The word 'tutapi' (too-tap-ee) comes from the Quechua language and means 'in the night'. We thought this aptly captured our vision of breeding the magnificent Black Suri.
Tutapi Alpacas is a family farming effort near Launceston, Tasmania. The farming is handled by Andrew (Andy) & Vivienne Wells and their two children, Tobias and Kelsey.
We first started looking into alpacas when we had a 4 acre parcel at Hillwood (on the Tamar River ) but decided that 4 acres did not fit our plans so we started searching until we found a property that would suit our work and schooling needs as well as allow us to fully enter the alpaca world.
We are now situated on a panoramic 10 acres and purchased our first 4 huacaya wethers in November 2004.
From our first visits to local alpaca studs we fell in love with the suri and in particular the blacks. Black will never be out of fashion. The sight of a black in full fleece held no comparison for us and being able to breed such beautiful and somewhat rare animals holds a definite appeal.
In their other lives Andy is a Systems Administrator for a multi-national IT out-sourcing firm and Vivienne is a Registered Nurse in ICU at the Launceston General Hospital.
25 March 2006