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They lead a semi-alternative lifestyle , milk the cow ( sharing with the calf ) , make butter and cheese , get eggs from the hens , grow all their own vegetables , and feed scraps to the pig . Sometimes they rise at 6 AM to skate before work , when the skate ramp is empty - - that certainly does n't sound like our daughter ! Her friend Christine from Vancouver visited us for a month in 2003 , and Nikki took her on a trip round the lower North Island like the one Pam arranged for Ian 's relatives . By a strange twist of fate a partner in our doctor 's practice , a family friend , was at Great Barrier Island on her own family 's boat , and Ian was tested on arrival , diagnosed not with plain old seasickness but with a grumbling appendix , and put to bed on the hospital ship ( the doctor 's boat ) following a preliminary radio call to the marine emergency centre in case a helicopter had to be summoned during the night . Two superbly tall masts cross , we check the waterline , and seconds later NZ60 crosses ahead of Prada , her sails standing out like sheet metal in the sun . Up hills , pushing , and down precipitous slopes , Ian standing in front braced against the zimmer frame , trying to stop it from charging off down the hill . We spotted a huge pod of dolphins playing in the distance and went off like Captain Ahab to chase them down . Ian was running between the two . ) It 's housed in a spacious complex built by Mussolini ( in fact , it or something very like it featured in the recent movie Tea with Mussolini ) , and from the roof garden you look down on the Colosseum .