Kaikoura

By Monday I had got used to the daily morning routine which consists of feeding the animals first, then replacing their waters, then poo picking, then preparing their meals for the afternoon feed and next mornings feed. It was slight chaos though however as the male pig had taken out one of the gates over night and was inside the same area as the female pig which isn't good. We separated them eventually although we did have to somehow patch up the gate so it couldn't happen again. In the afternoon we just had to change some of the animals straw as the previous days rain had waterlogged it a fair bit, with feeding at 3.15 which is part of the daily routine.

Tuesday was my afternoon off so after the morning routine and with it being a really nice day I decided to do the peninsula walkway. I did this when I last visited but since the earthquake there has been some dramatic changes in the geology with parts of the seabed raising 2 metres and the south island getting up to 5 metres closer to the north island! It was a nice walk which I cycled in places and I was able to see a few of the seal colonies which was nice. There were also greats views of the snow-capped mountains which make up the back drop of Kaikoura. Tuesday was also the day the husband returned to the farm so it was nice to meet him.

Wednesday was another full day and it was a nice and sunny day, although by Thursday it was raining again which meant my afternoon off was spent inside which sucked. The rain persisted into Friday with the odd shower although I had to clean the teepee which is currently out of action for the winter in terms of their accommodation. I don't think they've ever cleaned the canvas as it was basically green and covered in mould. I used a pressure spray to attempt to clean it but it still looked filthy, just a little less green. Me and the Czech guy also woofing on the farm started watching the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy throughout the week though which was nice.

Saturday was a much nicer day and after my morning duties I decided to attempt Mt Fyffe which is a 1602m peak overlooking Kaikoura. It says online it is an 8 hour return walk from the car park which was 8km from the farm, although when I spoke to the person in the I-site they said they knew 75 year olds who could do it in 6 hours return. I made it to the car park by midday but that still only gave me about 5ish hours daylight. The path was effectively a 4wd track which zigzagged up at first to this lookout which gave me my first views of the peninsula. It then continued up where before long I had views of the taller snowcapped mountains behind Mt Fyffe, as well as some views of the Kowhai Valley situated between the snowcapped mountains and the Fyffe range. The path eventually got to a hut.

From here I entered the cloud and the temperature dropped drastically, the path now being effectively frost with even some snow about. I eventually managed to get above the clouds and into the sun and when reaching the summit got some spectacular views of the Kaikoura Peninsula and the mountains behind. I even managed to get up in 2 and a quarter hours which meant I had rocketed up! The descent was pretty straight forward and I was able to just let myself go, completing it in just an hour and quarter which meant I got back to the farm in daylight which was good as I didn't fancy cycling down country roads at night. It was a really good hike though.

Sunday was a full day on the farm and after the morning routine I carried on with the teepee. With it being bank holiday weekend (they have a bank holiday for the Queens birthday in NZ) the farm was busier than usual which meant a fair few people came to visit which was nice. It was a nightmare however as we had to catch three piglets which we were selling and they wouldn't go where we wanted them. The rain didn't help either which throughout the week had made large parts of the farm an absolute quagmire. We had to give up in the end.