At the 'farm house'

[All buildings are 'houses' to Nellie. The 'farm house' refers to the From the Earth Expo at the CTICC, held this weekend.]

This morning we went to see the animals at the farm house. Mommy was very excited to see the Emu chicks. I was scared cos I thought they would peck me.

Then Daddy and I went for a bit of a walk around while Mommy stayed to play with the chicks. When we went back to find Mommy we found this man instead.

He didn't do a very good job because he cut the scissors too close and made the sheep bleed. After watching him, we all walked around a bit again and Mommy took me to go and practice how to milk a cow. It felt very weird. I didn't like getting my hands all wet with the milk.

There were lots of animals. I'd never seen these ones before. They're called Alpacas. They're cousins of the camel and the llama. The farmers in South Africa use them to protect the sheep from jackals. This is what they look like with all their wool on them.

And this is what they look like when it's all cut off.

Then Mommy saw a friend so she stopped to chat while we went to see the pigs. That's why there are no photos of the pigs. They were very cute. When Mommy came and found us we went to see all the other animals. There were lots of different types of goats, sheep and cows. There was also a very big horse feeding her baby. The daddy cows - what are they called again, Mommy? Bulls, my love. Oh yes, bulls! - the bulls were very big and I was scared of them. This one is called the Afrikaner and is one of the - what's that word again, Mommy? Indigenous. Oh yes, indigenous - cows. That means they have always lived here. Not like the other cows. The other cows didn't used to live here. They used to live far away and they had to come here by ship.

These ones had big horns that could hurt you, so I didn't touch them.

We also saw lots of baby animals - baby chicks, cows, sheep and a baby horse. Here are the baby sheep with their mommy. The daddy sheep wasn't there because he decided to stay on the farm.

There were also lots of little shops selling food like cheese and biltong. Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun trying the food, but I wasn't hungry.

What a great day we had! I really like this farm house!

Ethan's party

See the squirrel on my head???

Imhoff Farm, Kommetjie

Daddy caught me a rabbit to hold. While I was happy to stroke it, I didn't want to hold it - it was too wriggly.
We went to the snake park there too, but Mom couldn't take photos because the flash would upset the snakes. We also saw tortoises and turtles, crocodiles and alligators, monitors and a Komodo Dragon. Dad also bought us chocolate from the chocolate shop - YUM YUM!

Crocodiles at La Bonheur, Franschhoek

Mommy and Daddy took me to see the crocodiles. I called them dinosaurs cos they look like it. Here's Daddy with me walking with the babies. These ones are under 2 years old. They were more scared of us than we were of them. Mommy didn't want Daddy to take me in. I think she was scared that I would want to walk and that the crocodiles might think I was food, but I was very good. These are the big ones, and they're only 3-4 years old. Did you know that crocodiles don't eat at all in winter because they don't have a high enough body temperature to digest food, and that they can go for 2 YEARS between meals?? The man who told us all about them said that when you see them catching a buck, that will be the only meal they eat in several months, if not for the entire year. Imagine - no snacks at all for an entire year!
These funny crocodiles are Stumpy and Lumpy. They were born without tails. Since crocodiles only use their tails for swimming (and not their legs) they would drown if they went into the water too deeply. In nature, when their mother released them into the water they would drown.
While I enjoyed visiting the crocodiles, I enjoyed seeing the other animals at the farm more. There were goats and a big black pig, as well as a tortoise that was nearly as big as me!