Hawke's Bay!

I honestly had every intention of posting sooner...alas here I am, finally!

I stayed with Mark and Monique on their pig farm for four+ weeks! It was a lot of fun and there were so many vineyards in the area it was hard to leave until I'd visited them all!!! I didn't quite make it to all of them, BUT I did make a good dent in the list and kept track, so I can hit the rest next time I run through the area:
Selini
Ngatarwa (don't ask for the pronunciation)
Salvare
CJ Pask
Elephant Hill
Vidal - found them at the Hawke's Bay Sunday market
Black Barn
Te Mata
Craggy Range
Black Barn (yes, it's on here twice! Ben and I had such a wonderful time that we went back!!)
Vidal- stumbled upon the cellar door and figured why not?!
Ngatarwa (I went the first time solo, second with Ben)
Mai mai
Sanderson
Abbey

It was here in Hawke's bay that I discovered the "hottie" and why these went "out of style" I have NO clue. It's a rubber water bladder you fill with hot water and tuck into your bed, it's wonderful!!! I used it every night to keep my feet warm and sometimes to hug for a nice warm tummy. This may sound odd but trust me, it's better than an electric blanket.

Number one highlight of the pig farm; wrangling pigs. Wrangling isn't a word often associated with pigs. At least it never was for me, but you only have to watch your boyfriend dive into the dirt face first to tackle a pig once until you decide it's an adventure everyone should experience! Likewise I can no longer say that I've never faceplanted due to an animal before! Great times :)

Mark and Monique were wonderful folk that took me in and shared their family and everyday life with me. I truly enjoyed helping them establish themselves in the free range pork business. Seeing the farm change change drastically before my eyes, knowing I was an integral part of that growth was really rewarding. I had my first tasting of whitebait (see pic to the right, little disturbing at first but doesn't really have much flavor) which was a gift to Monique for her skills as a lawyer, as well as anchovies (they snuck these onto the pizza. gross, don't eat it)

Some of the skills I learned while on the pig farm:
tackling pigs
ear tagging pigs
nose piercing pigs
taking cute lil boy pigs and creating eunuchs
honing my egg hunting abilities
assisting in the birth of goats
improving my balance (only need to lose one gumboot in a muddy paddock, it's amazing, a 5 sec time frame for huge jump in skill level)

I'm convinced they studied the NZ culture a bit before they filmed The Lord of the Rings series here...there are some serious similarities. The most obvious being that they have tea every three hours. The second, almost as obvious being that they are a very merry, friendly group of people. And thirdly, there are a lot of homes made of mud and straw as well as a few built into the side of hills...proof that this is the shire--all I want are my feet to turn to leather on the bottom!