No… not the animal kind! It’s the hot water system.  This is what it looks like…

You make a fire in the fire place.  The water is pumped from out of the ground (bore water) into the tank on the right, then comes out through the pipes and through the fireplace, heats up and comes out the pipes to the showers and the kitchen.  Now you don’t want to get the fire going too much or the water will come out boiling and scold you.  When the water is boiling it spits out the long thin pipe sticking up out of the fireplace and squirts all over the place. You don’t want to be near it when it’s spurting out either! A nice gentle fire is preferred…obviously!