Wendy Hamilton

Little House in the Cow Paddock Wendy Hamilton

Thirteen-year-old Wendy and her two younger sisters love to lounge about reading books lazily. Their father wants land in the bush so his girls can experience their pioneering heritage. The girl's mother is not keen on the bush but she thinks fifty acres would be a good investment. After a disastrous trip to the Hokianga they finally find their dream property in a range of hills close to Whangarei. The dream has the potential to turn into a nightmare when they erect a tiny shed on the neighbour's land by mistake. Buying the wrong land is only the start of hilarious misadventures for this family and their cat, as each weekend they plunge into primitive living. The girls' soft life is suddenly filled with bush hikes, possums, and manual labour. Antoinette (who is convinced she is a princess and kidnapped at birth) resents the lack of running water or electricity more than the rest of the family The ultimate horror is when she drops her lipstick and prized nighty down the long-drop-toilet by accident. Yet despite Taranaki gates, endless rain, and mud, the girls are won over to country living by fourteen steers, an old horse, and a naughty pet lamb. When the trees next to their house in town are cut down, even their mother decides the bush is where she most wants to live. Children who enjoy the Little House on the Prairie series will love this distinctly New Zealand version of pioneering in the 1970s.