelley and Edward |
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| Olivia watching Mikayla playing with her rocket |
The next day we were back out on the hill to do a straggle muster of those we'd left behind the day before. This time the pigs were back and we managed to four of them, including a 180 pound boar caught by the dogs who took a bit of a battering for their efforts.
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| Successful pig hunters |
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| Kevin and Bevan |
While Bevan mustered along the bottom of the gullies, I took a few photos around and about. The place looking relatively green, particularly the sprayed and sown ground.
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| Looking back along the ridge towards the Sisters. |
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| Mulched, sprayed, sown into rye corn and looking nice and green |
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| Towards the Rock and Pillars on the other side of the valley |
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| Towards the Smooth Cone |
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| Bevan and dogs |
We were all off to Alexandra the next day and were treated to roast number 4, although this was ham so a bit of variation. We also got farm tour number 4 by Dad, of the orchard he is working at. This was probably the best narrated of the farm tours but needed to be, it is quite different for us all. Above all, it was good to see Dad clearly passionate and enjoying his work.
On to Arrowtown for the final weekend for Katie's birthday. We had a perfect house right at the end of main street and Arrowtown was looking great at the start of Autumn.
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| Arrowtown main street |
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| Aerobatics over Arrowtown |
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| Shanon, Katie and Al. |
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| Its no parade without a traction engine. |
Again, sad to be leaving when we flew out of Queenstown. We'll have to be back more often.
