Kamahi Cottage in Otorohanga

Hello from Auckland, everyone! It's Wednesday afternoon and tomorrow we leave for a two-week holiday in the South Island, so I am trying to get a bit caught up on the blog because once we return I will have heaps and heaps of photos to share. Also soon after that we must pack up this house and return to the States, which is currently haunting my every moment.

The past few posts have been from our weekend in the Waikato area with its glow worm caves and toothbrush fences. Since we were staying for three days, we wanted a really nice place to relax and enjoy and found it in Liz and Evan Cowan's Farmstay, Kamahi Cottage. What a gorgeous little place in the midst of absolute heaven!! A fifteen-minute drive west of Otorohanga nestled into miles and miles of mountaintops and farmland, it was just splendor in every direction. And delicious splendor at that -- Liz is one brilliant cook! Trey was sold the minute we walked in and found a birthday cake waiting for him.

I've told you all about Homestays and Farmstays in previous posts, but in case you haven't read every single one (God will strike you down for that when you least expect it, just so you know), most of our accommodations here have been in one or the other. People rent out a portion of their home or farm for guests and we've really enjoyed this new way of traveling (to us) and getting to know lots of truly lovely local people wherever we go. This particular farm has been operating for many years and multiple generations, with Evan's grandfather also leading land conservation efforts in the area. Much more interesting to sit down to breakfast with these guys in their home than to grab an Egg McMuffin on the road...

And we could walk forever and ever through the surrounding farmland. The one rule we've learned when dealing with the various property lines, fences, etc. is that if a gate is open, we leave it open, and if it's closed we go through and close it again. The cows have all been friendly so far, but they are typically dairy cows, so I guess they are fairly pleasant.

It was so lovely that we honestly could've just hung out there the whole time. Trey got pretty good at poker, too. Bonus! One of the coolest parts of this trip, and really our whole time here, was that it was so dark that we could see satellites racing across the sky and countless shooting stars. My kids had never seen a shooting star before. Two peaceful, beautiful nights of stargazing. Very cool.

I fell in love with this tea over that weekend. It's a US-based company called Harney & Sons. If you see it, give the Paris tea a try. It's soooooo good.

And now I'd better get back to what I've been avoiding for the past 1/2 hour -- packing. I really, really hate hate hate packing. They are very strict about luggage weights and size limits here and I don't enjoy that one bit. Makes me crabby. I'd better just get it over with and move on. Lunch awaits. Hope you all are staying warrrrrmmmmm!!!! xoxo, K.