Wet at Waihi Falls

Third day straight of rain. We gathered about 40 artichokes, scraped the leaves (tedious as heck) for a paste, and cut out the hearts (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom-style) in order to boil them up and pickle them. This was our main task today given that outdoors work was out of the question. That said, after our bit of work, we set out in search of Waihi Falls, just a 30 minute drive South. The roads on the way there were windy, narrow and in some spots washed away from the rain. It was a fun ride that only lacked in Flight of the Concords serenading our ears (stupid iPod decided to, uh, not be charged). To get to the star of the show though... here are some pictures of the swollen river (Waihi river?) and the beautiful Waihi Falls! 

The third picture is actually taken from down by that second stream--which is normally not there, but the force of the falls deemed it so!

Es muy agua!

Very powerful, swollen falls. Intense. We were blasted by wind and mist down here and decided to not try and get any closer (not that there were too many options).

It was a very wet, but worthwhile experience. We were pretty happy to get home and get warm and cozy again--until it was time to go milk the cows.

Before we were drenched.

 And Waihi and rain aside... here are some more pictures!!

Dannevirke when we originally arrived -- note the Viking

The Phelps' farm "neighborhood" - lots of green mountains and hills everywhere

Me and the little dog Maggie trying to figure out why the fence wasn't so electric anymore

Backyard stream - did a lot of weeding down here

Four of the calves 

Turkey dudes and one turkey lady

We cut and hanged herbs for drying! Woo! I am pumped!

My Stacy not looking at the ocean - my beard is distracting

Maggie, the Lord of all Australian Terriers, and my very good friend

That is all.