Happy Hens' egg blows away competition

Happy Hens farmers Colin and Liam compared one of their eggs to a free range, organic store bought egg and determined their egg blows away the competition! See what you think.

Good on ya, mate!

Parts of the video were shot above Moke Lake, over the hill from our house.

Colin has already been offered his first Speights. The farm manager said he earned one after a day's work helping with lamb tailing. I took his beer and gave him a piece of chocolate instead. Luckily Colin thought it was a fair trade.

No, Doug didn't get tattooed

And, Carolyn has not perfected the round hickie.

Doug is seeing an incredible chiropractor in Queenstown for a ski injury. The chiropractor sent Doug to a acupuncturist who performed this suction technique. The photo shows Doug's back after the second round of suction. The first round of suction produced much deeper and more colorful bruising and covered his entire back. This time he got a half-back treatment. According to Doug, the suction is supposed to draw dried blood out of the muscle tissue which allows the body to flush out the muscle. Doug was skeptical at first, but now admits his shoulder and back are feeling much improved! Who would have guessed Doug would be a poster-boy for alternative medicine?

New Zealand Golf Open

You most likely thought the we gave up the blog. We didn't. We just have not updated it. Now that we have started homeschooling we will post a lot more blogs. This blog is about the NZ Golf Open.

A few weekends ago Pop and I went to the New Zealand Golf Open which has been held in Queenstown the past 2 years. Both years it was played on a course owned by Michael Hill, owner of the jewelry store chain named Michael Hill.

We arrived on the grounds at around 11:00 AM. After eating a small snack we went and looked around the golf course. It was as well kept as the year before, which meant tons of spectacular water features. Also the grass was mowed so low it was like a well made carpet.

In 2008, Pop and I had discovered a spot were we where able to, with only walking a few feet, watch the golfers hit the ball in the hole and then we would watch the same golfers tee off on the the next hole. As well a having great views of the golf, we were able to collect a few golfballs. On that day alone I got 4 balls from the golfers Fisher of England, and Curtain, Bowdich and Jeffres from Australia.

This year, after wandering around the extensive golf course we ended up in the same place we had been at the previous year. This year I only had half the luck of the last year and I only collected 2 balls. However I was excited because Joe Daley, a U.S., golfer signed his ball before he gave it to me. An Australian named McKenzie gave me my second ball.

After the golf ball episode we wandered over the fresh grass-smelling course back to the food area and had lunch. We decided to have sushi, which was not the best but it was OK. After lunch we headed back out onto the course.

While we were watching a golfer hit a ball, behind us a loud roar erupted, as loud as if a jumbo jet had flown overhead. When I turned around I saw a crowd of people by a hole who seemed very excited. Later we discovered that a golfer from Wales had hit a hole in one on a par 4 course. Wow!

At that point we decided to go home because the heat of the sun on our face and shoulders was getting slightly uncomfortable. I am looking forward to next year and I hope to get more golfballs.

Now that my blog on the Golf Open is done I have a important reminder: keep posted for more blog entries.

Liam Kirkpatrick

Sunrises and Sunsets

In this blog I will tell you what the view is like waking up and going to bed from our station in New Zealand. I think you will like this because there are some good-looking sunrises and sunsets. I did this blog so you could see what it feels like to be in New Zealand.

This morning I woke up to see dark gray clouds right above our house, and heard the heavy tipper-tapper of rain on the roof. Tonight I looked up to see one billion stars shining bright above my head.

This morning I looked out my window to see clouds being made orange by the blazing sun over the Remarkables. Tonight I looked outside the kitchen window to see a line of pink clouds across the Remarkables.

This morning I looked out my window and saw white clouds covering the peaks of every mountain and the lake almost glowing blue under the clouds.
Tonight I felt like I could see all the stars in the whole Milky Way.

This morning I had an early breakfast I looked outside and saw a faint orange glow behind the jagged Remarkables. Tonight I looked outside I felt I was looking a painting because the view seemed to have a faint gray glow around everything.

This morning when I woke up and saw a dim yellow light that seemed to be a liquid. Fluffy white clouds everywhere. This night the mice in the roof woke me up. I looked out the window and saw so many stars that it looked like it was day because there was so much light.

This morning I saw nothing but a dim blue light and no clouds. Last night I looked outside and saw no stars because there where dark black clouds everywhere.

This morning we went to the cattle yards. As we past Lake Kirkpatrick (my favorite lake), we saw lots of steam rising from the lake. Tonight I looked up and saw 400,000,000,000,000,614,568,073,570 stars.

The end.

100% By Colin Kirkpatrick

Sailing - Lake Wakatipu

I clicked on our blog link and was stunned. We haven't blogged since 16 December.

Well we're back - This post about spring sailing was written 17 December and I found it today sitting in my "List of posts." I guess I never posted it.

Colin and Liam are taking sailing lessons at the Wakatipu Yacht Club.



The pictures are from the first lesson. Liam seemed to catch on immediately zooming around the bay. Colin and his mate traveled with the water current more than they sailed with the wind. They were so far away with no signs of returning that the rescue boat went to retrieve them and towed them back to the dock. Luckily Colin found the wind in subsequent lessons. Both boys can capsize and right their boats. In fact, capsizing is the highlight at the end of each lesson. The water is freezing, almost literally. All the kids wear wetsuits!

Spring is here! Sunshine, long days and warmth - finally. My condolences to the northern hemisphere that is freezing right now. Not much you can do about it, except head south, way south!

(Reading the last couple of lines of this entry, I realize one reason the blog went on hiatus. Summer is fleeting. Our first Queenstown summer I didn't understand the frenetic panic to play in the summer's warmth and sunshine. When our second summer began, I understood the urgency. Summer here is short and elusive. Warm days are precious. I couldn't get myself to stay inside the house and sit at the computer. Every warm summer night I headed outside to walk, ride, weed the veggie garden or just sit and watch night arrive late. Now in May, frost already dusts the paddocks in the morning and the mountains have first coat of snow. It is dark early and getting colder outside.)

Koromakawa - Days 4 and 5

I can't believe a whole month has passed since my last post.

Since we are on the road for the holidays in four days, I don't have time to write a full description of the rest of our Koromakawa adventure right now. I thought I would at least get the rest of the pictures uploaded.

Day 4:



Day 5:



It was a blissful stay with the most generous, truly friendly people.