Williams Family

Hello dear ones,

After our last entry, a lot of time has passed. We have spent 2 months at Fox Glacier and worked on the Williams family farm.

The family was very friendly, open and lovable, they showed us a lot and we were allowed to do a lot ourselves.

Our tasks included:

- Repairing fences

- Making firewood

- Feeding lambs and calves

- Castrating and marking lambs

- Driving sheep and cows from one pasture to another

- Feeding cows, calves and lambs

- Housework (vacuuming, etc.)

- A mobile sawmill was there for a few days and sawed boards from logs and we were allowed to help.

We worked about 4 hours a day, mostly from 1pm-5pm.

For the work, we were given a room in the house with a shower, WiFi and 3 meals a day. We made our own breakfast, and we were cooked for at lunch and dinner.

The woman (Abyee) cooked for us and also worked full-time on the farm. She is a wonderful woman and despite a serious illness, she is always active (quote Paul: 'Abyee is everywhere!') and never melancholy. Since I (Christina) have always helped Abyee so much, she allowed me to groom the neighbor's horse.

The man (Paul) is always friendly and up for fun.

He showed us a lot and we were allowed to get impressions of their entire life.

Their son (Peter) is at a private boarding school and only at home during the holidays.

There are 3 dogs on the farm. Sam and Basil are the working dogs.

MaGoogin, but everyone just calls her Google, is a little Scottish Terrier lady and the favorite of the house.

I really have taken the little one to my heart.

There is also a cat called Special, but she is very moody ...

About the farm:

- it is 900 hectares in size,

- it consists of about 400 cows with calves,

- 14 bulls,

- about 200 young bulls (about 1-1.5 years old),

- about 1000 sheep and about 1500 lambs,

- 5 tractors, 2 quads, 1 motorbike and 4 cars.

We even went on a family trip to Haast for a Whitebait Festival with them (Abyee, Paul, Peter and us).

Every Friday evening is pub night in Fox. Many people from the village meet there, drink, play billiards or darts, eat fish and chips and talk about the events of the week. Because we were usually in the pub with Paul every Friday, we were able to get to know many of his friends and acquaintances, who are all very nice and friendly. (One of his best friends even gave us a liter of beer because we had brought firewood to his wife for her birthday 2 days earlier :D)

We are very grateful to them for letting us do so much and showing us so much. It was a beautiful time and we can come by for a cup of tea anytime.

Saying goodbye was very difficult for us and we will miss them very much. From the very first moment, they made us feel at home.