Gills adventures Let's see this world of ours tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-03-26:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures 2008-03-20T07:55:15Z gihagg img/travel-blog-feed.png A late recollection tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-03-19:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=25&entryid=101773 2008-03-20T07:55:15Z 2008-03-20T07:55:15Z Hey everyone, So it is my intent to finish my blog about the south island trip even though it was a month ago. I know I left you the night before the bungy jump, so if you didn't know........I did it!!! The Kawarau Bridge which is the site of the world's first bungy by AJ Hackett back in the day. I didn't know if I would be able to do it, but this bungy is set up ... Hey everyone,
So it is my intent to finish my blog about the south island trip even though it was a month ago. I know I left you the night before the bungy jump, so if you didn't know........I did it!!! The Kawarau Bridge which is the site of the world's first bungy by AJ Hackett back in the day. I didn't know if I would be able to do it, but this bungy is set up so that everyone can watch you, so all the other trainees were there watching, so pride wouldn't let me back down! This was the first of 3 possible bungys that we did this day, so probably about 15 of us did this Kawarau bridge and all the rest did the Nevis which is 3 times higher.......
We got weighed and had to jump in reverse order of our weights, and I had to be the last one to go in our line, so watched everyone else go through it, then when it came to my turn the dude asked me if I wanted to get dunked underwater and I said no, but I wouldn't mind touching the water with my hands. So off I go, woohoo, falling, falling, straight into the water up to my waist.
It was so awesome! I think I will do another one someday. When I went back into the building after with all my friends, the dude from the bridge came and found me and asked if I was ok, and if I would forgive him for dunking me. Ha ha, but I am actually glad I went in the water, it made the experience that much better.
So out of 46 of us, 39 tried the bungy in Queenstown - not everyone succeeded but most did. Queenstown was also the place we discovered the Fergburger - the most amazing hamburger to date. It was $9.00 and the size of a small plate and had absolutely everything on it! And they are open all night!! Even when we made our way home to the holiday park after the pub.
The next day we had a long drive to Franz Josef - which was a small tourist town boasting a massive glacier, where you can take guided hikes. Again I slept the entire bus trip, I am getting really good at sleeping sitting up, good skill to have I think. The campground was wicked, complete with a shop, a spa pool and beautiful mountain views. I chose not to do the hike - instead I did my laundry and hung around camp. When the hikers returned we boarded the bus and headed to Punakaiki, which was my favorite place that we visited. We stayed in a really cool seaside backpackers owned by a German couple. Every room was bright colors with sea murals on the walls. We got fish and chips at the pub this night and took it down and ate on the beach in front of our hostel. Then we made our way up to the pancake rocks to watch the most beautiful sunset. The rocks themselves were spectacular. They are like pancakes, stacked one on top of the other, made for some great pictures. There was a great viewing place where ,many of us went to watch the sunset. Ahhhhhh, it was so nice, love Punakaiki. I woke up early the next morning and went for a run up to the rocks. Great to be alone with the nature for a bit.
After breakfast we loaded up and headed to Nelson, where we would spend 2 nights. We had a nice dinner and a great big massive and huge soccer game this night. Later most of us just hung out at our holiday park, played a bit of poker. This was the night Matt from England let me do his hair...... He was beautiful, let's just say that ;)
The next day we did something, but I can't remember what....... all I remember is we were in the city then we got back to the park and I had a nap for too long then had to wake up and run to the bus because we were heading out for our goodbye dinner. Pauline, Mandy (the assistant) and Mark organized a great evening for us. We did another nation vs. nation singing competition, ate great food and really enjoyed our last meal together. Pauline and Mark and Mandy bought each and every one of us something and told a little story or anecdote about us from this trip - it was so thoughtful of them. All the trainees just loved them, and who couldn't? They really made the trip for us.
Of couse since it was our last night we had to hit the boozery in true trainee fashion, so it was a crazy night, all of us out on the town. My host family (Jodi and Scott) were getting married the next day back here on the North Island so I had to fly off the South Island at 7am that morning. So there was really no point in going to bed. We got home from the town about 4 and I forced a few friends to stay awake with me till the taxi to the airport came for me at 6. It was actually really hard to go. Knowing that I was the first one to leave and they still had half a day left together, did not make me happy, but I boarded the plane anyways, and that is the last thing I remember till we touched down in Hamilton to a rainy and gloomy day - perfectly fitting my mood.
However rain and gloom did not fit the mood of my farm because everyone was there getting ready for the wedding. All I really wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn't... not yet. My friend Eurig from Wales left his car at my place during the trip and I was going to drive it to the wedding, and then to Hamilton to pick them up off the bus, then to Jeppe's to sleep (because I let one of Jodi and Scott's friends have my room), however his piece of junk car wouldn't start so I had to drive the work truck to the wedding - the most dirty vechicle you can imagine but never mind. The wedding was good, the weather was crap and it was outdoor, but I don't think anyone really minded. I went home early(ish) and drove to Jeppe's to sleep, then back home the next morning because the truck was needed to feed heifers. Eurig got a ride to my place to get his car, but no matter what we tried - there was no life in old "betsy-vac". So he spent the day at my house and was my ally against all the wedding strangers. He finally got one of our friends to come get him that night, and then I guess that was the moment the party was over. Back to reality. Started work the next morning just like normal.
So in closing, the South Island trip was the most awesomist time you can ever imagine, I would do it again in a second.
Since then I have just been working, we are still in a drought, so Scott spends half the day just feeding, and I have been picking up the slack in other things like doing the drenching of heifers and calves for worms and weighing them all. Been to the bay of Islands again - to a beachouse in Paihia. Been to a few trainee parties, to a kiwi orchard, yep, just hanging out. This weekend is Easter. I don't know what we are doing but it could be fun!!!!
I'll be home so soon. Actually, this will probably be my last entry while I am overseas. It's been a pleasure - thx for reading. See you soon!

