tardy

I have been missing in action lately.

My sincerely apologies.



Let's see I spent a week a week ago at Fieldays

in Hamilton

which was pretty bludy freezing.

As much fun as Fieldays proves to be once the sun is up

I have yet to be remotely warm no matter how much clothing I wear.

However the set up day,

the day before Fieldays begins

was hot as it can be in winter!

Punky Pete and I drove up

catching the ferry across Cook Strait on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

See this is Pete on the ferry looking ever so evil with his cocked eyebrow.

 We were accompanied on the ferry by

quite a few utes, trailers and trucks traveling north to the Fieldays.

So many that the ferry check in chick welcomed us on our annual pilgrimage,

almost by name, well with a cheery

"Hi! Young Farmers!"

She did have our tickets in her hand at the time to be fair

and my ute has a mother sized Young Farmers banner across the bonnet.

We drove for 19 hours,

staying with Uncle Denys and Aunty Fliss for Sunday night

(Young Farmers is a charity with a limited budget

so my lovely relatives are much appreciated as they vicariously

support the rural youth of New Zealand by hosting me)

plus a rather long delay

as we parked in the dark on State Highway 1

at Pukerua Bay, just north of Wellington while

we waited for an accident to be cleared.

I always feel conflicted at my uncharitableness

at being annoyed with the people in car accidents.

I remember when I lived in Wellington

being excessively annoyed with some poor soul

who threw themselves on the commuter train tracks.

How rude holding up thousands of weary commuters only wanting to get home.

Once back on the road and heading north to Hamilton

we headed straight up the middle of the North Island

zipping past Mount Ruapehu

and not passing at any great pace the multitude of tractors

and trucks on the road.

See happy, sunny driving at a good pace photo

versus grey, sad struggling up the hill behind lumbering tractors and loaders photo.

But then we were towing a couple of tonnes of gear

in the huge, lumbering Contest trailer

otherwise known as the Uterus

as it gives the miracle of life to the Contest every year.

It's a long haul every year but

supporting and celebrating Young Farmers

at the Fieldays is part of our calendar now.

Our Waikato Young Farmers do such a lot for Fieldays

and having a place for them and any Young Farmers visiting

to gather at the end of the day,

each of the four days for five beer o'clock

is about appreciating our contribution to our rural communities.

All that and this year we have alpacas to play with.

Sarah, Kylie, Craig and CJ are actually delivering this beer.

Truly.

Fieldays

The annual pilgrimage to Hamilton beings tomorrow,

at 6.30am.

When I leave for the Mystery Creek Fieldays.

At 6.30am.

Im driving up from Christchurch to Hamilton

over two days

with an interislander ferry in the middle

and a stay with Uncle Denys and Auntie Fliss.

I've made Punky Pete come with me

but only cause he hasn't driven from

Christchurch to Picton

(where there ferry docks)

since he was about four years old.

Though age is just a technicality with him.

Duncy Monkey and I play musical utes this morning.

The rather large and heavy Contest trailer

needed new tires cause they were bulging.

So we met at some random tire place to pick up the trailer

from where Henny dropped it off at yesterday.

I really am over swapping vehicles and

when I get back from Fieldays in a week and a half

I'll swap again

but this time I'll be getting my wee Hyundai i30 back.

If these are my problems and frustrations

how blessed am I?

storms from all directions

Sunday night, we had a rainy storm blow in from the west.

This resulted in a blackout in the middle of the 60 Minutes 

interview with the Victoria Cross winning Aussie digger

and just before the seasonal tornado hunters article.

Ah issues and dramas.

Punky Pete making the most of the hot water left in the kettle,

with a luke warm coffee (no he is not Mormon)

and a bit of light from one of my handy dandy lanterns.

You'd think that after 1000 earthquakes

(That's 1000 actual earthquakes not figuratively)

and living out on the Canterbury Plains

I'd be a little better prepared and less than surprised

when the first winter storm blows up and

the lights go out.

I know exact where candles are,

in the fridge/freezer, cause you can always find the fridge in the dark

and candles last longer if they've been frozen.

Matches remain in the same place they got put after the last big shake.

Both easy to find.

The lanterns are always on the top shelf of the cupboard next to the stove

(another appliance easy to find in the dark).

Batteries remain in the lanterns with the lids unscrewed

so not to waste the energy.

Last June, not long after the fourth really big earthquake
I was at National Fieldays.
For those who aren't in the know,
Fieldays are four days of agricultural exhibitionism with stands from
ag companies displaying their wares from tractors to tasselled alpaca fleece scarfs,
spades to sausages sizzles, gumboots to gumtrees and everything in between.
There are brilliant sales of all sorts of things.
I tackled the camping gear suppliers and got extra discounts
because of all the earthquakes disasters we'd been having.
Yay cheap lanterns that work like expensive ones,
because they are them!

