In a hole in the ground...

Wow, I've left this for a month. And it's been a busy month, as well, so I hope you'll all excuse my absence!

Since I last updated, I finally moved out of Taupo. Before that, however, I spent a weekend in Wellington with some friends from my first job here. It was a lot of fun. We went to the NZ vs. Aus rugby match, which was interesting for me, seeing as I don't actually know anything about rugby. It's not too hard to pick up, however. And the All Blacks won, so that was good. I didn't get much sleep, though, and it took me about a week to get back up to speed!

On the 28th, I moved to Matamata, which you may know as Hobbiton. Yes, the farm they used as the set for Hobbiton is in this area. No, I have not been yet, and I don't know if I will go. I don't fancy paying $50 to see hills and polystyrene. I now live with Scott and Eira, who currently breed and show Jack Russell Terriers. Most of you probably know that I used to show my own dogs, Oscar and Oliver, in 4-H when I was younger. I've really missed it, so it's been really fun to hang out here and go to shows. They have 9 dogs: 7 Jacks, a cocker spaniel (that's an English cocker to Americans), and a Welsh springer spaniel.

The first weekend of October, I went down to the NZ National Dog Show in Feilding. I spent four nights sleeping in a tent on the ground, in the rain and wind. It was so much fun, though. I went down with Jackie and Nicola, the neighbors. We took two of Scott and Eira's dogs: Flybuys, a 6 mo. Jack Russell, and Sioni, an 8 mo. Welshie. We also had Jackie's Welshie and Nicola's cocker. Everyone did pretty well: both Flybuys and Sioni got puppy of breed. I know a woman from Taupo who's just getting into Scottish deerhounds, and she was down with both of hers for the Wellington Hound show that took place on Thursday, so I went over to help hold her dogs while she was in the ring. Well, of course, since hers were the only two there, they went up against each other for best of breed and she had me take one in for her. Those things are huge. Also, there were about 20 million dachshunds, and they took FOREVER. They split them up by both size and coat here, so you have Miniature Smooth, Long, and Wire, then Standard Smooth, Long, and Wire. I don't like most of the smooths other than Oscar, but I love the longhaired minis. There was also a Paws-to-Music competition Friday night, where people basically "dance" with their dogs. Almost everyone had border collies, of course. There were two Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retrievers, which I was glad to finally see. They have such sweet faces! There was also lure-coursing one of the days, but I sadly missed it. Apparently there were loads of Afghans with all their beautiful, carefully groomed hair crashing through the mud after a possumtail. I feel sorry for the people who had to go clean them up after that! On the way back up, the biggest snowstorm in 25 years hit the Central North Island (in Taupo/National Park), so we had to go around the western coast. It took us 3 extra hours, but we still got home fast than people who went through the middle. They had 20 cm of snow, the roads were closed for 2 days, and hundreds of people were stranded.

Last weekend, we went to a show in Tauranga, where Sioni got puppy in show at the gundog specialty show. I just enjoy watching everything that goes on and listening to people as they talk to their dogs. My favorite was the woman who camped next to us at Nationals. She had clumber spaniels and Newfoundlands. She routinely called them dingbats, and told them, "If you had half a brain, it would be lonely." I also like listening to people discuss their dogs and the dogs in the ring, as well as catching all the doggy gossip. And, as with any activity in any location, there's a lot. I'm learning a lot, especially about conformation, and am really looking forward to getting back into dogs when I go home. I'll have probably met all the Welshies in the North Island by the time I leave (I am only slightly exaggerating), and it's been useful to compare them to each other and to listen to what their people say about them.

What's also really interesting to me is how the NZKC and the AKC are different. Our sporting group is their gundog group, our herding group is their working group, and our working group is their utility group. And that you can show mutts in obedience here. Oh, and all schnauzers are in the utility group here, where only the giant schnauzer is in our working group. The other two varieties are terriers. We also don't recognize Jack Russells, only Parson Russells. And we only split dachshunds up by coat, not by size. Here they do both.

I have also reached a verdict on Pineapple Lumps: delicious!