House sitting in Kaihu

 

I received a call from a lady in Auckland. She is looking for house sitters for a house on a small farm in the Northland. She needed someone to look after the house and cat, for 2 weeks. I was very keen, and it fitted in with our other house sitting commitments. I told her we were keen, and we made the necessary arrangements. We all agreed on the plans.

On Sunday, 18 June 2017, we left Hatfields Beach around 10:00, and headed north on SH1. At Brynderwyn, we turned inland, toward Dargaville. The ride was beautiful, the scenery was breathtaking! We stopped along the way, and had coffee from the flasks.

We arrived in Dargaville, and easily followed the instructions sent to us by the lady. We soon arrived at the farm. She said to look out for a big green letterbox, and she would hang a white pillow slip from the letterbox. It was easy to find!

We drove up the long driveway, and arrived at a small farm house. She came out to greet us. We had not met her before, but she is about our age, so we found it comfortable to talk to her. Her car was already packed, and she was ready to leave. She showed us the inside of the house, and the do’s and don’ts. Then she and I went outside, and she showed me the garden, and the laundry etc. When we were sort of comfortable, she said goodbye, and left for Auckland.

We unpacked, and got comfortable. I was very keen to see the creek, and so I went for a walk. It is a lovely small creek, which apparently has trout and eel. The water was clear, although the stream was pretty fast. I was not sure where the farm’s boundaries were, so did not venture too far.

I took a lot of photos, it really is a nice place. It is by no stretch of the imagination modern, but it is comfortable, and the house is very solid. There is a nice fireplace, and heaps of chopped wood! We kept the fire burning slowly through the stay. It keeps the house nice and warm.

We look after the old cat, Jendy. She is very friendly, and took a liking to us from the start. She is easy, and not demanding, like some cats I know!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday saw cloudy skies, with some rain. We are yet to see exactly where the sun rises! I tried to do some fishing in the creek, but had no luck.

I awoke Thursday morning at 02:30, with heavy rain falling! This continued, until around 08:00, raining off and on, and sometimes quite hard rain falling. It stopped around 08:30, and did not rain for the rest of the day.

I went down to the creek to see if the water level had risen. I was not prepared for what I saw! The creek had transformed into a seething mass of chocolate coloured water, foaming and rushing along at high speed! The water level had risen by about a meter, maybe more! The spots where I had tried to fish the day before, was covered by water!

I took a long walk around the perimeter of the entire farm. It is 32 acres, and it took me about 2 hours. It is very beautiful, and I just love it here!

The sun broke through at about 16:30, so I took more photos. It was the first time we had seen the sun since Sunday!