Riding at Poronui

Monty is Hungry......I guess we can stop now?

Ellie and Samantha's Christmas Present. 

Monty is in the mail.... Your daddies said it was okay. 

Over looking Poronui

First time adventures.

On Saturday, i went with Jane and Amber riding. This was my first, real riding experience. We saddled up and headed out on the property. What was meant to be a leisurely stroll for a couple of hours and a picnic on top of the hill, turned into an intensive day of riding. My horse, Monty, beautiful and calm was also pretty random. Probably a perfect horse for me, the beginner. The interesting thing was to try and stay on the horse when he went from a trot to a screeching halt, dipping his head down to eat a bit of grass. I almost went off the front of him several times. Luckily, i stayed on for the entire 3 1/2 hours. I was soooo sore. We did get to see a lot of the property that you can't see from the road. plus, all the wild life in a more natural setting. When i got into the lodge to cook that night, our clients laughed their heads off upon hearing about our day and how worn out i was. That night i received a call from Eve and was told, one of our guests had treated me to a message from Nancy, a Maori Princess and our resident Massage therapist. It was an incredibly fun day. Photos to follow.
I do work with some special people. Today is the anniversary of my mother's passing. In honor of my mothers life..... and the very special relationship that i miss.... my boss gave me, Jane and Amber the day off together. I planned to go on a hike or take off and go sight seeing, but i was surprised with a rafting trip. They had heard i had never been and wanted to do something special for me. It was a great experience and more than that, i really appreciate the hearts of my new work family. The Kaituna River is a 7 meter drop and 45 minute long trip. Our guides were great and made the trip a blast. Luckily i stayed in the raft, but swallowed a lot of water. They got some very funny pictures of us along the way. We were wearing the funniest clothing and not a big help in the rowing department. I looked like we should be shot out of a cannon rather than rafting. Since none of us fell out, they tried to liven up the experience by steering us back into the mouth of a rapid to get dunked. I kept my head down, but Jane and Amber looked hilarious in the pictures.
Tomorrow i am back in the saddle, so to speak. I will have 14 guest for the next 6 days and then have a three day break. We have a staff Christmas party one of those nights, but i am going hunting one of those days with Mau and Ben (our hunting guides). I am learning to shoot right now and really liking it. They are the ones who get me all my yummy meats from the property and i am thankful they are involving me so much in it all. I will get some pictures of that next week.
Thanks to all that have written me updates, i do miss you friends, great to hear about your lives.
Love always!

Week Two

These past few weeks have been great. Quite an adjustment, but definitely a learning experience i am thankful to have. We have had a variety of different cultures down here, with very different eating styles. They call New Zealand, a mini America, twenty years behind. I can see why. The cookery is more based on old school English/ British as opposed to our French influence. Sauces, spices and big flavors are a huge no-no..... i am slowly introducing that here. It has been interesting to adapt to this ordering system. We eat from the land, only local grocery. We talk to our produce people daily and ask what the freshest of vegetables, fruits and dairy is and our seafood purveyors for the catch of the day. Our chicken and lamb is picked up daily and the venison, hare, duck, and pig are from our ranch. I have been involved in the entire process. Amazing! When the animal is killed, i go down to the hunting range and pick it up and take it back to the chiller to break down and hang.. to age the animal. I feel like a rancher. I even get to drive all the work trucks around and feed the animals. Our pigs are so happy to see me with the slop buckets and all i can do is feel bad because i will be cooking them in a week or two. I got over it.

I have met some great people. Jane and Kris, Daughter and Mom, they work with the horses and also waitress and host at night. On my days off, i have gone into town with them and they have showed me the ropes. We took a tour of Taupo, lots of little shops and cafes' and then to all the little touristy sites. New Zealand is quite famous for it's honey, so went to the honey hive and did a honey tasting, yes... like a wine tasting. it was pretty cool. We went to Huka falls. They are rapids that stretch from here to Auckland. Very beautiful colors and amazingly fast moving water. The dam is released three times a day because of the amount of water. After our hike around Huka, we went to explore the prawn farm (shrimp) and eat at the little cafe'. We were too late to fish for prawns, but it was funny to see people at those little watering holes with tiny fishing rods.

