Our Great New Zealand Adventure with S&M - Part Sheepworld

At some point during our trip, Sarah "sheepishly" admitted that she really wanted to go to Sheepworld on the way back to Auckland.  The remaining 3 of us begrudgingly agreed despite the hefty $27 price tag for entrance and a show.  Thank goodness for Sarah's humble admission as our Sheepworld experience turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip!  

Sheepworld!!

We started our Sheepworld experience with a light lunch followed by a tour through the petting zoo park.  We saw (and fed) cute little lambs,  rather gross cows, emus, and an aggressive little duck.  Our little ducky friend followed us around for the entire walk and gobbled food pellets out of our hands with his silly little bill. 

Our ducky friend

You can tell my true feelings about the cow and his tongue being near me

Being a weekday in the middle of winter, the four of us made up the entire audience of the afternoon show.   The show started with a demonstration of sheep herding with a traditional "staring" sheep dog.  This type of dog doesn't bark but instead herds the sheep simply by staring them down.  We were then treated to a demonstration of a new dog in training.  The farmer was training a new different type of sheep dog that herds using the direction of it's barking.  Click here for a video of the new pup in training.

The new "barking" dog in training

After the herding demonstration, the sheep needed sorting and Sarah was the lucky volunteer for this job.  She sorted the sheep by the color painted on their head as the sheep ran through the chute.  Next up, a sheering demonstration.  Or in the case of only a 4 person audience, a hands on sheering workshop!  Sarah, Mark and I all got a turn at sheering the sheep with the help of the farmer.  Click here for a video of my sheering experience and the restless pup in training. 

Hands on sheering!

For the grand finale, 5 little white lambs (5 weeks old) were brought in for bottle feeding.  Each of us got to bottle feed a little cutie (I got to feed two at the same time) and they gobbled it down!  I think Sarah and I were in heaven at this point!

Serious cuteness!

Twins

The feeding line up...can this be any cuter?

Just as we were preparing to leave, the farmer brought in two tiny baby, brown lambs (not even a week old) that were ready for one of their first bottle feedings having just been separated from their mother.  We got to hold the lambs while feeding them a bottle.  They had the prettiest blue eyes and struggled a little with the feeding.  Sarah was a natural but I needed a little help to get my little one to eat. 

Little lamby

Samies!

That is one happy girl!

Queenstown and the Earnslaw

The next day was a free day in Queenstown and Justin and I choose to take a sledging trip with Frogz.  You might remember we sledged before in Rotorua but this was a very different experience.  The river was a lot calmer and the run was shorter so we took it twice.  It was great to get the feel for the rapids on the first run and then really enjoy it on the second run.  Our guide was great and really made me feel safe (as safe as you can feel rafting over rapids on a small sled).  We even got to jump off a cliff into the river in the middle of our sledge adventure!  Since we paid for our sledge pictures in Rotorua, we opted not to spend the extra money on photos this time.  

While we were sledging, M&D took an off road adventure through the mountains near Queenstown and even panned for gold!

M&D on their own!

Panning for gold...sweet as!

Our dinner for the evening was another highlight of our trip!  We took a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw across the lake to a farm for dinner.  We had a multiple course feast including lamb overlooking the lake.  After dinner, we got to watch some of the sheep dogs in action.  The farmer had two dogs demonstrate herding techniques and explained that each dog has a unique style.  It was so cool to see how quickly the dogs could herd and how silly the sheep looked running in response.  Then we headed to the shearing shed for a sheep shearing demonstration.  The farmer explained that when you tip a sheep over to shear it, the sheep thinks it can't move and it just sticks its legs out and lets you shear it.  It was so funny!  After the demonstration, Mommy finally found the perfect sheep skin souvenir in the shop.  So basically we ate sheep, watched them get sheared, and then bought their skin!  Then we cruised back on the Earnslaw to Queenstown with a full scale sing-a-long! 

The TSS Earnslaw

The farm where we had dinner

After dinner in front of the Earnslaw

Sheep being herded

Silly sheep getting sheared

Haha...she thinks she can't move!

Sing-a-long....Linda, Eric, L&M

Chirstchurch to Twizel

My parents arrived in Auckland on Saturday, 2 March and after picking them up we had dinner in Wynyard Quarter at Urban Turban.  We departed the next morning for Christchurch.  We got there early enough to check into our hotel and visit the Re:Start Mall (aka container city) before meeting up with our tour group.  Re:Start Mall is an area near the red zone in Christchruch that was developed soon after the 22 February 2011 earthquake as local businesses that had been destroyed in the quake reopened in train car containers.  It is now a thriving little area with many businesses including banks, cafes, and boutiques operating out of containers.  

This marked the start of our 9 day tour with AAT Kings of the South Island of New Zealand.  J and my room was next door to M&D's (at the Copthorne) and we both had patios facing a dry creek bed.  So of course Justin took the liberty of struggling over the creek bed and back totting his chair so we could all hang out on one patio.

 

Restart Mall

Lindsay posing after lunch in restart mall

The next morning we took a bus tour around the outskirts of the red zone in Christchuch CBD.  The damage from the earthquake on 22 February 2011 was so extensive that a huge portion of Christchurch CBD is still fenced off as the city makes plans to rebuild.  The earthquake killed 185 people and the fenced off area looked like a war zone.  We also spent some time exploring the botanical gardens (complete with numerous animal topiaries).

The Cardboard Cathedral

Lindsay and a topiary penguin

View into the red zone

From Christchurch, we drove west to a sheep farm where we had lunch and were able to feed and pet the sheep!  Needless to say, this was a highlight for at least one member of our traveling party.

Lindsay and a sheep

M&D and a sheep (with daughter and her backpack in the background)

This sheep dog was so cool....and now he is guarding a rabbit

and not to be left out....J and a sheep....and an ipad

We also visited Lake Tekapo which was the most beautiful shade of bright blue and caught glimpses of Mt Cook before ending the day in Twizel.  

Lake Tekapo with Southern Alps in the background

Church of the Good Shepard overlooking Lake Tekapo

How beautiful!