Kawerau, Bay of Plenty: 26 September - 11 October

After 18 eight through thirteen year olds arrived, yes, 18 of them, arrived and got their rooms situated, what else is there to do at a horse camp but go for a trek! While the kids started to arrive, a girl, Dee who is a true born Kiwi, who also worked at Tui Glen before came to help out with the kid’s camp as well.  This turned out to be a grateful amount of help; otherwise it would have just been Steph and me. Dee is a wonderful person who helped me out so much throughout the week!! So Dee, Steph and I had to go to the horse trek paddock and get out 21 horses that were assigned to the kids and us depending on everyone’s ability. Some of the kids have a lot of experience in riding while others are beginners. It is quite the task to help 18 short children tack up their horses; lifting the saddles, putting on the reins, helping them get on, everything.

So many horses... :)

But after running around from kid to kid, we got it done and we were off!

The way the camp worked for the two weeks was kids were either on a day to seven day camp. Some came for a few days, some came in the middle of the week for a few days, some came for just the day. But after the first week, it completely turned over with new kids, expect for one boy, Braden, who stayed the two weeks.

Every day was different. The camp leaders woke up at 7 AM. We got the kids up at 8 AM, then they had breakfast then we were usually starting our first activity for the morning around 9-10. Lunch was usually around 12-12:30 depending on the morning activity. By 1-2 PM we were off to start our next activity. The afternoon activity usually ended around 4:00-5:30 and dinner was around 6:30. After that, we tried to keep them entertained as much as we could depending on how tired we were. :P Kids went to their rooms around 8:30 and for the younger ones it was lights out at 9 PM. Activates would range from horse treks, horse lessons, horse games, dirk karts, hot pools, or a dip in the watering hole. So that was a typical kids camp day at Tui Glen!

The next few days were full of many of those activites. I took two boys to the hot pools. These are nothing special then a typical public pool place besides that it naturally heated with the surrounding geothermic heat. It is located in town, Kawera, which is about 2 Km away. Pauline dropped us off but had us walk home from their. It was a very nice walk. After we got through town, we found the edge of Tui Glen Farm. So we ended up walking home through the farm, through the woods, through two rivers, and over some large hills.

Braden and Nick crossing the river! 

That night I made a camp fire for the kids. It has been raining mostly every day in NZ for the past few months. Luckily the last couple of days were beautiful of the wet wood I had to work out never would of lit. Good thing I am a pyro and know how to make a decent campfire. :) The kids each brought a bag of marshmallows to share and my god do they go crazy for them. I couldn’t even set down the tray before being tackled for the rich fluffy sugerieness of these marshmallows. Way too much for me. I will stick to the chocolate. :P

The rest of the week we had some trotting horse treks, I took some kids out to the dirt kart trek where they got to try my obstacle course and then the older kids could drive around the trek or I drove the younger ones out. These things are fast and fun! They have set up a pretty nice dirt kart trek too! One of the nights we took the kids in two different groups out to go spotlighting and go see the glowworms! I was so excited for this because Steph and I made the trail to the glowworms and I have heard so much about how beautiful the glowworms are at night! Spotlighting is also fun! You take a huge spotlight at night and shine it around the area you are in trying to look for wildlife! We saw some Wallabies! Woohoo! The Glowworms were beautiful though! We had the sound of a small waterfall and steam surrounding us in green little glowing dots! So peaceful! Well as peaceful as you can get with nine kids around you…

Imagine this place at dark,
 surrounded by hundreds of glowing green dots....
So nice.

On Wednesday 29 September, I had been in NZ for ONE MONTH!! WOW does time fly! I celebrated this by doing some more dirt karts and playing polocross on the horses with five others. This was SO much fun! To describe it as simple as possible it is lacrosse on horseback. :)

Doing this in motion...not so easy...

I try

We also had another campfire that night. A very good way to celebrate my one month!

On Friday, 1 October, I finally got a day off. I took a bus into Whakatane and just relaxed. Got a much needed full breakfast, I was sick of flake cereal and toast every morning, went and saw a movie, got a lunch that did not agree with my stomach and made me sick for a day, and walked around. My day off turned out to not be such a good day. After lunch I started to not feel good and I started to get really homesick. The next day was a day for me to take it slow and clean at my own pace. Since I wasn’t feeling the greatest it was a good day for this. The sun was shining, a new group of kids was coming the next day, and I found out MY SISTER IS ENGAGED!!!!!!!! As soon as I found out, I called her up in Door County and got to talk to her!! It was so amazing!! I am so, so, soooo happy for Rick and her!! This put me in a much better mood and made my stomach feel so much better too!

The second week was a lot easier then the first. We only had 12 kids this time and since I knew the routine, it just came naturally. There was one morning though were Dee, Steph, and I had to tack up 26 horses before 10 AM . Wow was this a challenge!  The regular camp kids were out on a lesson and a school trip of around 18 kids and three adults were coming for a trek. The whole process was a challenge but we all made it back safely! But besides that it was pretty much the same activates as the first week. Besides painting a horse....

Had to add the American flag. :)

As the week was winding down and there became less and less kids, I went back to being a handyman at vaisou times. I cleaned, mowed lawns, harrowed again :), fixed fences, all those fun random jobs!

On Friday night, one of the cats they have there, that we knew was pregnant, started to really meow, kept trying to get inside, was breathing heavily, and when she was still she was cleaning herself. I knew tonight was the night she was going to have her kitties! So I got her a box and put a towel in it. She seemed to love it. The next morning there was three new baby kittens!!

I said the white and black one was mine. :)

Mom with the butts of the kitties!

That weekend, the show horses had a completion in a town near by. So on Saturday night, after all the kids were gone, he invited many of the other show competeors and us over to his place for a huge BBQ. I think every type of meat was served here this night. It was a good way to end three hard weeks of work. The next and final full day of my stay at Tui Glen, I was back to mucking out stables, fixed a pipe, and cleaned and got all packed to head over to Taupo, where I would meet up Feli!! So excited! So on Monday, 11 October, I crammed, shoved, squished, and zipped.

The last three weeks have been an amazing experience! I could not have asked for better weather for the kids camp. It was super sunny and warm almost every day. What better weather to work outside in?

The things I learned:

1.     You look at a horse you get dirty.

2.     Horses pee a lot.

3.     Horses poo A LOT.

4.     If you think you can’t do, fix, or figure something out, try try again.

5.     I love being on my feet and keeping constantly active.

6.     I have so much new respect for any teacher, day care personal or parent. :)

The three weeks I spent at Tui Glen, working all day long with one day off, really put into perspective what hard work is. And I love it. I can to NZ to figure these things out about myself and I will never forget this experience. There were many hard times with some kids and co-workers, but I worked them all out and got through it and learned a great deal about myself and others. Am I ready to be done with farm work and go travel again with Feli?! YES! Do I regret taking this job? Not at all.

Off to Taupo to take these memories with me and start to make more new ones…