Five Nights in Featherston - House-Sit #2

Where? Featherston, South Wairarapa District, North Island

With? Archer the German Shorthaired Pointer and Batz the Cat

When? November

Most memorable moment: Archer insisting that the space allocated to him on the sofa was just insufficient.

Everest Offerings

Most frequented café: Everest Bistro and Café, Featherston. Good coffee and good cabinet food (my new favourite thing). Oh and edgy décor. What’s not to love.

Other fun facts:

Batz has claws longer than any cat I’ve ever seen. I only got swiped once. He drew blood. Since then he just wants cuddles. I think he wanted me to know who was boss.

Most visited gym: Facing Giants Crossfit, Martinborough

The most boutique Crossfit gym we have been to! We loved our couple of sessions with Matt and Lydia and some of their crew. They kindly invited us to join in with some of their weekend training and we had a great time doing a nice team workout. They run their business locally and rely on word of mouth to get their members. They are doing great things for the area so if you are nearby, pop in the say hello to them!

Most visited supermarket: Supervalue, Featherston. The only one in Featherston. Not much to say. Though red capsicum were on offer - win.

Best Day Trip: Remutaka Rail Trail after a visit to the Fell Locomotive Museum

Unfortunately for us, the Wairarapa region was rained upon for the entirety of our stay in Featherston. We had read a bit about the historic rail trail so held out for what we thought would be a better day of weather (lighter rain). We started with our Flat White at Everest and then headed over the to Fell Museum. Fell Engines are different to normal locomotive engines as they were used on steep sections of rail. The museum was GREAT, and thoroughly recommended as a prerequisite to the trail. The gentleman there gave us a short intro tour of the engine and then let us wander before we watched the 17 minute film. Sadly, the rain had set in heavy for the day so we didn’t actually make it to the Rail Trail Walk. Though we will go back!

Best Day Trip (that we actually did): Putangirua Pinnacles Track.

A really nice round loop of around 10k, to see the naturally formed stacks which surround the valley track, making you think you’ve entered into a Martian landscape. The long loop back to the main road also passes along cliff tops with great views across Lake Ferry, Lake Onoke and the coast. And the sun even came out!

Most Run Route: Due to rain we only ran once, and headed towards Lake Wairarapa. It's around 6km to the Lake from Featherston, so from our place we didn't quite make it before we turned around. We visited the lake with Archer though, and it's a good place for a stretch of the legs.

We have arranged all our house sits through kiwihousesitters.co.nz. It costs around £40 to sign up for a year, no other costs. New house sits are advertised daily. You can contact owners directly if you are interested in their house sit. House sitters like us also have a profile, where owners can contact sitters directly. Some of our sits have been arranged through each of these initial contact routes. There is also a UK site that works in the same way.