The West Coast

This year for James' birthday we camped at Lake Mahinapua a really nice DOC campiste on the lakefront near Hokitika. We did a few walks around the lake and then went to the beach. James was very excited to be at the beach on his birthday because back home who goes to the beach in November? We went to the pub for a few jugs of Monteiths original and had a yummy pizza for tea. A very different birthday than normal and great fun.

Since being back at the farm we have been taught how to run the milking shed on our own and we now milk every other afternoon. We are still feeding the calfs, although they are getting a bit old to still be fed milk and this will stop soon. Tomorrow we will be de-horning the calfs, which will require all 4 of us to hold them still while one person de-horns them. Sounds interesting, but should be fun.

We have been into Hokitika a couple of times now and its a very nice town on the beach. It's full of galleries, jade shops and cafes and also has a cinema where we saw the new Harry Potter film much to James' delight! This afternoon we are going to Lake Kaniere to have lunch and relax seen as its a lovely sunny day....again!