Show Pictures

Here are a couple of pics.
Eric took out second prize at the A&P show with his scones, beaten only by the infamous Alice Yuretich who took out many cookery first prizes. As predicted the outdoor show was cancelled because of the weather.
The other photo shows Patrick on his bike ride last w/e.

Rain in Northland

Kia Ora Whanau
The rain has set in Northland and we are forecast to be getting 150mm (6 inches in old money) by tomorrow night. Good for the dried out soil, grass and sheep etc that eat it. Good for the veggy garden and for filling up our water tank. Not so good for the adolescent population of Kaitaia who have been denied their annual end of summer party venue at the annual A&P show. On the one hand it is a pity that it is raining as it will be a wash-out even if it is not cancelled. On the other hand there is often trouble at the A&P showground on a Friday night, with old scores settled. There has even been a suggestion/ rumour that a virulent youth gang is going to have a presence. So from a teaching/ concerned adult point of view, maybe the rain will keep the town a bit cleaner.

We have had another manic week, perhaps not as much of a trial as last week as we all adjust ourselves to the routine and get used to getting up early. We had some good developments this week too. Patrick and I went mountain biking with the big boys last sunday. Cool!! We went up Larmers round onto a track that runs through the bush to diggers Valley. If i was really dedicated I might show our route on Google Earth! I have pictures and even a bit of video that might end up on Youtube. After our little escapade in the paddock when I took a rather painful tumble that might have had consequences on family size 10 years ago, I was a bit shy about going any where near full pelt up a track on my bike. Paddy had no such qualms and we could well have discovered an outlet for his interest in risk-taking that C and I had been looking for. He was off in front of me, going through streams and over roots and getting off where it got too steep. he put me to shame with my 18 gears against his single back cog! Time to get him a better bike methinks. He often spends an hour cycling round the yard in the evenings. Meanwhile my fitter colleagues went off much further and were clearing the track so that it could be ridden from end to end. By the end of our run I had picked up speed and dropped the saddle right down. I started to get up to speeds where you get an adrenaline rush from going fast and having to make split second decisions where a slip can send you over the bars.

Stuart came home upset on Monday because of some nasty kid who was playing mind-games with him at his new school. Another kid had been giving him physical grief. We went down to the karate school which runs 2 nights a week, by coincidence in his own school, and Patrick and he enrolled. From my observations on Monday, it is run by a number of men who have a good grip on what is going on, without making it too serious. There are lots of kids lives that are blighted by bullying and there are some answers and a lot of hand-wringing. We shall see if karate helps Stuart.

Thats all for now.
Ka kite ano.

Pictures

Pics to go with last post.
No people this time!
Survivor is the white sheep that Chantelle and I shore last night. This will hopefully stop her from getting flystrike.
The horned beast is Skippy, patriarch of the herd.
Beans speak for themselves.
The citrus has grown well this year but has a deficiency that I have trouble correcting. Older leaves are yellow between the veins. Magnesium I thought, but generous applications of epsom salts have not changed the look of the leaves. Any advice welcome.
Finally, we discovered that Patrick's banana has fruited.

First week back

It was our first week back with no days off. By Wednesday the boys were finding it tricky getting out of bed and we were all relieved when Friday night arrived.

Not much to say really, just get up, go to work, home, eat, work, sleep then do it all over again. You are familiar with the routine.

Not strictly true though, there have been highlights to brighten up the tough situation.

I went to a village called Pangaru on Tuesday afternoon to meet my new senior science class. They are a 120km round trip from Kaitaia so I will mostly be teaching them by videoconference. It was great to meet them face-to-face first rather than through a tv screen. Pangaru is situated close to the West coast near the Kokianga Harbour. The school nestles below mountains coated in dense bush. The road there has about a million bends and on the way I met a horse, some cows and going home a single sheep. All in the road! It was good to get out of Kaitaia and be reminded of the amazing part of the world that we live in.

On top of that we have been enjoying the lovely evenings and the light until gone 8pm. I like to go and play in the veggy garden. Patrick joins me every few days so he can have first pick of the strawberries. It has not been very successful this year, but we get little crops of veggies every few days. A few tomatoes, a courgette, french beans, beetroot. I picked all the french beans that had gone to seed when we were on holiday, shelled them and we had chilli with them.

