The Woolshed

In the woolshed the lambs are mustered before being loaded onto the
truck, and they are dagged (shorn around their bottoms) before going to
market and then to the slaughterhouse.

Up on the beams are the names of the shearers who have worked here over
the years - with names going back prior to the 1950s

Rob's progress

The wonderful hospitality and R+R at Homewood has been great for Rob's
leg. Today he has doubled his walking distance to a hundred metres.

Matt the shepherd; and the view out to the South Pacific (next land is Chile!)

Homewood

In 1956, Mum sailed to New Zealand on board the Southern Cross to spend time working as on occupational therapist in Wellington. During the 6 week voyage she met John Tatham, a kiwi sheep farmer from Homewood Farm on the SE shore of the North Island in the Wairarapa region. Mum was warmly welcomed by the whole family and spent a lot of time at Homewood, which she loved. Now it is farmed by Andy, one of John's sons, and his wife Jan. Rob and I have been similarly welcomed to Homewood this week, and now I know why Mum has raved about it all of my life!

Here is "Papa John" with his son Andy

Homewood in numbers

At Homewood

6000 acres

10,000 sheep

few hundred cattle

90 beehives in the Manuka bush

lots of dogs

3 shepherds

2 beautifully appointed Air BnB houses to stay in

one stock manager

one beekeeper/infrastructure/crops/machinery/irrigation genius

one farmer Andy

and one amazing do anything Jan

and Nicola who processes the honey and makes anything you can think of
out of honey or beeswax.

Today 500 one-year-old lambs were taken to market in an enormous triple
decker truck, together with 30 rams.

Every 2-3 weeks, 500 lambs will go to market (8,000 are sold each year)

The shearers were here last week. Ewe wool only fetches a small amount
so shearing is a necessity, but a net loss. In times gone by a truck
load of wool could buy a new tractor for the farm. No longer.

homewoodfarm.co.nz

Napier and the Black Clash

From Auckland we drove south to Lake Taupo yesterday and spent time relaxing in the thermal pools of Wairakei before continuing on to Napier. Here we are catching up with Julie and Trevor Myers. Julie is a physio, seen below giving Rob's back some attention. She and I climbed Te Mata before we all went to the "Black Clash" cricket match this afternoon. All Blacks vs old Black Caps cricketers. A great 20 20 match with the cricketers winning by just 2 runs.

Milford Beach, Auckland

Rob has been choosing his favourite cocktail of medication today and was assessed,  reassured and given stretches to do by brilliant Patricia the physiotherapist here in Milford. 

Meanwhile I enjoyed a scenic run along the beach, watching kite surfers fly by on foiling boards.

On Patricia's advice I'm taking Rob to enjoy relaxing in thermal pools tomorrow near Lake Taupo, en route to Napier.