We spent a week at a little cottage on a working farm on the north island. The farm is in the Raetihi area which is close to the Tongariro National Park. The park is famous for the mountain known as "Mount Doom" in Lord of the Rings and for Mt Ruapehu the largest active volcano in New Zealand.
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| Mt Ngauruhoe aka Mt Doom |
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| Mt Ruapehu from downtown Ohakune, 30 minutes from our cottage |
We weren't sure what to expect at a "working farm" but the description of farm animals and trout river had caught our eye while perusing Airbnb way back in Canada. We were looking forward to staying put for a week and to having fewer logistical decisions to make on a day to day basis. We also hoped it would be a chance to catch up on schoolwork and future trip planning. As such we booked ourselves in for a week, the longest we'd been in one place since leaving Canada!
The drive to the Airbnb took us past the trio of mountains in Tongariro park: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. Leo and I had both, at different times, been excited about the possibility of doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is touted as New Zealand's most famous day hike, but on reading the details decided it was too ambitious with our group for this trip. So we drove by the start of the trek and kept going, and going, and going. Off the main road (which is a small road at the best of times) we turned up into a valley that then became a gorge. The road was super twisty, Solaz who was the navigator following the little blue dot on google maps kept laughing and warning Leo about increasingly extreme turns, and he was correct! As we went up higher the river below became larger and more dramatic. Finally, after about 20kms we were firmly in the middle of nowhere ... or maybe we had truly landed in middle earth.
We drove up the driveway of Riverbend farm where, perched on a hilltop, was a ranch style house and a little cottage next to it.
There is a big open shed with tractors and other gear, but otherwise not what we would think of as a "farm". But a farm it is, as surrounding that little hilltop plot are 1000 hectares of rolling grass hills that are spotted with grazing cattle and sheep.
John (the farmer) works with his 7 herding dogs to move the animals from one place to another, opening and closing pastures as the grass allows. Meagan, the other farmer, has plots of veggies scattered around their house and plum trees laden with fruit. Their son has hundreds of beehives scattered among the famous Manuka flower trees found over their land. There are chickens in the backyard, a few pigs nearby, feral goats and wild deer, horses, and a friendly cat and dog.
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The car had barely cooled off from the drive and these two had their rods out ready to walk down to the river.
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| The river is flanked by sheer walls of white sand, making for a dramatic setting. |
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| The boys were itching to get out on this all week...unfortunately it is not used for day to day farming. |
Hours were spent with Millie the friendly lab. All three kids fell in love and showered Millie in affection. She was happy to reciprocate. Millie's position on the farm was in sharp contrast to the 7 working dogs who are clearly working animals and not pets. The kids learned lots about working animals and how they are cared for and fit into the scheme of the farm. The kids gave as much attention as they could to the animals, checking on their water bowls and helping John when he fed them. The kids noticed how incredibly well trained the dogs were and were impressed by their ability to round up the animals. One of the highlights was when John and Meagan left the farm for a few days and the kids were in charge of feeding the dogs. Man they took the responsibility seriously!
Another highlight was going around the farm with John. This means rides in the "side by side" zipping along at top speed, going from one pasture to another. It is modern day herding with an off-road vehicle and a dog, instead of a horse and a dog. One drizzly afternoon we all joined John for a tour of his property. It was impressive to see the scope of land and to learn more about farming sheep and cows. They raise all the animals for meat, and now they mostly have Angus cows, with some mixed breeds as they are lower cost per head to acquire. I am sure the sheep are some kind of breed, but they all looked the same to me...
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I have a funny tradition of looking at cows we see on road trips and declaring if they are "happy cows" or not. This goes back many years and now the kids do it too. There is a general formula and gestalt of what makes a "happy cow", of course it is all through our human eyes and values, but is something to the effect of living in wide open green space. So the cows in New Zealand all seem to be pretty much "happy cows" as "grass fed" and free range are the only way they raise them here. This is in sharp contrast to the distinctly NOT happy cows on the feed lots in Texas. It makes us reflect on where our food comes from. If we are going to eat animals, should their lives before they become our food be one that is "happy" and how to do we decide what that is? Philosophical questions framed by the reality that, damn the meat is delicious in New Zealand.
We spent our week doing exactly what we had hoped: relaxing, regrouping and resting. There was schoolwork and computer time, laundry and cooking on a stove. We had a fridge for our groceries and a working bathroom. Ah, the things you come to appreciate after camping for weeks.
We also were appreciative to be under a roof as we had the first three days of rain while at the cottage. It was cozy to cuddle up with an excuse to stay inside. On the clear days we traipsed around the property, exploring the river and the fields. Walks through the hills were accompanied by the ever present cow poop smell and we spent most of our time looking down to make sure we didn't step in a fresh pile. But when we did look up it was gorgeous! Solaz and Leo spent many evenings and some afternoons on the river fishing. The fish didn't want to show themselves but the guys had fun learning the river and impressed the rest of us with their perseverance.
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| Heading out for an evening fish |
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| Leo heading out to fish |
The kids all spent lots of time with the dogs, the cat and the chickens. Vios diligently checked the chickens for eggs (which he deftly collected, not even hesitating to lift them up and move them if needed).
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| Vios the farmer looks like the fox in the hen house. ... well, it is Vios in the hen house at least. |
There are a few horses out in the fields that are cared for by Lucy, John and Meagan's daughter. Lucy lives nearby and works with horses (and their owners) to "break in" young horses and fix bad habits. Unfortunately Lucy was away on a rare holiday so Luna couldn't have any lessons with her, but John kindly collected his working horse from the field so Luna could ride one afternoon after learning how much she loves horses. Luna thoroughly enjoyed being back on a horse for a few hours
There was lots of laughter this week. The kids really enjoyed the freedom to roam around, hang out with the animals, read books, play games, jump on the old school trampoline.
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| Old school trampoline set among mounds of hydrangea. |
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| Peacocks are considered pests, but they leave behind beautiful evidence of their presence. |
On our last day we took advantage of the clear skies and breeze and hiked up to the ridge line on the property. The views were stunning. The three mountains were in clear view and the vantage point from up high allowed us to appreciate the scale of the valley and its beauty. Solaz decided we were retracing the steps of Frodo Baggins in Lord of the rings. I think we were. Mt Doom was even off in the horizon.
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| The valleys and peaks to one side. |
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| The trio of mountains in the distance is the view to the other side. |
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| Mt Ruapehu |
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| The farmhouse below |
Meagan and John as lovely warm people whose company and hospitality we thoroughly enjoyed during our stay. The week at Riverbend was just what our family needed at this point in the trip and we were all appreciative to have had this stop.
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