When there's a blackout, even with lanterns
the only thing to do is go to bed and sleep through it
with hopes it will be over when you wake up.
And it was.

Monday evening arrived and brought this Southerly front with it.

Taken as I left Methven, buffeted by really strong winds,

enough to push my one tonne ute around the road,

yes I drive one handed in all weathers

'cause I drive a ute, brah!

After a night without power I figured

Orion, the lines company would be on top of things

so when the freezing cold Southerly front came through

on Monday evening all utilities remained on.

Shame the neighbours rickety old shed rattled and shook all night.

P.S. I love instagram



Im so over it

....joking!

I mean I am over earthquakes

but that is such a redundant

thing to say

cause it's not like you can walk away or turn them off.

It kind of drives me nuts that people say

inane things like that.

But not as bad as the last week staying with my dad.

I was very blessed to be in Hamiltron

for Fieldays all last week.

Which means I  missed the 5.5 and the 6.3 earthquakes

on Monday 13 June.

To give you an idea of what it was like

watch this....

Anyway for me not being there is harder than being there.

The optimal situation is being at home

and having no access to any media

so you have no idea what is going on

just dealing with the immediate situation.

Of course having no access to media

means you have no power

so that's not a good thing

but our loo has always flushed

so not having a power is all good.

Back to being in Hamiltron with my dad

on Monday 13 June...

I heard about the earthquakes on the 1.30pm radio news

as I drove back to my dads house

after a meeting about our cool new website

soon to be launched,

so hurried inside to see the TV news

and call home to check everything was ok.

By the time I got through

it was 2.15pm

and things were shaken and ok at home,

a few more cracks as expected.

Minutes after I hung up the 2.20pm 6.3 'aftershock' hit.

A txt came through from Mags a little later telling me

that was scary but things were still ok.

This is where my dad comes in...

He came home and I asked him
if he knew the earthquakes had happened.
He didn't and then pretty much ignored everything.
Seriously, I said to him
"You have half your family down there"
and he shrugged.

When the 6pm news came in on
he actually said...
wait for it...

"Are they still going on about this?"

I then had to stay in his home
for another week.
Sometimes my head wants to spontaneously split open.

Oh and on the up side
Young Farmers won the 25th Jubilee Award at Fieldays
which is the premier award
for contribution to the spirit of the Fieldays.
Go Team Young Farmers!

On the side. what is it with men on TV with shaped eyebrows.

IT IS WRONG! VERY WRONG!!

South Island Agricultural Field Days

Where have I been?

Why I've been at the South Island Agricultural Field Days.

Hot dog!

Yes I have.

What's special about the SIAFDs?

 Why it's that it is all and only about stuff farmers want to see and buy.

Things like tractors and silage wagons,

irrigation systems,

socks and ear tags,

all sorts of stuff.

But what was I doing?

Why I was manning the NZYF site

mostly by myself

because we also had the Tasman Regional Final

which Cole Groves won

Goose came a very close second.
The by myself bit is cause everyone else was super busy putting contest together
and pulling it apart.

We had AgriKids and TAG Regional Finals

and, very cool.

What Now!  came to film AgriKids for their teleshow

and we will be helping them to make a farming fun as show later on.

I just have to find a kid who can milk a cow by hand in the studio

and a kid who knows about bees.

But most importantly

we had the

Tasman/Aorangi Regional Fencing Competition

Ok so watching a fencing comp is a bit like watching paint dry

(would have said grass grow but when you know what goes into growing grass it is actually quite interesting watching it grow)

In the yellow shirt is Lance and the orange is Craig.

They ran the show.

All I had to do is get the competitors, the venue, the prizes and get rid of everything afterwards.

It is a much improved competition now

because of our relationship with FCANZ

Pretty darn exciting you know.

I have wind burn from being outside for three days.

So un-natural for me to be outside all the time.

I got to talk to lots of people and made some really good connections.

It was a good three days.

Now I am counting down the hours to 8 Seconds bull riding tomorrow night.



Fieldays set up

Any set up day is evilly long but compounded with my total lack of experience with anything tent plus my poor attitude towards using my hands for anything other typing and constant emails and phone calls - it was an epic day.

When I arrived there was just a big, fat empty space with bark and stuff all over it. To the right is Phil and Andrew's big trailer - my ambition is life is to have one of those so I can rock up to any field day and just pull stuff out and whip it up quick as. I have many ambitions I'm don't think I'll ever obtain, mainly because I forget them as soon as I walk away from field days - guess it's just field day envy.

