Shearing

On Tuesday I had a trial as a rousie for a shearing company, and yesterday was my first day of paid work as a rousie. Today I have the day off because bad weather was expected. For those who don't know what a rousie is: we take the fleece from the shearing stage, throw it onto the wool table (that's harder than it sounds but I got used to it quite quickly), skirt the fleeces (remove the daggy bits from the edges), and roll them up and put them in the press. We also keep the floor tidy. The hours are long and the work is hard but it's rather fun and the pay is good.
On another note: I just beat my computer at Chinese chess!

It was set to use an opening book and think 6 moves ahead. I had previously had 2 stalemates in a row with it set to think 5 moves ahead.

Marks

I just got the last of my marks back from the second semester.

• CHIN102 (Chinese language 1B): A
• MATH161 (Discrete Mathematics & Logic): A
• COMP206 (Program and Data Structures): C+

I unfortunately didn't pass COMP311 due to having forgotten how to write a good academic essay. Something I must re-learn during the summer holiday.

Flowers in the Tararua range

On Sunday I accompanied a group of people who went into the forest in the vicinity of Holdsworth Lodge looking for Orchids. We didn't see any that were actually in flower (or at least I didn't) but I did take some nice pictures of various other things.
I'm not sure what this one is.

Lupin

A pretty little fern.

Birch mistletoe. It's an extremely rare plant and in danger of becoming extinct. Mostly because possums think it's chocolate, but also because it doesn't spread very fast.

Another shot of the birch mistletoe.