January 7, 2024
Today we are in Gisborne a city on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It’s known for wineries and surf beaches such as Makorori.
But most important to me Gisborne is the first city in the world to greet the sun each morning and the sunrise I experience was amazing!!!
Shortly after we docked I headed to the McCarrin Sheep Station for a full day of learning about sheep ranching. Sheep products are the second largest export for New Zealand. The trip to the sheep station was through beautiful green rolling hills with lots of sheep and cows dotting the fields. The McCarrins are 5th generation ranchers who started ranching on the land in 1904 and built the homestead in 1909.
After being greeted by the family including the working dogs our first stop was in the shearing shed. Sheep are sheared twice a year not only for the wool but to keep flys from laying eggs in their fur. A good shearer can do over 400 sheep in a day or about a minute per sheep. Christine and her Dad Brian (sweeper) sheared a sheep for us. I jwas totally amazed at the process!!! It is a really hard job holding the sheep and shearing them don’t want to be sheared
Then we headed to the homestead for tea. There we met Anne the mom who took us through her magical garden and spectacular home. We also got to interact with Christine and Jo’s three adorable children! Roger the 8 year old loves ranching and will definitely be part of the 5th generation to manage the farm. He was so at hope with the sheep. The three generations that we interacted with showed so much love of both each other and the life they are living. Ranching is not easy since they are up at 4am to move sheep over their 1200 acres and don’t stop until well after dark.
After tea Christine mounted up and along with her dogs showed up how they move sheep between paddocks. The lead dog does not bark to control the sheep he does a stare down and the sheep totally behave!!!
I was sad to leave to head back to the city!!
We walked a bit around the city and the port then headed back to the ship to head out to our next adventure in Napier!!
Yes, this was a “Best Day Ever…..so far”
The Thornbirds….what a great experience.
Memories are stirring of my first trip there many years ago. That bottle of wine from the post before sounded stupendous.