Wanaka A & P and New Adventures

It is true, owners and pets start to look alike!

Another gorgeous sunny blue sky day in Cromwell (no wonder it is orchard country).  I am heading off for 5 – 7 days for a bit of a walk about to give Linda and Mark a break and me some time for me to see more New Zealand.  I had been here back in 2004 and saw a lot of the south island and this time has mostly been to visit my girlfriend, but I wanted to see more of Dunedin and also Oamaru which I have never been to.  As I wait for the bus, a cranky English couple stand separated from each other, also waiting for the bus but clearly having a bit of a tiff.  Man, I don`t miss that.  But I digress (that will be another post).

Marlena greeting me in true German style!!! :o)

Yeasterday, all of us (parents, kids and me) headed to the A & P show in Wanaka (A&P stands for Agriculture and something – perhaps products).  Wanaka is another quaint lakeside town about 45 minutes from Cromwell, also, surprise, surprise, surrounded by mountains.  I just can`t say enough about the maountains around here.  We hooked up briefly with Roland, Marlena and their little one, Lilly.

Ba-a-a-a, let go of my face!

I love these agricultural shows.  Animals, products, people.  There was a horse show just finishing which made me long for my horse riding days and oddly Britain.  Well there is a significant British influence here.  But is was most fun watching the sheep shearing (oddly the man was NOT wearing rubber boots!), and the Jack Russell race.  What a hoot and chaos.  The poor horse pulling the dead rabbit!  It was dying to just squash the yappy dog that wouldn`t leave it alone at the end of the race.

"Seriously you yappy *&%#, I coud crush you with one fell swoop of my hoof!"

There were all sorts of booths with Merino wool clothing, which is a specialty of New Zealand.  Finely spun Merino wool is made into summer clothing and it is cool and light to the touch – you have a hard time believing it is wool.

Campin' it for a BBQ - Roland and Marlena

We finished the day with a great BBQ at Roland and Marlena`s, who lease a property on the Pisa Station, established in 1859.  The day I arrived they had had a tornado touch down and just miss their house.  So Roland using his fine German engineering skills, built a lovely dining table from the scraps of their destroyed shed and fence.  Gotta love it.  All in all, a good day.  Besy was pooped!

How cute can you get!