This morning we did the country bit, + went for a stroll round the farm. One of the things Bruce has to do is clear the lower property, which is recently drained peat swamp, of hundreds of kauri stumps. Some of them are enormous, + some of the land looks more like a space camp than a NZ farm, with black lumps of wood sticking up all over the place. It was a pleasant stroll, + we took some more photos as we walked – all helping to build up an appetite.
In the afternoon, we drove to Hamilton. B + S were going in on business, + we went in for the ride. We were quite surprised – we hadn’t imagined anything very much, but in fact down by the river, just 50 yds from the main street, it was really attractive. We were also able to put our trial film in at a 1 hour developing shop. To our relief, our camera seemed to be alright. In fact, quite a lot of the pictures were really quite nice. Val made pasties for dinner, her first since Alaska – they were delicious. Another pleasant evening. Bruce M had told us they were a dope-smoking couple. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, but one can’t have everything.
Very pleasant to have some welcoming company, and to get a bit of an insight into farming life here. We did indeed take quite a few pictures, but I shall keep some of them for rainy days, photographically-speaking.
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