The Golden Shears is a sheep shearing competition that happens every March in Masterton, 4 hours from Hawera. The best shearers and wool handlers in the country compete for the top prize and the chance to represent New Zealand in the Worlds event. There are 2 heats of 6 shearers, and each shearer has to shear 10 sheep as fast and as cleanly as possible. The top 6 shearers advance to the finals that perform during the supper event. The top man sheared 20 sheep in 15minutes and 50.823 seconds. His name was John Kirkpatrick from Napier. He had placed in the finals, 14 times out of the last 15 years. He was more than 1 sheep ahead of 16 time champion, David Fagan from Te Kuiti. David did not go home empty handed though, he won the award for the best quality points for the evening.
This is the wool handling competition, where the shearers are just supplying the wool for the handlers and the handlers are judged on how they separate the good wool from the bad, how they throw out the fleece on the special tables and how they roll it up and squish it down into the bags (pressing). They have to work very fast and this is serious business.
The shearers are dressed in black and the judges are in blue. The handlers are in pink. Before the competition starts the shearers meet and greet their sheep behind the gates and can size them up and put them in order as to how they would like to see them. On the signal the shearer opens the gate, drags out their first sheep on the sheep's bottom , turns on their clippers and proceeds to clip. The stomach hair is done first, then down the back legs, then the top of the head, then down one side then the other. The shorn and well handled sheep is then stuffed down a ramp. The fleece is pulled out of the way by the handlers and it is is one piece. I couldn't help but hum the (Australian tune), ( 'Clip goes the shears boys, clip,clip,clip). Who knew that song would pop into my head 37 years after it was taught? The judges have a remote scoring pad in their hands and as they observe the work being done then they match it up to a criteria and the shearers are given a running score.
As the shearing is going on, there are announcers calling out the action in auctioneer style. Every now and then, if you listen carefully, the announcer will ask, 'And where is the Fagan family?' Then there is a loud whoop from a section in the stands and we will continue to hear how things are going stroke by stroke. It was very exciting.
There is a competition called the Maori-Pakeha division. Here 3 teams of two (one Maori and one Pakeha) compete against each other. They all have to shear 8 sheep each and then the team members scores are combined.
There are cash prizes and they displayed very good sportsmanship. Another competition that took place a day or two before was the 8 hour race. This was also done by two man teams. A new record occurred, 1066 sheep were shorn in 8 hours!
After a farm meal of venison stew we chatted and laughed with our friends until the wee hours. The next morning we headed east to the beach.
On the coast, 68km from Masterton is a beautiful beach called Castlepoint.
It is known for it's lighthouse, caves, walks, and of course the castle rock.
Castlepoint 162m high
Castlepoint was named by Captain Cook in 1770. The area has a fossil rich limestone reef. The reserve is also the only known site of a rare shrubbery daisy, Brachyglottis compactus. White fronted terns,
red billed gulls, black slugs, reef herons, black backed gulls all inhabit the area.
The walk to the lighthouse starts with the 'Home of the Lost Soles' Pole. (Jandals)
This is how the rock has broken up by the wind and over time
From Castlepoint beach we then went to see the museum in Masterton. Here they had wonderful artifacts.
A waka
An eel net
When the calendar turned over to March 1, so did the weather turn to Autumn. Other changes, are cooler mornings and evenings and sunsets at 8pm. The leaves are turning colour and are falling gently onto the roads. In one weekend we saw sheep, a beautiful beach, a fascinating museum, a great pub (didn't blog about that), a gorge, fantastic scenery and all topped off by a turkish Ke-bab meal in Wanganui.
It was a typical weekend where we were out and about, visiting friends, and seeing wonderful scenery.
Thanks for reading!
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