Celebrating Dunedin Midwinter
In Dunedin, the Winter Solstice on June 21st brings a whopping 8 hours and 37 minutes of daylight! To celebrate, we take a wildlife cruise and attend the local Midwinter Festival. The Otago Peninsula…
NZed Facts and Food
All is well and everyone is healthy on this little “lifestyle block”, as it is called here in Dunedin. Fun fact, the city is known as “Edinburgh of the south” and the name comes from Dùn Èideann, the…
A Quiet Week
Being able to walk out your door for a long hike just feels better environmentally than getting in a car to do it! Week 9 starts off with us exploring the “track” at the dead end of our road. It…
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
“Life goes on”… When I was a disgruntled teenager, I remember my dad answering my complaints with the quote, “Life is full of heartache, sorry and disappointment.” Not what a teenager wanted to hear…
Farewell Lucy
We never expected to experience such a sad day here in New Zealand…
The Hard Bits
Our 5th and 6th weeks in Dunedin bring change and challenge. We recognize that when you house / pet sit for multiple months, life happens… Before we get too far into the thick of it, Tim and I hear a…
Dunedin Week 5 - Same, Same but Different
It is a routine week here in Dunedin - with much the same but always something new and different… The beach - we have been here every day, yet this week, we are surprised by large spiders crossing the…
Wild Birds in New Zealand
Birds are a big deal here in New Zealand! Recall that there were no land mammals (with the exception of a few bat species) on the island until they were introduced - first by the Polynesians or Maori…
Dogs, Donkeys, Chooks and Trains, Oh My
Week 4 in Dunedin is busy! First and foremost, in regards to our primary objective, animal care 101 continues smoothly. I am gradually learning what food scraps these chooks prefer - turnips not…
"Wild Dunedin" Week 3
It is literally “Wild Dunedin” week here - an annual Festival of Nature taking place the week of Earth Day. There are a myriad of activities and events celebrating nature and conservation at just…