Moving House

Don't forget about me! I want to move house too!

Burton is now well settled in and hasn't gone back to the old house for at least a week and a half. We had to go back and get him twice - once on the first day after he followed Andrea (who was cleaning the old house) and once a few days later. It must be confusing for him when the old house is only about 100m away, and the new tenants aren't moving in until the 10th of March.

We're busily tidying up the section - the last people living here didn't appear to know what a hedge trimmer was... We've been pushing wheelbarrows up the drive in almost total darkness, which went a whole lot better than pushing them back down again in total darkness. But we're getting there!

The clothesline is now completely usable again, the roses are no longer trying to grow up the inside of the weatherboards, and the front entrance way is much improved - i.e. you can drive down the driveway without damaging the car's paintwork (we gained 1.5m of driveway width just by trimming things back). We've also regained the view through to Ben Lomond and the Gondola by knocking the tops off the hedge, which is still about 20 ft high.

The trimmed roses, removed cherry trees (small, straggly and not thriving) and realigned back yard:

The front rose hedge nicely trimmed, and the front edge dug out and lined with river rocks, with the Remarkables in the background - bring on the snow (only about 8 weeks away now. Already getting noticeably colder, especially in the mornings)!

New tussocks and a closer shot of the river rocks. We estimated that we've carted about two tonne of rocks so far and we still have about 1 more tonne to go. We're hoping to have that done by the time Andrea's parents turn up on Thursday.

Thar Hunt

Greg was recently invited out on a Thar cull for a week with the Department of Conservation and the local Deerstalkers branch. Thar are Himalayan mountain goats, about twice the size and height of New Zealand goats, and they act more like deer - i.e. they run when you try to sneak up on them.
The bull Thar (i.e. adult males) are a sought after trophy and overseas hunters (and many New Zealand hunters) pay thousands to be flown in to shoot them. Nannies aren't such a trophy, even though the meat is good on the younger ones, and the population is getting out of control and damaging the native alpine plant life. Thar live above 1600m so are above the winter snow line.

The timing wasn't fantastic, as the hunt was right at the same time as we got possession of our new home, but it's the sort of opportunity you just don't turn down!

The helicopter the guys flew in on (and the valley they flew up behind it):

The terrain was quite steep...

With lots of glaciers, which made it very cold at night. The lowest temperature recorded during the week was -14°C, which was a bad frost, even by our standards, especially when you're in a tent on the side of a mountain.

A young bull Thar (Greg's first). Standing, it came up to Greg's shoulder. They grow a lot bigger than this - slightly smaller than the average NZ cow in height.

One of the other members of the hunting party "glassing" (looking through binoculars) for Thar. Most of the Thar shot were 200+ metres away.

And lastly, not a bad view to wake up to out the front door of your tent... even if it was as cold as a Mother-in-law's kiss.