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]]> South Island Part II tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-02-16:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=24&entryid=96738 2008-02-17T07:40:50Z 2008-02-17T07:40:50Z Ummm where was I last time? I think we had just arrived in Dunedin. In Dunedin we were staying at the holiday park - we had a unit just for us with a full kitchen and like 10 rooms - it was absolutely perfect. It was a little ways from the downtown and since it was tuesday and wednesday nights we stayed together and did group activities for much of the time which was great! I ... Ummm where was I last time? I think we had just arrived in Dunedin.
In Dunedin we were staying at the holiday park - we had a unit just for us with a full kitchen and like 10 rooms - it was absolutely perfect. It was a little ways from the downtown and since it was tuesday and wednesday nights we stayed together and did group activities for much of the time which was great! I introduced everyone to the best movie ever SNL- best of Will Ferrel (thank you Lex!) We toured the Speights brewery on our first night in town - it was pretty cool seeing how beer is made and then getting to sample the different kinds. Then we had a big fancy meal at the Speights ale house - it was so fun. Whenever we have a meal out there is always tonnes of drinking, drinking songs in different languages, singing and dancing, just general craziness. I was sitting at a table with many German trainees for this meal and I was learning to sing the song for The Warehouse commercial which is like Walmart in German. Von zie ein schleptchen cririct or something. After the meal we went out to a pub where a guy was playing acoustic guitar and singing - he was brilliant, it was such a good way to spend the evening. The next day we toured the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in the morning, had a bit of free time in town then went out to the Otaga Penninsula where some people went on a nature cruise, some went to watch penguins, and some including myself went and learned all about the Albatross. Really they are fascinating birds. Ask me about them sometime, I will enlighten you!
After this we went back to the holiday park and made supper then rented out the ice arena and went skating and curling! A truly Canadian thing to do! It was so funny seeing some of my friends try to skate - they just can't do it! One of the French girls asked me why all the Canadians were so good (because we were miles better than everyone else!), they don't realize how much hockey is really in Canada. So that was a really fun night together - then of course we stayed up till about 3 playing cards.
The next morning we had our biggest bus day. Luckily I was so tired that I slept the entire way! We went to Te Anua and all the way down to Bluff - the most southern point in NZ. So now I have been to the most Northern point and the most Southern point of this country. In Te Anua we were staying at another holiday park, it was valentines day and we cooked a romantic dinner of chili (Pauline's recipe was from Sue Dow!) and got a bit sorted out for the next couple days...... An opportunity presented itself to me to do a 32km hike - the Routeburn trail, and so I jumped on it. There were to be 10 of us doing it but there was all of a sudden a few more spots, so I was able to get in on it. From our holiday park we had to walk over to the Department of Conservation office to get our tickets for the hike and so everyone who was interested went over together after dinner, and as we were walking we decided to all join hands so there was a line of like 15 20 something year old people holding hands in a line walking behind Pauline, giggling at our own maturity. Just simple little things like that can be so fun.
So we got sorted and had spent some time at the grocery store getting everything we need for the hike and the next day heading out to Milford Sound! We actually spent the night on Milford sound on a ship called the Milford Wanderer. We kayaked and went swimming ang ate good food, and saw absolutely beautiful scenery and seals and a pod of dolphins - it was amazing!!
When we got back to shore the next day it was straight to the hike for us! We took 2 days to complete it. It wasn't really terribly difficult - but challenging enough that it was so satisfying when we were done! It was so lovely - right in the heart of the mountains. Gorgeous! I have lots of pics. We were so sweaty when we got to our sleeping spot the first night that we went for a swim.....in a mountain lake...... I will never be the same again - cold cold cold. We slept in the Mackenzie Lake Hut. Actually we didn't sleep. There was a room with a few bunk beds but they all were taken so we had to sleep in a line with 20 matresses just laying one beside the other. No sleep because of all the friggin mountain climbers and their heavy breathing. And Evonne's snoring.
So we (7 of us hiked together)finished this hike just a few hours ago and I am so tired! But tonight we are in Queenstown and will have to go to the pub because our friend Fredrick from France is playing his guitar in a pub here! We stay in Queenstown till tuesday and I don't know where after that. But what I do know is that tomorrow I will do the bungy.............
goodbye.........

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]]> South Island tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-02-14:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=23&entryid=96410 2008-02-14T22:29:14Z 2008-02-14T22:29:14Z Hello everyone! I am in Te Anau right now which is near the very bottom of New Zealand, having the best holiday ever! We left home on Feb. 7th and rode the bus to Wellington (about 8 hours). We spent the night at a backpackers right downtown and the following day exploring the city - me and my friend Marie Rasmussen rented rollarblades and went for a long journey around the warf - it was beautiful! ... Hello everyone!
I am in Te Anau right now which is near the very bottom of New Zealand, having the best holiday ever! We left home on Feb. 7th and rode the bus to Wellington (about 8 hours). We spent the night at a backpackers right downtown and the following day exploring the city - me and my friend Marie Rasmussen rented rollarblades and went for a long journey around the warf - it was beautiful! I met Jerome from NZ (he used to live in Calgary) and he took me for a car ride around all the major points of the city and then out for food, it was great to see him again and catch up. 20 of us trainees caught the 6:00 ferry from Wellington to Picton that evening and got picked up on the other side by Pauline Norrish and her husband who are our tour guides for the next 2 weeks. We met the other 26 trainees who were already here at the backpackers and the party began! That was my earliest night so far - I think I was in bed by midnight. Will that ever happen again? Not likely.
The next morning we were up early getting sorted and loaded on the bus and drove to Kaikora where a bunch of people were going whale watching, seal swimming, seal kayaking, or just hanging out in the town. However, is was a foggy morning and everything but seal kayaking was cancelled. I spent some time walking around with Pauline and Mark and talking about Champion and how great my family and Canada is! From there we drove to Christchurch where we stayed at the YMCA for 2 nights. It was a huge YMCA with fitness centre, climbing wall, restaurant/cafe. Not bad at all! We had a welcome dinner that night at a restaurant - lots of fun, every country had to do a song. We did "Grand County Auction", all the Europeans think country music is the strangest thing.... Pauline said on the bus - "we have a cd player for the bus and we may even let the Canadian put on some country music some time. Like maybe once." We met the trainees who are placed on the south island this night and got to know them a bit. So many Danish ones.
When I say "we" I mean 45 trainees all of whom are placed probably within 3 hours of each other on the North Island. We are the ones who are together pretty much every weekend, and every moment we can when not working. It is such a great experience because we are such close friends. I don't think many people can say they have taken a 2 week holiday with 40 of their best friends..... it really is quite special and we are having a great time.
Spent a bit of time exploring Christchurch the next day - had a city tour in the morning then free time for the rest of the day. Eva and I went to the Cathedral, and the marketplace, and walked miles and miles that day. We met the others for dinner at this place where you order what kind of meat you want and they bring it to you on hot rocks on a plate and you cook it yourself! I ate Ostrich this night! It was good. From there we had a soccer game in Hagley Park. There were these two gothic type teenager guys in the park and they saw how much fun we were having and asked to join in and be our goal posts. Optimus Prime was one of their names and the other guy was Chris but he was the goal post for the girl's team so he was Christina. That night me and a few others had a fiasco with the laundry station at the YMCA which resulted in heaps of wet clothes having to be carted around for a few days, but other than that we just hung out, played a bit of cards, put shaving cream on the faces of people who fell asleep early - you know those sorts of mature antics.
The next day we headed to Mount Cook - the biggest mount in NZ. We stopped at the Moreaki Boulders on the way there. Unfortunately I was sleeping and missed the explanation of how and why the boulders look like they do, but they were amazing perfect spheres just sitting on this beach. It was a cold day but 4 of us swam anyways. We made it to Mount Cook that night and had a dinner of burgers at the camp site and played volleyball till dark. There is one french guy on the trip Fredrick and he plays guitar and sings so we listen to him pretty much every night - it's really good. Mount Cook is beautiful. The maori's call it something that means piercing mountain because it pierces the clouds - it was lovely.
From Mount Cook to Dunedin for 2 nights. I have heaps more to say but I have to go now because I am running out of internet time. ok bye

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]]> Plugging along tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-01-25:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=22&entryid=93385 2008-01-26T02:14:31Z 2008-01-26T02:14:31Z Kia Ora everyone! It is a beautiful sunny saturday afternoon here in Hamilton - about 30 degrees so I am welcoming a few moments in the air conditioned internet cafe. Just so you know that is not a complaint! I know y'all are suffering back home! Alot has been happening lately, so I will share some of it with you. Yesterday we had to start feeding silage to 2 mobs of calves because it is ... Kia Ora everyone!
It is a beautiful sunny saturday afternoon here in Hamilton - about 30 degrees so I am welcoming a few moments in the air conditioned internet cafe. Just so you know that is not a complaint! I know y'all are suffering back home! Alot has been happening lately, so I will share some of it with you.
Yesterday we had to start feeding silage to 2 mobs of calves because it is so dry! That was something different for me - wearing shorts and a tank top in the tractor to feed cattle, usually it is insulated tough ducks! There hasn't been a decent rain shower since before Christmas I believe. What was once impossibly green has turned a bit brown and dry! The dairy farmers production in the Waikato is 40% down from last year, so that is bad, but the price for milk solids is so high right now that they are able to stay afloat. At work lately I have just been doing weeds (Ragwart is the bane of my existance), making a rock garden, drenching heifers and calves, sorting bulls and sending them away, waterblasting and painting the fence around the house. We are trying to get everything looking good around the house because the wedding is in less than a month. It is not at our house but a lot of friends will be staying there and the sunday pool party will be there. Hopefully the pool is ready, we are waiting on the tile man to do that then we can concrete around it and get some water in it.
So I have just been plugging away working and spending as much time with my friends as I can. Some of the ones who have been here longer are getting ready or have already gone home which is sad, we were such a cohesive group - so everyone who leaves is really missed. Had some really bad luck a couple weekends ago when Tammy and I were driving my car through Auckland on our way back from Northland. We were on the motorway in rush hour and we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic when we got rear-ended and crashed into the car in front. My car is a write-off, and the guy who rear-ended us managed to get his mangaled car right off down the exit, never to be seen again. We didn't have a chance to get a licence plate number or anything. I had only third party insurance which means it covers any damage that I do to someone else but not to my own car. So I have to foot the bill for that, but it is even worse for the guy in front of me because it turns out that my insurance won't cover him because it wasn't my fault and he had a NICE car, very expensive posh one that is probably about 10 times more expensive than mine.
But I am thankful I have great friends here. Katrine a Danish girl has lent me her car for a whole month while her father is here travelling. It is a very very dodgy car, but it works. Tomorrow I have to drive it to Auckland and meet her and her dad at the airport where they are coming back from the South Island.
Anyways, I will go. Hope you all are great and I am ready for some emails that tell me all about what is going on with you!
Love,
Gill

