Our Christmas sit this year was chosen so well. Although we didn't know quite how well until we got there! Not only was this farm in the middle of absolutely nowhere, no neighbours, surrounded by farmland and bush, we were going to be immersed in our happy place. And then to discover we would have the company of 13 wonderful canine companions .... well, for us, it doesn't get much better. Meet the house dogs.
Front to back: Onion, Floss (Border Collie), Bhaji (left) Feta (right)
These girls were all just so much fun. Floss is a retired sheep dog (breeding bitch), Onion is the old girl of the Jack Russell clan and Feta is Bhaji's mum. Talk about a laugh a minute! They all happily accompanied us on chicken duty and various other chores around the place with Feta and Bhaji requiring an extended run around the farm each day. We had Joe, the farmer come most days to manage and move the stock but there is always the odd sheep that needs moving from the wrong paddock.
I said run, not ride!!!!
Every day we went up the back of the farm to check on the horses and generally muck about.
The other very cool thing about the farm is that these guys rescue/rehome farm breed dogs and train/socialise them to make sure they are suitable for farm work before selling them to farms. We were overjoyed to discover that all 9 of the current kennel dogs were a delight to hang with. Twice a day we walked around the farm with them. Bhaji came each time too and held her own amoung the pack but the other house dogs weren't interested at all. And who could blame them. It was an intense but very rewarding time of the day for us.
Gin
Blain, breeding dog and not for sale
Spot
Siz
Buddy - showing no promise for farm work but will make someone an amazing pet
Steph, the baby of the clan
Mia, Buddy's sister
Alma, our personal favourite and if we had a different lifestyle we would have her in a breath
Dot, the timid girl who also isn't suitable for rehome so she just gets to groove on the farm
Chaos ensued each time we took these guys out with lots of pack behaviour going on but they were so fabulous at obeying and recall that we all soon relaxed into our routine.
It only took a couple of days for Dot to accept James as her pack leader and then she couldn't leave him alone
Steph and Mia enjoying the waterfall
Chaos reigns
Bhaji getting right on in there with the big kids
James extracting himself from beneath the pile on
On Christmas day, the house dogs decided to open their own presents whilst we were out walking the farm dogs. Not sure why they chose this day in particular as the presents had been under the tree for at least a week by then!
Main suspect in the foreground
So Bhaji was allowed to open the only non-edible present as she wasn't present when the crime went down.
Treat time cracked us up big time!
Christmas evening sunset
The red currents were well and truly ripe at this point so we had red current pie for Christmas.
And got busy processing some into the freezer.
We also indulged ourselves with a custart pie with fresh eggs from the chickens.
When all the work was done and dusted there was plenty of cuddles and fun to be had around the house and in the sun.
We were soon on our way to one of our favourite fishing spots in NZ ... the mighty Twizel Canals. This would be our third visit here and we had high hopes for providing lots of salmon for the family. Hmmm.
It wasn't actually long before James had hooked this gorgeous trout which we released to continue on it's way.
Our camp site for our first night was a bit lovely too.
The next few days were really tough ones and we found it difficult to get on the fish. It became apparent that everyone was finding it likewise. So to keep ourselves occupied we took to rescuing dogs instead! This gorgeous boy we found out in the middle of nowhere so took him 'home' called the local Animal Contol Officer who came to collect him.
Peeka boooooo
Looking like a van do to me!
Fortunately we received news the following day that the owner had been found and was delighted to get his boy back. Happy endings hey.
Then the damn broke on the fishing front and we started to catch a few fish. Nothing of any size but at least we were able to feed ourselves and take a couple to the smoker.
Oh, and we had some really cute neighbours.
Next stop was the Waitaki river mouth where James hooked a great size kahawai for dinner.
And then to the family in Dunedin where both Alfie and Lola were so pleased to see us!
