Thames – Waiotahi

This is my current abode. I arrived a few days ago and I’ll be here until March 29th. The home owners have gone for a tiki tour of the South Island where they plan to do a fair bit of tramping.

This is a brand new property for me, and my first time here. It’s a really nice three-level house tucked away in the bush above Thames. It’s quite an oasis up here, and it provides a good view of the water (aka the Firth of Thames) from the balcony. It’s actually pretty quiet here – about the most you hear is the tui and the cicadas in the bush around the house. It’s a spacious house with a nice tidy section, and there’re several fruit trees laden with apples and pears, and also a handy vege patch with plenty of free greens to add to my chicken coleslaw.

My house mate during my time here is an eleven year old Border Terrier who goes by the name of Gus. He’s a neat little dog, really well behaved, and rather quiet. About the only time Gus will have a bark is if somebody’s coming up our drive, or the neighbours’ drive.

He gets plenty of exercise, consisting of a morning walk down towards town and along the shore, before hiking up past the war monument on the way home. In total, the morning stroll is about 4kms. We head out about 7:30am and we’re usually back by 9am. We just take our time and cruise nonchalant. Some mornings we hardly see anybody, whereas on others there can be quite a few other dog walkers about.

In the afternoon me and Gus go for a hike up one of the bush tracks above the house for half an hour or so. He’s a fit little dog and I’ll be a bit fitter too by the time I move on. All in all, this is shaping up to be a brilliant stay, and I’m really liking it here so far.

Gus