Waimate, the jewel of South Canterbury - December 2015

It was a long drive down to Waimate from Wellington, having taken the 9am Interislander ferry, but well worth the journey.  We arrived to a hearty welcome by Stu and Sue on their hobby farm approximately 6km through the Waimate Gorge. They have around 400 sheep and, fortunately for us, Bess the Border Collie ..... to keep them all in order.

There was Missy the cat

16 Alpacas

Plus a wee baby born while we were there

That's dad welcoming his new baby

Some hand reared lambs ....

And this wee fellow we rescued from the paddock one morning, breathing but hardly conscious ......... we called him Lucky (to be alive)

Lucky ... up and grazing

 There was much to do daily refencing one mob, moving sprinklers around paddocks, walking the farm twice a day to check the fences and make sure that everyone was where they should be.  They weren't always and this required some running in and resorting of the stock (see video below for a belly laugh!).  We thoroughly enjoyed the physical workload.

There was a river flowing past the kitchen window with  some fine looking brown trout and many wallabies and hares running around freely (we enjoyed the flavour of both).

There is a Joey in the pouch of the female on the left

Stu is passionate about yarn and sells his own wool which is real kiwi quality.  He has a lot more available than is on the site so you may want to contact him to find out more http://fffnz.com/shop/

Oh, and then there was fishing.  Did I mention fishing yet?  James had, of course, done his research prior to our arrival and discovered that the beach for surf casting in the area is Hook Beach.

We spent a few hours during the two weeks sitting on Hook Beach.  A seal frolicked by looking for a feed and a dolphin swan past on a (no doubt) similar mission. Um, yes, and we caught some fish.

Kahawai

Shark

We were really sad to leave here but a new adventure was calling ......

Heading out to round "someone" up

Loin of hare

From the garden

New Zealand, here we come - Nov 2015

All of a sudden it was nearly time to head back to New Zealand for a few months of summer.  First though, we had accepted an overnight sit just outside Bury St Edmunds.  We were to keep the company of Scruffy a 10 year old fur ball, and Bob a 14 week old Irish Wolfhound.  We had previously visited to meet them and the family ,we were surprised how much Bob had grown in the few weeks since we last saw him.

There wasn't an awful lot to be done in just one night except a few walks around the nearby fields and kicking back keeping the boys company. Such is life .......

In our perpetual pursuit of sun, sand and sea, we head back to New Zealand for a few months. Landing in Auckland we took a bus journey down to Wellington to catch up with family and pick up our car.  Yes, we could have flown, but when you have lots of luggage and plenty of time the bus is a really good option.  A visual melange of a journey through the centre of the North Island can't be a bad thing, right!?!? Oh, and there is even Wifi on the Intercity bus.

We had an adventure planned around the East Cape of the North Island.  We had been offered the use of a Bach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_(New_Zealand)   by the wonderful Goldsmith family in Whanarua Bay where we planned to relax and fish - yes, we need to relax and fish more!!!   But first to Hastings to pick up a double kayak we had purchased online (whilst in  the UK) secondhand on Trademe.  It looked ok!  We then headed for Whakatane (Clare's hometown) to catch up with friends.

Finally it was time to head to Whanarua Bay.  And oh, what a beautiful bay it is.

There is no phone or internet service so what else to do but totally relax ...... oh, and a bit (a lot) of fishing! We caught Kahawai, Snapper, Mackerel, Tarakihi, Wrasse, Trevally .... but alas, no crayfish in the pot we put out. We dined handsomely on our catches .... except the wrasse and mackerel.

It was not yet summer holidays so we mostly had the bay to ourselves.  This kind of peace and tranquility is something one doesn't often get to experience in todays society and we lapped it up.  A few of the locals came down for a bit of snorkelling, looking for crayfish, kina and paua.

When we finally pulled ourselves away, we enjoyed the rest of our journey around the East Cape very much.  This is still such and unspoiled and wild part of New Zealand that even many New Zealanders haven't taken the time to explore.  Well worth the journey.

Watch some of our kayaking exploits in this short video below !!

