Melbourne!

Our holiday has come and gone and now I can't do anything but think of when the next will be. Somewhere warm hopefully. Somewhere like this....

we set off at an ungodly hour of the morning. Our flight left at 6am which meant we had to be at the airport at 4.30am! We made it on time (a miracle for me!) and Marty sat down to his "Red-eye Special" breakfast. I consoled myself with coffee and a slightly manic demeanor.

Melbourne was amazing though! Our apartment welcomed us with a fresh pool of vomit on the doorstep. Conveniently the outside of the building looked like a face so it all worked well...

Throughout the week the vomit dehydrated and rehydrated depending on rainfall so there was a steady commentary on the Welcome Vom by short-term residents and visitors alike.

We were 200m from Smith St in Collingwood so everything was easily accessible. Marty and I arrived a few days before Jen and Emma so we got ourselves accustomed to our new surroundings and also ventured into town. We checked out the Victoria Markets which had a jaw-dropping deli section with cheeses, breads, meats and an amazing array of other items...

We munched down some Boreks and Turkish bread and sat happily gazing over the Hello Wigs - Take the Beauty shop across the road...

That same afternoon we headed to the museum/Imax to watch Hubble 3D which was spectacular. Some of the images were so beautiful I wanted to cry! Before it started we wandered around the dinosaur/insect section of the museum. The spiders freaked me out. I wish I didn't have this awful phobia of big spiders because I find them fascinating but it honestly makes me feel physically ill.

We didn't have much time there before Hubble 3D started but we went back a few days later with Jen and Emma to finish it off. I still managed to miss quite a bit of it :(

Anyway, the next day Marty and I wandered along Smith St and over to Brunswick St which I remembered from my first trip to Melbourne about 5 years ago. We found a little chocolate shop and were so amazed by the chocolates that we sat down with a basil creme thing and a wild berry thing as well. And then we were told off for taking photos so here is an illegal photograph of the chocolates...

We met up with Nik near his uni and walked into town to have a beer. Nik showed us a cool rooftop bar (The Rooftop Bar... haha) in the middle of Melbourne so we sat there and watched the sun set over the city...

Leslie turned up a bit later and once we were sufficiently beered we went to Chinatown and gorged on dumplings and some awful vegetarian duck that was stone cold. The dumplings were awesome though....

The next day Jen and Emma arrived and we put the Duty Free to good use...

Emma's friend, Mima, came to visit and we headed off to Brunswick St to meet Rosie and Max who had recently returned from New York. We discussed their travels and some interesting comments that they had overheard from their window and then headed to the Napier Hotel (where Marty and I had stopped for a beer a few days earlier) for dinner. The Roo had been highly recommended by several people so Marty couldn't resist. It was a great night though, if not slightly cold...

The next day was the day we went back to the museum. We had some subtle posing along the way...

And some not so subtle...

And then we saw the spiders.... bllleeeeuuuughhhh...

Which I have no problem with if they are stuffed...

And we had our first morphed mirror experience of the holiday...

We saw some wildlife which was not wild...

After another taste of Chinatown's finest, Marty went bouldering (rock climbing minus the ropes) and Jen, Emma and I went to the Tim Burton exhibition. There were grass cubes...

And a scary snake....

And a Luna Park-esque entrance way into the exhibition....

No photography allowed inside so you'll just have to trust me when I say that it was amazing! His sketches and little stories/poems are incredible. I highly recommend it.

That night we had arranged to have drinks at the Grace Darling Hotel just up the road from the apartment. There was an AFL match on that night so the place was packed with screaming fans. A Magpies fan came in dressed as a teddy bear. I'm not sure why. It all got a bit expensive and chaotic so we headed back to the apartment to carry on with the Duty Free. Some specatcular cocktails were created...

The next morning we woke and headed for Brunswick St to get a tram to the Ceres Market. The buildings and graffiti along the way is pretty cool...

Dogs are everywhere in Melbourne, it's so nice to see. But within the central Ceres Market they are not allowed...

Ceres is an organic market positioned directly underneath HUGE power lines...

It was quite funny. I managed to get some lip balm though and a free sample of deodorant that was like sand and in the shape of a starfish. I threw it out.

We all walked back to Rosie and Max's apartment along the river bank and through a soccer field...

We all finally got to meet Tess who is super cute and does the silly run that Mono does but she is so much smaller. Cute!

We had lunch at the cafe under ZRosie and Max's place which was really yummy. They forgot my sandwich but were so apologetic that I actually felt bad. But it was well worth the wait! Nom nom.