Later, we met up wit Jane's partner, Trent to go fishing in Lake Taupo. It was a great view of the town and amazing to see the depth of the water. The locals say the lake is bigger than Singapore. We also strolled around to the carvings. Tribal artwork, etched in rock, took the Maori tribe three years to carve. their tribe is a large part of this culture. Language and cuisine. We have several Maori Indians working for Poronui and all have wonderful stories. They still hold a tribal supper once a month in various towns. Their food is buried and roasted in the ground for hours. Pig, potato, corn, etc. It is quite a big deal. The ladies invited me next month to attend with their families. Jade and wood carvings are also a huge deal here.

I am back on with new group of people at Poronui. I prep all day for the lodge, Eve cooks for the Lodge guests and i am cooking for a family in the Owner's Lodge. It has been a very busy few days. My whole dinner has to be ready by 4:30 in time for the lodge guests to return from fishing then, i race up to the Owner's cabin to cook for that family. I am learning a lot about time management. There is a lot of driving around in a day and a need to be three places at once. It is quite a rush actually. Other than that i will be taking my days off when they come and hopefully get to see a bit. I do love it here, but already missing my friends and family. Please let me know how you all are doing.

My holiday and tour of new town!

my house

My new home!!!!

The View outside the Lodge. 

Taharua River

Guest Lodge

Guest Room

My Car

The View

Lake Taupo (in town)

Entrance to Poronui

My House

Living room at Lodge

Dining Room at Lodge

I am here. A day and a half of traveling, couldn't have gone better. I was met at the airport by one of our fishing guides/ hunting manager and taken around the town a bit to show me the place. It is very cute. Very much like Lake Tahoe. It looks to be a very active community: surfing, skydiving, bungee jumping, fishing, diving, hiking, fishing and hunting....to name a few. The town, Lake Taupo, largest lake in New Zealand was formed by a volcanic eruption 186 A.D. and since built the town around this beautiful lake.

Poronui, my new place, is very much a part of the culture of this community. Although the ranch is right off the main road... it actually takes 35 minutes to get to the lodge. I thought i knew a bit coming out here, but i found out that i didn't know the half. The wildlife out here is incredible. We have 3 different types of deer, sheep, goats, pheasant, quail, pigs, chickens, goats, dairy cattle and jack rabbits. The guide said that i tell him what i want to cook (not horses) and they will hunt it and bring it in for me to prepare. It doesn't get any fresher than that. All of our produce, meat and seafood is local and abundant. It looks amazing. We have several different houses on the property... all have different kitchens for me to cook in. Depending on the guests' activity will also dictate where i will prepare the food. Once a week we will do a BBQ and a Wine Cellar dinner. Both in separate houses on the property. The Owner's lodge, is amazing! It has four double rooms and two bunk rooms and just about the coolest house i have ever seen. There is a kitchen there that i will cook in if a group rents that house out separately.

We have two permanent chefs, myself and Caine (the breakfast/lunch cook) and two part-time chefs that will assist us and fill in on our days off. Also if we have an event at the Owner's lodge and regular guest at the lodge. I live in a separate house on the property about 6 miles away. Right now all the staff is on a two day holiday, so i am with the manager, Eve, until they get back. I will be living with the two girls that run the horse stables. The guides do stay on property, but their cabins are next to the guests at the lodge. Myself and Amber, one of the girls that tend to the horses are the only non-Kiwis here. (Kiwi=people from New Zealand). We also have 6 full-time guides, 4 part-time, and three contracted helicopter pilots.

Some things i get to look forward to outside of the perks in my job is that i have a scheduled day off a week and we get to leave and travel when we don't have guests. Eve said that when that happens, the staff will go sty at hostels or drive to the beach. New Zealand is not huge.. because it is centrally located, you can get to most other towns in only a few hours. One thing i have to get used to is driving a car on the other side of the road in the other side of the car... while shifting with my left hand. Yikes!!! I went about 10 miles an hour to figure it out.

That is all i got for now. I won't actually cook my first meal until Wednesday. My cell does not work out here, but i do have wireless at the lodge and you can sign up to Skype (mopeck02) or ichat (mopeck@mac.com) and talk to me very easily. I called my family today on it, cheaper than a calling card and if you have a video function we can see each other. Take care!!

Poronui Ranch