West Coast wonderful - Jan/Feb 2020

In the hills of Reikorangi

After spending Wellington Anniversary Weekend with Clare's sister, the girls talking and breathing knitting, catching up with the family, choosing a car for Cate to buy and going to see the fabulous movie ... Jojo Rabbit .... we headed off to Carterton for a short sit. Who even knew Carterton was a place!?! It is, and quite a cute wee one at that.

Here we would be staying in a straw bale house looking after ginger Ollie.

Sharing some snapper with Ollie

There wasn't much to do except a bit of garden watering so we just kicked back and had a mini holiday.  Clare's nephew had given us some snapper he had caught in Wellington from his kayak so we made fish cakes and shared some of the fish with a very happy kitten.

Our next sit was on the other side of the Tararuas, back on the Kapiti Coast.  Reikorangi is situated on the hills, inland from Waikanae.  The property we were to be sitting was quite isolated and up a rather tricky driveway.  Fortunately we are well versed with tricky driveways.  We enjoyed watching the deer come in to feed on the lawn of an early evening.

Our companions here were Bee, a Pitbull cross (front) and 8mth old, full of beans May, a beardie cross (Rear)

In New Zealand, Pitbulls (and crosses) are one of a few breeds that have restrictions placed on them.  One of these is that they must be muzzled whilst out in public.  Luckily we did not have to take the girls off the property to exercise them.  We really struggle with this law and believe that such restrictions should be dog specific not breed specific.   Unfortunately, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that 'the wrong type' of owner is attracted to the breed because of their (usually) mislabelled reputation.

Anyway, a more gentle, loving and well trained doggy you could not meet than Bee.

She is such a lovely big sister to May, playing with her so nicely and helping to expend some of May's puppy energy.

And once all the energy had been expended, there was always time to lay in the sun.

We also had two cats to care for, Caster and Pollux.  We didn't see Caster at all and were advised this would most likely be the case.  But Pollux joined us every night on the bed, demanding lots of pats and shouting the odds if we weren't forthcoming.  All in a days/nights work to us!

A great time was had by all.  We certainly enjoyed spending time in an area of New Zealand we had not experienced before.

Looks like the girls enjoyed spending time with us too!

A family Christmas - Take 2, Dec/Jan 2020

A bee enjoying a sunflower at Mum and Dad's

We booked a month long sit in rural Otaki over Christmas as Clare's parents and sister, and some of the nieces and nephews, live in the area.

Our sit turned out to be a dream.  We had the most adorable wee dog, Monty, and his cat sister, Raglan to care for. 

These two are such characters.  Monty is the most joyous little dog and it's almost impossible not to have a great day when he's around.  He loves his sister very much.  The feeling is not always mutual.  In fact, the funniest thing we have ever seen is the cat chasing the dog clear across the lawn!

Not quite brave enough to make an advance .....

Enjoying daily morning snuggles

Something of a truce going on here ;-)

We had Christmas dinner with the family in Wellington, enjoying a pot luck feast fit for kings and queens. Our contribution being some venison pies with meat harvested by our  own fair hands.

Just some of the family we enjoyed Christmas dinner with

We had such a fun time with the family over this holiday period.  Monty very much enjoyed the company of the children especially.

Ari and Mabel, all the way from London

Mum and Dad (and Monty) enjoying the three
generations of family they created

Bubble fun!

Trying to make up the sofa bed with a three year old!

Quiet time with this one

A rare still moment with master five

And still the feasting went on ....

Venison steak, potatoes from the garden
and homemade coleslwaw w homemade may)

Plum cobbler, compliments of the tree in the yard

We also managed to freeze a couple of bags of plums as we realised the family who owned the property were missing out on this year's harvest.

Monty had so much fun at the beach during this time.

There was also the odd adventure to be had in the yard.

Monty wrangling a hedgehog

After the visitors had all left and the adventures of the day were done, there was always time to recharge the batteries.

This is how the lights went down on our Christmas holidays.  Great fun was had by all!

Leaving behind a gift created from the garden and beach

Land of the long white cloud - Nov/Dec 2019

NZ Christmas tree ... a yarn bombed Pohutukawa

We stayed in Auckland with our lovely friend Carol for a couple of nights whilst we went about dealing to jetlag and purchasing a vehicle.  We were also able to collect our kayak that we had left under Carol's house.  We were well ready for a summer of sea fishing.

Our next stop was a short five day sit in Mt Eden caring for 15yr old (failed guide dog) labrador Coco.  Very easy going, and only being up to a couple of short walks a day, she was easy company.  It seemed appropriate that we were required to slow life down a little to suit Coco's needs after the hustle and bustle that comes along with decamping across the world.

Leaving Auckland behind for a month on Waiheke Island, house and petsitting for a dear friend came soon enough.

Dogog and Violet are both 16 years old and Clare has known them, cared for them and lived with them at various stages throughout there life.  This was a 'homecoming' of sorts!

Dog enjoyed his daily walks at Palm Beach

Patterns left in the sand by the outgoing tide

And our evening walks in the dog park

Violet enjoyed lots of snuggle time

And lots of lounging around in the abundant sun being cute!

Some mornings we were up at 5am to be out in the kayak before the wind gets up and home before Dog even knew we had been anywhere.

Many snapper and a few trevally were caught and enjoyed by all .....

Violet loves fresh fish!

Trevally ceviche & homemade coleslaw

We discovered the delights and simplicity of homemade mayonnaise

We thoroughly enjoyed re-acquainting ourselves with the unique birdlife of New Zealand

Tuneful Tui

A couple of cheeky kereru (native pigeons)

Apart from all that, we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy some quiet time.