Most nights the boys have been out playing ball games. They like French cricket, piggy in the middle, catch. Eric calls it their quality time with me and I suppose it is; it is difficult to stop doing all the jobs and make time to just play with the kids.

We all went to the staff college picnic out by the river last night. I should have taken the camera as there were some great images. The kids had a swim, we all had a bbq, a huge fire was built and the kids played with burning brands! We were serenaded by the 3 tenors on their guitars. Most of the staff were pretty knackered, but it was chilled out and the kids were all happy, so we went home content.

Stuart applied to be on a NZTV show called "Lets Get Inventin". It features kids who have a wacky idea being teamed up with people who can build their invention. He had a letter yesterday saying he was in the shortlist for the show and requesting a video of his idea. He would be a natural as inventing is his long-time obsession.

Chan has been at work all week as well. Most of what she does is so top secret that I can't talk about it on this blog or she would have to kill us all!

So that's all folks - til next week.

No limo's

I would like to clarify that there will be no limo's appearing in Kaitaia,or anywhere else for that matter. ( As it would be a total waste of tax payers money!).

But a 4x4 would be approprite consisdering the area concerned.I look forward to starting/ continuing a challanging job, full of colourful people- and that's just the boss!

Party over - back to school

Well that is it for another year and we all went back to school last week, apart from Chan who has been back at work for ages.
Patrick started on Monday and was keen to return. He has an interactive whiteboard in his classroom and is one of 4 boys in a class of 31. For Patrick this is not the good thing it would be for an older boy. Girls are currently described as "gross" and "sick" in his 8 year old world-view.

Stuart started at Intermediate with old-hand Eric on Thursday. He had the usual fears that go with going to a new school, but he met is teacher the day before and seems to have made a good start. Eric is glad to be back and as a Year 8 can lord it over the new ones, so he is happy.

We had a gentle start to the new term, doing at most 2 days and then Wednesday was a public holiday - Waitangi Day, so we were off again. I went to do some prep in the morning and then Chan, Eric and I all went for a fish at Aurere. It was exhilarating as the swell was high on account of a tropical cyclone that was releasing its energy into the seas to the north. We had to be careful with the waves coming onto the rocks. We had some good fish on and lost some good sized ones. We landed undersized kahawai, trevally and snapper and took home one snapper for eating. This is the first one we have caught in a long time and very tasty it was too.

School for me semi kicked off on Friday when the Year 9's all started, but the big start is this Monday when everyone is back and I will meet all my classes at last.

The pictures have slowed right up now that school is going. Posting up some of the end of our holiday. An innocent eric at Gatwick, a possum up our cabbage tree and its ultimate fate. The final one is a strangely named refuelling machine at Melbourne Airport.

Chantelle is keeping busy with her job and went to a big meeting in the city (Whangarei) to talk about a new pilot project that has been set up between the Sallies and the Ministry of Social Development. I am waiting for the ministerial limo to turn up for her in the mornings.

Until next time then. I notice we have had a reader from the African continent! Wecome to the blog! Welcome to all our readers! Do not be afraid to comment, question or argue.

Bk2Skl Party

Last night we held the second annual Back to School Party or "Bk2skl" in Txtspk.
Our summer is nearly over with 2 of us back at school tomorrow and the rest on Thursday. I am not complaining as it has been an epic holiday. We have seen lots of new places and met old friends and rellies in the UK. In the last 3 weeks at home, we have done loads of stuff, diy, huntin possums in the garden, fishin' with a kite at Puwheke, killing a couple of lambs, making sausages, tidying up, cooling down with swims. The fun just has to stop ...
I had a job whittling down the photos from the several hundred on the camera to the 4 shown here. Eric and stuart have whiled away many a happy hour with just the camera and their own bizarre imaginations. The result is a memory stick full of blurred faces or lego animations, not to mention the Gbs of flight simulation landings "It only lasts for 15 minutes!"
So there is a picture of me getting to grips with a 20" chainsaw. Stuart making sausages from our own lamb meat. Chantelle and Patrick on the beach at Puwheke where we went kite fishing with some friends recently. And finally some of the folk who came to the party last night. Thanks for coming, the food was awesome as was the company.