Te Kuiti - sheep Running

We had an early start this morning as we weren't quite sure how long the trip was going to take.

We arrived at the Kiwi Sanctuary in plenty of time to have coffee at Otorohanga. The Kiwi sanctuary is really the only sure place to see a Kiwi bird and we were not disappointed, we saw two. The rest of the park was very nice and we saw the NZ parrot being fed and also the tuatara bird.

We then drove on down to Te Kuiti to see the Great NZ sheep muster. Everyone was standing in the street and I wondered how the sheep were going to be kept in, I soon found out. An announcement was made for everyone to hold up the 'safety barrier'!! This was nothing more than a long roll of tarpaulin which everyone held onto. Only in New Zealand - no Health and Safety here. However, that said everyone was very well behaved and when told to be quiet as the sheep passed by so as not to frighten them, everyone was quiet and the sheep went running by in a very orderly manner and with a lot of smell!! It was really good to see it.

We then walked down to the holding pen where some of the sheep were sheared using the old fashioned wind up shears. All good fun and a good family day out.

We then watched a demonstration by the fire brigade who showed what happens when you leave a chip pan on the heat. It is a big problem here and there are many house fires due to leaving things cooking and as the houses are mostly wooden it doesn't take long for them to burn.

We had lunch from the many stalls in the street and we had some Asian food which was tasty but a bit greasy for my liking. We then rounded off the afternoon with an ice cream, James is really liking the Hokey Pokey flavour now, shame they don't make it in the UK.

We phoned the White Island boat trip company to see if the weather was set to be fine for tomorrow. They said it was and so we booked - another early start!!

As we wanted to get back for the demolition Derby we set off home stopping at Lake Karapiro on the way. We stopped by the dam and Kirsty and James had a walk across it and we took more photos before setting off on the last hour of the journey.

The view from the top of the Kaimai hills over the Waikato valley was really clear today so we stopped for more photos. Heather went over that way seven times when she was first here and we never saw the view with her so it was also a first for her. Unfortunately, as we got to the top of the hills and looked down over the Bay the weather was very different and it was raining heavily.

When we got back we had the much needed cup of tea and Heather logged on to the stadium only to find out that the demolition Derby had been cancelled due to too much rain on the track so we could have spent more time in the sun on the other side of the hills!!!

I drove Heather to the Warehouse to pick up her phone and she was not happy as it was all scratched as they had put it in a bag with the charger. She will need to speak to the other branch that sent it off next week.

We had a call to say that the boat trip is on for tomorrow!!!!



WEATHER
Warm and sunny in Te Kuiti 23 degrees. Wet as we came over the Kaimai Hill and heavy rain at night