sheep racing!

We spent Sunday in Fielding (about 15 minutes up the road) at the Manawatu A&P Show (I have no idea about the A&P, maybe agriculture and pigs, who knows??).  Anyone remember Fair Park back in the day?  A county fair is what it was.

There were championship pigs! goats, chickens, alpaca shorn and not, ostrich parents with their wee babes and their eggs (one equals 26 hen eggs!) quiche for days!  We watched boys on motorcycles jump with two spectacular crashes - no serious injuries, just limping.  There were helicopter rides, old pump engines and tractors (Dad, you would have loved it!).  Something for everyone.

alpaca, cute but get too close and they spit!

trucks, tractors, monster trucks, ferris wheels!

There were hotdogs, fries, cotton candy, ice cream - fair food! Families with their lambs on a leash.  Puppies for sale.  Horse riding competitions - jumping and dressage. Sheep racing with gambling!  We bought an arm band for $2 in the color of the outfit our jockey was wearing.  If that sheep came in first, you were the proud owner of a new coffee cup.  We were hoping for green or blue but, alas, yellow came in first - must have been hungry as there were pans of food at the finish.  We had never seen that before!

getting ready for the big start

just before the crash!

Then the main attraction - bull riding - ok, i know, this is a small town in New Zealand - there are no big towns really - but who would think that the bull riders would have just come back from Vegas and the PBR Championships.  They knew how to ride a bull!  The bulls were wild - snorting and kicking and bawling and putting on a show... The bull riders were holding on and waving their arms and climbing the rail to get away from the horns.  It was terrific!  We will be following the circuit!

Then for the intermission show there was mutton wrangling.  What, you ask, is mutton wrangling??!!  It is sheep riding by children between 6yo and 12yo.  We did not get the girls registered in time to participate but they are quite keen to do it next time.  There is a corral of sheep and kids and the kids get on their backs and hold on tight!  The gate is opened and out they come like a shot.  The kids either fell off or slid around almost under the bellies of the sheep - that lanolin in the wool makes for a slick ride, I think.  What a hoot. We were all laughing and hollerin'!  Real entertainment.

I have told you some of the differences but here is another - Kiwis do not holler!  They are quiet and buttoned up in every sense of the word.  I like it.  I like the calm and peace and reserve.  I also, as some of you know, like to holler.  Well, bull riding just needs some good ole hollering.  So I did.  Well I sound different, they notice.  I can get loud, especially when there is a cowboy riding a bull - how can you not SHOUT!  By the end of it they were hollerin' with me!  Ride 'em cowboy!

Prince Charles and Camilla will be in Fielding in the next week or two - the best Farmers market is there and they are interested in visiting the stockyards too.  Sorry they were not here to enjoy the Manawatu A&P Show... Very glad we were.

Boo! only in the States!

Our first Halloween in NZ, a success by our standards.  We were warned not to get our hopes up - It is an American thing - is what we heard.  Many people do not participate in Halloween.  So we modified our expectations - we did not think about big trucks loaded with costumed, over-candied children riding on hay bails.  We did not think about yards decorated with skeletons and cauldrons smoking with dry ice, spooky sounds coming from darkened doors.  We thought instead about spending time together and bringing a bit of home here.

As it turns out many people do not participate in halloween.  There are printed signs that have a picture of a pumpkin with a big red line through it.  There were many signs that said - No Halloween here, Thanks.  (Always polite).  One lady even opened the door, saw the children in costume, slammed the door, locked the door, watched us go from the front window! WOW!  How about that for culture shock.  They are private people.  they are people with religious beliefs that do not include Halloween.  Who knows why but Halloween is, in fact, an American thing.

The wonder is we had a blast!  Kelly, my boss, good friend, confidante, guide in all things NZ and Australia (she is from there) - invited us to go through her boxes of costumes she had made - we had great success - and to go out with her children.  Her son James was very excited and invited other children.  There were seven children when all was done and they looked great.  They had fun.  They used their best manners even when people were not participating. We picked up other children from school that we knew and another mom joined so I had a chance to get to know her better.  We found homes that were decorated (not by American standards but there were skeletons!).  One lady had forgotten to get candy (can you imagine forgetting?!?) and gave the children grapes from her fruit bowl!  they were safe to eat...

We came home with small bags and bellies full of candy, better knowing our friends. That is success in any language!!