House Sitting At Longlands

This is my home for the next fortnight. It’s a small lifestyle block located in the semi-rural area of Longlands, which is just out of Hastings. The owners have taken off to Rarotonga with some friends.

Longlands is a nice quiet area with quite a few orchards, and it’s only a short 3-minute drive from the house to the shops. The Hastings area has had enough rain over the summer to keep things looking pretty green around here – it’s certainly a contrast to the brown stubble of the Waikato. By comparison, Hastings is looking quite lush.

This place is a nice comfy and modern home with everything the discerning house sitter could ask for. My house mate is a one-year-old ginger kitty cat who goes by the name of Axel, named apparently after Axel Foley (aka Beverly Hills Cop), and not Axel Rose as you might’ve imagined, going by the ginger hair.

He’s a strictly indoor cat. The last kitty cat that the owners had wandered off into a neighbouring orchard and managed to get himself shot, so they’re not prepared to risk the same thing happening to Axel, plus the house is quite near to the road as well, so it wouldn’t take much for a car to collect him if he decided to visit the neighbours on the other side.

But he doesn’t seem to mind living inside all the time, and the owners have converted the back door porch into a ‘catio’ where Axel can climb onto a high perch and enjoy the sunshine and get a taste of the outdoors without actually being outdoors.

There’re also four pet sheep who live in couple paddocks next to the house. They have plenty of nice long green grass to keep them happy, plus they get a slice of bread each every morning as well.

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Outside View Of The ‘Catio’

Axel’s Catio

Axel

The Sheep