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The FARM Thursday 15th December 2022
So on Thursday 15th December the Charabanc was loaded with our family trip to meet the new in laws in Invercargill. 3 adults, Sienna and the associated important items for a smooth journey….
Namely my bike and kit! 😘 Joking of course, well semi….I meant all the gear for Sienna. With a couple of feeding stops, for all of us…we finally arrived at Invercargill some five hours later down State Highway One (pretty much a single carriageway all the way).
Not quite Invercargill but some 20km east at Mokotua on their sheep farm! Meeting firstly Hamish’s parents Gay and Ronny, then sister Sally with husband Grant, and Sienna’s cousins, Ben (the little character), Isla and Alex…..and what a lovely family they all are!
Ronny and Gay have been working the farm since 1978, with some 750 acres and currently having 1700 sheep, targeting approximately 2500 lambs per year for market.
Also they farm using “Regenerative” methods (no chemicals, and daily rotation of the sheep "mobs" to fresh pastures) in fact they had an assessment over the weekend we were there, including soil tests….also on the farm were some inherited wetlands, which again had been managed by Ron and Gay, with an official "covenance" to protect the area., where no development or mods are permitted 👏
Ron took us out for a full exploration of the farm, with some very edifying commentary fed by a series of questions from yours truly.
While we were there for the four nights, Gay organised a birthday party for Sienna and also an early Christmas dinner (ham based as is the NZ tradition), but what a whirlwind, Gay proved to be….one minute prepping the dinners, then the next she catches your eye flying across the farm on a quad bike, to rotate the sheep paddocks….and before you know it, she’s back prepping the dinner. I’m sure there was only one Gay!, I never saw the two together anyway! 🤷♂️ And Ron wasn’t that far behind! 💨💨💨
The only downside was the weather, which was generally overcast with very heavy rain one day (when Bex and I went shopping into Invercargill)….there were a couple more visits to Invercargill….one included walking the lagoons just south of the city, with some gratuitous twitching….then an afternoon out with Bex, Hamish and Sienna - checking the local beach out and a stroll around Queens Park….which was very nice. I can’t say the centre was memorable in any way - apparently two of the main attractions it’s gallery and museum being closed due to failing the relatively recent Earthquake building compliance…after the Christchurch earthquakes….and the new shopping centre development was still in progress….
Current main attractions are a trio of motoring related exhibitions, linked to the legacy of the late legend Burt Munro (yes, a distant relation), a local resident, who still holds the motorcycle land speed record for a bike under 1000cc, on a 47 year old bike at the grand age of 67…in 1967 at Bonneville, Utah. Burt’s journey was revisted on celluloid, in the film “The World’s Fastest Indian” - Indian being the manufacturer of the motorcycle. 🏍💨
Sienna loved being with her cousins, who of course fussed around her….with especially Isla proving naturally to be very caring, playful and attentive. 💕
On the bike I did a couple of 60k spins around the mainly gravel roads and farms, mainly flat, except towards the furthest east on my first ride where it got a little rolling, I guess the start of the Catlins.
Sod’s law of course, on our last morning there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Sally and Grant kindly lending me their spare car for the duration, so independently, I headed east on the Southern Scenic Coast Road up into the Catlins, for three nights planned to explore a region that had been on everyone’s recommended list for that part of NZ…..we will see……
So it was final farewells and hugs to the lovely Munro’s (and to be part of the extended family) - probably next meeting up at the wedding of the year in February…. Ron with his typical dry rumour, shook my hand, and acclaimed that I had affectively passed the test, and would be welcome into the family - well, I think he was joking! 🤷♂️😂
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