Blink….4 weeks gone

Time is flying by, but it has been productive! For 3 weeks in August we have been house sitting in Rolleston, just outside of Christchurch. We were Looking after a lovely house, a gorgeous golden labrador (Elle), a cat (Pud Pud) and a cheeky Shetland pony (Cody). We made great progress with the school work (school year nearly done yay!), got out and about around Christchurch but the biggest bonus was to be able to help out Paul and Carol Nelson at the Grand National races for 10 days, it was fab!

Up at 6am, on the first horse before 7am in the dark, riding out on to the fabulous Riccarton racecourse on the frosty grass as the sun was coming up. What an experience!  It was busy on the racecourse those mornings, probably 10-20 horses being exercised on the various different tracks or fields at any one time. I was riding amongst jockeys, track riders, Olympic show jumpers turned race horse trainers, you name it 😃!

Usually I rode 2-3 horses each morning, depending on what kind of work they needed. The gallop training was done by the jockeys. After that the horses were all turned out in paddocks for some grass and fresh air.

There were 3 race days, which were busy days. First up and ride those not racing, or trotting the racing horses to stretch their legs. Then taking the horses to the track ready to race. No plaiting up for these galloping machines 😜 but a quick brush and polish to make them sparkle in the parade ring. It was soon time for action and I would lead the horses into the parade ring (quite often they were leading me!). Jockey on board then it’s up to them!

Paul and Carol had one winner that week (good boy Ted!) and a few good placings, so a good week in my (not professional) eyes. We got to see some of our local friends win some big races including a fabulous win by Harvey Wilson winning the Grand National with style 💪🏻.

It was great to be part of it and yet another unforgettable experience. Having been working with the race horses for a short while here in NZ, it starts to feel comfortable and a bit “normal”. However before we left Rolleston Ron and Beryl (the house owners) were asking us about it, at that moment I realized wow that’s actually very very cool!

Since leaving Rolleston we have been on the road again, and actually now nearing the end of our tour of the South Island.  This week we are taking the ferry back to Wellington and as we move into the last 6 weeks we are trying to enjoy every moment.

I actually realised yesterday that we have actually criss-crossed the South Island on every conceivable route from East to West, so I think we have covered most of it!!  The South Island is just beautiful, quite different from the North Island….greener, quieter (those remote villages are like stepping back in time) and a touch more laid back.  I have to be careful here, as I don’t want to upset my North Island friends!  Just to be clear, I don’t have a favourite Island 🤣🤣🤣.

After leaving Rolleston we headed West again as it has been recommended by many people that we should visit the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki.   We had an annoying 3 day unexpected stop in a gold mining town called Reefton as our car needed a new radiator….shitshitbuggerfuckbutitis25yearsold.  Anywaaaaaaaay, 700 dollars later (actually we were expecting more) and put it behind you and move on…..

On to the pancake rocks and we weren’t disappointed!  The timing had to be just right to ensure we were there at high tide, as there are several blow holes amongst the rocks.  What an amazing sight and sounds, the roar of those blow holes sounded like there was a dragon roaring from below our feet…sooooo cool!  We spent some time there exploring, climbing and in awe at another of nature’s wonders.

We then headed north to a very quaint camp site (our favourite type) called Gentle Annie.   It was lovely, right on the beach where the roar of the ocean and the weka bird’s choir was all we could hear.  We ended up spending 2 nights there so we could explore the area, including a walk up the hill to the Gentle Annie maze (great fun) and followed a footpath to a lookout point that was actually fallen into the ocean, so the walk was quite exciting as we negotiated the rock slide!

On Sunday we started to head North again, with a stop over at a nice campsite in Murchison on our way towards Nelson.  On the way we came across a huge suspension bridge (the longest in New Zealand) so of course took a small detour and checked it out, including a zip line ride for the kids on the way back…..great fun and broke up the journey.

We passed through Nelson (we tend to avoid the cities) and we have discovered yet another cute campsite, this time in Okiwi Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.  We left behind a huge rain storm in Murchison and as we got closer to the ocean the blue sky appeared again and the beautiful weather was back….Spring is in the air!

So here we are, I’m sitting in our campsite kitchen (great wifi 😁) and TJ is cooking dinner (sausages and mash yummers) and the kids are watching YouTube 🙄. I need to put together some photos now to set these memories forever in my blog 😎💕.

6 weeks to go, 6 weeks to go!!!  Starting to look forward to being home, but at the same time trying to enjoy everything and each other while we still have the 24/7 quality family time together!

Laters,

Kelly