My third stay at Rongotea wrapped up on October 28th (with more visits penciled in for 2027), and from there I moved straight on to my current house sit, which finds me back in rural Koputaroa, which is located a few minutes’ drive north of Levin. This is my second visit to this property. I first stayed here for about a week in March of this year.
I enjoyed my time here in March, and was only too happy to accept an invitation to return. It’s good to be back, I really like it here. It’s a good-sized lifestyle block with a nice two-storey home.
It didn’t take long for the dogs and cats to recognise me from last time, and they’ve all been camping with me in the spare room upstairs from the very first night, with Macie, Ron, & Snooki on the bed, Leo in his basket, and Peppa either on the bed or on the chair in the corner.
Stock-wise, this time round there are 16 ewes and lambs, and 10 Hereford heifer calves who get a good feed of milk powder twice a day plus pellets and hay, on top of the big paddock of nice fresh grass they have to graze on through the day.
The ponies Chilli and Minnie are camping in the paddock above the house so they’re nice and handy to keep an eye on. Their diet consists chiefly of hay and a muesli mix. The 9 chookies get to free range most of the day and are proving to be quite prolific layers, with 5-7 eggs per day.
One of the highlights each day is taking the doggies for their walkies. There’s a huge forestry block above the house and we can spend an easy 60-90 minutes hiking up to the top stand of pines and rambling through the side trails.
I’m here until the 6th and then it’s off to the Hawkes Bay.
Macie
Ronnie
Snooki
Peppa (left) & Leo
Minnie (left) & Chilli
Heifer Calves
Some Of The Sheep
Some More Of The Sheep
Chookies