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]]> Northland and Bay of Islands tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-01-07:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=21&entryid=91178 2008-01-07T23:28:33Z 2008-01-07T23:28:33Z Hi, I am in Russell today! It is the first established town in New Zealand in Captain Cook's era. We slept in Paihia last night and took the ferry across to here today. It is very beautiful - such a nice relaxed town where you could just sit in an outdoor cafe and read a book or look out at the wharf all day. Tonight we will head to the Kauri forest where we will ... Hi,
I am in Russell today! It is the first established town in New Zealand in Captain Cook's era. We slept in Paihia last night and took the ferry across to here today. It is very beautiful - such a nice relaxed town where you could just sit in an outdoor cafe and read a book or look out at the wharf all day. Tonight we will head to the Kauri forest where we will apparently see some BIG trees! Like diamater of 10 m!!!!! That will be crazy!
I am on this trip with Tammy, who is a girl from Leduc, Alberta. She has been in NZ since May and is going home on the 16th. So we have to see everything before she goes! We went to Auckland on Sunday and spent the afternoon there - it is a happening city! We drove up to Kaukaupakaupa and spent the night at Pauline and Mark Norrish's. Good to see them again - the next time we will meet will be the South Island Trip that is coming up not soon enough! We think that we will get on a bus trip to go all the way up to Cape Reinga - where the Tasman Sea and South Pacific come together because that way we get to drive along 90 mile beach and not have to worry about getting my car stuck. The tour we have picked out also offers sand dune surfing which is something we definately have to do!
My memory card on my camera ran out yesterday :( I still have 3 months left! I will have to buy another one..... another expense! It is very expensive to travel I have found out - if I wasn't working 40 hours a week there is absolutely no way I could have seen half the stuff I have. So yes, this is me endorsing AgriVenture - fantastic program.
Anyway speaking of moola, I better get off the internet here. More of Russell to see today! Hope everyone is well and not shivering too badly in the cold Canadian winter. I'll think of you when I lay on the beach tomorrow. |
Cheers!
Gill

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]]> Volcanoes, Glo-Worms, and Waterfalls tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-11-17:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=19&entryid=86453 2007-11-18T05:50:52Z 2007-11-18T05:50:52Z Hello! I'm sitting here at the computer on a beautiful sunday evening having just arrived back from another successful weekend trip with my trainee friends. I haven't updated this blog in a while so I will give you a quick recap on what I've been up to. Because there are so many of us trainees around here AgriVenture has organized a few weekend trips for us because everyone has every second weekend off (but lucky me, I ... Hello!
I'm sitting here at the computer on a beautiful sunday evening having just arrived back from another successful weekend trip with my trainee friends. I haven't updated this blog in a while so I will give you a quick recap on what I've been up to.
Because there are so many of us trainees around here AgriVenture has organized a few weekend trips for us because everyone has every second weekend off (but lucky me, I have every weekend off!). The first trip was to the White Island off the west coast, it is NZ's only active marine volcanoe. It was an hour and a half boat ride out to it, then we had a guided tour around the safe parts of it. We had to wear gas masks for part of the trip because the air is is acidic that it makes breathing difficult. It was a pretty fun day trip. It was 5 trainees birthdays that same weekend so we rented out a pub and a backpackers hostel and had a massive party that night. The next weekend was one that most people worked but those of us who had it off climbed a nearby mountain for a beautiful view and went to Hamilton for some Christmas shopping. This weekend we just had was another AgriVenture organized one and it was by far the best thing ever!!!
It was called "Blackwater Caving" and it was just an awesome trip! We did a 5 hour trip in groups of 8. We were outfitted head to toe in spandexy wetsuit type material and helmets and boots. We first abseiled (like repelling) down a hole 100m down into caves, then were hooked onto horizontal cables and whisked along and down deeper. All our helmets had lights on them but the guides made us turn them out a lot because we really didn't need them due to the glo-worms! There were so many they were just like stars in these caves. Did you know the glo-worm is actually a maggot and the flourescent quality is actually in their feces? The caves were like a labyrinth, some big spaces and some parts where we had to crawl through on our stomach. We had to jump off a cliff in one cave with an inner tube around us and paddle through the water for a long time. Our guides were pretty cool, they liked having fun with such an international group like us. We ditched the tubes and had to alternatively swim and walk through water for miles is seemed like, we went over a waterfall on a slide and had to stand under or behind a huge rushing waterfall that was almost deafining as we waited for our guides to help us one by one to climb the waterfall!! I thought it would be harder to do, but the rocks were different - they weren't slippery even when wet! So we climbed 2 waterfalls it was amazing and then somehow we swam/climbed up out of the caves into the daylight! It was so awesome! Exhilarating! Amazing!
I want to do that again! But it was quite expensive and I think we got a special deal because we are so many. But yeah, it was the best thing I've done so far!
After that everyone went to one of the fellow trainees Tammy's host family's beach house on the west coast. Had a bbq, soccer game (scandanavia vs. world) (World killed them!), beach party. Then today we just hung out on the beach, got sunburns all around, you know that old chestnut.
So back to work tomorrow...... It's going alright, but I think you may be able to tell from reading above that I have been living for the weekends. We have started to get some little calves (the smallest is 57 kg) coming in. This will be there home for the next 2 years till they become milk cows. They are so frustrating at the moment. I try to move them to a new paddock and they get near the gate and just SCATTER!!!!! It drives me bonkers!!! When I am not moving heifers I have been fencing, washing windows, clearing grass away from newly planted trees, hammering insulators onto posts, slaying weeds left and right. I think we are getting some more calves this week......more fencing I think.....more weeds....... Next weekend - camping trip to Cormandle Pennisula weeeewww!!!
Till next time!!!
Gill

