NZ Young Farmers

My farm host Marty took me to the Helensville A&P(Agriculture and Pastoral) show where there was the regional New Zealand Young Farmer contest was happening.  The Young Farmer contest is hosted by the Young Farmers social group.  The competition is open to anyone in the group aged 18-30, and it is a most strenuous event.  The participants have to go through many practical tasks such as build a fence gate, use a chin saw to make a boot, make a irrigation hose setup and put wheels on a 4-wheeler.  After the day activities, the contestants are in a game show type question and answer section.  The questions ranged from politics, sport, and many technical farm questions.  The winner of the competition goes to a national competition.  The prizes the people get are amazing.  The regional winner got a mechanical water pump, $100 in new clothes, Echo power tool vouchers, and $1000 in cash.  The National winner gets up to $100,000 in cash and a new pickup! 

Farming is the biggest industry in New Zealand and people take it seriously.  The quality of produce is valued highly.  No BGH is used in dairy cows, and no genetic engineered seeds are planted.  Most of the farms are family owned, there is little corporate farming. Small business are thriving all over New Zealand.  Small towns have main streets at full occupancy, a nice change from the states. 

I am in Auckland, getting my tax number, setting up a bank account and looking for yacht day work.  If I don't find anything by Friday, I will be leaving to go to Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty and look for farm work.  Jobs are become scarce in the cities. Many people are leaving Christchurch looking for work in other parts of the country.   The summer season is winding down to a close.  Below are a few pictures of the Young Farmers contest and the A&P show. 

Work Visa, At Last

I have been waiting for my work visa for several months now, but finally have it.  I had to log onto immigration NZ's website to find out that I actually had the visa approved yesterday.  I had no e-mail verification from my case officer, but oh well.  I now need to apply for a IRD number, a New Zealand tax identification.  This will seem strange to me.  I have not had to look for a job since the spring of 2008.  I have always been working at Sea Base or odd jobs.  For the past week I have been cleaning up the farm, but the owner, Marty took me caving with school children in the middle of the week to take a break.  The kids were from Auckland and had a outdoor day that included caving, rock climbing, and repelling.  I wish I had the chance to do these things when I was their age(except I did and was too scared to do it).  I am going to a agriculture show wih Marty this weekend, then off to look for work, most likely in the Bay of Plenty, fruit picking.

Christchurch Earthquake

 

The earthquake that rocked Christchurch was in the middle of the south island.  I am about as far as possible from the epicenter.  Kaiwaka is 1.5 hours north of Auckland.  

Farmageddon

The past weekend included a party at the farm I am staying on called Farmageddon.   The party consisted of  a 130 meter water slide, BMX bike jump into a pond, jet ski ramp, dirt bikes driving around everywhere, 4-wheeling trucks, a car that drove it self into a pond, a tiki bar, one band, 2 DJs, huge bonfire, 100 kiwi rednecks, and party crashers at 2 am.  Those items don't necessarily go in chronological order.  The party crashers were local Maori teenagers who decided it would be a good idea to steal a bunch of CD's from the DJ.  This idea did not go as planned and the kids were in a fight with the DJ's friends, and the police had to be called.  Just another day in New Zealand.

Life on the Farm

I am now working on a cattle farm near Kaiwaka, about 1.5 hours north of Auckland.  I have been here for the past few days. So far, I have used a huge earth-mover, helped vaccinate cattle, build a giant water slide and drove all over the farm with the owner's ATV.  It is awesome here.  I have to work for 4 hours for accommodation, then after that I can work for $12 an hour.  I worked about 4 additional hours today mowing and trimming grass.  The water slide we build yesterday is for a huge party planned for the weekend.  Here is the video last year's years party.  It should be sweet as.

Still Waiting

I can maybe now understand a little how immigrants feel when they enter the United States and work illegally.  I am in the same situation now.  I have been waiting to resolve my work visa since September, but I think that a resolution is close. I did the second blood test about 2 weeks ago, and have a clean bill of health.  I have to wait one more week to hear back from immigration NZ.  I have spent the past 3 nights on a friend's boat in the viaduct harbour in Auckland.  Tomorrow I start  another farm work stay in Kaiwaka.  I looked for day work at the boat yards in Auckland, but no luck.  If I stay in town and go back more often, I am sure that I could find something.  I have been keeping busy by reading and watching a lot of movies.  I recently stumbeled upon my friend Hannah's blog.  She is a good artist.  I miss my friends from Florida.  I like New Zealand too.  Maybe everyone should come and visit me!

Zippity Zoo

I recently spent 12 days on a farm near Levin exchanging work for accommodation.  The owner, Beverley runs a mobile petting zoo.  She has 3 donkeys, 2 miniature ponies, about 15 goats, 5 sheep, 2 hogs, roughly 15 guinea pigs, 8 or so rabbits, and too many ducks and chickens to count.  Her operation was in high gear before she got sick the third night I stayed with her.  She had diverticulitis, a intestinal infection.  She essentially left me in charge of her farm for 6 nights while she rested in the hospital.  I have not been around livestock much, and one of her goats was due for a baby.  I was a little worried about having a goat kid on my hands.  I corresponded with Beverly through text messages and the week went smoothly.  She had other couchsurfers coming to her house and I was the host for them, at a farm where I was a guest! 
When Beverley returned home, she was supposed to go to two parties in Wellington, but she was too weak to drive.  I volunteered to drive the animals and I had help from Jonathan, a local kid who has helped her in the past.  We got lost on the way to the first party, but I should have known not to follow the GPS, it told us to take the shortcut, which included many mountain roads.  The parties went on without a hitch, everyone was happy.  We had one sheep, one goat, 2 bunnies, 2 chickens, and 7 guinea pigs stuffed into the back of her box truck.  All of us made it home safe.  Beverley was a great host, I would have stayed longer, but I had to go back to Auckland to do another blood test for immigration.  Beverley also moonlights as a belly dance instructor. Check out her websites at http://www.zippityzoo.co.nz/ and http://www.moonjellybellydance.co.nz/