Good Heavens Gwendolyn

Tina hatched a duckling!!  Her first from her own egg!!  She's struggling with the concept of mothering so far, having been moved to the 'maternity ward' but hopefully instinct will kick in before the sun goes down!!

Lavender Park

A glorious day yesterday, sunshine and blue skies, perfect for my visit to Lavender Park alpaca stud.

I think black alpacas are just beautiful, the blue blacks make me dribble!! and to meet so many with lovely calm and friendly personalities is a treat.

This is little Amelie, a real sweetie, looks dark brown now, but the jury is still out and she might really be a black - wait and see.

This is the lovely Cushla.

Cushla has a good appetite and just look at the sheen on her face, definitely in the pink!

Cushla's daughter Magdalena, very nice cria.

My visit with the mums and babies was 'supervised' by the lovely Sparkles.  She's a blue silver tabby tortie SHD and (thus) has fantastic temperament (blue AND tortie genes) and a coat that is as slick (silver gene) as can be, a real purr bag, and thoroughly at  home walking amongst the alpacas.

Moving on to meet the studs, this is Brockie, Cushla's grandfather.

And this is Kok, Magdalena's dad.

And there I was admiring the elegant black boys when in strolled Rembrandt, he is so friendly, and plainly loves people and is very handsome.  Should have taken more care to shade the lens!! but you get the gist.

No show is complete without Punch, and thus once again Sparkle provided feline supervision from a suitable vantage point supplied FOC.

The roses in Ruth's garden were looking lovely - really will have to get to work and restore the rose garden here at Mt Tanga.  Here the simple elegance of old fashioned roses, masses of blooms :)

And the rose hips were also making a fabulous display :)

Excellent day, a feast for the eyes and good for the soul :)

Finding Llama Family

I got up late this morning, all that rain and some good sound sleep at last.... looked out the window and found llamas just about to walk through the gate - blown open during the night - into the orchard.  Before I could get my boots on they were at the back door - except Orchid - who missed seeing them go in, so she's tearing around the perimeter mmmmm ing (anxious noise) and trying to crash through the fence!!  AHHHHH  Morning exercise - check!  Everybody fed now and back where they should be!!

Yesterday I was in touch with a lovely llama lady in Queensland, and now have pics of some of my llamas extended and immediate family - thanks Berry for the forwarded email that led to this connection :)

This is Emrys, Tarquinn's father, now its plain where he gets his colouring, massive coat and strong personality from.  Emrys is a quiet and gentle boy, with great presence.

And this is Tinker, as a cria, enjoying a roll on the grass in the sunshine.  She is Trinket's daughter, so Tarquinn's sister :)

And this is a shot of some of Suzanne's llamas, Tinker on the left and at the back, then the fabulous Loxley, in front - I am a big fan of the tuxedo pattern - then Diablo - wow, look at that for colouring, love the face spots and the hairy ears... only looks good on llamas!!, both lovely big solid boys, then Lilith, lovely spotty girl on the right and also at the back.  Alpacas and goats, mixed and various ;-D  Really nice to be able to put 'faces' to the names on some of my llama's pedigrees - thanks Suzanne.

Llama fix

Tarquinn, his mother Trinket at the back and Orchid on the right, all looking lovely yesterday afternoon.  They all stuck their noses over the fence on Monday when I was mowing the lawn - full on sticky beaks!

Mt Tanga in the late afternoon

Took the bike AND the camera out yesterday late in the afternoon, and took these shots from the top of the hill.

This one looking back down the road.

And across - pretty high up here!!  My shadow on the right, the very last of the daylight.

Coming down the hill and looking back toward the house, chickened out after taking this shot - too steep, back to the fence line ;-D  Hard to ride with the camera in hand, must fix a tool box to the front of the bike for such items!

That tree!  Think I might make some art based on that tree, its such a good shape.  Could have taken a better pic, but that would have meant riding back to the gate, and back to the tree and by then the light would have gone - my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Alpaca Week

OK llama fans, chill, alpacas are camelids too!!  I went to quite a few different alpaca and llama farms during Alpaca Week - and had a ball, met some very interesting, very knowledgable and all very friendly people.  Met a lovely black girl called Cushla, but forgot my camera - pics next week :)

In the mean time feast your eyes on these lovely looking alpacas :)  This mother and baby are a delightful looking pair :)

On a scale of zero to cute, alpaca crias are definitely cute!!

Have yet to get my head around 'grey' as a colour, but this girl was a sweetie and very curious!

And wow!! the colour, how rich is this?  Spanking gorgeous.

This is Black Narcisuss, mated to med fawn stud with 'black genetics', hoping for a black cria - fingers crossed.  Not a very flattering photo, but she has quite a presence.  Got to do a 'spitting off' test with her ..... those of us who were lucky, and swift on our feet were not spat at... the rest of them... doing laundry!!  Definitely looking like a 'yes' in the pregnant stats!!

This is Fresian, heaps of attitude, boss of her herd and a natural guardian.  Say MOO one more time and she will kill you!!  LOL!!  Did a 'spit off' with Fresian too, another unequivocal yes - that boy ran!!

This is Freddie Farkle, Fresian's cria (front right), and he's just lovely, the mating has been repeated.  This time hoping for equally gorgeous, and female - fingers crossed.

Azzura and friends

Azzura was in a very happy mood yesterday, only took a couple of pics of her because she was much more interested in getting a pat!!

This is Razzy, another very friendly llama.

Rock and Roll and Rapunzel.

And this is Ruben, Ruby's son by Zambuka, very striking colour and very personable little guy!

Heavy Horses

On my way to visit Azzura yesterday, the Rye Park heavy horses were much closer to the fence, so with just a little bit of scrambling through the bush I managed to get some more pics :)

By the condition of the mane and tail on this one I think its been in a show recently.

Millinery

Garry was a milliner, he won many awards for his hats and allowed me to photograph some.

In the background you can see some of the vast number of ribbons that Janice has won with her alpacas.

Thought you would really like this one Fraz.

This hat was made by Janice, a fantastic affair!

Monteagle

Yesterday I visited 'Marina' at Young which is the home of Monteagle Alpaca Stud.

I had a lovely time chatting to the alpacas, who were all very calm and very friendly.

And exploring the garden, fantastic pistaschio tree... but not the nut bearing sort!  This tree is enormous, and apparently at least 40 years old.

And the house, where Garry and Janice were very patient, and indulged my curiosity.

On the way home I saw these 2 herons flying and performing the most amazing aerobatics!!  They both had what looked like tags on each wing.  Amazing display!