We enjoyed our stay at Tamsin's - coming from Palo Alto, it was an unusual experience to stay at a small farm with Shetland pony, pet goat, chooks, dogs, cats, and small vineyard. The guest quarters are in the same building as the house, but separate from it and there is plenty of room.

Picton had a very unexpected aquarium with a couple of fish tanks, a couple of blue penguins (really – they are blue), and a few Tuataras which they will let you touch in the guided tour. Tuataras are a kind of reptile about the size of an iguana. When inactive they breathe about once an hour, and their hearts beat about 5 times a minute. They take about 20 years to reach maturity. Nobody knows how long they live because, while the age of other reptiles can be estimated from the bones in their ears, tuataras have no ear bones. Current estimates are 250 years. They haven’t changed very much since Gondwanaland was still intact. Overall a comfortable and unique and fascinating visit - thank you Tamsin!