A birth & a death

This is Blue Moon and her baby Moonshadow (Amber named the cria during dinner the other night). I also got to name one of the llamas Clouds Rest, which I was very excited about.


"The reason why we have llamas is because we think they're living art," Robyn says. She thinks of her herd as an extension of her family. A llama owner for the past 10 years, Robyn said she can't imagine life without them. "I only ever want just one more," she said of her llama addiction.

Last year Robyn flew to the states with fellow llama rancher Anne Thompson to import about a dozen llamas to New Zealand. Four of Robyn's imports are suri llamas, which she says means their "fiber hangs in pearls of silk." All of the imports were shorn naked and put in quarantine for 90 days in Chicago. They then flew on an airplane all the way to Auckland.


Today we visited Anne's ranch, walking around her property and meeting her different llamas (including the Americans).

The past week Robyn has taken us to a variety of places around the Christchurch area, including the Lyttelton farmers market, a punk rock cafe and her children's democratic school.

Flax, 8, and Ferne, 6, go to a school where kids can choose whether or not they want to go to class. The school only has 45 students and they emphasize childhood playing. Below is Flax and his friend, Pablo, in the hut they built at school.


Here's a photo of Ferne playing with Ediza in a "Jolly Jumper" in their living room doorway.


One of the more interesting stories Robyn has told us this week actually involves someone dying in their living room. Just after Robyn and her husband, Mike, bought their place here they took a three-month trip to Europe. Looking at their photo album got us excited for our upcoming European adventure.

When they left for Europe they decided to rent out their house while they were gone. The only person to answer their classified ad was a man who wanted to find somewhere special for his friend, who had terminal cancer, to spend her last three months alive. The woman died in their living room shortly before they returned from Europe. "The day she died they said there was the most amazing sunrise," Robyn said.

Years later, a baby was born in the apartment we're now staying in.