The only logical thing to do after lunch was to go shopping. Rosie, Emma, Jen and I wandered all over the place. Rosie is a great tour guide. We would have got completely lost I think and also missed out a whole lot of good places. We all purchased a few things and ventured back to Smith St to indulge in some Vietnamese at the Coconut Palm. More food.

We were almost dead by the time we got home. Food comas all round. But it was gooood.

On our last day we went to St Kilda and went to Luna Park...

And had another morphed mirror encounter...

Last time Jen and I were in Melbourne we went there but didn't go on any of the rides. This time we did this one...

See Jen and Emma in the front screaming?? Fun times...

And we also went on the wooden rollercoaster. Marty politely declined this ride and instead went on the spinny one in the background here...

We had all agreed to put on an unimpressed face when we got to the part of the rollercoaster where they took a photo of everyone. I almost couldn't hold it but Emma's face is absolutely classic...

You should see the one of the back carriage. All the passengers are laughing and smiling and Emma is right in the front of the shot with that face on. It is hilarious. We were all in tears from laughing so much when we saw it. It is legendary.

Once our ride tickets ran out we headed back into town to pick up a dress that I had put on hold. Marty and I had a $6 hot chocolate at Koko Black which was awesome. We met up with Nik again at the Rooftop Bar and again watched the sun go down over the city....

And then we raced back to Smith St to get to Trippy Tacos in time to have the best quesadilla in the world! The last time we'd been there I was so full that I couldn't finish mine. I was really disappointed in myself so we had to go back and get more. God damn they are good!

Unfortunately we had to leave early the next morning. Jen and Emma were staying on for an extra day. We got to the airport and made it home (atrocious flight into Wellington though!) and had to drive straight back to the farm. When we arrived we found a foot of water covering the back lawn and the aviary and an insanely fat dog. We think he must have got into the pig food (after the pigs had torn the bag to shreds and eaten half of it themselves). He was very unwell for a few days and he hasn't learned anything from it.

Anyway, dinner time for me so ta ta!

K :)

Piwakawaka has landed!

We finally have her home! Only 4 months late.

We started by repeating the lessons of the previous day. She seemed to remember most things with a bit of encouragement. She was tying up better and looking a bit more relaxed.

Brother almost knocked the fence down trying to get to the grassy paddock next door (he wasn't happy to be in a starvation yard for 2 days!)....

Piwaka needed a bit of gentle persuasion for the first few metres but eventually wandered happily behind Brother (who pulled the whole time and kept leaning on me)....

She threw a little tanty close to the T-junction....

But managed to get her focus back and she was fine for the last leg....

Brother was stoked to get back into a paddock with grass and did a little happy dance after he'd had a roll....

It is so good to have her home. What a relief!

K :)

Leading - check!

Back in the yards this morning we got started on basic leading so that Piwaka will be prepared for the journey to our place tomorrow.

Mike started out by going over a few of the things from yesterday - getting used to him patting her neck and having his hands around her face, a rope over her neck and then finally getting a leadrope attached to the halter....

I had to leave for about half an hour and when I returned he pretty much had her lunging! There was a bit of hesitation in the first place...

One of the biggest problems yesterday was that she wouldn't face anyone and only wanted to turn her back legs towards people. But in the end he managed to stroke her face and she had a sniff....

He began getting her used to the pressure of the halter and had her on a circle around him....

She gradually became more open to approaching Mike...

And was trotting around him nicely....

By the end of the session she was quite tired and happy to stand in the middle of the yard with all the ropes attached while we had a chat about her progress and the plan for tomorrow....

She's learned an awful lot in the past 3 days and she seems to retain the new information so long as she is eased back into the process each time. If we were to just rush into the yards and slap a halter and leadrope on her it would all turn to custard but so far I think she has done really well. Brother was a bit shittier today - maybe from the lack of food and maybe from another youngster up in his face - but still behaved better than I expected him to. This evening, when Marty fed them, he was protective of his feed unlike yesterday. He'll be home tomorrow as well and I'm sure he'll be pleased about that.

I am hugely grateful to Mike for taking on this massive task at such short notice! We wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He is helping us with Tigger's training as well and I think that after this experience he may not want to have anything to do with us and our horses! I hope that is not the case!

Anyway, time to go. It's been another big day but I am officially on leave from work now. Yay! Once Piwaka is back here tomorrow morning and she and Brother are settled into their new paddock we are off to Wellington and then Melbourne! How exciting! Can't wait.

Ciao,

K :)

First human touch!

Today has been busy! 8am saw me walking Brother down the road to be introduced to his new buddy, Piwaka. He was quite excited about the outing and was extremely interested in Sally and Merlot, the other horses down the road. It's been a while since he's been on a walk seeing as he's not being ridden anymore.

