Shadow Footprints

Rangitikei river valley at Mangaweka.


I took this photo July 2006.

This was taken on a winter evening in July 2006.

Just north of New Plymouth

The giant carrot at Ohakune, as send from the far end of the abandoned rail bridge. We stopped here briefly just before Christmas.

I'm back from a week away. We drove down to Lower Hutt last Sunday. We had to take Jack with us, he had surgery for an abscess and I couldn't expect someone to try to give him an antibiotic twice a day.

I asked about hospitalisation at the vet but discovered they couldn't take him due to his diabetes as they don't have someone in attendance on Sundays! I had heard this was the case but still found it surprising.

If you think your pet will be tenderly nurtured through the night after surgery at a veterinary office or hospital, think again. Many vets don't staff their offices overnight, so it's important to ask about what happens in the wee hours.

They charge $26 for hospitalisation, a bit more than the $14 for the cattery, and for what?

Jack disappeared after we gave him about 1mg of Oxazepam but eventually turned up a couple of hours later and we were on his way. I was surprised with how well he was during the journey. He got to explore his new house-to-be over the week.

During the week I chilled out, with no broad-band. I got to try a few cafés. The best were at the coffee roasters; Caffe L'affare (which I used to pronounce incorrectly), and the Ripe Coffee Company, in Moera, Lower Hutt. I think Wellington is better than Auckland for boutique coffee roasters.

I didn't give Jack the drug for the return journey as one of the airline websites recommended against any sedatives on pets as they may act unpredictable at altitude. (I did find out that pets are in a pressurised area at 18°C.) An hour check-in was stressful for me; being at the airport before 7:30am is not my idea of fun, but when I booked the flight Jack was not a consideration. Paying $30 to have him travel with me was trivial, and certainly a lot cheaper than a week's "care". Upon landing I saw his cage being put out onto the oversized and fragile items area before any bags appeared on the belt. He wasn't distressed and I'd be willing to do that again. Miss Prim and A Girl Named Ivan picked me up from the airport at 9:30. I appreciated not having to deal with a taxi or shuttle driver over Jack.

Any recommendations for a Lower Hutt vet gratefully received. Just use the contact link in the navigation.

I've just finished reading The Family Trade, book 1 of The Merchant Princes by Charles Stross. It was really good. I'm looking forward to book 2, The Hidden Family.

I picked up book 1 from Arty Bees Books while I was in Wellington after Christmas. They have a great selection of Speculative Fiction.

On the trip back we stayed overnight in Taranaki. We couldn't get a room in New Plymouth at a decent rate, but friends of mine put us on to Seaview Motel, past Waitara. It was a quaint motel in paradise, with a view of sea and the sound of the pounding surf.