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]]> New Place, New People, New Job, New Home......... tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-10-14:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=18&entryid=82593 2007-10-15T06:02:09Z 2007-10-15T06:02:09Z I am in New Zealand!!!! It was very sad to leave Britain - all my friends and my parents again. But once I actually got on the road (or in the air I guess is better), it was ok. I think I will be going back in May, after a stop at home to see all my Canadian peeps! The journey from England to NZ was LONG!!! But if you look on the globe those 2 ... I am in New Zealand!!!!
It was very sad to leave Britain - all my friends and my parents again. But once I actually got on the road (or in the air I guess is better), it was ok. I think I will be going back in May, after a stop at home to see all my Canadian peeps! The journey from England to NZ was LONG!!! But if you look on the globe those 2 countries are like the two furthest apart on the world. Once I get back to Canada I will be able to say I have been around the world (even if it is only by air!)
Anyways, I arrived in Auckland along with 38 other young people on Monday, and got whisked off to Hamilton Airport Hotel where the orientation seminar was to take place. The next 2 days we learned all about NZ, we had sessions on laws, driving atv's, agriculture, kiwi culture to name a few. There are 7 of us Canadians on the North Island, 4 from BC, me from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan, and one from Manitoba. 6 of us live within an hour of each other on the island. I am in a really great location - in the west wakito area. There are 4 of us on farms within 10-15 minutes of each other. 2 from Denmark and 1 from Germany. So we should be seeing a bit of each other over the next couple months as Agriventure organizes all sorts of events for us while we are here. Every wednesday night is pub night where we all meet up after work to catch up. In november there are 3 white water and blackwater rafting trips, then in feburary is the big 2 week south island trip, which I am already signed up for.
So Scott and Jodi, my host "parents" picked me up on the wednesday. They are 24 and 28 years old, so living with them is like being back at university, it's fun! We haven't eaten a meal at the table yet! Jodi is a teacher in a nearby town, so she is away during the day. We live on one of 2 farms that Scott owns. The other one is 5 minutes down the road. Now I will tell you about the job.
When you are a dairy farmer (what Scott and his brother and dad used to be), you rear the calves apart from the cows then you keep a portion of the heifers you want to keep for milking. But what do you do with those heifers when you are so busy milking like 500 cows twice a day? (There are tons of huge dairies around here)
answer: you send them to us!
What we do is take care of the heifers from many different farms on these two farms (350 and 400 acres). The acres are all divided up into paddocks (some bigger than others) and we shift the different groups of heifers from one paddock to the other. It sounds easy but there is quite a bit of thought involved because you don't want to ahve two groups right beside each other, and when it is wet, you can't have them in a steep paddock, and when you shift them you have to be really mindful of the power source, so you don't kill it for the rest of the fences, and you don't want to overgraze one paddock and undergraze another. So I have just been going out with Scott the past few days, then today was my first day by myself on this farm, and I did everything right, so I have been handed the reins and I am in charge of 300 heifers!
It is quite easy to move them though, they are so energetic and curious that I just have to get the right gates open and they follow me in and Mac (my dog Scott has given me for my time here) brings up the stragglers. Because the heifers are all other peoples we kind of have to cater to their demands like drenching (that is like giving ivomec) and weighing each heifer every 6 weeks, but they are all so docile that it is so easy to work with them. So every morning Scott goes to the other farm and works there and I stay at this farm and do the heifers here and drop herbicide granules on weeds that I find. It's so great.
The weather has not been great, rainy since I arrived pretty much, but it doesn't make it less beautiful. It is so green! I thought England was green, but this is something different! I sometimes forget where I am, then I see like palm tree looking trees and waterfalls in the paddocks and I remember, wow, I am in New Zealand! The house is quite big, 5 bedrooms and the one side of it is all like patio doors- glass and the doors are kept open during the days. Why not? No flies to get in!
There is a nice big pool just outside the house, but we haven't got it up and running yet. Hopefully soon! So yes, it has been an eventful week.......full of events..... Haven't got my sports sorted out yet, but hope to be doing yoga with Jodi, and maybe play soccer. Scott and Jody have bought a car for me to use while I'm here, I just pay the insurance and the gas. 1993 Nissan Bluebird, it's pretty sleek! I think I'll be putting the klicks on it heading to the beach on my afternoons off!
That's about it for me! Now that I have updated all of you, bring on the emails, and return the favor!
Bye for now!

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]]> Glasgow, Helensburgh, Lismore and back tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-09-23:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=17&entryid=80073 2007-09-23T10:28:22Z 2007-09-23T10:28:22Z I made it back from my Scottish adventure last night after a long old day in the glasgow airport full of plane delays, late buses, and general confusion. But the actual trip was excellent! My Aussie friend Ruth picked me up in Glasgow on monday night and we went bowling with her Young Farmers Club, then stayed at her placement that night. Her placement is on a B and B and sheep farm on Loch Lomond which ... I made it back from my Scottish adventure last night after a long old day in the glasgow airport full of plane delays, late buses, and general confusion. But the actual trip was excellent!
My Aussie friend Ruth picked me up in Glasgow on monday night and we went bowling with her Young Farmers Club, then stayed at her placement that night. Her placement is on a B and B and sheep farm on Loch Lomond which is a pretty famous lake in Scotland. It was very nice, I got my own Caravan to sleep in! The temp dipped down to 2 degrees that night but I have discovered the wonder of electric blankets. I am going to get myself one when I get home!
The next day Ruth took me to the train station to catch my ride to Oban where I was met by John MacDougall's sister in law Barbara. Then we were off to Lismore! It is so beautiful!!!! Mountains and ocean and green grass. It rained off and on for my days on Lismore, but I think it kind of fit the scenery, I didn't mind it at all. I stayed with Barbara in the MacDougall house where John grew up. I walked all around the farm, saw where John went to school, and met some of his old buddies! Over the next couple days I met lots of relatives, did a bit of hiking and biking, drank lots of tea and ate like a queen. A very nice time, I must say!!! On friday I took the car ferry to Oban and spent a large part of the day looking around the shops and enjoying the picturesque coastal town. Lots of fisherman! Not too many tourist at this time of year, but I am told that during the summers Oban is quite a popular destination as it is called the Gateway to the Western Isles or something of the sort. Friday night I took the train back to Helenburgh to stay with Ruth again. Had a good night out on the town then had an interesting day in the Glasgow airport. As you probably know the airport was bombed this summer, so security is quite tight (which I'm not bothered about because I'm no terrorist). However, they seemed to think they needed to keep flight information a secret or something. Anyways, I ended up getting here and then had my first going away party last night.
The next thing to look forward to is only 8 days away and that is the arrival of mom and dad!!!!!!!! I would write more, but I have to go get ready for a tour of Belvior Castle I am going on today!
If any MacDougalls are reading this, thanks for the hook-up with your family, it was wonderful to meet them all and see Lismore!

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]]> Hello Western Scotland tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-09-17:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=16&entryid=79304 2007-09-17T07:23:49Z 2007-09-17T07:23:49Z Today is the day I make good on my word to MacDougalls that I would go to John's hometown!!! I have to go to work this morning because we need to move sheep while the foot and mouth ban has been temporarily lifted, then I am off to the airport this afternoon for my flight to Glasgow (which costed me £2 - there was some tax on that, but really, what a deal!). I am staying overnight near ... Today is the day I make good on my word to MacDougalls that I would go to John's hometown!!! I have to go to work this morning because we need to move sheep while the foot and mouth ban has been temporarily lifted, then I am off to the airport this afternoon for my flight to Glasgow (which costed me £2 - there was some tax on that, but really, what a deal!). I am staying overnight near Glasgow with my Australian friend Ruth - she is on the AgriVenture program as well, then taking a train to Oban on tuesday morning where Barbara (John's sister-in-law) will pick me up. How exciting!
I haven't posted since I got back from Germany I just realized, but I don't really have time at the moment to update. When I get back from Lismore and have exciting things to write, I may try to fill some gaps. But for now, I must shoot off!
Bye!

