Otaki trip and farm stay

A few weeks back, we visited a home stay/farm in Otaki about an hour north from Wellington. We went along with another family so N had company ;)
We went via a scenic route along the west coast of North Island along the Tasman Sea.
Once we reached the place, we were welcomed into our cabins by this stunning blue necked beauty!

We set off to explore the place immediately; because it all looked so inviting and exciting. And we wanted to see everything before the sun went down.

The farm is very Bali-inspired. They have their head office in Bali hence a lot of Buddha statues all over the place. 

Some elephants-having-fun statues too!

There was even a cute li'l wishing well and the kids dropped coins into it and made their wishes :) 

There were lots of birds and animals on the farm roaming around freely. Some hens. 

Some geese, roosters and birds-I-don't-know-names-of. 

There were some deer. 

The best part was when the peacock decided to spread his feathers and strut about.

Then it was time for sight seeing around the town of Otaki. And it had so many hues to offer. It was a pure visual delight! 

At the Otaki Beach we saw these seagulls resting.

Ended the day with some delicious food at the local Indian restaurant.

The next morning we had a gorgeous visitor at our cabin door!

Beautiful, isn't it?? 

New Zealand is a beautiful place and here is to many more trips!! 

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Staglands Wildlife Reserve

This last Sunday we drove down to the Staglands Wildlife Reserve and Cafe (they are very particular about adding the cafe at the end). Went with a few people from S's work including a family with a 5 year old boy so N had company and was all excited.

Staglands is a fun place for kids and adults too (but mostly kids) to see, touch and feed birds and animals in their natural environment. It is about an hours drive from Wellington city. The drive is very picturesque too!

The animals are mostly farm animals like donkeys, pigs, roosters, turkeys, deer, fish, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, ponies, swans, ducks, pigeons etc.

Some more birds that I do not know names of...

And some new animals that I had never seen before...

 

Ooh and how can I forget the peacocks - beautiful, majestic birds roaming around freely. The kids loved being so close to them and I sure went on a clicking frenzy :) 

The peacock playing peek-a-boo

There he comes out to face the camera

He checks me out first

And then struts about and poses

And then walks away after a bit!

One could feed the animals by buying stuff from the staff there or carrying some bread - most of the animals ate that. You can also touch the animals, pet them and in some cases even ride them like the pony rides or the donkey cart rides. 

They also have a cafe that serves some good, hearty meal options. Vegetarians might have to restrict themselves to chips aka french fries and nachos and a few other options. But the overall choice of food was good. The food came freshly cooked and the warm cafe room with the fire burning in the fireplace was just perfect!

It was raining off and on and that made things a little wet and inconvenient. We couldn't stay outdoors for too long and enjoy the lush green slopes of the reserve or take too many pictures. Maybe another time!

The kids couldn't be bothered though - they had fun - rain or sunshine!! 

Have a great weekend! 

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