My last week of work started with a visit to John Tanner’s, a dairy client that I had come to quite enjoy visiting. Even though nothing was done very speedy or efficiently, we had a great time and he’d quiz me about all the gossip and the news around Canterbury. John thought my fiddle playing skill was a bit weird and took the piss out of me all the time for it but I think he was secretly impressed. My nickname was Bluegrass since I was in a bluegrass band, and everyone else in the clinic had a nickname as well, but out of respect of them I won’t mention them here. This day I looked at a sick cow, then checked some cows for pregnancy and caught up on the last of the gossip before I left. He also informed me that he was going to start the Bring Kat Back campaign, starting with painting that phrase on the roof of Vetlife as well as gather other clients I worked with to threaten going to the competing practice unless they gave me my job back in August. I was quite flattered, and Craig our other very friendly client was informed of the plan and was already on board. I figured I’d leave it to those two to figure it out.
Monday and Tuesday night was my last session with the Irish groups so I headed up to Christchurch to say my goodbyes to the great people I had been playing tunes with for months, but it felt like years. Jeremy and Sophia were sad to see me go as well as Russell, who always made me play Catharsis every week that I showed up. It was his hands down favorite tune and Gm to boot. At the end of the night Jeremy invited me out salmon fishing the following weekend and since I hadn’t been fishing in many years I was gonna try to make it up to go.
The end of the week and my last day of work was celebrated by my leaving do that I held in the famous sleep-out garage. We had a BBQ and a version of the pot luck in the US. Even the Possum’s came down for the event and we all played some tunes for the Ashburton folks. It was sad to hear all the goodbye’s from the client’s and all the great people I worked with everyday but I was determined to come back to New Zealand, even if I wasn’t based in Ashburton again. Craig and Dave had decided a whiskey tasting was in order, since our plans of a formal one never went through. They were big into their good whiskies and I had never really been able to tell the difference. They, one way or another, gonna show me the difference that night. They brought along 3 different whiskies, of which I had to try all 3. The Possum’s also brought along a bottle of Old Crow for old time’s sake from the Harbour Light gig that went all wrong because of it. After a glass of the good stuff, I could definitely tell that the Old Crow was murderous and never should have been drunk. After the BBQ and the Possum’s mini show, it was Craig Hickman’s turn. Craig was famous for his poems about the poor vets that stepped on his farm, and had decided to write me a farewell poem, which I was a bit nervous about. The crowd gathered around and drinks were freshly poured in preparation for the narration. It was actually just to the edge of being embarrassing but at the same time very sentimental and there was much applause for his skill afterward. The night continued, and because I was now officially on holiday for 8 months with no job and all the adventuring I could muster ahead of me, I fully embraced the night and accepted the beers, the whiskies and the shots that came later. After most of the gathering had gone off home to bed, the few left behind, Charlotte, Craig, Dave, the other Craig, and Johnno from the band, and I all decided to head into town to go to ‘the night club’ in Ashburton called The Shed! Known for its overplaying of Lady Gaga. But hey, when it’s a group of good friends already high on life, it becomes the best dance club on earth! Shots of tequila were poured, beers washed them down and we all boogied out on the dance floor, even Craig who had a late pass from his wife! We closed down the club and headed back to our respective homes via the courtesy van. It was a great night out!!!
The next day was recovery and clean-up of the garage. I found bottles left in nooks and crannies I never really thought about before. But all the food was gone so I was content with that. That night I headed up to Kaiapoi to have dinner and stay the night with Jeremy and Sophia the couple from the Irish session and Jeremy was going to take me fishing the next day. Although I felt recovered, I knew I wasn’t totally there yet by the time I got to their house. I felt bad I wasn’t a more engaging visitor but their kids Alex 5, and Tom 3, were the cutest little hooligans and they had conned me into reading them their bedtime story by the end of the evening. Sophia and I stayed up talking till late and played a few tunes, she demonstrated on her accordion the set for the upcoming show her and Jeremy were doing with some other players. I’m really sad I missed the show as it was combining all different styles of traditional music with classical music with two fiddles, an accordion, a guitar, lute, and harp.
The fishing expedition the next day more relaxing than it was fishing, as it really wasn’t peak season for salmon in their river, but Jeremy had a great time just having adult conversation about music and teaching and fishing. We chatted with the other old men that were fishing on the bank as well, learning all the gossip of who caught fish and who hadn’t, and how to interpret the fishing rules and regulations and who had violated those rules. Later Sophia brought Alex and Tom down and they ‘helped’ us fish by gathering stones to throw at the cormorant birds that would dive down and steal the pilchard fish that were used as bait on the hooks. They made more noise than anything but they were still quite interested in helping the fisherman and praised the old men when they caught a herring and ran to check it out while it flopped on the shore. After fishing I said my goodbyes and went to meet Eilis in town for dinner.
My year in New Zealand has officially coming to an end with work finished and Matt arriving in a few days. It has been an amazing experience living here and the place has definitely grown on me and I can’t wait to come back and do more of the multi-day walks and tramps around the country as well as keep learning the systems and unique challenges of the vet world here. Hopefully next year I can venture into more species and broaden my horizons a bit more.
Where to next? Well the plan will be to be back in New Zealand August of 2011, till June of 2012, then who knows where I’ll end up. That’s too far ahead for my kind of life planning. I’m quite enjoying the nomadic life I’ve started living so anything could happen!
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