Our Animals & Pets

	Bobby is our 10 year old Cavaliar King Charles Spaniel who still thinks he is a pup ... even though the grey on his muzzle and the more frequent 'poppy naps' during the day tell another story!  Bobby is actually the owner of Dreamcatcher Lodge and is sure to come knocking on the door at the cottage for a cuddle or share a sunny patch in the lounge with you!
We have just had an alpaca population explosion with two new babies born at Christmas.  Here is Kismet with her two children ... Kurtis was born twelve months ago and Krissy was born two days after Christmas 2009.
	Little Toby was born a week after Krissy.  He is an albino with the weirdest blue eyes.  His mother is Tameko who is Krissy's grandmother!
Tameko is the grand old lady.  She is mother of Kismet and little Toby, the albino born at New Year.  She is a real guts and loves to eat out of your hand.  She will come to Greg when he calls her.
	Simmo is the father of all the babies - he comes from down Goulburn way.  He is a 'rose grey' and very handsome!  He looks after his babies and spends time with Kurtis teaching him to wrestle.
This is Kismet, morther of Krissy and Kurtis.  As you can see, we try and give the babies names starting with the same initial as their mother.  We think Simmo has already done his job and she is pregnant again!  Alpacas carry their babies for 11 months and the babies are called cria.
	Tashi is a wether and the brother of Tameko.  He also enjoys eating out of your hand and will talk to you as well.  The goats annoy him and he tells them off when they get in the way!

We have a motley selection of goats!  This is Raelene (she is a runner!) on the left  when she was only 6 months old - she loves to have her ears scratched and talks to us from the paddock.  Raelene had twins, Bonnie and Clyde in  November 2007 and this is them only a few hours old.  Rae had another set of twins (boys) in July 2008, Pepper and Salt.  Unfortunately Salt didn't make it through the cold nights but Pepper is doing okay.   Here he is with Rae before being moved back to the paddock with the others.   And in September 2009, Rae had her third set of twins - boys again!  They are called Spot and Socks and are just one week old as I write this!

Rae and Pepper (July 2008)	Scoobie (July 2008)
Spots and Sox - one day old (4th Sept 2009)	We are expecting Shaggy to have a baby shortly so watch this space!

 The other little kid is Scoobie, Shaggy's little girl born a couple of days before Pepper and Salt. She is a gorgeous tease and will play and jump around all day long if Shaggy lets her!  She is thriving and a joy to watch.

Billy ... a very handsome goat  who knows he is boss and dad to all the babies.  Caramel is the banded one and happy to eat out of your hand.  Shaggy  (on the right) is Scoobie's mum and actually belongs to our neighbours but likes to be with the others.

Percy is our beautiful Peacock and is the source of the cat-wauling you may hear at dusk during mating season (early summer).  He spends his days tormenting the chickens in their yard and the nights perched up in the highest branch of the Ironbark behind the garage.  He is a great watchdog and lets us know whenever someone is approaching.  Here he is displaying his full glory in front of the chooks new 'Chook Mahal'!!!

Our chickens were all hand-reared and are quite happy to come over for a hello and to untie your shoelaces!  They are producing some yummy eggs!  Our neighbours have loads of chooks and roosters who supplement our egg requirements! 

Greg just build the chooks their very own Chook Mahal ... they have taken to it very quickly and can survey the garden from their egg laying box through a window - not to mention the stain-glass window in the front door (courtesy of the course Kathy is doing)!

Our latest edition to the menagerie is a soft grey fan-tailed pigeon - Spicks.  Greg has turned the bird feeder into a bird house and the pigeons now hang around the front door and even come inside and cuddle up to Bobby!  Here is one of our little guests, Myles (with the help of his Dad), saying hello to Spicks.

 
We have an abundance of wild bunnies who come up close to the Lodge and Cottage in the evenings and early mornings.  They also play kamikaze rabbit across the road - we think they dare each other to dash across as we come up the driveway!  The babies are very cute at the moment.

Our wood ducks have had multiple generations on the dam - they spend some of their day next door and some in the dam so be careful going up and down the driveway.  One of our regular guests has just given us a tortoise who is happily ensconced in the pond with the goldfish and frogs!  His name is Franklin and we should catch him sunning on a rock soon for a photo.