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]]> Europe recap tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-08-09:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=15&entryid=75161 2007-08-09T18:22:48Z 2007-08-09T18:22:48Z Finally, a little uninterrupted internet time so I can finish off this recap! I believe last time I posted I ran out of time while talking about Hitler's Eagle's Nest. So that's where we were, and it was lovely - right on the top of a mountain, and you'd look out and see the tops of other mountains and you could even see into Austria from the height! But apparently, Hitler only used this house 14 times ... Finally, a little uninterrupted internet time so I can finish off this recap! I believe last time I posted I ran out of time while talking about Hitler's Eagle's Nest. So that's where we were, and it was lovely - right on the top of a mountain, and you'd look out and see the tops of other mountains and you could even see into Austria from the height! But apparently, Hitler only used this house 14 times because he was very claustraphobic (which would be no good for the elevator ride up the mountain), and he was scared of heights. What a chicken!
From the eagles' nest we took a bus to a beautiful mountain lake called Konigsee (sp?) and spent a couple hours lying in the sun and enjoying the impressive surroundings. The lake was damn cold, I did not want to swim! Took a train back to Munich and that was our day!
Our hostel in Munich (Jaegres or Tigers as I called it) was pretty good I think, as I said before it was a 40 bed room, and mine and shannon's beds were right by the door. Super. The first night I got no sleep, cuz it was the weekend, and let's face it - get 100 or so young people together in a hostel with a bar - there will be a party, and people will be coming and going all night. But it was alright. I'd stay there again.
Because so many of the German words are so long and consonant filled, I got into a habit of reading the first two letters and the last letter and making up the middle bit, maybe it was impatience, maybe laziness. But it actually turned out to be quite a laugh. Everytime we'd see a complicated word, I would read it out in my own special way, and Shannon would correct me, as best she knew how. Yep, good fun!
The next day (my last full day), we took a train to Salzberg, Austria. There we walked and bussed around the city, saw some sights, ate some food, just had kind of a relaxing day. Salzberg is the birthplace of Mozart, did you know that? There are tons of statues and museums and depictions of him. It is a really beautiful city. My last couple days, I had started to budget my money a little bit, and I made it so I would have just enough euros to last me to get to the airport. So on the train trip back to Munich from Austria, I had about 9 euros (in coins mostly) to my name, enough to pay for a little snack (we called it dinner) and the transit ride to the airport the next morning. The previous day I had asked a train man what train ticket to buy to get to Salzberg and he said and that's the one I bought for the ride there and back. However, it became apparent that we had taken a different kind of train back (a faster, nicer one), so my ticket was invalid. When we were staying with Jens and Ester they said if you get caught without a valid ticket you have to buy an new ticket and pay twice the amount of it or something. So me with my 9 euros was not prepared to pay for this.
The train guy who told me I had the wrong ticket was so nice though, when he told me I had to buy a different one from him, he watched me turn to Shannon and ask to borrow money, and then he said, "13 euros.......special price" I still ended up having to borrow money, but I am not complaining! Thank you, nice train man!
The next morning we got up early and got organized, I walked Shannon to the Hauptbanhof as she was taking off to Berlin to tour around there, then to Colonge, then back to Frankfurt to fly back to Calgary on Friday. She was a great travelling partner, we had some fun!!! I went back to the hostel and made friends with 2 members of the Canadian national rythmic gymnastics team over our hostel breakfast of toast and jam. I took the underground to the airport and flew back to London Stansted Airport where I caught a train back to Melton. So here I am back. Ahhhhh, what a great trip and what wonderful memories I will have from it!
I went back to work today......boring, but necessary! I have an alright work schedule coming up for August, so should be able to tour around here a little bit more. It'll have to be by public transit or friends though, my orange van is not up to snuff.
So that was my trip in a nutshell. I heartily reccomend Germany to any and all of you reading this!
Bye for now!!

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]]> Hauptbanhof tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-08-06:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=14&entryid=74762 2007-08-06T18:08:33Z 2007-08-06T18:08:33Z Wow, the frequency of my recent posts is alarming! Even to me!! But I want to keep this blog updated while stuff is still fresh in my mind. So Hauptbanhof........ it mean train station, or the place shannon and me have been spending a lot of time in the past couple days. We came to Munich on friday and checked into a middle of the road hostel. 40 bed mixed dorm room for ... Wow, the frequency of my recent posts is alarming! Even to me!! But I want to keep this blog updated while stuff is still fresh in my mind.
So Hauptbanhof........ it mean train station, or the place shannon and me have been spending a lot of time in the past couple days. We came to Munich on friday and checked into a middle of the road hostel. 40 bed mixed dorm room for 19 euros a night, met some cool people, some not so cool ones, you know how that goes! Anyways we have spent 3 nights there and are sleeping there again tonight, so it feels a bit like a home now. On saturday morning we went to Dachau concentration camp. What a place! To actually see the place and walk where the prisoners walked and walk through the crematorium building was quite a experience. We ended up spending 4.5 hours there, so much to see and read and learn. Very sad. Quite unbelievable what the prisoners had to go through.
Later that day we stumbled upon a summer festival at the Olympic park complete with rides and carnival food, and a live band, and beer gardens with the servers in traditional costumes - ledrhison I think its called. Funny. We made our way to the Olympic Village where the 1972 Olympic massacre happened. I took a course in university and we spent a lot of time learning about it, so it was great to see the park with my own eyes.
The next day we went to Berteshgarten (sp?) which was a three hour train ride one way to go to the top of a mountain in an elevator shaft to see Hitlers fortress which was a gift to him on his 50th birthday from the SS. It was pretty cool and a beautiful day, we could see the whole mountain range. But my time is being cut short again because of the expensive internet. Till next time......

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]]> Neushveinstein(sp?) tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-08-03:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=12&entryid=74186 2007-08-03T11:42:08Z 2007-08-03T11:42:08Z Hi! Just bought some minutes here at an internet cafe in Fussen in Bavaria, so thought I would update on the happenings of the last couple days. Staying with Shannons friends Ester and Jens and their baby Julian was great, they were so hospitable and just happy to have us (I think). They had a lot organized for us and we got to a lot of places we probably couldnt have seen without spending tones of money ... Hi!
Just bought some minutes here at an internet cafe in Fussen in Bavaria, so thought I would update on the happenings of the last couple days. Staying with Shannons friends Ester and Jens and their baby Julian was great, they were so hospitable and just happy to have us (I think). They had a lot organized for us and we got to a lot of places we probably couldnt have seen without spending tones of money and time on the train. We drove down to South Germany to stay with Esters parents at their place in the Black Forest which was so beautiful. The thing that really struck me about all the cities and towns we were in was how each little street was so unique and pretty. All winding cobblestone streets with tall buildings with all sorts of colorful flowers on the windowsills. Lots of outdoor cafes....... Just a really beautiful holiday spot in my opinion.
We had lots of funny moments with the family, like how Shannon and I cannot say Goeten Naacht (sp?) which means "good night", the closest we come is saying "good nude". This German language is difficult!! But we ate a lot of German food like Schnitzl (sp?) and Bratwurst (sp?). At breakfast time they put out like Sandwich meat and cheese and rolls and everything.... its funnny.
We left the Kriekenbaums yesterday morning and took a train to Fussen. It was a 6 hour ride but there were 2 changes enroute so it didnt feel that bad. When we got to fussen we had a bad experience finding a place to stay. We went to tourist info to get a list of available hostels and we chose the cheapest one and set out to find it with our packs on our back. An hour later we found our place and rang the doorbell......nobody home. It was getting dark and starting to rain at this point and we hadnt eaten since breakfast. We set our packs down and mulled over our choices then just started ringing the doorbell out of tiredness and frustration and a woman answered!!!! We were a little surprised but more greatful than anything. Till she said she had no rooms to rent despite the rooms available sign in her window and the info from the tourist place. Packs back on....... A hour and a half later we made it to another place and thank the Lord they had room or we would have been sleeping in the train station! So this morning we got up early and went to the most beautiful castle I have ever seen or imagined. Neuchveninstein, it is right in the Alps, so high up that the clouds actually surround it. It is amazing. I would elaborate but I am going to run out of time on this computer. We are off to Munich in an hour, tomorrow will see Dachow(sp?) a concentration camp and Hitlers eagles Nest. Bye!

