By Hayley Gastmeier
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After taking a road trip up north, Gypsy the cat is back where she belongs.
The seven-year-old moggy was found an astonishing 40km away from her usual residence, Hood Aerodrome in Masterton.
She was found in Eketahuna almost three weeks after she disappeared from her aviation-based home.
Skydiver Marty Lloyd was gobsmacked to hear his beloved pet had been located in the Tararua town, and he is pretty confident she did not use up her nine lives in getting there on foot.
“She has a bad habit of exploring the nearby carpark,” Mr Lloyd said.
“And she’s too friendly with strangers. Nothing seems to faze her.”
Mr Lloyd believes either “someone took a liking to her” or Gypsy hitched a ride north in the back seat of a car with an unknowing driver.
“But I don’t think a cat can jump in a car without anyone realising she’s in there.”
Mr Lloyd had returned home one day in late August to find that Gypsy, unusually, was not awaiting his arrival.
“I spent the week looking for her. I went through all the hangers – there’s 19 of them – looking in every room. “The whole aerodrome was looking for her.”
He sent out flyers and put calls out all round Masterton attempting to track the cat down.
Finally, a call came from Jim and Alison Taylor who had rescued the wandering Gypsy and had her safe and sound at their Eketahuna home.
After confirming the feline had “a distinctive white rear gumboot”, Mr Lloyd drove up the line to be reunited.
“I went inside and there was Gypsy sitting on the couch, snuggled up by the fire. I couldn’t believe it,I was over the moon.”
Mr Lloyd wasted no time in getting Gypsy microchipped, and is amused that his Facebook post outlining her disappearance attracted 50 comments “from all over the world”, a far greater response than to his regular posts about skydiving.
