Sunday 31 August 2014

Upper Hutt Today

We went into Upper Hutt today to the Expressions Arts & Entertainment Centre to see the exhibition WW1: Tracing the Footsteps from Trentham. The exhibition tells the story of the WW1 Military Training Camp located at Trentham, a suburb of Upper Hutt. At the start of WW1 in 1914, the camp was originally planned to house 2000 men but ended up housing 7000 with a total of 55,000 men trained here during the war. A well planned exhibition with a replica Bell Tent so you could sense what accommodation was like back then.The men sure did it tough but it was probably good preparation for when they got overseas. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.
                           
On the way back home up the range, I took a photo of Upper Hutt, another lovely day.

                            

As well as our alpacas and chickens, we have 6 Dexters to look after, 3 of them are pregnant. Let's hope we don't have to use our veterinary skills, although many years of watching Dr James Herriott on the TV show All Creatures Great and Small probably helped me.

                            

Rob is cooking today, a hearty country concoction. Perfect for hungry farmers!      
               
                           


Friday 29 August 2014

A Visit to Lower Hutt


Our housesit comes with certain duties that need to be attended to each morning and late afternoon but once they are done, the rest of the day is up to us. So today, we took a drive down to Lower Hutt, the road runs alongside the picturesque Hutt River.
                        
We visited The Dowse Art Museum which had some interesting exhibitions and was well worth the visit. Outside the museum is a street light covered in colourful artificial leis. Different!
                        
On our walk around the streets we found this old building built in the art deco style but in need of some loving care and maintenance.
                        
On the drive home, I noticed quite a few twin lambs wearing some sort of coat and was able to take a photo of these two. I guess it does get cold at night here.
                        

Wednesday 27 August 2014

A Quiet Day

This morning started out with a hearty cooked breakfast of the eggs that we collected from the girls yesterday. There are two lots of chickens, silkies and red shavers. M (the lady of the house) sells some of the eggs to friends and neighbours. Thank goodness for that as we collect about 20 eggs each day, we love our eggs but couldn't eat that many!
                                 

We then spent a quiet day looking around the 10 acre farm. Took the quad bike to the old stables to collect some wood for the fire. The freezers are full of meat from their own animals and we have been told to help ourselves, so for lunch we had some yummy sausages. Full of meat and not fillers like commercial sausages.
Yesterday I shared a photo of the two female alpacas, this is the boy Wally.
                                 
The alpacas seem quite friendly, certainly not scared of us as they walk right up to us. They are easy to care for, just grazing on the grass.