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]]> Fancy Germans tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-08-01:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=11&entryid=73926 2007-08-01T20:02:59Z 2007-08-01T20:02:59Z Hallo (German greeting), Ahh, so much to say, so little time! Flew into Frankfurt on saturday and go picked up and taken to Neinleganan sp? to the home of the Krighleibaums sp?. Since then have been to a wine festival; Strasborg, France ; Heidlburg ; Europa park (europes disneyland) ; and Friburg. Right now we are in the town of Walwadt sp? which is right near the black forest, staying at the home of Esters parents ... Hallo (German greeting),
Ahh, so much to say, so little time! Flew into Frankfurt on saturday and go picked up and taken to Neinleganan sp? to the home of the Krighleibaums sp?. Since then have been to a wine festival; Strasborg, France ; Heidlburg ; Europa park (europes disneyland) ; and Friburg. Right now we are in the town of Walwadt sp? which is right near the black forest, staying at the home of Esters parents where we have been eating and drinking like queens and marvelling at these fancy germans. But tomorrow we must part ways, and Shannon and I will learn what it is like to be on our own in a foreign non english speaking land!
Tomorrow we take a train to Fussen where we will spend the night at a cheap hostel and travelling to see the castels in the morning. The one castle in particular we are interested in is the one that Walt Disney modelled Cinderellas castle after. It is the number one tourist thing in Germany, so may be crowded but should be worth it. Not looking forward to the 6 hour train ride to get there however.
It is very beautiful here, lots of trees and mountains. The weather has been hot which I very much welcome after rainy old england! You should see the house we are staying in right now...... Gigantic and fancy!!!! Me and shannon are sleeping in the loft and it is just like in the movie Heidi, how you open the huge windows in the morning and the beautiful mountains and trees are close enough to touch and the cathedral tops from the nearest city are just visible. It really is gorgeous. But its late and I got to go and get organized for tomorrow. Hopefully we will soon find an internet cafe so I can spend some time and fill you in on some of the details.
Ciao (Germans say that)

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]]> To the Continent tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-07-26:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=10&entryid=73002 2007-07-26T09:50:48Z 2007-07-26T09:50:48Z Hi friends and family! It has been a while since I last posted so I thought I should take a moment today and tell you all that I am off to Europe tomorrow. Actually I am only going to London tomorrow to stay and then getting my plane to Frankfurt, Germany in the morning! It's all very exciting! My friend Shannon Dawson from high school is flying to Frankfurt from Calgary and landing 5 minutes before ... Hi friends and family!
It has been a while since I last posted so I thought I should take a moment today and tell you all that I am off to Europe tomorrow. Actually I am only going to London tomorrow to stay and then getting my plane to Frankfurt, Germany in the morning! It's all very exciting! My friend Shannon Dawson from high school is flying to Frankfurt from Calgary and landing 5 minutes before me (theoretically). Her German friends she met in Costa Rica last year are picking us up and hosting us at their house for a week. They have taken the week off work and are excited to show us all around!!!
From there, I don't really know what the plan is. I haven't booked a return ticket at all........ Can't decide if that's a smart decision or not..... All I know is I need to be back for August 9th. So it should be an adventure!
So other than planning my latest excursion, I haven't been up to too much since my last post. I have been working a lot, mostly travelling around to farmers markets. Last week I did 5 markets in 5 different towns or cities in 8 days, and I was by myself for 3 of them, and was the driver for all of them. My sense of direction is no good in this place, so there were a lot of U-turns and confused phone calls, and stressful moments. One of the guys I live with lent me his satellite navigation thing for one of the markets, that thing is amazing! I should have one......
Ummm, what else have I been up too..... Basketball has slowed down for the summer, we only play every other week till mid august then we will start twice a week again. Still very fun. I've gone on a couple day trips with my adopted family - the Halls. My friend Emma works as a fundraiser for Rainbows Childrens Hospice (which is like the Sick kids hospital), so she has had a few events that I have helped with to raise money. One night was a pub quiz that she and her brother organized. It was really fun, quite competitive! The government here doesn't take care of things like that (i.e. childrens hospitals, elderly people, students), unlike Scotland where they take care of everything. University is virtually tuition free to Scots. No fair!
My orange van has been on the fritz lately. From the stories I have heard of my van before I drove it, I am amazed that I have never had problems with it before. However, now is probably the most ideal time for it to break down because I am away! Haha. Awwww, I just looked out the window and it's raining AGAIN! It seriously rains like every single day. I hope it's sunny and hot in Germany! Back to the van... I couldn't do anything because I couldn't get the hood open because it is like rusted shut, but my friend James came last night and charged her up, so hopefully it will hold the charge long enough to take me to the shop to meet Ian today, and then hopefully he'll let me take the nice van till tomorrow.
That's about all I got. I will probably post while in Europe and fill y'all in on the adventure! Take care, and keep sending me emails!!!!!

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]]> LONDON BABY tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-06-27:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=8&entryid=68506 2007-06-27T20:47:19Z 2007-06-27T20:47:19Z Hi everyone, Here I sit in an internet cafe on a rainy evening in London. What a place!!!! You should see it - things to look at everywhere, millions of people pushing around, bright lights, bad smells, dodgy hostels - it's great!!!!!! I'm here with my friend Miriam from Athabasca and we have been very busy the past couple days. I left Leistershire on tuesday morning and arrived at Kings Cross (the station in Harry ... Hi everyone,
Here I sit in an internet cafe on a rainy evening in London. What a place!!!! You should see it - things to look at everywhere, millions of people pushing around, bright lights, bad smells, dodgy hostels - it's great!!!!!! I'm here with my friend Miriam from Athabasca and we have been very busy the past couple days.
I left Leistershire on tuesday morning and arrived at Kings Cross (the station in Harry Potter) and got on the tube to go to Heathrow to meet miriam's plane from Calgary. We checked into our hostel which is a little on the questionable side, but it is cleanish and cheap which is what matters to us. From there we went to Covent gardens to watch street preformers and look in some posh shops, then to Trafalger Square, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and a couple other places near there. Today we have been busy seeing "Madam Troussauds Muesum of Wax figures" or something - it was wicked!!!!!!! You should see how real these wax people are, it's amazing. Tower of London was next including the Tower bridge. We got to see where the parts of the castle Edward the Longshanks (the bad king in Braveheart) designed and lived in. So much history, but too little patience to stand around and listen to it all, there is just too much to see! We went to Westminster abby again and actually got to go inside and go to evening prayers, it was beautiful. Then we went across the street and toured around the parliment buildings (miriam's choice) - saw the house of lords and house of commons - actually a kind of interesting day to be there because it is the day that Tony Blair the PM is resigning. Next we went on the London Eye - which is a huge ferris wheel with the people in glass capsules. Tomorrow we are going to science center (my choice), B-ham palace, and the Lion King show. Would write more but but my time on the internet is going to cut out soon. Hope you all are well and talk to you later!!

