Dogwood Green

A couple days ago we went to visit a rental home that is available from Christmas - March. It's located on a small 2 acre farm near the city of Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty. This rental oppurtunity is a bit special because we would be required to look after the farm during our stay. The only animals are sheep and chickens so it's not too difficult - the sheep need to be let into different areas of the field every few weeks and the chickens need feeding nightly (but the neighbours can help out if we want to go away for a few days). These small duties mean that we get a pretty awesome house for a reasonable price. Also as a bonus the owners have an extensive garden that we can eat from. VERY extensive - I can't remember all the things they grow but it's more than we could eat. So basically all we need to buy from the store is beef and ketchup for Scott :)

There's lots of nice areas for Dexter to walk and some streams nearby for swimming. And of course the ocean is only a short drive away for us all to enjoy the beach! I'm really looking forward to staying here!

The owners are really nice and invited us to have dinner with them and stay over in the guest room. I think they are quite pleased that we will be looking after the place for them while they take a holiday on the south island. They had been looking for renters for a long time and had almost given up and canelled their trip. I think commiting for the full 3 months was difficult for other holidayers, but it was perfect for us!

Only took one picture on our visit, but there will certainly be more when we are living here :)

Chickens and rooster that we will soon be looking after!