Lydia Travel Update August

Hey everyone! Can you believe I leave the USA at the end of this week?

I’m very excited to get the journey done and to see Moira at the other end. The nearby mountain (Mt Taranaki) is covered in its winter snow coat so she tells me, so I should feel right at home when I get there. I look forward to meeting my new ‘sister from another mother’, Moira’s family’s labrador Nugget.

Thanks again to everyone that has contributed to my travel fund. Every dollar counts and gets me closer to sleeping on Moira’s couch. We have almost, but not quite, hit the funding target so if you could help out we would all really appreciate it! It’s not too late.

The most recent visit to the North Pole Vets had me receive internal and external parasite treatments (worms, fleas, ticks) and the last of the blood tests for diseases I can’t even pronounce – Babesia Gibsoni, Brucella Canis, Lepotspirosis and Heartworm. Aliy and her nephew Sam came with me so it wasn’t too scary.

We weren’t sure which airline crate I would be most comfortable in for my long journey, so I tested them out at home before we bought one. Aliy then took me shopping – I am so thrilled to have my own kennel that will come with me to New Zealand and will be mine when I get there. It was difficult to choose, but I definitely made the right choice. I think you’ll agree.

For those of you interested – here is the link for all the health requirements and testing for me to get to New Zealand. I will have one more visit with the North Pole team to get my final okay this coming Wednesday. I get the last internal and external parasite treatment as well as my formal travel approval. It’s kinda like a passport. I then get on the airplane in Fairbanks and fly to LAX on Thursday morning. I have my own Pet Travel Consultant who will meet my flight from Alaska. She will help me make my connection and give me several potty breaks and a meal. After that it’s on to Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest International Airport.  I head to quarantine directly from the airport. Moira will be able to pick me up out of quarantine on 6th September.

The quarantine facility is a fairly new facility, built to exceed the Ministry of Primary Industry’s strict biosecurity standards so I will be well cared for. It is set on 10 acres of beautiful rural Auckland countryside, surrounded by farmland and is just 15 minutes from the international airport so it will be like a doggy spa! I’ll get Moira to share some photos with you all once I am there. She will be in touch with the caretakers at the facility.

I’m certainly going to miss the kennel, of course I will, as that is where I grew up and my siblings and friends are there but it is definitely time for me to move on to the next adventure – oh and what an adventure it will be!

Click here or the ‘travel fund’ tab at the top of the page to learn more. You can choose a luggage tag, a travel mug with my face ALL over it or NZ bone pendant as a thank you for helping me with my travel fund.