Nano-holiday at Narnu Farm

I'll be honest...my ideal holiday does not involve hay, goats and horse poop - yet I had one of the nicest little getaways recently in the middle of just that! I took the girls with me, packed up the car and headed down to Hindmarsh Island for four days at Narnu Farm. Gregg had to stay home because his Chef's course have no free holiday time. We went with 4 other families and each we rented a little wood cabin - we stayed in the Woodcutters Cabin with a cast-iron combustion heater and warm doonas...and we loved every minute of it. It is a farm stay and there is lots to do. Not fancy, but a great 'farm experience'. Narnu has a variety of animals on the farm (chickens, cows, sheep, horses, goats, emu, peacocks, rabbits and guinea pigs) and the twice-daily feedings give the kids the opportunity to interact with them. The kids get to do the feeding rounds every morning at 8 and every afternoon at 3. In addition to that we had horseback riding, hiking and lots of games and relaxing on the programme. Oh, did I mentions what a nice time we had? Yes, yes, I know I did, but really, who knew I'm a farm girl at heart :D

First up we met....a horse in costume??? I got associations to the 1950s and white privilege, haha...

Not quite sure what is up with the suit, but in the next paddock we found someone looking for a cuddle. Well hello there!

Truck rides! They had  truck rides around the farm!

Feeding time! The favourite activity during our entire stay! The girls were out the door at sunrise, busy little bees, plenty of animals to feed!

The piglets were very cute but they sure were very noisy, too!

Then it's time to visit the chooks and look for some eggs.

Most of the kids managed to find an egg in the laying shed or hidden under some vines.

Once the eggs were collected some were taken to the hatchery while the rest were sorted into cartons to be sold to farm visitors.

Next, we visit the hatchery to meet some recently hatched chicks. These are silkie chicks - aren't they gorgeous? Silkies are such beautiful birds - they look like powder puffs on legs to me.

I buy a dozen freshly laid eggs including a peacock's egg - see the large one on the left.

Clever Agnes made us door stoppers made of pine-cones:

Dinner time! Everyone around the table! So nice with communal dinners and eating together.

And there was the farm cat called Kit-Kat. He liked to come by in the mornings for some milk and have breakfast with the girls at the crack of dawn:

Hindmarsh Island is beautiful. And windy!

Looking for yabbies under the jetty.

Portrait by Elliot the photographer. 

An afternoon of Boccia on the lawns. 

Early mornings in front of the wood fire heater and kids tv. 

...before morning feeding of course. 

...in pyjamas of course!

  

Long pancake breakfasts...

...and picking daisies. Milla and Katherine making daisy-chains.

There are over 20 horses on the farm so horseback riding was a must. 

Bonfire and marshmallows...mmmm!

Milla kept a field-journal while we were away. Here are some of her entries (with her permission):

Got a new baby goat overnight. He was named Pancake.

This is onion, the naughty goat. He would hop up and steal all the food that was not  his to eat.

The girls had saved their holiday-money to buy key rings with pictures of the horses they had ridden over the days we were there. Milla photographed all the key rings so that she could print out the pictures and glue into her field-journal.

And with that the week at Narnu Farm was over and it was time to head back home...

It was a lovely visit at Narnu Farm. The kids have had a great time and I've even managed to squeeze in some reading. I call that a win/win.