Sheep Country

As much as Montana is refered to as "Cowboy Country" and as much as we like to joke about Wyoming and Sheep- New Zealand is loud and proud about their Sheep and Dairy Industry. And so our first field trip was to see such a thing. Imagine... going to another country and the first thing they want to show you is Cows and Sheep...

Well I have to admit the whole thing was Quite entertaining! We watched as the sheep dogs would tactfully round up the sheep listening to the whistles of the herder. These dogs will stop chasing on a dime, chase left- right, jump over obstacles all at the cue of the herder! Later we had a go at wrangling and sheering a sheep.

Afterwards we watched as the cows loaded themselves onto a carousel that spun while they were being milked. It beats the old way of doing things. Actually about 5% of the world's milk production comes from here in Kiwi country.

This was one of the events at orientation- team building olympics basically. This here is a caterpillar line where the person in front and back can see while everyone else is blind. The goal is to lead the team through obstacles as quickly as possible before the other teams.

* The guy leading is Max- he and about 10 other people, myself included, are going to take a four day trip around the North Island before classes start- Granola style! We are renting a 12 passenger van and going to lead off to our hearts content. More on that later...

These are some of the many great people I've met, In front is Rheyda (pronounced Rita) from the Philippines , Behind her is Katie from Germany, and in the back is Ryan from Canada.