The hills are alive with the sound of orgling

Anthony — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:40:29 +0000

So as Adeline’s birthday treat we visited Surico – an alpaca farm nestled in the gently bubbling hills just shy of Lake Rotorua. As one of the nearest alpaca farms to us, we couldn’t resist a visit. And we’re rather glad we did.

Within minutes of arriving our host Hermione took us through to a pen and we watched the very miracle of creation unfold a few feet in front of us. Yep, it was breeding time alpaca style – and this meant one very happy male whose orgling sounds were bouncing around the hills.

Update – and here’s one I found on YouTube:

In the pen next door were the new born crias and their mums, all humming reassuringly to each other. Beautiful little things. One female who had given birth a week ago was already lying down next to the fence – this being typical female behaviour indicating that one whole week was long enough to be footloose and fancy free. She wanted in on the action.

Hermione took us around her farm and introduced us to some of her 150 alpacas living on just about 32 acres. The majority are white suris (see this post about suri alpacas) and that’s the real focus of their breeding programme. It’s all about genetics, and Surico have some great credentials – have a look at their show results. Just standing in the paddocks chatting to Hermione whilst the alpacas approached inquisitively made it well worth the trip. There’s such curiosity in those big doe eyes and they radiate an appreciably calm energy.

As we left, I made a suggestion to Adeline: we don’t HAVE to get married next year. We could buy a starter herd instead.

“Er, no.”

Ah well, everything in good time…

So, we’ve made the move.

Anthony — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:28:53 +0000

Goodbye London UK, hello Tauranga NZ. And – oh boy – we’re so glad to be here. So phase one of our plan is in effect: get settled, establish our core web design business and get to know the local alpaca farmers in the greater Bay of Plenty region (first up – Surico Alpaca whose white suris we spotted as we went on a recent jaunt to Lake Tarewera).

WeLoveAlpacas on hold

Unfortunately the worst GBP/NZD exchange rate since the 80s has forced us to postpone plans for a lifestyle block and setting up our WeLoveAlpacas operation. Still, it’s not all bad – our revamped web design site was featured on moluv.com, business is busy and we’re excited to be creating an online shop for an international fleece company at the moment. Cue lots of amusement at the fantastic supplier photography and subject matter we’ve got to work with. We’ll keep you updated on the launch. It’s going to be a beautiful site…

We Love Alpacas » surico

The hills are alive with the sound of orgling

So, we’ve made the move.