Awesome Autumn - Oct/Nov 2015

We were delighted to have another chance to stay at Jenny's in Stradishall with Trix and May whilst she was in New Zealand (see previous post).  We had the pleasure of hanging here for just over four weeks before heading back to New Zealand ourselves.  

We were really looking forward to spending autumn here as, being out in the country, there are a lot of hedgerows to be looted.  Talk about a foragers dream come true.

We couldn't believe the quality and size of the blackberries around the fields where we walked the doggies daily.  These soon became fodder for breakfast: blackberry compote, muesli and yoghurt.  The compote was also yummy drizzled over fresh scones (although my first attempt at scones was one of my epic failures - even the chooks having a hard time with them).
We made blackberry vodka and sloe vodka.

There is the most beautiful quince tree in the yard, so lush with quince that they are bowing the branches quite badly.  These were most enjoyed baked with butter and soft brown sugar.  Enjoy with some succulent roast pork.

A cock pheasant had the misfortune to cross our path on our first day here.  Roasted whole this time.  Similar to roast chicken of course, but MUCH tastier.

We gathered a lot of wild mushrooms also.  Rule of thumb is if you can positively ID it in the edible family you can eat it.  http://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guides/  If not, chuck it out.  We enjoyed Honey Fungus, Field Mushroom and Wood Blewits.  They were all cooked into soups, omelette, pearl barley risotto and quite simply on toast.

Cheeky little critters

Sweet chestnuts and walnuts

There were also lots of nut trees fruiting at this time.  We were delighted to come upon a sweet chestnut tree whilst out walking with the girls one morning.  The last one of many that the other walkers and/or squirrels hadn't discovered yet.

We spent a night in Leiston on the east coast and did some fishing off the beach in Sizewell.  It wasn't particularly warm - although the weather this autumn has been great in general - but yes, we did catch some fish .... two bass and six whiting, all too small to keep so we bought some skate wings and dabs from the local fisherman Noel.  Delicious!

Another couple of interesting things happened during this time.  We spent a morning at home with a film crew being interviewed and videoed for a promo on behalf of Trusted Housesitters www.trustedhousesitters.com  The dogs, chickens and ducks were all impeccably behaved and enjoyed the attention immensely.  It was an interesting process for us too.  Not sure how much, if any, of the footage will be used but I can't wait to find out!  

We were also interviewed by a freelance journalist for an article about Housesitting to be featured in Saga Magazine (just quietly, a UK lifestyle rag for the over fifties!  See the article on our "Really useful links for visitors" tab. Not sure what all the interest in Housesitting is all of a sudden, but hey, any publicity is good publicity .... so they say.

You can now view the article by following the link in our LINKS section

Grazie Italy - Aug/Sep 2015

   It's hard to describe how we felt upon arriving at the house on the hill just outside Montecastelli in Umbria, Italy.  We surely had landed in paradise.  The house was last but one up on a hill  overlooking the Tiber Valley.  In the valley below they were growing tobacco and sunflowers.

The temperatures were up in the thirties when we arrived but the house was cool .... in both senses of the word!  The indoor/outdoor living was just perfect. And there was a glorious pool.

Our house mates were Jock, a big black lab cross and Jess, a cute little Jack Russell cross.  They were both Battersea rescue doggies.  Their delightful personalities complement each other so well.  Jock is such a softie and a little bit needy, as big dogs can tend to be with his world revolving round his stomach. Jess is very independent ... although you wouldn't believe it looking at some of the photos.  Amazing what you can get away with when you're only little.  

 We also shared the house with some not so welcome critters ........

Hmmmm, what to do for the next six weeks.  Let's see....

We fished alot

We ate (and drank) alot

James and Carmel alfresco

We swam ...... and knitted .....

And we relaxed ..... A LOT (or at least some of us did!)

We occasionally ventured out into our neighbourhood

Lake Tressimino in the Niccone valley

Assisi

Umbertide

  

 And enjoyed the EXTRAORDINARY sunsets ..... much like our 6 weeks in Umbria really

EXTRAORDINARY!

Want my dinner

Me too

Smell my breath

Neighbour

Favoured knitting seat