Log 11: Vaccine Run, Night out in Christchurch, and Dry off season!

The next week was the vaccine run for the small animal clinic which we were recruited to help with.  They ask the Largie vets to help out too since they get a fair amount of animals in a short amount of time.  We load up a few trucks with vaccine, dewormer pills, and dog anti-inflammatories and set out a table at various country halls around our practice area and most of the farm dogs roll up on the back of the ute’s and in dog boxes ready to get checked out.  These were mostly working dogs, but there was the occasional big strong man with ‘his wife’s’ little white dog, that rides in his lap and if you watch closely he secretly dotes on the dog and feeds it treats.  It was a great day visiting the country areas and visiting with the farmers you don’t see very often because they are mostly of the sheep and beef variety.

On the weekend Laura, another vet based in Methven, and I headed to Aokaroa for the weekend to find something to do and a need to get out of Ashvegas and away from work.  We arrived late and stayed at a backpackers, only to find that because it was going into winter, all food places were closing early and we managed to order a late pizza and sneakily eat it in the bar while ‘having a wine’.  The next day we found a little market in town and bought some chiabata bread and cheese and went for tramp up a hill. Once at the top there was almost a 360 degree view of the peninsula and the surrounding bays. 

We headed into Christchurch that night to join Alex and Amy and some of their friends out for dinner and then out dancing at Soul Square. We didn’t last long after our long day of walking but the highlight of the night was the Chip shop DJ.  Post dancing, Laura and I decided some greasy chips were just the thing so we stopped at a chip shop that looked HOPPIN!  There was a guy mixing the techno music over the speakers behind the counter and as we walked in an order came up, the music was paused and, “2 chips and a burger” was called out over the speaker. As soon as the customer came forward, the music was back on, the transaction was made and then it was our turn to order. Which we had to all but scream into the guys ear, while he was boppin’ along to the beat. As we waited for our order, we couldn’t help but sit in bewilderment and laugh. 

Sunday we laid low, and toured around the outdoor shops, pricing out sleeping bags, tents, and backpacks. After my last disastrous night tramping in my not so warm bag, I was ready to invest in one to remedy the problem.  I was also checking out new backpacks as mine was serviced me well but is about to fall to pieces and is not appropriate for actually backpacking travel which was the next plan on the plate!

Now the next order of cow business this season is dry cowing! 150,000 cows in our practice area all get dried off at one time, minus the ones that milk through winter, and we help do this as drying off 500 cows in one go can be a massive undertaking and bodies and hands are needed no matter their employment status on farm or vet clinic.  4 and 5am starts to put tubes of dry cow in teats for 2-3 hours was an experience to be reckoned with. The cows loaded on the milking platform, milked, and as the milkers come off there is a crew of people with wet wipes cleaning teats, then another crew of people putting tubes of dry cow in teats, and potentially another crew putting in teat seal to protect the teats from invasion when they are moved to winter grazing.  The cows don’t really like this as their teats are not touched much with the kiwi style of milking (no prep, just put cups on), so it goes a bit like this:  find the next cow that’s cleaned, *kick “hey hey”, pull cap with teeth, insert one tube. *kick, “hey now”, pull cap, insert second tube. *kick kick kick, “here now!!” pull cap with teeth get half of tube placed *KICK, “HEY!”  pull cap, insert last tube.  Some are great and don’t move a muscle, other’s need a guy riding the platform around holding the tail in the air.  It goes fast though, and there were bits of tube and caps EVERYWHERE!   If I was going to get an infection from ingesting manure, that would have been when I’d have gotten it, but never fear, inevitably some parts of those dry cow antibiotic ended up in my mouth from all the cap pulling. I was infected and cured all at the same time.

Even in my life as a dairy farmer’s daughter, and then vet school and 3 years of working as a vet, I had maybe dried off about 5 cows in my life.  I can now say I’ve done a wee bit more than the average bear. At least for the average American vet.

After dry cowing ended, the work really was coming to a standstill so going a bit stir-crazy, Amy and I started going swimming at the local pool together and signed up for a spinning class at the gym. This was like no spinning class I had been in before! Granted I’ve only ever done one associated with a triathlon class and it only lasted 30min. An hour with this professional cyclist and my legs were kapoot!! 

Log 10: Tramping and Music

It was finally time to go back and revisit Arthur’s Pass, and after a long week at work I was ready to get the hell outta dodge!  I didn’t particularly care where I went I just needed out of Ashvegas, the name lovingly given to Ashburton to mock it for being boring and dull.  Another Laura from Britain working for one of the competing vet clinics and our newest adoptee, also wanted to get away for a relaxing adventure. 

