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There is no better sport to get  the kids outdoors and off their screens.  Here are some of our guests loving our basketball hoop.  We have placed it on the soft expansive lawn so they can take off their shoes and shoot hoops all day.   Basketballs are of course provided and they can then cool down afterwards in our swimming pool that is always open for guests.

We’re very strong with our eco values here at the Haven. With our enormous free-range chooks,  beautiful alpacas wandering around the property, honey production, jam and preserve making and our vegetable gardens, we are definitely champions of a more sustainable lifestyle. For this reason back in November 2018 we installed a Tesla charging dock. We are encouraged to know that Australians are starting to consider electric vehicles and we like to support this movement.  We are one of only two properties in the Shoalhaven region that have a Tesla charging dock – that makes us pretty special!

The dock allows one car charging at a time but with only a few hours for a full charge it’s perfect time to enjoy the rest of the property.

The newly renovated swimming pool has been a great hit with guests since we opened it just before Xmas 2018. Cool down after a hard days walk or let the kids splash around whilst you have a quiet drink on the deck.

Be sure to come and visit our bantam flock who give us fairy sized eggs but are very cute and friendly.

Today we let our alpacas roam out on the lawn – they loved the fresh grass and are pretty good mowers ! Our free range chooks joined them for a while looking for bugs in the grass.

Hard Yakka at the Haven – As part of our fire safety measures every year we collect up fallen branches and stack them for mulching. This year the pile has grown to epic proportions and it was time to get mulching. The Haven’s owner Steve Dunn and his son Kyran came down to help out today

– seen here with manager Kym loading wood from the pile. 

The resulting mulch will be used around the garden to protect plants and reduce weeds – we try and recycle as much as we can here including what nature provides us.

Today was shearing day for our small herd of alpacas. We had engaged shearer Ian Elkins and his team to give our poor hot boys a haircut before the temperatures hit the mid 30’s. We helped wrangle them into the pen where they waited looking very wary, but the whole process was done with care and very little stress to the animals. 
Ian popped each one in turn up on the shearing table and having secured their feet to stop them thrashing and getting injured, they were masterfully shorn while his assistant gave their fringes a clip.
Not a cut or nick to any of them and once free of their thick coats they quickly set about re-establishing the pecking order in the group – not so easy when you have gone from looking imposingly bulky to a long necked bambi lookalike  in a few minutes! 
The makeover session continued with a toenail clip, and essential drench and shots done, they were soon out in the paddock enjoying the cool air and rolling around on the grass.
The wool is luxuriously soft and silky and I hope to be doing some crafting with it later.

 We had a visitor today – a stick insect. I’d never have seen him up in the foliage, but he was marching across a wall. I wonder how many more are hidden among the twigs.