Into The Future and Back

Page 2

Willows Reach is beautiful. Jenny and Geoff were incredibly gracious hosts. They wasted no time in introducing me to the area wineries, downtown Auckland, the beautiful Tasman Sea and my first latte ever served in a bowl. Geoff was quietly amused that the etiquette of a bowl of coffee seemed to elude me. The weather held for the clinic and the food was great. Participants included both new and long time llama and alpaca owners. As participant Raewyn McKenzie said: “Cathy was a good facilitator. I loved her sense of humor and the two days went all too quickly.” It was a great start to a terrific adventure.

Following the clinic, I drove south to New Plymouth with participant, Uta Bleidistel. Our first stop was at the Ministry of Agriculture Quarantine Service to fetch Earl and his entry papers. It took some time to find it but a number of NZ dollars later, we were again on our way. I spent several days doing private work with Uta, her ranch manager and llamas on her gorgeous Crambambuli Farm.

Ute was terrific and eager to introduce me to this area of New Zealand. We had picked up a large box of exotic birds outside of Auckland and delivered them at the home of friends who operate a large exotic bird breeding facility. We shared a wonderful dinner and interesting tour of the facility. As a side note, along the way we also fetched Uta’s large cat that had been in a kennel while she attended my clinic. It was definitely a chaotic ride after that as the cat was most interested in those expensive little exotic bird heads poking through the holes in the box. I was in charge of keeping that situation sorted and if anyone was facing a malady due to stress, it was I!

From New Plymouth, I flew north to Kerikeri to spend a few days with Julie Insley of Rangemore Llamas. Julie is a most amazing and gracious woman and was responsible for putting my entire New Zealand adventure together. She and Peter treated me to time in the Kauri forest and introduced me to the history of the Maori people. We spent wonderful hours simply talking, hanging out with the llamas and enjoying the tropical climate of the Bay of Islands area.

I left Kerikeri on the North Island and was met on the South Island in Nelson by Eve Horder. A group gathered at her home for potluck and afterwards we worked with varying animals on herd management skills and some interesting behavioral issues. Eve is a delightful British transplant. We enjoyed taking long walks along the beach with her dogs and… llamas and alpacas. It was a most amazing thing to watch a number of llamas and alpacas walking together with the humans -- many off lead -- down the several blocks to the shore. Like us, they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the beach exploring various pools and odd debris left by the outgoing tide.

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