Feb 6. Napier, New Zealand

Napier is the second largest wine growing region in New Zealand, Hawkes Bay area alone boast more than 70 Vineyards. The city also holds claim as the largest wool center in the southern hemisphere.

Napier is one of the largest producers of new varieties of apples. Their latest specialty is the sweet Rocket Apple, which is the size of a large golf ball. They transport these to Japan because the Japanese like very sweet, very red and very small apples.

Today we visited a goat and sheep farm in the Tukituki River Valley. Heading to the farm, we saw such beautiful landscape and scenery. Many acres and acres of farmland, it was like stepping back in time! The Tukituki Dairy Goats, a family-run farm, is home to over 1400 dairy goats, as well as a sheep operation. We visited the large shed where the goats live year-round. The owners, Sean & Lydia Baty, describe their operation as a labor of love. The goats, which are housed in a roomy, airy shed all year round, are a saanen-toggenburg cross, with some nubian goats as well. They're milked twice a day, morning & evening. It takes about eight minutes to take slightly more than a litre each milking. Every two days a tanker collects 6500 litres and takes it to a plant in Hamilton where it is turned into whole milk powder to be sold to China. The goats are led into a large pen where they very calmly walk up a ramp and into the milking station. They're attached to a milking machine, monitored by several workers, and then calmly come out of the carousel and back down through the ramp and into their shed. Their average life span is 8-10 years.

I was in my glory!! These goats are well cared for, gentle & clean! It was hard to drag me away from these sweethearts! Check out the photo of my goat kiss souvenir!

After watching the milking process, we went in to see the five-month-old baby goats. They are very adorable& sweet! We were fed snacks of fresh goats milk & cheese and egg sandwiches from the chickens on the farm.

We then watched with amazement as a highly trained Kiwi sheepdog (and pup in training) showed us how they expertly kept their flock in line. We were very impressed but not surprised at the intelligence of these dogs. The 5 year old (black & white) gave her 2 year old younger charge a tip or two! Finally, we watched as Sean demonstrated his sheep shearing skills! Wonderful!!

We traveled back to the ship via the scenic coast & thru the quaint, art deco town of Napier. It was a truly fantastic day!!!Leer más