We arrived at the dilapidated yards about 20 mins later and hung around until Mike and Marty arrived. Brother got to gorge himself on the lush grass surrounding the area and Pies and the free range Kai colt looked on longingly.

When Mike and Marty arrived we got to work separating out the big mare, the colt and Piwaka. Piwaka and the big mare were very chummy yesterday but today the colt (who was terrified and trembling) and Piwaka had formed an almost inseparable bond so it took a while to get the colt and big mare into one yard and Piwaka into a small diamond shaped area on her own.

Then was the task of introducing her to Brother. Brother was interested and stuck his nose through the railings to give her a sniff but she was a bit unsure. Eventually we put him in with her and she was happy as Larry hiding behind him.

Brother was an absolute angel all morning and stood still while ropes were stretched over the yards and over the horses' backs and with Piwaka running around him in circles. He happily held his head over the railing of the pen and indulged in scratches from Marty and I. I was hugely impressed with his behaviour considering he can be a bit of a bully with Tigger.

As I said, we started with just having a rope over the pen and hanging on their backs to ease Piwaka into the training that was about to ensue...

That seemed to go quite well and Mike was happy with the progress....

We then progressed to using to a solid stick and rubbing it down her back and up her neck. She wasn't impressed with the stick on her neck and around her head but she got used to it eventually...

Most of the time Piwaka took refuge behind Brother so Mike had to lean over him to get to her. While I was on the phone he managed to touch her! Her first human touch!

From there the difficulty started. Mike managed to get a rope around her neck...

And then she decided that she was not so keen on this situation so began running in circles around the pen. Each time she would stop behind Brother and Mike would try again to get her used to her face being touched so that we could put a halter on her before we all had to head our separate ways for the day. The whole time Brother just stood there with his head on the gate...

Finally the halter was attached to the rope so at least she had it near her face (check out Brother's tongue... he couldn't care less)....

And then, 3 hours later, a bit of a struggle began as Piwaka decided to just spin in circles with Mike attached and the halter half done up....

And finally the halter was one and she was released into the bigger yard and both Piwaka and Brother had a feed to calm their nerves....

Piwaka was pretty sweaty by this stage and it was a good time to finish for the day. The next stage will start early tomorrow morning and hopefully we'll get her leading. Then on Firday we will hopefully be able to walk her down the road with Brother to her new home.

This part has not been ideal because we are short of time. We are heading to Melbourne on Monday and we want her back here before we leave for Wellington on Friday. Once she is home the training will be at a much more leisurely pace. We will give her time to get used to us feeding her and being around her. And with the other 2 Kais out of the way hopefully she'll learn a few manners from Brother (particularly if today is anything to go by!). Once she had the halter on I managed to touch her for the first time as well. Oh so very exciting!

I went back this evening to give them a feed again and Brother even allowed her to take over his bucket, something he would never allow Tigger to do. Piwaka wanted to be right next to him the whole time she was eating so kept swapping buckets. After about the 3rd time he got fed up and put her in her place and made her go back to her one. She learned that lesson very quickly - Brother has a mean face when he doesn't like something - so hopefully that is a sign of things to come.

Another post tomorrow, no doubt. Now time to chill.

K :)

Inundated with cheese

We arrived home today with enough cheese and the like to feed an army. I have managed to use almost a quarter of the mozzarella in a lasagne and we had some ricotta and feta and butter for lunch but we are going to have to get creative with the cheese usage in order to get through it all!

We started this morning by putting the feta and baby gouda in brine. The feta was in there for 15 mins and the gouda for 3 hours. We also quartered the mozzarella and put it in the fridge until we had finished. It's amazing how many different things we have made from one batch of milk.

L-R: Feta, ricotta and mozzarella

Baby gouda in brine.

The ricotta was packaged into a pottle and put in the fridge along with the feta and off we went for some spectacular brownies and coffee.

When we returned we were given some pre made sour cream (we also got some sour cream of our own from the culture we made... nom nom) and this was spooned into jars which we shook vigorously to the beat of the double bass until it separated and became butter and buttermilk - a surprisingly short time actually.

Yum sour cream

Anna and Renata dancing a jig.

After about 7 minutes we had made butter. It needed a bit of a rinse and a squash to remove any excess liquid and then it was all done....

The only thing left to do was to remove the gouda from the brine, give it a pat dry and wrap it in gladwrap until we got home...

The gouda needs to be left for 3 weeks being turned each day and wiped and then we can eat it. The rest of the stuff we can and have been eating straight away. The mozzarella in the lasange was great, the feta and ricotta at lunch was awesome and the buttermilk is due to be made into pancakes tomorrow morning. I'm so glad to have a new skill!

Ciao,

K :)