The boys and I flew the nest and landed across the ditch on the 3rd of October, we have had a great week settling in, I thought I would start by pointing out a few similarities and differences between the famous rival countries – feel free to message me any additions to this!
Point 1 – Wildlife: One of the first things I noticed was the feathered friends that flock around the horse paddocks – big white cockatoos, pink and grey galahs, little wee pigeon things that make a pretty noise when they fly, these are all plus points for Australia. However, the threat of multiple poisonous/scary species such as snakes, spiders, and the big lizard that decided to make the tack room its home for the day, makes it a close call with NZ but AUS is +1 for the excitement factor.
Point 2 – Scenery: There is so much SPACE! Car drives can be great fun looking at vas expanses of land, however the trees, earth, and general territory has a distinct shade of brown in comparison to NZ – I think we are 1NZ : 1AUS.
Point 3 – Food shopping: Oh the pastries! I have decided that in NZ we definitely do not stack up to the cinnamon scrolls and walnut twists of the Coles supermarket – they are scrumptious! Definitely 1NZ : 2AUS. On the other hand the lack of available beer at the supermarket and the frightfully high price of a 6 pack of Heineken from the liquor store make us 2NZ : 2AUS.
Point 4 – Climate: To be honest Aussie was always going to win this one – the lack of mud is a welcome treat for our riding boots! However there does seem to be an endless collection of dust that collects up one’s nostrils only to be found at shower time - 2NZ : 3AUS.
Point 5 - Money money money: There is certainly a lot around this area and while it does make you feel like you have very little in comparison, there are some fantastic people with a lot of vision who have developed some amazing properties in the area! 2NZ : 4AUS
We will continue the battle throughout the weeks to see who wins out in this Trans-Tasman challenge!
In other news we are off to Goulburn CIC3* this weekend! Dressage Saturday, showjumping and cross country Sunday (which is weird for starters!), the going is meant to be great so we are really looking forward to it!
Bye for now!
Sam