On these bitterly frosty mornings the shuddering humans of Canberra and region might envy the alpacas and llamas of Glynda Bluhm's Alpaca Magic property near Sutton. Tough and beautifully upholstered by their fleecy coats these animals have evolved to cope with far worse than our local climate can fling at them.
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"Canberra in winter is just a bit of a picnic for them," Bluhm fancies.
"They're well insulated and they've got lots of wool. They come from the Alto Plano in Chile, Peru and Bolivia where the cold is like three Kosciuszkos. So you can imagine this [gesturing out of her kitchen window at alpacas and llamas enjoying golden sunlight on grassy paddocks] is not a big deal for them."
What's more, she advises, if you think llamas in particular (more sweet-tempered than alpacas) already seem impossibly cute, you should see them on frosty morning when Jack Frost has decorated their coats and when their long and lovely eyelashes too are spangled with frost.
The only time bad frosts become a problem at Alpaca Magic is when they coincide with spring's shearing.
"Then [because they're temporarily naked] some of them are very vulnerable for a little while and in those circumstances I bring anybody [endearingly, Bluhm discusses her animals as if talking about humans] indoors into a shed and I wrap them in bubblewrap. I fasten it on with packing tape."
With mental pictures of bubblewapped llamas gambolling in the mind we went out to the nearest paddock of alpacas and llamas with visiting Sydney University veterinary bioscience students Chad Cooper and Jessica Boyes. They're spending several invaluable work-experience days with these unusual animals, the place's 120 llamas and 80 alpacas.
"It took me only about two days to fall in love with them," Boyes enthuses, as the affectionate llamas came up to us for us to touch and croon to. Nearby two llamas spat crankily at one another, but none seemed to dream of spitting at us.
"Cadbury" a chocolate-coloured baby part llama/part alpaca, nibbled at my hand and wormed his way into my affections, and, although an extreme dog-lover I wondered why more of us don't have pet llamas instead of all those same old cavoodles.
Boyes, who hopes to go on to a career with veterinary alternative therapies ("massage and acupuncture and things like that") seemed at first to be kissing consenting llamas on the lips. But then she explained that she was going through the recognised way of communicating with llamas. It requires you and the llama to get nose to nose with one another and breathe into one another's nostrils in a show of mateship that involves an exchange of pheromones.