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]]> Melton Mowbray tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-06-03:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=7&entryid=64431 2007-06-03T19:30:38Z 2007-06-03T19:30:38Z Hello again It's a beautiful evening here in Leicestershire and I am making the most of this precious precious time to myself by updating y'all on what's been happening. Ummm, let's see...... I have been working a lot. 9-10 hour days, 6 days a week. Ian assures me it will slow down a bit soon and I will get the 2 days off a week that I am supposed to. But for the most part ... Hello again
It's a beautiful evening here in Leicestershire and I am making the most of this precious precious time to myself by updating y'all on what's been happening.
Ummm, let's see...... I have been working a lot. 9-10 hour days, 6 days a week. Ian assures me it will slow down a bit soon and I will get the 2 days off a week that I am supposed to. But for the most part I am enjoying it. I work in the shop 4 days a week either doing the till and serving customers or helping Suzy make the pies. Melton Mowbray is famous for Pork Pies, so I am getting well versed in the art of pie making. Then one day a week I work on the farm (where all the animals for the pies come from), then one weekend day I am out at markets and shows selling all the products. Today we were at the Rutland show which is about 45 mins from here and kind of like the Calgary Stampede only way smaller, and no cowboys.... or rodeos..... or mini donuts...... but instead it had the posh show jumping horses and hunting horses.
The horses in this country are amazing!!! They are all huge! Like their backs taller than my head. Leicestershire is the only county where fox hunting is still legal, so there are people with money that flock here with their hunter horses and dogs to do fox hunts, it's quite fascinating, the history of the hunt and the people that still do it in their tight pants and tall boots and red jackets and fancy helmets. Some people do it for a living even. Ian used to hunt quite a bit (he actually went on a few hunts with Prince Charles), so he has some beautiful big horses that I may ride sometime if I can find a ladder to get on.
One thing I have been having difficulty with is the pants or trousers calling. You see in England, they call a pair of pants a pair of trousers. And they call underwear pants. So the other day when I got the bottom of my pants caught in the chain of a bike and ripped them, you can imagine the reaction I got when I tried to tell people what happened. I have also said that my pants are really dirty and asked my boss if I had to wear black pants to work. It is tough to be misunderstood!
In my spare time I have been playing a lot of basketball. I got asked to join this summer league team and I said yeah, and we had our first games last wednesday, and I went to it thinking it would be just like intramural type, but no............There were uniforms and referees and steroid filled men who could dunk. There were only 2 other girls playing, both on different teams. Come to think of it, there are not many sporty girls here at all.
I joined Young Farmers a couple weeks ago and immediately got adopted by one of the girls who is sort of in charge. Her name is Emma and she has been planning my social life for me since! It's great! Last night 14 of us from the club got together for my birthday and ate Chinese food and went out on the town - very fun, yet very expensive! The club has a meeting/event every tuesday night, and every meeting/event ends at "The Sugar Loaf" which is a pub about 2 miles from my house. This week we are playing Rounders (which is like baseball - they don't play real baseball over here). We are playing to get ready for June 17 which is the Rounders competition against the other Young Farmers clubs in the county.
I got great news from my old Vikings teammate and friend Miriam that she is coming to London for 4 days before she flies to Africa to volunteer for a year. I am so excited! I think I should be able to get the time off. I need to talk Canadian to someone. I feel I am losing my accent, people only ask me to repeat myself 20 times a day now.
That's all I got. Hope you all are good. I miss you!
P.S. Congrats Kelly on one whole year!!!!!

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]]> Melton Mowbray tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-05-15:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=6&entryid=61033 2007-05-15T19:50:17Z 2007-05-15T19:50:17Z Hi all, Current home: Melton Mowbray, Leistershire, England. It's a nice place, I like it a lot. I'm living with a very nice family, the Warwicks (Val, Mark, Ben and Joe), and working at Brocklebys Farm Shop. I really like living somewhere different from where I work, it's much better. The house is another one of these old stone ones with barns attached to them (back in the day, they kept cattle in there which ... Hi all,
Current home: Melton Mowbray, Leistershire, England.
It's a nice place, I like it a lot. I'm living with a very nice family, the Warwicks (Val, Mark, Ben and Joe), and working at Brocklebys Farm Shop. I really like living somewhere different from where I work, it's much better. The house is another one of these old stone ones with barns attached to them (back in the day, they kept cattle in there which helped heat the house). It has all be redone, and I am living in the loft of the old barn part. It's pretty nice, like my own little apartment! I think Val really likes having a girl around, she has done a lot to make me feel at home. Ben and Joe both are living at home while working and going to college, so it's great to have my age of people around again!
The Warwicks live a couple miles from the farm shop where I work, and from Melton Mowbray which is the nearest center. They call it a town, but it has 20,000 people!!
I started working at the farm shop on Sunday. They sell like everything pretty much as far as food goes and all of it organic. The meats are their specialty. Ian (the owner/manager/boss man) has 300 sheep that he uses to supply the shop. There are about 15 people employed by Brocklebys and I am one of the few who does everything. Some days I work in the shop, some days I chase sheep around, other days I help make pies, and pretty much every weekend I go to markets or shows. My first one is on saturday, so I can't tell you much about it yet, I just know we go places and do stuff.
Tomorrow morning I am having a driving lesson. The last Canadian who was here (from Milk River, AB) nearly gave Ian a heart attack when she drove the first time, and she also got into an accident, so he's not taking any chances. I gotta do the driving lesson and if all goes well I will be in possession of one of the ugliest vechicles I have ever seen in my life. It is an old ancient bright orange diesel van. Not like a minivan, but more like a cube truck, but smaller......yeah it's pretty. You can hear it coming from miles away. So that will be my wheels for the duration of my time in England!
I am planning my first train journey on Thursday afternoon! I have to go to Leister for an identity interview to get my national insurance number, for tax purposes or something. I am so excited to ride a train, but am fairly sure I will get lost in Leister, as it is so hard to even tell which way is North in this twisty, windey country. I'll let you know how that goes.....
Last night Val took me into Melton for rec basketball, and it was great! I guess I can't really call it rec bb because we actually did drills and stuff - they called it training, but I don't know about that. Anyways yeah it was good and the guys there asked me to join their summer league team. I'm going to "train" with them again on friday night. Tomorrow night I'm going to yoga with a friend of the Warwicks. So yep, that's me in a nutshell.
Bye for now!!!

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]]> Kicked Out Of Scotland!!!! tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-05-10:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=5&entryid=60104 2007-05-10T10:06:00Z 2007-05-10T10:06:00Z Yep, it's true, I'm getting kicked outta Scotland! My host family dropped the bomb on me a couple days ago that they can no longer host me. Apparently they are having some family problems that I was totally oblivious to, and they need some time to resolve them without having a houseguest. The mom of the host family hasn't been well since the baby and I guess she is just under a lot of pressure with everything. ... Yep, it's true, I'm getting kicked outta Scotland! My host family dropped the bomb on me a couple days ago that they can no longer host me. Apparently they are having some family problems that I was totally oblivious to, and they need some time to resolve them without having a houseguest. The mom of the host family hasn't been well since the baby and I guess she is just under a lot of pressure with everything. They said it's nothing to do with me, but I was still kind of upset when they told me I had to leave. I've made some great friends here and am really having a lot of fun, so I didn't want to go very badly.
The only thing I regret is that I worked everyday since I got here, because it was so busy with the lambing, with the understanding that I would be getting the vacation days later, and now I have to go and I haven't been to Lismore, or Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Orkney Islands and all the other places I wanted to see in Scotland. The day after they told me (Sunday) I took my first full day off and me and my friend went to Inverness and to Loch Ness and went "Nessie Spotting".
So I am leaving Scotland tomorrow and moving to Leistershire in England (that's in the midlands). I'm going to Brocklebys farm shop. I'm going to be working on the farm one day a week, then the rest of the time working in the shop or helping with the "shows". Apparently they sell everything from home baking to parts to machinery in the shop. The guy there just had a Canadian trainee who left last week. I really don't know what the shows entail, whether it is like livestock shows or farmers market type things I don't know. It sounds like a pretty good deal. I don't live with the people, I just live nearby and they give me a company vechicle to commute! My driving over here is alright......... as all my friends know I am terrible at knowing my right hand and left hand, so I really have to think about staying left in these crazy vechicles. I can't even count how many times I have gone to get in the drivers seat and gone to the wrong side. And don't even get me started on round-abouts......
But anyways, I should get back to packing. I hope everyone reading this is doing great. Hope to hear from you soon!