Before you think that I am this awesome super woman who does this all myself please realise I am a team player, this means I sincerely invite others - mostly male others to help me and then I oversee things. I have good reason to do this. Nah, it's not a good reason but it's my reason cause I happily do manual work when it suits me but as soon as a guy turns up I turn into some kind of girly girl with an opinion on how things should be done. Geez I'm a pain in the butt. Good thing I'm so charming.
Also thank goodness Dingo Dan turned up so I could cunningly execute my site plan with someone who actually has tools and handy things like a dingo - did I just hear you say "The dingo took moi baybee"?

I never knew dingos were the handiest things in the world. I want one for my birthday.


Not only did Dingo Dan turn up with the dingo but he also made this Young Farmers sign for our stand. When I say made it I mean he actually made it, not like I would say I made it and really mean that I paid someone else (potentially Dingo Dan) to make it = have I told you how impressed I am with our NZYF members???

This is our site with Julie the rural cop standing outside.

We became friends when I told her off for trying to put one of her rural neighbourhood watch signs up on the black street sign pole outside our site. I suggested that she leave it with me and what do you know Dingo Dan turned up at just the right time with his tools.

What I didn't tell her is that we had removed the street signs from the black pole because they were in the way of our fantastic NZYF sign - technically it's not stealing because we only hid them about a foot from the sign - that's not stealing right?

and away we go...

In a few short hours my longest week will begin. It's not going to be longest in an infernal, eternal, never ending reminiscent of hell kind of way (how you can reminisce specifically about hell I do not know. After all do know anyone who has been there and returned to let you know that it really is a lake of fire etc??) but in a it's going to fun, there will be lots of adventures, I'm looking forward to it, probably won't be quite as good I hope but it will be lots of hard work, long hours, unpleasant conditions, but heaps of really great people

- a bit like farming but more static - kind of way.

So today starts at 10am with a short drive (short is relative around here) to meet up with Rozzy and the Contest Santa Fe and hugest trailer - Rozzy is very organised and I'm sure she would never break the law by having an oversize trailer but this one could be pushing it a smidge. We will drive up to Picton to meet the 6.30pm ferry across to Wellington, a quick overnight stay at Uncle Denys's, then on and up to Hamilton. Since the weather is terrible, most of this will be done in semi or total darkness. But don't worry I will be getting photos all the way even if they are blurry, dark grey images of unidentifiable things.

The purpose of this two days of driving with the worlds heaviest, legal trailer (I will get photos) is to get to Fieldays. People who haven't been to them, when I talk about Fieldays and then have a look of daunted awe on my face, please understand that these four days of agriculture heaven (for farmy people that is) and it is really a case of, if you are serious, a case of it will take you three days to see most things (excluded are the 'lifestyle' areas which are not for serious farmers, they throw that area in for townies like me - it's where they have the clothing, steak knifes, pots and pans, wonder brooms and the like. Personally I like it because it's inside away from the mud and rain).

So massive Fieldays is also a time of seeping cold and damp, lingering fogs, mud to you knees. You wear gumboots all day each day and there is a certain creditability with gumboots.

These are marginal creditable because they are proper milking gumboots, they are caked in ingrained cow poo, they have been adjusted to fit my boot leg jeans by slicing the back to create a bit of space for them to tuck inside, they are cold, well used and there in lies the creditability issue.

Please note: If you are going to wear your gumboots or work boots of any kind, crappy working ones are not suitable. You wear your best gumboots - yes people just like shoes, farmers have a gumboot ranking system and retain their boots until they really, really are falling apart. Wearing these old, worn boots will not raise my creditability at all and I will be unmasked as a weekend teat sprayer and nothing more.

That feels good to get off my chest!

Now in preparation to my epic road trip I will now go and have a long bath with some coconut bubble bath and candles. Bon voyage to us!

you'd think

that after an epic drive and compulsory Grey's and Private Practice watching plus a very preoccupied mind (with a complex but good thing) making for less sleep, you'd think that I'd be shattered.

Instead I find myself full of vim and vigour - ok that's a lie, let's go with vim alone, vigour seems a bit too 1930s Brit's bathing outside nekid in the snow and be cheery about it this morning, old chum.

I think next week when I am in the big smoke (no caps there cause it's Hamilton during Fieldays so expanded smoke may be better term) I am going to buy a very peppy Black Eyed Peas CD so I can bounce my way to work - hopefully without a detour this morning.

At the moment it's going to Black Betty covered by Spider Bait all the way.

Have a super great day and just think next I'll be reporting from National Fieldays - the largest agricultural gathering (?) in the Southern Hemisphere... yippy!