CONGEWAI

Miss Jennie & Mr. Ron's slice of farm "Heaven"

The vineyards

Two weeks ago we were invited to spend a long weekend in the Hunter Valley Region, the town of Congewai.  We have met some Aussie friends through our North Carolina neighbors (thanks - Seilers) and they have a second home that sits on the 170 acres in the wine/cattle country of New South Wales.  At the farm (aka ranch in American terminology), they have 15 steers (Black Angus), 4 alpacas (Sunnie, Charlie, Pablo & Andy), 4 dogs (Edwina, Burt, Archie & Max) and many wild animals i.e. kangaroos, emus, snakes,….

As many of you know, we left our dog, Cooper, in the states with my brother because we were so worried about him coming to Australia.  We were not sure that he would survive quarantine and not knowing how long it would take (anywhere from 8 weeks - 6 months) ….we were quite worried for him.  He was living quite a human life with us in North Carolina and our vet felt that being confined to a cage for many weeks/months might just kill him emotionally.  So we made the toughest decision in terms of coming here and we gave up our dog.  There were tons of tears from all family members.  I won't say who may or may not have cried the most at that final goodbye but, he is the only one with a Y Chromosome.  We have days when our entire family MISSES that little guy and we wish that we had brought him for selfish reasons.  He brought joy into our lives, gave us snuggles on a regular basis, and just kept us happy.  Cooper, we miss you.

So you can imagine, my children jumped at the opportunity to spend an entire four days with dogs and other livestock.  It was a complete joy to be in the Hunter Valley.  Miss Jennie and Mr. Ron were lovely hosts and so generous with their little slice of heaven.  

600 Kg Black Angus Steer

Feeding them HAY biscuits (aka cookies).

They were beautiful!

Claire is LIVING her dream…..she is a country girl at HEART.

We went for rides on the QUADS (ATVs) looking for kangaroos.
They girls will able to see a momma with her LARGE joey and to herd about 20 Kangaroos into a paddock with the steers.  They were searching the fencing for holes that needed to be repaired.
 The Roos had been busy making holes….they found 40 of them. 

Swinging - a favorite. 

Emu

Pool Volleyball - so refreshing on a HOT, HOT DAY!

We LOVE pool time.

It was a fantastic experience and one that our girls will NEVER forget -- Thanks Miss Jennie and Mr. Ron.