After road-tripping across New Zealand for over a month, we stopped in the very south near Invercargill for a couple of weeks. We stayed at a farm with ~8000 sheep, spread over kilometres and kilometres of beautiful hilly countryside. And it wasn’t just about sheep: we also helped take care of the chickens, rabbits, dogs, bulls, horses, pig, and the huge garden. The lovely family fed us home-made or hunted deliciousness: lamb roasts, beef, venison (deer) stews, fried paua (or abalone – huge sea snail that their children catch diving!) and garden veggies. And if all that was not enough, after work we could go swim with the dolphins in a nearby beach! Well, weather allowing and with wetsuits… because it’s across the sea from Antarctica 🙂

Afterwards we stayed at another, “high-tech” cow farm where we discovered how much work goes into producing high-quality steak: bulls’ sperm collected using an “electrojaculator” :-O , cows pregnancy-tested, body fat measured, drinking water with anti-bloating properties… and much more.

A memorable experience, hands-on work, and lots of fun!