At Tui Glen Farm they have around 45 horses. They have about 30 trek horses and that leaves 15 show horses! On the 3500 acre land, they also graze cattle. They also have a dirt kart track for some extra fun is the horses weren't enough! Pauline, my boss, runs the horse and dirt kart part on "The Farm", and on the other side of the land is "The Station" where the cattle are, which is run by her son Tom, who also is a show jumper. Of course there are also dogs and cats that run around and no farm isn't complete without two goats. ;)
To say the least they are ALWAYS busy here. Something is always going on and something always has to be done. So I got this job to help out with their Kids Camp that they put on every holiday. A holiday here is when the kids get a break from school; i.e. a two week break every six weeks. We had a ton of work to do before the kids arrived in five days. The first full day of work I was put right to a job to help muck out the inside stables where some show horses stay at night. I mucked out three of them but then was wisked away to try and start their dirt karts because they have been put away for months for the winter months. After many attempts of trying to jump them and fiddle with the engines, which I had no idea how to operate, I got two working. Woohoo! The rest of the day I spent on the quad harrowing out the horse paddocks. This is me, driving the quad, with a metal gate with chicken wire attached to it, running over all the large lumps of poo the horses create. Sounds gross and it is, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and it turns out to be a challenge to get all those lumps that you just have to succeed in! Oh and the ones you can't get to, you get off the quad and kick them around.... :) Another challenge is that these $40,000 show horses are still in their paddocks while I'm doing this..... After being victorious in the poo fight, I finished nailing a fence together that keep all the trek horses in. That night was dinner and scattegories with Steph and KJ and many drinks. We rock.
Soon into the first day I saw what my next few weeks were going to be like... Full of poo. :)
The next few days was filled with handyman, cleaning, lawn care, etc., jobs. Fixed a roof; dug out the hay, soil, and poo of a calf barn (eight hours straight worth); moved beds around and cleaned the cabins; fixed and put mountain bikes together; mowed a many acres of land; just to name a few. Steph took me away from the farm one afternoon and took me to help her clear a path to make a trail to a small waterfall and glowworms! What she didn't tell me till we got there was the area the trail needed to be was overgrown with blackberry bush. Thorns, thorns, and more thorns. We were quite the adventure people! Steph was in front of me with a what we called a "hockey stick with a blunt, rusted old blade at the end from the 1950s" hacking away and I was behind her with large garden shears clearing and cleaning up the path.
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| Before... |
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| After! |
That was just a small section of the trail too.... I got some nice huge blisters on my hands from that afternoon!
Then on Sunday, 26 Septermber the kids were going to arrive in the afternoon. So that morning we cleaned a bit more then I was put to a task of making a obstacle course for the dirt karts for the kids to do. The truck or "Ute" as they call it, she had me drive is about fifteen years old and a manual. I only drove a manual a few times in my life and this was not a good time to relearn. We had customers and horses all getting ready for a trek and the materials I had to get were through them. I finally made it through them and to the dirt kart trek!!I will admit I stalled it many, many times. :) I then moved my stuff from the main house into one of the cabins they have set up where I would stay the next two weeks, which they call "The Batch." I must add that the Batch has no heat and no insulation.... and it is the middle of spring here.... Yay! :P
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| The Veranda where the office, accommodation, kitchen, and games are! The Batch is in the middle in the back. Pauline is waving, or stretching?, in the chair! |
O man! That is a lot of poo! I hope you are feeling better now. The camp looks beautiful!!
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