Weekend Happenings

This morning Dorine asked us if we’d like to go for a scenic hike overlooking the Waiorongomai Valley, and we obliged. The forecast called for rain today but it held off for our hike. The Waiorongomai Valley was mined for gold in the late 1800’s and once was home to some 1500 people, now only one chimney in a pasture remains. The Waiorongomai Mountains provided water for hydraulic power and This weekend we’ve been going on emergency calls with Jan, the senior vet with the Animal Health Centre in Te Aroha. Jan & his wife, Dorine, came to New Zealand after finishing his veterinary studies in Utrecht, Holland, and they’ve lived in Te Aroha for some 20+ years. Yesterday morning there were 4 calls including 2 assisted deliveries and 2 sick cows. The afternoon was filled with boards studying, senior seminar research and general catching up. Last evening we enjoyed some lovely NZ wine (a trend might start to develop here) and sausages on the barbie. We’ve been told that the Kiwi’s love their sausages and we have to confess that they were quite tasty. We also got to watch ruby on the tele, a test match between the NZ All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies. The All Blacks rallied at the end to beat the Wallabies and we cheered them on (actually Jess had to retire to her bed early, some things never change).
timber. Through the goldfields, the Piako County Tramway (railroad) was built. The tramway exists today and is in the process of being restored. We hiked along the Low Level Track which was constructed for horses to walk carrying supplies up and down the mountains. There were small streams that wound around the track and native NZ bush which was very beautiful.

After our hike, Jess & I had coffee at Jan & Dorine’s amazing house – she is an interior decorator. On our walk back to the house Jan rang, and we were off to assist with a uterine torsion that resulted in a C-section with a live heifer calf. We got back into town in time to pick up some takeaways (the same as take-out) and another call came in – a 2nd uterine torsion.

Now we’ve grocery shopped and settled in as the rain is coming down and the fog is covering the peaks of Mount Te Aroha – which we see from kitchen window. Tonight we are going to the Te Aroha mineral pools to experience our own private thermal soda spring spa and what’s boasted as the world’s only hot soda geyser that spouts 4 meters into the air every 40 minutes.

Interesting facts:
* New Zealand is 16 hours ahead of East Coast time
* New Zealand is 20 hours ahead of Alaska time
* So you math whizzes have already figured out that East Coast time is 4 hours ahead of Alaska time
* If you call Jess’ cell phone it will wake us up at 3am, and we _still_ will not answer
* Te Aroha means “Love Mountain” in Maori
* Waiorongomai means “sounds of water always heard” in Maori (which is true!)
* Margaret only snores when she is tipsy or congested
* Margaret and Jess were invited to an Argentinean party with two farm hands, but they declined because there would only be four people at the party, and “Jess is married and Margaret is a dud.”