We bought the farm!

WE DID IT! Sooner than we thought, we knew right away when we saw it that it was THE place. My Fotki account is full, and KodakGallery is down for maintenence, so here's a few photos of the 10 acres on the North side of the Kaipara Harbor, about 1 hr 45 min from Auckland, on the way to the Kauri Museum (which is AWESOME). It's close to Maungaturoto. The land has a beautiful stream, mature native trees, is on a tar-sealed, low volume road, in the midst of much larger farms.

We have been looking at property since the beginning of the year, and decided that we want to be near-ish to Auckland so we can go there on the weekends to work on the land, that is, to plant trees, build a long drop/pit toilet, driveway, water cistern, etc. Our plan is to develop the property slowly over time, and eventually move there. For now, we're arranging for cattle/sheep to graze the land and keep it tidy until we decide we want them (previous owners) to put up the fence.

Meanwhile, we managed to hunt down our wayward cow, get her loaded into a horse float and back to Barb's property before she jumped out. Now, if she will only stay there until Wednesday, we'll have satisfying free-range beef in the freezer soon.

Other news concerns the Rottweiler pups born Dec 30, 2007. I saw them at 2.5 weeks old, and they are precious.