The family at Kiwitea love horses, and have eleven on their small life style block. We drove the 70kms north after our weekend away at Otaki Beach, up SH1 to spend a couple of days with them, and catch up after our long trip away, to find the house deserted. Patch the farm dog didn’t make so much as a “woof” when we arrived.
Patch watching the new arrivals
With a bit of manoeuvring we tucked the caravan close to the garage and plugged into the power. With the TV satellite dish connected, the gas turned on, and the waste water set up, we were good to go. That will do us nicely for the next couple of nights.
On site at the farm
Everyone was out and about, doing their own thing, and then we spotted a small figure in the distance. Who was that riding the farm trike in the far off paddock? It was grand-daughter Megan, and she was harrowing the paddock, pulling chains along behind the trike. It took her a while to finish this job, before driving back to greet us.
Megan, pulling the harrowing chains behind the trike
Grand-daughter Emma and her Mum (daughter Nicky) arrived. Before we knew it, Emma was parading her horse Zodiac around for us to admire. Zodiac was a rescue race horse, and at the end of his racing career was unwanted, and the owners had decided to shoot him. Emma and her Dad took the horse under their care, and Zodiac is now thriving and has a happy home.
Emma with Zodiac
Son-in-law Robert arrived home after a hard day riding in the local Hunt. He was a “whipper”, he told us. This means he is one of two people who direct the hounds from each side to get them going, as required, in the correct direction. There are no foxes here in New Zealand, so the hunters chase after hares. Two hares were sighted and chased, Robert told us, but they cleverly made their escape through drainpipes.
Tally-ho! Robert dressed in his “Hunt” clothes
Henny Penny was a battery hen in a former life, and has happily made the change to rural living without too much trouble. She runs the place here and doesn’t let anyone forget it, and has been known to send full grown German Shepherd dogs running home after a quick peck on the nose. So she wasn’t the least bit intimidated when our cat Muffy crouched down on her haunches and attempted to sneak up closer. Henny Penny kicked out with her sturdy chicken leg and Muffy let out a yelp and made a dash back into the caravan. Just hope Muffy is not too traumatised after this brush with this no nonsense chook! She probably won’t want to leave the safety of the caravan again.
Henny Penny on the rampage
Luckily the sheep aren’t dangerous 
See you next time
The closer we got to home, the more wet and windy it became. It’s no fun unpacking the caravan in this sort of weather. The weather forecast tells of snow falls down in the South Island, where we were recently, and the temperature is now so cold we wouldn’t be surprised to find snow on the hills overnight.
Nearly home, and it’s chilly outside
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