allyson and bryan

One Question I Never Thought Bryan Would Ask /



"I wonder if I should move my car so the llamas can get out in the morning?" Bryan inquired on our first night at Llama Lookout, as we retired for the evening to our caravan next to the barn outside the gate in back of the house where a family lives with 24 llamas. (We still had our rental car from Heather and Eugene's visit, set to return it the next morning in Christchurch city.) Llama Lookout is a gorgeous, hulking swath of land perched over Governor's Bay, one of New Zealand's many idyllic ocean inlets. Robyn and Mike live here with their two young children, both quite charming towheads with thick Kiwi accents that delay translation by a few seconds. We're here for a little over a week, and in exchange for food (all manner of veggies picked fresh from the garden, augmented by a shopping list of our choosing) and our cutest caravan accommodation, we'll help out around the house, watch the kids when needed, and of course -- train the llamas.

So the bad news first. We won't actually get to name the llamas we're training, as the these are slightly older animals, already given names such as "Peace Flower" and "Milky Way." (Though I will gently suggest "Doug" and "Carol" as excellent choices for any upcoming needs.) The good news is, the Malvern Agricultural & Pastoral Association Annual Show is on Saturday -- and it is more Westminster than I really ever let myself hope. We'll have four llamas competing: one for me, one for Bryan, one for Robyn and one for Ruth (another WWOOFer who's also staying here right now -- she's a British twentysomething and has been indispensable in getting us comfortable and set up at the house.) The show begins around 8 a.m., and we'll have arrived after a 90-minute drive in a small van with four humans and four llamas somehow fit in. Our llamas are entered only in the beauty contest; apparently there is also a talent contest of some sort where the llamas navigate an obstacle course and do tricks, but Robyn doesn't formally train her animals so we'll just be focused on keeping them calm, walking them in a proper manner, and making sure their legs are straight and their carriage upright. I believe the first place prize in this event is $3.

The show should be quite an experience -- in addition to llamas, animals judged in competition include ponies, minature horses, sheep dogs, and harness horses. I can't wait.

We're settling into WWOOFing pretty well. Yesterday Bryan spent a few hours weeding the garden, while I worked around the house and played nanny to the kids. Today we began our week of llama training, taking our llamas (Serendipity for Bryan, Shirley Ann for me) on a long walk in the bush and shampooing and conditioning their coats. I also fed the eight-day-old baby llama, named Ruth after the British WWOOFer, proving myself a near-natural at forcing small farm animals to drink formula through a plastic nipple. We'll have Thursday off, when we'll go with the human Ruth to sightsee in Akaroa, a French settlement about two hours' drive from here. Then we'll stay through Sunday morning after our llamas have swept the categories such as "best eyelashes" and "most likely to make it in Hollywood."

Life here is definitely very different. Not a door is locked, dinner comes straight from the backyard, and you wake up to see 20 large farm animals roaming about outside your window. Believe it or not we're managing just fine with the rustic digs, enjoying the peaceful sunrise and our starlit walk from the main house. We also enjoy the high-speed wireless Internet and the wine that we added to the shopping list.

And don't worry, the llamas eventually got out of the way of the car.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 1:39 AM  

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