We've Arrived!

We are safely in NZ, in Te Aroha to be exact. The flight to NZ was extremely restful, Jess & I both slept on average 8 of the 12.5 hours. We were only awakened to tasty meals and warm towels–Qantas rocks. We were greeted by Dr. Jess at the airport a little before 5am on Tuesday, it’s strange to think that we lost an entire day – Monday, August 14, 2006 did not exist for us. We drove about 2 hours to Te Aroha and the NZ countryside welcomed us with a blinding sunrise, peaking out from behind the beautiful mountain range runs behind the town/village of Te Aroha. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the ground was blanketed with a thick layer of frost.

We went straight to work with Dr. Jess after being introduced to the house and all the pets. Our first stop was to examine some Jersey’s and administer the first shot in the induction series (this will cause the cows to calve sooner than they normally would). We then split up and I got to go with Dr. Amy to perform a terminal C-section on an ailing ewe, and Jess went off with Dr. Jan to do some feet (Dr. Guard would be proud). The afternoon brought two uterine torsions, and we got to see Dr. Jess use her super-strength. The evening allowed us time to get settled and organize the room Jess & I will be sharing for the next 25 days. We hit the hay pretty early and got 11 hours of sleep last night – we’re trying to avoid jet-lag. This morning fat-camp began, followed by a calving call a little b/f 8am. I have pictures to post, but we’re still working out the electrical adapters for our computers. I’ll post the sights, as soon as we get it sorted out.