We headed back up to Arthur’s pass but the rain quickly descended into the pass and didn’t leave us much option for tramping except some short walks.  Just happy to be out, we walked to a waterfall and around some hills that kicked us out onto the road eventually. Retiring to the hostel for the afternoon we drank wine, and read our books while listening to the gentle rain and seeing the clouded and misty hills out the window. We went across the road to the pub/café for supper and a night of wine drinking. Luckily we only lived across the road that had little to no traffic so we managed to stumble home and find our beds.  The next day we stopped off at a few different small trails and a cave. For lunch we stopped into a very posh golf resort where there were many groups of fancy ‘ladies that lunch’. We were definitely given the up and down as we walked in kinda wet from the rain and dingy from living and sleeping in our clothes as we were expecting to be tramping in the mountains.  Minding our manners as if we too were posh ladies lunching, we had a coffee and some great soup and laughing to ourselves at the eyes that spent their time staring at us. 

The other British Laura, that had left a few weeks previously was back in town for one day to sell her car and catch her flight to Australia, and me having Friday off of work headed up to spend the day with her.  I went up early to drop my fiddle bow off for re-hairing at a little German woman’s house that builds violins and does repairs out of her home. It was like leaving a child with a stranger, I felt very sad leaving my fiddle with someone else. I went into the city center to meet Laura but being a bit early I stopped into the pub for a drink. What the heck right? It’s my day off and nearly noon!  My pint of cider was going down well while playing poker on my mobile phone when Laura texted that she was at our meet up point! Shoot!  Downing the rest of my pint and ran to meet her as all her stuff was waiting to be put in my car.  Luggage secured, we headed to a coffee shop for a snack then walked around the botanical gardens and just chatted. I love chatting with Laura because the conversation never stops, we’re always laughing or speaking seriously about one thing or another. My mother’s great ability of talking to anyone, even the wall if necessary, is rubbing off on me I suspect.  We then headed to the cinema to see a Kiwi film called ‘Boy’, it has had rave reviews and it brings to light the Maori culture that’s all over New Zealand. Funnily enough, we had the theater to ourselves so we settled into our seats and two glasses of wine for our private showing. Afterward we headed to the alley of restaurants on Oxford Terrace that all have some kind of fire feature and outdoor seating. That was our only criteria for food, a place that has outdoor seating and a fire element!  More great conversation over a wonderful dinner and it was time to drop Laura at her dodgy accommodation near the airport for her early morning flight. It was a very classy trucker like motel that reminded me of home and my reasons for sleeping in my truck while driving across the country. After reassuring her that she wouldn’t be murdered in her sleep staying here and meeting the very hospitable man that ran the joint I said my goodbye’s and started my long drive home.

The next day I went hiking with Amy and Alex, on the Wharfdale Trail in Oxford.  The idea was to park a car at either end so we left Merino at the end of the long gravel road near the finish, and took Gordon the van to the starting point. It was a wonderful day hiking through beech forest into the hut which we found we had to ourselves for the night. We built a fire, made tea and supper while listening to my headphones blaring as loud as possible. With the quietness of the forest and the hut, it was actually enough sound to mumble along to some classic oldies for the evening! 

The night was only eventful because it was this particular night that prompted me to upgrade to a respectable sleeping bag.  After the fire in the stove died and the heat dissipated, I woke absolutely freezing at about 3am.  My own fault for not having proper gear, but I decided to put on all clothing items I had brought, which was few being an overnight tramp. The hat, gloves, and raincoat all went on and I managed to sleep a little until 6am when I gave up. Score 0 for Kat.

The walk out the next morning was down through a valley and across a few river crossings that in attempting to find a better crossing point, I just ended up falling in the river feet first. I can’t quite remember if Amy and Alex crossed dry, but I think they probably didn’t care about getting their feet wet. I think it was just early training as a child, Keep your feet Dry!!  Don’t get your socks muddy! There is also nothing less comfortable and harder to air-out than cold wet hiking boots.  The hardcore Kiwi’s go all out, river crossings and wet feet don’t seem to bother them. Maybe someday I’ll be that cool. Before heading back we stopped in Oxford at a café and had a coffee and a muffin in all our smelly tramping gear glory, and even managed to save a few crumbs for the wee birds that kept close to our feet practically begging.  That night we headed up to Methven to finish off the weekend with dinner at the Thai restaurant in Methven

After my last attempt of the Irish session I found in Christchurch, one of the players pulled me aside and said, hey there’s a more ‘traditional’ session on Monday nights if you are intersested. I think I nearly kissed him with delight! As much as the old ballads were good to hear again, the trumpet player and the 3 very simple English folk tunes that they played weren’t really my cup of tea. So I headed out to the Bailies pub, was so excited to play real tunes with real people!  We had a great time!!!  Jeremy, the other fiddle player, knows a little bit of everything I know!!!  Its great!!  I think he must photographic memory for music, because he remembers every tune he’s ever played! Its not a flash player but hey, I’m not picky.  They made me play a few tunes from all my weird genres that I know, and they fell in love with Natalie Macmaster’s version of Catharsis, a great G minor tune. SO great to play a variety!