I've been living and working in a motorhome with Smooch Natural Products on the road in NZ for over 18 months now. Early teething problems are all sorted but now I have new problems - 5 to be exact!
Life took a sharp turn a few months ago!
I am no longer traveling by myself in Away Laughing the motorhome but have hitched up with a farmer from Otorohanga and now we’re cruising the South Island in his caravan – Brian!
Brian was quite new looking, a bit dull and very beige so was named Brian (Apologies to all the exciting fun loving Brian’s out there!) Brian is well loved and has a bit more colour in him now.
Not only are the two of us in Brian but Riley (Jane) Rose the gorgeous Border Collie is with us too. A day before we set sail, Riley informed us that she was pregnant and now we have 5 puppies with us too!
Pre - birthing chat View from birth place The 2 first born, 3 to go!
Sunday January 15th we realised Riley was pregnant so a big decision had to be made, do we stay, do we go, do we take her, does she stay? She’s so attached to Nige (farmer) and frets when away from him for 5 minutes so we had to take her. The decision was made, she was coming and we’d deal with pups on the road as it happens. Thinking we had a couple of weeks up our sleeve we set off on our 3.5 month journey of the South Island. Easy thing to do one would think but life is full of curve balls and 6 days later she gave birth to 5 puppies…so relieved not to have 12!! (If only my Christmas belly was that easy to be rid of)
Having friends in both Blenheim and Mapua we thought life would be sweet and the puppies could be born with the facilities a house has to offer but nature rattling to its’ own tune pups decided to visit the earth at a friend’s house in Kumutoto Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. Great to be in a house with space but she chose the mate’s house with boat access only! Nice one mother nature.
Kumutoto Bay Mid wife Team Day 1: On a boat! Happy Mum's boat life
Their first outing was on a boat back to the mainland for a roof shout in Blenheim! They weren’t bothered. Amazing how we put rules on ourselves through life – You shouldn’t take new born pups on a boat for example, pups didn’t even notice, didn’t care.
Life working on the road is one thing and it took a few teething issues to get that sorted and now life’s challenge is to have a protective mother dog and 5 puppies with us. Life is never dull!
SO far they’ve been on a boat, a hike to a shipwreck, worked a market with me, been to Blenheim, Picton, French Pass for a picnic lunch, Okiwi Bay and a barbeque dinner in Mapua. Today they’re off to Golden Bay to celebrate being 10 days old. Still they don’t care.
Picnic lunch - Okiwi Bay Treacherous French Pass Cuddles from Dad
Riley’s figure returned almost immediately after giving birth…bitch! She’s an attentive gentle mum, except when she sits on them, but quite loudly they let us know that’s happened. At night you could be forgiven to think there is a baby in the caravan. They sound more like human babies and sometimes kittens but occasionally we hear a tiny bark which leaves us looking at each other with soppy eyes, oww, that’s our babies.
Shipwreck lunch stop Wreck of TSS Waverly Puppy backpack!
The farmer and I met a year ago and we’ve been meeting up at random places in NZ where I’ve been parked up or house sitting. (Parked up – that sounds terrible, especially when you have Smooch written all over your motorhome) haha. Anyway, after over a month at his place over Christmas / New Year we decided to take a leap of faith and take 1 vehicle south instead of 2 (his has a bigger fridge and it actually works) Away Laughing is taking a well-deserved rest while we explore the south in Brian.
The puppies are more like slugs or garden moles and don’t do much but we are enjoying the boring side before they have us running about after toddlers! Between Riley, Nige and myself I am hoping we can contain the 5 little rascals.