Adelaide Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Fur Fix at Hahndorf Farm Barn and The Toy Factory

Rockstar: Mummy, are you a duck? (Which is his way of asking about the differences between ducks and people but I’m a bit lazy to oblige this time :P)

Me: Know what that would make you?

Rockstar: A baby duck?

Yeah, that’s not a duck. But that is my Absolute Favorite Pic of the trip.

At the Hahndorf Farm Barn, the cockatoos and parrots greet you in an Aussie accent, even you agree what a beautiful morning it is…

This chick’s name is Mc Nugget. And I had to get over my aversion for being pooped on and Just Grab That Nugget. It flaps and claws btw, which is why it’s a little blurry. But well it’s not like we’re going to do this in Hong Kong, can you say Bird Flu? I just thought it would be a little paisay someday Rockstar swings an iPad like a pro but has never met a chicken he didn’t eat. (Well I’m not completely serious… He has met friends’ chickens in their homes Obviously Not In Hong Kong. But it’s true we wouldn’t really let him near one that hasn’t been fried up in HK…)

Rockstar Getting Fur Fix Outside

Long-suffering bunny - Rockstar: Why does its face look like THAT? (This bunny must be so fed up with getting picked up for pictures)

In the bunny pen is a sign with a smiley face that reads, “Please don’t lift (the board) – baby bunnies hiding underneath” – and the entire time we’re there, not a single child – no matter how rowdy outside the pen (and some of them really are) – lifts that board.

We have more fun with the animals at The Toy Factory though – cos they’re actually interested in eating – the Farm Barn ones were really not hungry (except for the ostrich who probably can’t remember it’s been fed over and over and over. (And I think that because back on Safari West we were told the only animal that is “dumb” enough to try and escape a good thing is the ostrich because it can’t remember it gets fed regularly by staying put.)

The goats, alpaca and sheep are pretty gentle – you can feed them from the palm of your hand and you don’t even get drool – just a woffly-nosed snuffling as they pick up the pallets.

Flirting with Curly (as in Curly and Mo - I didn't go near Mo because the staff says he bites everyone)... Yes that's my Stella McCartney knit from about 5 years ago - again, didn't know Kings was going to be able to bring us to Toy Factory... But I've been wearing leather pants (from Mango) because of occasional showers and me thinking I might sit in damp grass in one of the parks while Rockstar runs around with a ball

Flirt with someone, buy them a drink. Well, treat.

An Aussie boy who looks to be 5 or 6 overhears me telling Rockstar I’m not sure about one of the ducks, and chimes in “No, he’s fine,” and demonstrates with his own handful of feed. (In fact, older kids were mostly pretty nice to Rockstar, holding doors open for him and stuff, more so here than in some of the other Australian towns we’ve been in… Once in a playground when a toddler makes off with his ball, the dad makes a point of getting it back though Rockstar isn’t really playing with it anyways.)

This goat got lucky... because it was standing on this tree trunk and therefore wasn't pushing, Rockstar kept feeding it

Rockstar stays with the poultry after awhile. He gets angry with the livestock for “pushing.” Sheep, it would seem, have not been taught about “making red choices” (in school he says, pushing is deemed a “red choice” and apparently schoolmates fairly frequently tell on each other about them.)

….. And WHY do people say there are white sheep and there are black sheep – they all look like varying shades of brown. Except maybe right after sheering they’re white (or black) for like, a day….

PS: Like my hair? I washed it with Cussons Pure Natural Antibacterial Japanese Spa Green Tea, Rice Milk & Jasmine handsoap because we discovered that was all they had to get clean with on our first night. Unless Cussons was just the bottle and our landlord refilled it with dishwashing detergent…