I've arrived........

Tuesday 5th August was a day filled with mixed emotions. I was excited,nervous, happy, tearful and unsure all at the same time. I was happy to finally be leaving to begin on my new adventure but nervous as to what to expect and whether I was going to enjoy it. I was excited for what lay ahead of me, and the people and culture I would meet and experience yet tearful to be saying goodbye to my family and close friends, who all knew why I was needing to do this to get away. Finally there was a part of me that felt unsure, unsure what to feel and unsure what to think. As mentioned in my previous post (It's time to leave, it's time for a change). I had been wanting to travel and work in New Zealand for a very long time, and I was now finally able to say I was going to do it, and oh my god did it feel good!!! I had said my goodbyes and I was ready to go.

Thursday 7th August I arrived in Auckland airport after a very long flight, but I still hadn't finished my journey. I had another two flights to go to get me to the bottom of South Island, Invercargill, where I was to be picked up by my new boss and continue travelling up to my final destination of Winton. I was already extremely tired and had had enough of travelling. I was sick of the sight of aeroplanes and sitting down in a confined space, but I knew deep down that it was all going to be worth it, and I was proved right in Auckland airport.

In 2013, when I started working in my previous job (seamstress for a well known bridal wear designer), I got to meet and work alongside a New Zealander called Julia who had come to the UK to travel, experience and work in a different country just like I was going to do. Julia returned home to New Zealand at Christmas 2013, but I am happy to be able to call her one of my good friends, and oh boy was I about to be proved right. Julia and her Welsh partner Chris (who she'd met whilst working in Wales) met me off the plane in Auckland airport, as I had a few hours to wait until my next flight. It was great to have a catch up and hear all the things she and Chris had been up to since they arrived back in New Zealand at the start of 2014.

After two hours of chatting, eating and a cheeky glass of wine, Julia pulled a neatly wrapped parcel out of her bag and told me it was a 'welcome to New Zealand gift'. I had just stepped off the plane and I was already being welcomed in this new country that I was unsure of. It quickly put me at ease and less nervous of the journey I was embarking on. What was this gift you may ask? Well the picture is above. It's a gorgeous bangle by a designer called Sally Frewin. The bracelet was an amazing gift on it's own, but the little text on the card that came with it made the present even more personal and I love it even more. The text reads,

'Made from No.8 fencing wire, the Fix-8 bangle is a symbol of the famous Kiwi ingenuity. Whether your in the high-country fixing stuff or in the high-street fixing to look great, the Fix-8 bangle will bring out the Kiwi in you'.

I eventually said my goodbyes to both Julia and Chris and carried on the final part of my journey,arriving in Winton at roughly 20.30 on the 7th August.

The people I have come to work for are called William and Janice Du Plessis, a South African couple who had moved to live and work in the New Zealand dairy industry nearly seven years ago. As soon as they picked me up from the airport they made me feel welcome, and just like everyone else, they couldn't believe that a young British girl had travelled all that way to come and live and work in New Zealand on her own.

Janice and William's plans were for me to rest and get over my jetlag for the first couple of days before I was to get into the swing of my new job role, however I was keen to see their set up and start learning the New Zealand dairy system. I managed to get a good nights sleep on my first night in New Zealand and woke up pretty early considering the amount of travelling I had done over the previous two days. On my first full day of being in New Zealand, Friday 8th, I travelled into town with Janice to collect and be kitted out in all the work clothes I would need to carry out the work I had come to do, and may I say I may have only been here nearly three weeks, but the work clothes here, compared to the UK are amazing!!!!

Anyway, that afternoon I headed to the parlour, or the shed as the New Zealanders like to call it, and yes, I cupped my first cows that afternoon (milked the cows), something which I hadn't done since March, that's nearly five months ago, and I must say it felt amazing to be milking again. You really don't know how much you love doing something until you have been unable to do it for so long, and are then given the chance to do it again. I loved the feeling of being back in the milking parlour.

Janice and William work with a 54 bay rotary parlour, and for those of you that don't know what that means, the parlour rotates as the cows are milked (meaning they walk on to it to be milked and then walk off when they have finished milking) and there are 54 cows on there at one time. I will try and explain this in more detail in later posts.

Once milking was complete, Janice and I headed to the calf shed to feed the calves which had already been born before I arrived. Janice ran through the work that I would be carrying out, as the calf rearing is one of the main jobs they had employed me to do. 

So, I have been here for nearly three weeks and I have learnt and done so much already. I have experienced and learnt about milking, calf feeding, the run-off, dusting, drafting, certain coloured dots and markings, springers, bobbys, strip grazing, block grazing, along with loads more, all of which I will explain further in detail in the next few weeks.

The work is extremely physical and tough but I am proving I can do it, do exactly the same work the men out here are doing while having an amazing laugh at the same time. I just wish all the people who said I was unable to do it just because I was a girl or not strong enough could see me now.

Overall my first few weeks in New Zealand have been amazing. The locals are all so friendly and I have met many of them so far as they are all wanting to come and meet the new 'welshy' that has come to work in the area. My surrounding countryside is simply breathtaking and truely gorgeous to work within. I am slowly getting used to the way Janice and William work and have milked nearly every day since being here. I am learning so much and both William and Janice are eager to teach me. The weather has been..ummmm..interesting? I have never experienced anything like it before. On my first day we had snow, rain, warm sunshine, wind and more rain, and that was all in one day! But thankfully the last week has been full of gorgeous sunshine.

Anyway, I've arrived....and I'm loving every moment.

Hx