Tag: animals

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Working with race horses sounded cool…

Melbourne, AU

Working at a racing stable sounded cool.

Really, it did.

First off, horse racing is a big deal and a major piece of Australian culture.  Heck the entire state of Victoria has a national holiday for their version of the Kentucky Derby: The Melbourne Cup.

The rest of the country is also glued to their TV sets to watch “The Cup” every year.  There are fashion contests at most major races and everyone is expected to dress in nice clothes at the minimum but two piece suits or cocktail dresses are more the norm.

So it’s a piece of Australian life that really isn’t part of American life. (We bet you can’t name the date of the Kentucky Derby off the top of your head or who won it last year.  Aussies can for the Melbourne Cup.)

Also, horses!  Tiffany loves horses and she’s done volunteer work with them in the past.  Greg’s a rider and likes horses well enough so why not?  We may never do this again so let’s go work with horses…

Continue reading “Working with race horses sounded cool…”

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Our Original Plan

Enroute Melbourne, AU

So ends our time with Dan and our adventures in the land of the Kiwi.  But New Zealand isn’t the kind of country that goes out on a sad note or at least without some final amusing antidotes.  A fact they made sure we realized as got ready to board a plane and fly to our next destination.

“Wait, what!?  A plane!?  You guys use those!?”

Continue reading “Our Original Plan”

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A Teaspoon of Concrete

Mt. Aspiring National Park, NZ

[fgallery id=7 w=450 h=385 t=0 title=”Mount Aspiring Descent”]

After a week of enjoying the excellent company and stunning views provided by living on a mountain surrounded by glaciers and waterfalls from, most importantly, behind the protective barrier of a New Zealand hut, the day finally came for us to depart.  Unfortunately no one decided to tell the rain.

Now seems an opportune moment to discuss a little saying, a philosophy if you will, that we’ve found is said down here when things get a little tough:

“Take a teaspoon of concrete and harden up!”

With that little nugget of Kiwi wisdom we depart our shelter and remember that “Kiwi Moderate” cliff face we crawled up a few days ago?

Now it’s a waterfall…and our only way down:

Continue reading “A Teaspoon of Concrete”

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Kiwi Killers

Helensville, NZ

There is an invading force that is, right now as we write this, entrenched in the sovereign territory of New Zealand.

Estimates vary widely but everyone seems to think there are AT LEAST seven invaders for every man, woman and child of this nation.  Yes, that would be a force 30 million strong and growing by the day.

Not happy to simply live here in a land known for its beauty and kind hearted peoples, these soulless devils are pillaging the land and actually killing the natives in their own homes.  Likely, at this very moment a mother is watching powerlessly as her innocent offspring is ruthlessly murdered by this merciless horde.

We are speaking, of course, of possums.  Evil, dirty, disease-ridden, kiwi-killing possums.

Continue reading “Kiwi Killers”

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Sheep Whisperer

Helensville, NZ

We have found in life there are people who have learned to be good at something and possess “skill” (feel free to add the “z” as necessary) and people who have innate ability, which we’ll call “talent.”  While talent does provide an edge to those with the good fortune to posses it, skill ultimately trumps it in the long run, which is why even the natural talents still need to practice.  Sometimes though, an undeveloped latent talent doesn’t fade, or is discovered later in life and it provides us with potential insight into ourselves and our choices.  “What if,” this talent, imbedded in our very beings, asks, “what if instead of taking the road you took, you had developed me instead?”

We bring this up because Greg is convinced he married a repressed sheep-whisperer…

Continue reading “Sheep Whisperer”

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Living in Rural New Zealand

Helensville, New Zealand

As we’ve previously noticed, the lines between rural and urban New Zealand are quite blurred.  Sheep can be found in the middle of their largest city, and when we tell New Zealanders that we lived in Helensville for a few weeks they said,

“Oh, that’s in Auckland”.

Which it’s not.  It’s about an hour drive north of Auckland into the boonies.  Helensville is a small town (by American standards) complete with a large showground for showing off their various equestrian and agricultural skills.  (Ok, we admit that San Francisco has the Cow Palace, but let me tell you it’s not the same thing.)  When you see people riding their horses FROM THEIR FARM and your water supply comes from the rain on your roof, then there’s just no way that you can consider it to be urban. Continue reading “Living in Rural New Zealand”

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Kiwis (The birds, not the people)

From Tortoise orgies to custom made giraffe barns, the Great Kiwi Roadtrip makes it’s way to the Auckland Zoo!

One of the things that we absolutely had to see in New Zealand was an actual live kiwi

(Finally: the bird, not to be confused with the people by the same name)

Being as we were road tripping the length of the country these birds call home, we thought this was going to be relatively easy.  Turns out that it’s not…

Continue reading “Kiwis (The birds, not the people)”

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Lazy Birds

Dunedin, NZ

The Kiwi Roadtrip continues!

As long as you don’t mind the pressing need to bundle up in order to explore a land listed as “one of the closest to Antarctica” it’s sometimes hard to decide which is more magnificent, the countryside around Dunedin or the immaculate buildings in the city itself:

Continue reading “Lazy Birds”

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Penguins and Wine

Marlborough, NZ

The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!

Stepping off the Interislander Ferry had us stepping into one of the major wine regions of New Zealand: Marlborough.  Where sheep, kittens, vineyards and Kiwis all seem to have figured out a way to coexist:

Continue reading “Penguins and Wine”

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Tonga has BACON!

Vava’u, Tonga

What would a real Polynesian country have?

Well, pigs.  They have a lot of pigs.

And unlike their fellow Polynesian countries, corrupted as they are by European influences, Tonga actually uses their pigs for their highest truest purpose:

Tonga has bacon!

No, not euro/Canadian inferior bacon.  Real bacon.  Bacon bacon.  The only actual freaking pig product that deserves the title of bacon and that’s freaking bacon!

 

Continue reading “Tonga has BACON!”

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