A study to assess both the cost and sustainability of potential marketing advantages (UK and overseas) of beef and lamb produced from high welfare systems.

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Travelling South







Wednesday 11th November. Our time in North Island has come to an end and we caught the 8.30 a.m. ferry from Wellington to Picton, on the South Island. The distance between the two islands on the map is deceiving with regards to crossing time, because the ferry has to navigate south out of Wellington Harbour, before turning north west, and sailing across the Cook Strait towards North Island. A distance of 92Km and 3 hours sailing. The ferry holds about 1600 passengers, many of them young backpackers. We wondered if one of our girls might be doing this crossing in the next few years!

Our time in North Island has been short but we have made many new friends, seen some great sights and learnt a great deal about the opportunities and challenges of pastoral farming in the northern region of New Zealand.

Just after getting under way the ferry sails past Matiu/Somes Island, which we were told was used until fairly recently as an animal quarantine station. I have not come across any bio security measures or regulation on any dairy, beef and sheep farms that I visited in North Island, but once again I was reminded of the New Zealand Governments past, present and future policy on strict border controls to avoid the introduction of any disease that will threaten their agricultural industry. An interesting point is that nearly all of the mammals on New Zealand were introduced by man, even the rats came off the docking ships. Like Ireland, they do not have any moles, which made Sheila extremely envious, as she has been unsuccessfully been trying to catch moles on Llandre with traps for the past eighteen months without any success!
After sailing through various ‘sounds’ and ‘channels’ we arrived at Picton, picked up the hire car, (another Falcon) and started our drive towards Virginia’s home in Conway Flat on the North East Coast of South Island.

Our journey took us past a number of vineyards, which stretched out before us on the rolling plains. There were a number of windmill type structures in the middle of the vine fields, there to prevent any frost damage by creating air movement above the crop. Helicopters creating a downdraft were also used in some cases to create the same effect! We saw some famous brand names in Hawke’s Bay, and the same was the case (no pun intended) in this region, and we were tempted to stop at the Montana winery for some lunch. Being the driver, I could not join in with the wine tasting, but I think my passengers took full advantage of the situation!

As we travelled down the coast, stopping to take some pictures of the seals basking on rocks, we realised that the weather was deteriorating. We were planning to stop at the seaside town of Kaikoura, and take a three hour boat ride out to see the whales that are swimming in that area. Unfortunately with the temperature dropping to about 9° C, the wind chill making it feel even colder, and the waves looking pretty fierce we were disappointingly informed that all trips were cancelled. We had been told by many people back in Wales that this was to be a great experience, but we couldn’t do much about the weather.

We finished our first day in South Island being hosted by Virginia and her husband Pat. They have built a lovely wooden house in the middle of a beef and sheep farming plain, with snow capped mountains on one side and the sea on the other. Pat has the most difficult job of travelling the world and writing about his stays at some of the most luxurious hotels available to the discerning and well heeled traveller!

No comments:

Post a Comment