Part 6: Alex & Amys farm adventure

Before leaving to work on a farm in Oxford, we spent a day in Akaroa where Amy swam with dolphins, i stayed on the boat and took photos, the sea was choppy and caused some nausea which became too much for one poor fellow who vomited into the ocean. Amy spent 35 mins with the Hectors dolphins, the smallest and rarest in the world. When we made it to the farm we were greeted by many dogs who appeared menacing but were in fact lovely & we met Sharyn & Fen who were our hosts / bosses for the next three weeks, during the first two weeks wepainted show jumping poles, cut down gorse bushes, walked the dogs, put up electric fences, stacked hay bales, cut up dead animals with knives and axes, one of them was a rotten cow carcass which smelt so bad even Fen complained and he'd been farming all his life, we herded goats and sheep, looked after the horses + Amy rode them, shovelled poo, i drove a tractor and ploughed, sowed, harrowed and rolled a huge field.... After all this we were set to leave & Sharyn asked us i f we would stay for one more week to look after the farm while they went away hunting for a week, we agreed and had an awesome week chilling out in the sun, blazing around the farmland on the quad bike as the dogs followed us up the big hill, Amy would hold on for dear life and scream as i raced along the paths and over bump, sometimes so fast that all four wheels were off the ground. The star of the farm was Willie, a fox terrier who would literally follow us everywhere, also there was birdie the pet magpie with a clipped wing & an identity crisis, oh and another of my favourites, Ruffles the 3 legged dog. During our farm sitting week we took a trip to Hanmer Springs to see some good old fashioned cowboy bull riding + we went into Christchurch to celebrate my 27th with a slap up mexican meal, cocktails & drinks in a cozy bar with a log fire and sofas. The farm experience was amazing, a real highlight of the trip and i later found out that i was the first person Fen had ever allowed to drive the tractor, it was an honour + by the time we left the crop which i had sowed was already beginning to grow. There are so many other stories to tell from the farm but i just don't have the time right now to type it all. Our next farm experience was very, very bizzarre indeed, but that is a tale for another blog.