Chinese kid's authentic Kiwi farm visit in Ruawai

A Ruawai farm has had its tenth visit from Chinese guests.

Everyone helped: husband, wife, daughter, friends, friends of friends, neighbours, cows, calves, sheep, horses, even the toddling granddaughter and Bella the dog.

In a tight four hours, the visitors learned how to make butter, shear sheep, feed calves, milk cows, farm in New Zealand and train a horse.

This, the 10th visit by Chinese students to Sara and Peter Ball's Ruawai farm, came about after some Chinese guests had great fun experiencing farm life, they knew children would love it too.

Last week about 70 people - 56 students, parents, leaders and interpreters - visited, and I joined the team. After arriving, the children, aged from 12 to 15, dumped their bags in the living room and divided into three groups. An interpreter accompanied each one as the children spoke very little English.

In the morning I helped with butter making. The chattering children, in a further three groups, made a team effort of shaking a jar of cream until it solidified into butter and butter milk.

They ate and drank the products of their labours before moving on to sheep shearing (in a truck by the house) then the farm talk. In the brief gaps between groups, we frantically set up for our next workshop.

After a quick lunch and with rain threatening, we scrambled for coats, warm hats - and gumboots. The organisation which brings the children to New Zealand has provided the Balls with 80 pair.

It was my job to assist with the horses. After Sara got the children's attention (sort of - it was an exciting day and kids are kids), she introduced the horses and demonstrated how to lead them. Then the children broke into teams for a relay.

They each led a horse over poles, between zig-zag markers, threw balls at a target then ran back to pass their agreeable horse to the next student.

My three teams were all different: rowdy and playful; a little older and too cool to play; fiercely determined - and fast. I know this because I puffed alongside as they jogged. The only prizes went to the horses - carrot slivers fed by the giggling children.

Part of the cow milking exercise was fun: put chilled high-fat milk on a plate, drop in spots of food colouring, dip a cotton bud into dishwashing detergent, touch the colouring with tip of the bud. Guess what happens. You are welcome to try this as a school holiday experiment.

The children, in New Zealand for just three weeks, are billeted, spend a week in school and the rest of their time having adventures including this one which an accompanying adult told me was the most meaningful of the lot.

Most of the children haven't seen live animals except in a zoo, nor do they have a clue where their food comes from.

Finally, tired out, they bundled onto big shiny buses and rumbled away to Auckland while the rest of us had a cuppa. Our hosts then sorted the aftermath including a gigantic jumble of gumboots.

If you're wondering about the dog and toddler, they added to the relaxed family atmosphere and, naturally, Bella scored lunchtime snacks and climbed onto the buses to bid the guests farewell.