The rhythms of the normal routines here have been altered in the past 10 days. We headed to Hawkes Bay to visit the oldest member of the family as he celebrated his 86th birthday earlier in August.
I wrote a list of things to take in the hope that I would not forget to pack vital items. The one thing I did not pack was the camera. I was very disappointed as I wanted to get some photos of the wide, expansive vistas of the Heretaunga Plains. The landscape there is so different to my usual views here at home.
Fortunately one of the family did take a camera and so I have a photo of the emus that lived next door to the lovely, peaceful, comfortable, boutique self-contained accommodation we rented here.
Did you know that Emus can make a deep booming noise? They don’t sleep for long periods of time so that accounts for me hearing them “boom” at 4.15am. Fortunately the booming was short-lived.
The accommodation is part of a small life-style block on the outskirts of Hastings and the owners have a menagerie of different birds and animals. Part of our rent included these fresh free-range bantam eggs.
We always buy honey from Arataki Honey House when we visit Havelock North. Look at this golden goodness. We take a 6kg bucket and get that refilled at the Honey house every 6 months. This small jar was a gift.
While at Arataki I picked up two brochures. One provides ideas for plants to have in the garden to attract honey bees. I intend to plant some marigolds when the rain eventually stops falling here, in the hope that more bees will visit.
The other brochure details all the new cycle tracks in the Hastings/Napier area. Locals are busy exploring and enjoying these tracks and which will appeal greatly to tourists visiting this special and beautiful part of the country.
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Wow, I did not know that emus made a noise. Lovely eggs and honey 🙂 Judy
It was a very strange noise. The boom comes from a sac in their neck which they can inflate.
We enjoyed the eggs and the honey is always good.
We have lots of bees in our garden. The rosemary seems to be what most attracts them, but maybe the calendulas are helping too.
Calendulas are meant to be attractive to bees. I hope our dwarf bottle brush bushes will flower prolifically and attract the bees too. After all this rain surely the bottle brushes will flourish.
Your post was so descriptive … peaceful scenes formed in my mind!
Thank you Karen. Do check out the link to the wee house we rented. The slide show on their website really has you feeling peace filled and relaxed:-)