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]]> Babies Everywhere!!!!! tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-23:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=4&entryid=56837 2007-04-23T20:54:42Z 2007-04-23T20:54:42Z Hello Hello, Yes, babies everywhere...... Human, bovine, sheep, you name it! My host family had their little babe a week ago tomorrow. David Alexander, good Scottish name. It's been fun, always people dropping by, family coming to stay etc. Calving is winding down slowly and we are mid-lambing. Not to brag or anything but I am really starting to get good at lambing a sheep! Today I lambed one where ... Hello Hello,
Yes, babies everywhere...... Human, bovine, sheep, you name it! My host family had their little babe a week ago tomorrow. David Alexander, good Scottish name. It's been fun, always people dropping by, family coming to stay etc.
Calving is winding down slowly and we are mid-lambing. Not to brag or anything but I am really starting to get good at lambing a sheep! Today I lambed one where there was twins and their heads were like right on top of each other in the birth canal, so I had to push one back and then find the correct front legs to pull them out.
My supervisor for agriventure came to meet me today. He is the guy I call if there are any problems or anything with my placement. Simon is his name, he is really nice. He went on Agriventure to Austrailia and Montana, 20 years ago. He's getting me set up in some Young Farmer's thing where young people just get together and do some fun activities, I guess kind of like 4-H maybe???
My friends Mel and Steve who live in one of the farm cottages (I figured out the other day that 17 people including me live on this farm) took me out to a castle in Dornoch for supper and drinks on Friday night and then on Sunday afternoon I had some time off so we went to Mel's hometown which is 30 miles away and went hiking. It was so nice, great to see a little more countryside. So handy that they live 50 meters from the house!
I need everybody's help.....I was having a conversation with someone here and we got to talking about rats, and I said there are no rats in Alberta, and they asked why and for the life of me I could not explain why. They think it is something my parents told me when I was young so I wouldn't be scared. But it's true isn't it? So if someone can do some research and give me some scientific facts about why there are no rats in Alberta it would really help me out!
Hugh and Willie (Dad of host family, and Grandpa of host family) figure we are about half done lambing which is great news for me because it means I can take some holidays, and maybe sleep past 7 am one day. 6 ewe's have died so far, and I think there may be another dead when I go out tomorrow. They have never had so many problems apparently - maybe I am bad luck. 3 of the ewe's have died from this mysterious illness, Hugh thinks might be called Pregnancy Toxemia, where they are giving so much, nutrient-wise, to their lambs that they don't have enough for themselves. We have been treating them with this stuff call Liquid Life-Aid. (note: Has not been working).
So yeah, to sum up - just working away and still having a great time in this weird and wonderful world!
I hope everyone is doing great and thanks for all the emails and comments, keep em comin'!!
Ta ta

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]]> Sheep are stupid tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-10:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=3&entryid=54379 2007-04-10T20:58:46Z 2007-04-10T20:58:46Z Hi everyone! Things are going quite swimmingly here in the highlands as I approach the one week mark of being up here (ha ha - swimmingly, good word). My biggest fear coming up here was that there would be a language barrier - everytime I told someone at home I was going to the highlands they all said the same thing - that I wouldn't be able to understand a thing. Quite the opposite however, ... Hi everyone!
Things are going quite swimmingly here in the highlands as I approach the one week mark of being up here (ha ha - swimmingly, good word).
My biggest fear coming up here was that there would be a language barrier - everytime I told someone at home I was going to the highlands they all said the same thing - that I wouldn't be able to understand a thing. Quite the opposite however, much to my relief. Their accent is strong but I have had no problems understanding. The two younger kids think my accent is pretty funny. When we're all sitting at the table they say, " Gill, say water..............say football..........say window........." and on and on it goes!
My second biggest fear was that I was going to be soaked and freezing the entire time. So far, there has only been one afternoon of moisture - can't even call it rain - more like mist. And it has been quite sunny and warm. A little windy but very tolerable!
The sheep started lambing the day after I got here, as it stands now we have something like 11 sets of twins. Yesterday there were 3 sets of triplets, but none of the mothers can handle 3 lambs so I am bottle feeding 2 of them, the other we have put on another ewe.
As most of you know, I have had virtually nothing to do with sheep my entire life, and now as I am thrust into a sheeping world, I realize how lovely cattle are........Sheep are so dumb - trying to chase one into a pen by itself is just a waste of time - it's not going to happen. While the sheep are lambing, Hugh has an old retired shephard that he hires who comes and stays in the sheep shed all night, every night with the sheep for 3 weeks. I don't think you could pay me enough for that job!
I have made friends with a young couple who live in one of the cottages on this farm (have I mentioned it's pretty massive?), they work in Golspie and the girl (Melanie) and I have made plans to go riding together this week. No western saddles over here, so I'll be trying my hand at the english style.
I wish you all could see this place, it is so beautiful. Think mountains, and woodlands, and ocean, and you may be able to conjure up some ideas. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will and will try to figure out how to post them. Don't hold your breath though because it's a pretty elderly looking computer here......we'll see what happens.
Take care now, bye bye then.
Or as they say in Scotland.......Cheerio!

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]]> I like Britain tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-04:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=2&entryid=53397 2007-04-04T21:09:34Z 2007-04-04T21:09:34Z Hello! I made it!!! I just arrived a couple of hours ago at my host family's house in Scotland, it's pretty gorg. I left home on Sunday night and flew into London at 3:30 am Calgary time- 10:30 here, and was picked up by the UK agriventure representative Katie, her husband Malcolm and 4 Austrailian trainees, who had just flown in a few hours earlier. We went for a picnic along the Thames in the afternoon ... Hello!
I made it!!! I just arrived a couple of hours ago at my host family's house in Scotland, it's pretty gorg.
I left home on Sunday night and flew into London at 3:30 am Calgary time- 10:30 here, and was picked up by the UK agriventure representative Katie, her husband Malcolm and 4 Austrailian trainees, who had just flown in a few hours earlier. We went for a picnic along the Thames in the afternoon then back to Heathrow to pick up the last member of our group - another trainee from Langley BC. So there are 6 of us here for the next 6 months. We got along really great and have plans to meet up a couple times over the course of our exchange. There were quite a few funny moments of communication breakdown between me and Katie (the other Canadian) and the Austrailians!!
For the next day and a half we were together every waking moment, Malcolm and Katie organized some great activities for us, we stayed in a sweet B and B in Cambrigshire or something. Then today was our dispersal day. We got up early and drove 2 traineesto the train station, then drove 1 trainee to her new farm, then dropped one off at Birmingham airport, then dropped me off at East Midlands Airport, it was pretty hectic and we were sad that we had to say goodbye to each other already but excited to get going to our placements.
So I took a plane up to Inverness, Scotland and got picked up by Hugh and Gillian (same name as meeee!) and here I am now at Kirkton Farm in the county of Sutherland. It is very beautiful here, it is a huge farm, all the buildings made out of stone. The house has 10 bedrooms and was built in 1812. ( that's older than Canada!). I have met 3 of the 5 kids so far (note: one is not born yet -April 19th) and they seem great.
It is very different here - you should see the some of the signs- like the emergency exit is represented by a man running and an arrow and a door, pretty funny! I haven't gotten much sleep over the past couple days, but Hugh and Gillian have said to take tomorrow easy so hopefully I can get caught up.
So that's it for now - know that I am safe and sound, exhausted and surrounded by foreigners, but happy!
I will post again soon, hope y'all are doing well and hope to talk to you soon

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]]> practice run tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-03-27:/blog/?domain=gillsadventures&thisblog_entryid=1&entryid=51998 2007-03-27T23:25:50Z 2007-03-27T23:25:50Z greetings! ok, so technically I am not travelling yet.......but I'm leaving on sunday and this is my trial blog. Hopefully, in the coming months you will read this blog and be able to know a little bit about what I am doing. Till next time....... ... greetings!
ok, so technically I am not travelling yet.......but I'm leaving on sunday and this is my trial blog. Hopefully, in the coming months you will read this blog and be able to know a little bit about what I am doing. Till next time.......

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