After three short weeks on the south island of New Zealand our group has enjoyed some great hospitality. We were shown around some beautiful farms, had some wonderful meals and made some life long friendships... We finished up this leg of the tour with a week in the north Tasman region enjoying vineyards, deer, dairy and cattle farms. We were also lucky enough to take part in a target shooting night as a club meeting.

To mark the middle of June we hopped on a ferry to the north island and were picked up and driven north to Hamilton for a look around the Mystery Creek field days. This is the largest outdoor field days in NZ and proved to be far more then we could possibly see in one day. Then it was long drive back down south to the East Coast region where we were split up and all took part in different activities. I was lucky enough to attend a dairy discussion group, do a little hunting and feed out dairy cows before heading west.

Then it was across to New Plymouth where we met our new hosts. I was put with an agricultural contractor that did silage and trucking. I had three days around the Manawatu before meeting up with my group and traveling north to the Taranaki part of the region. There I was stationed on a 300+ head dairy farm that was totally family run and actually one of the only family run operations I remember seeing. I also hopped in the ocean for the mid winter plunge and ended up with my picture in the local paper. The water was cool but nothing like Lake Superior in the summer. It was again a short and sweet visit and then back on the bus to head north back to Hamilton area where we were met by the Waikato group.

They had us all lined up for a one day black-water rafting trip in the Waitomo caves. This is probably the single most exciting thing that I took part in. It involved a 37m abseiling trip down through a hole in the roof of the cave followed by a zip line in the dark down to the water where we floated on inner tubes through the dark. After the river floating was over we went on to tramp through the caves and then climbed over two small waterfalls to get ourselves back out. This was a huge rush and I would recommend it to anyone who is heading over to the north island of NZ.

It was all about dairy in the north and there was plenty to see. Many farms were going through development and making substantial financial investments into more land or milking systems to increase herd sizes or to become more efficient. We also got our first look at Holsteins that are like what you would see here in North America. Many of the dairy cattle were Jerseys or Friesians but the majority were a mix of the two known as “Kiwi cross.”

These animals have a slightly larger frame then the Jersey but have the black hooves that help solve some of their problems with lameness due to the distances that they are walking every day from the fields to the parlour and back. These cows were producing about 3000-4000 L of milk a year-- far less then the average cow in Canada, but many farms were working on a strictly grass-based diet. After a few days in the Waikato it was over towards Rotorua where we saw a few more dairy operations, got a chance to spend the day enjoying the sights of Rotorua and watched the new Transformers movie. This area was amazing for the number of hot pools that dotted the area. Everywhere we went there seemed to be a place that you could stop and enjoy a naturally heated hot pool. These were a nice treat at the end of a long day.

It was one last bus trip north to the Northern region where we were picked up in Auckland and taken another few hours north to a club meeting and out to our new hosts. Rhydian and I were placed on a 500+ acre beef farm that was buying in bulls and steers from the sale yards that were priced cheap and fattening them on grass and hay for a period of 1-2 years and then selling them directly to the local meat works. This was a single man operation-- we could not believe how few people they have working on farms of this size. As a nice way to finish our trip we spent our last weekend almost at the tip of the north island and went on an ATV-type tour of the beach and surrounding sand dunes. We spent the night in a small coastal town and the next day checked out the giant Keri trees. Then it was on to the hot mud pools, ending up in Waitangi where the original agreement was signed between the Maori people and the British. This is when New Zealand officially became a colony of Britain and now is the treaty that has come around somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 times for re-negotiation to try to compensate the Maori people fairly for what they feel was taken from them after the original agreement was signed.

Our last few days were spent back down in New Plymouth at the NZ Young Farmers conference week. We enjoyed guest speakers, a mystery bus trip including a trip to a local brewery, and watching the young men compete in the practical portion of the Young Farmer of the Year contest.

This was a jam packed week of revisiting old friends from along the way as well as meeting new ones and enjoying stories and a few quiet drinks. It all came to a magnificent end on the Saturday night where we went and watched them tape the question period of the contest and award the prizes. They crowned the 2009 winner and altogether handed out over $160,000 in cash and prizes to the seven regional finalists. This was followed by a wonderful meal at the race track that was topped off by a huge dance that went until 3 am. What a great way to finish up over five months of touring around Australia and New Zealand.

I have enjoyed my time away immensely and look forward to personally sharing my stories with you at our next JF event in August. I would like to take this opportunity to thank JF for selecting me to go on this once in a lifetime trip and would encourage anyone who is looking to travel and represent JF abroad to apply for a chance to become a future JF exchangee.

Ian Phillips
2008-09 JFAO Delegate to Australia & New Zealand