Christophers Comments

Posted by on 3 April 2011 | 1 Comments

CHRISTOPHER’S COMMENT MARCH 2011

For those regular readers of this column (are there any??) you will notice that there was no comment made for the month of February. The answer is easy. We were away most of the month in the South Island. We left here in early February and our first stop was at Blenheim where we met for the first time Amelia’s Grandmother Jean Clouston. This amazing lady, now well into her eighties, keeps abreast of national and international news and was well versed on farming activities. We had a lovely couple of hours with her and then headed to Kaikoura where we were booked on a whale watch. That was a great experience getting up quite close to two very large sperm whales. They are truly awesome creatures. On then to Dunedin to research some more family history on Janet’s side - an amazing discovery to find both her sets of Great Grandparents within a row of each other in the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery. It seems we are all immigrants at one time or other. We visited the Catlins for the first time (it rained as it does most of the time I gather, no wonder the grass growth is so prolific) eventually ending up in Invercargill and Bluff. On the way we visited Garry and Angie who used to farm in Whitehall and also Jim Allison, Hugh’s father who farms at Gladfield. Those flat farms were like heaven to one who has always farmed on hills. Then on to Tuatapere to do our first walk aptly named The Hump Ridge where we had a helicopter ride into the base of the mountain. It was quite tough going from sea level to over 1000 metres on our first day in not very pleasant weather and then ten kilometres of board walk down the other side…..but the views at the top were magnificent and although this was a challenging three day walk it was well worth the effort. On then to stay with our friends Shona and Rupert in Queenstown and a couple of days being spoilt by them before the four of us headed off to walk the Milford Track. By then the fine weather had arrived and this walk is truly amazing. It lived up to all the advertising of ‘truly the finest walk in the world’. Trekking up the McKinnon Pass and viewing the Sutherland Falls and experiencing the glacial mountains is something all Kiwis should do in their life time. A few more days R & R with our lovely hosts then up the west coast, visiting Denniston (an old mining town high above Westport made even more well known thanks to Jenny Pattrick and her novels) and Nelson Lakes district. We were in Blenheim when the earthquake struck Christchurch and shared the ferry north with many escapees the next morning. We finally got home late February - another remarkable adventure for us. 

Back on the farm everything has been going very well. Rain has arrived just when we have been getting concerned so consequently the stock have been doing very well. Export lambs have been returning well in excess of $100 and our last clip of wool retuned $5.10/kilo at auction. Two years ago we received $2.19/kilo. The ewes are in great order which bodes well for a good tupping and high scanning percentage. So perhaps the long predicted turnaround for drystock farming has arrived.

Hugh who has now been with us for three years took over the day-to-day management of the farm from the 1^st March. Any thought of me taking it easy were quickly dispelled by Janet who decided it was time to do a massive makeover of the garden. I am not complaining, gardening with a chainsaw – that is how I like to do it!

We are remembering one special little birthday, Kate turned three on February 27^th. We look forward to seeing them all here in April – twenty-seven sleeps to go.