The next England star.( sorry all whites!)
Saturday, June 18, 2005
GO PIRATES!!
I've taken some up to date photo's of the boys.
This weekend Paddy played soccer, and very well he did too!!!!!!.
He scored both of their goals and recieved player of the match. The next Michael Owen. It's so funn y watchin 6/7 year olds playing football, it's the balls a magnet thing, swarming like bees around the ball. Paddy has relised if he hangs outside the cluster ,then he will get the ball in more space. At one point his team ,the pirates, had 4 players instead of 5 ,as one neded the loo, and the others members are off with flu. GO PIRATES!!!!
This weekend Paddy played soccer, and very well he did too!!!!!!.
He scored both of their goals and recieved player of the match. The next Michael Owen. It's so funn y watchin 6/7 year olds playing football, it's the balls a magnet thing, swarming like bees around the ball. Paddy has relised if he hangs outside the cluster ,then he will get the ball in more space. At one point his team ,the pirates, had 4 players instead of 5 ,as one neded the loo, and the others members are off with flu. GO PIRATES!!!!
Friday, June 17, 2005
Just before Paddy's Birthday
It's been a few weeks, but time for an update.
We are into week 7 of term now and it feels like time for a half-term - 3 weeks to the end of term. The kids are feeling the strain at school even with the odd days off here and there, 10 weeks is a long time for them to toe the line. Our own are struggling from one week-end to the next. Paddy is quite cheerful because he has been counting down to his birthday for the last month and the big day arrives on Monday. Stuart has had a day off every week for the last 3. We were mean this week and sent him in with achey legs and a sore throat. He survived!
Eric is in love with his teacher because she has a whole range of inducements to keep him working, he was making chocolate fudge and blue crystals today and trotted off quite happily to his bus. In fact he complained because I kept him waiting as I was trying to get all my stuff together and he was itching to get to the bus stop.
School weeks are generally unremarkable in my life apart from all the amazing things that happen at school. Not being too sure who reads this blog I am going to keep my counsel about school and work and save it for personal emails. I wonder how other bloggers manage this aspect of the medium. Surely one's colleagues find out about it sooner or later and find out alsorts of interesting things?
Last weekend was interesting. It was the noho marae (marae stay) for the te reo course I have been doing. Chantelle graciously looked after the kids while I was gone. There were over 100 of us staying in the marae and we all slept in one great big room, men, women and child alike. I gather that this is not unusual as well. In Uk people would bed down together if there was some sort of emergency, but we are pretty private about who we sleep with the rest of the time. My understanding is that Maori are a lot more sociable than us European types. So there was a good mix of Maori, NZ pakeha, and more recent immigrants from all over the place. We were all doing the same course but all in different places. It started with the powhiri - a formal welcome onto the marae that follows a particular structure of speeches and songs. All designed to determine the peaceful or war-making intentions of visitors. Once a koha (gift usually of money) had been handed over, there was a massive hongi - everyone files past the home team one by one but instead of just shaking their hand they touch foreheads and breathe the same air.
We had some food and then a couple of talks. The first was about spirituality and was delivered by a bloke who worked with violent offenders. He seemed to be into lots of different ways of healing damaged people including studying their colours and seeing their shadow people. There was a second speaker who gave a fascinating talk illustrated with powerpoint slides all about using the stars to navigate voyaging canoes. This was appropriate as it was the start of the Maori new Year Matariki - named after the star system Pleiades which appears on the eastern horizon at dawn at this time of year. This guy really could talk. He had sailed from NZ to Rarotonga on a canoe made from 2 Kauri trees that he had chopped down from a local forest. That is a distance of 2000 miles! The maori originally arrived from the polynesian islands on these canoes and his voyage was a modern attempt to recreate those voyages. I had always assumed that the original colonists had arrived in little canoes by chance. It appears that they were travelling all over the pacific establishing colonies on all the islands from Christmas Island back to Tahiti(?). They used the movement of constellations to guide them on these voyages.
That finished at mid-night, by which time no amount of snoring in the room - and there was a large amount - was going to keep me awake. In what seemed like minutes later the lights were on and people were stirring. We did 4 workshops during the day and my te reo improved massively. Haere ra kotou (Good bye!)
We are into week 7 of term now and it feels like time for a half-term - 3 weeks to the end of term. The kids are feeling the strain at school even with the odd days off here and there, 10 weeks is a long time for them to toe the line. Our own are struggling from one week-end to the next. Paddy is quite cheerful because he has been counting down to his birthday for the last month and the big day arrives on Monday. Stuart has had a day off every week for the last 3. We were mean this week and sent him in with achey legs and a sore throat. He survived!
Eric is in love with his teacher because she has a whole range of inducements to keep him working, he was making chocolate fudge and blue crystals today and trotted off quite happily to his bus. In fact he complained because I kept him waiting as I was trying to get all my stuff together and he was itching to get to the bus stop.
School weeks are generally unremarkable in my life apart from all the amazing things that happen at school. Not being too sure who reads this blog I am going to keep my counsel about school and work and save it for personal emails. I wonder how other bloggers manage this aspect of the medium. Surely one's colleagues find out about it sooner or later and find out alsorts of interesting things?
Last weekend was interesting. It was the noho marae (marae stay) for the te reo course I have been doing. Chantelle graciously looked after the kids while I was gone. There were over 100 of us staying in the marae and we all slept in one great big room, men, women and child alike. I gather that this is not unusual as well. In Uk people would bed down together if there was some sort of emergency, but we are pretty private about who we sleep with the rest of the time. My understanding is that Maori are a lot more sociable than us European types. So there was a good mix of Maori, NZ pakeha, and more recent immigrants from all over the place. We were all doing the same course but all in different places. It started with the powhiri - a formal welcome onto the marae that follows a particular structure of speeches and songs. All designed to determine the peaceful or war-making intentions of visitors. Once a koha (gift usually of money) had been handed over, there was a massive hongi - everyone files past the home team one by one but instead of just shaking their hand they touch foreheads and breathe the same air.
We had some food and then a couple of talks. The first was about spirituality and was delivered by a bloke who worked with violent offenders. He seemed to be into lots of different ways of healing damaged people including studying their colours and seeing their shadow people. There was a second speaker who gave a fascinating talk illustrated with powerpoint slides all about using the stars to navigate voyaging canoes. This was appropriate as it was the start of the Maori new Year Matariki - named after the star system Pleiades which appears on the eastern horizon at dawn at this time of year. This guy really could talk. He had sailed from NZ to Rarotonga on a canoe made from 2 Kauri trees that he had chopped down from a local forest. That is a distance of 2000 miles! The maori originally arrived from the polynesian islands on these canoes and his voyage was a modern attempt to recreate those voyages. I had always assumed that the original colonists had arrived in little canoes by chance. It appears that they were travelling all over the pacific establishing colonies on all the islands from Christmas Island back to Tahiti(?). They used the movement of constellations to guide them on these voyages.
That finished at mid-night, by which time no amount of snoring in the room - and there was a large amount - was going to keep me awake. In what seemed like minutes later the lights were on and people were stirring. We did 4 workshops during the day and my te reo improved massively. Haere ra kotou (Good bye!)
Monday, June 06, 2005
Queens birthday weekend
God Bless the Queen! Thanks to her we got an extra day off school today and that made it a good 3 day weekend. After Chantelle's fishing exploits on Friday, we all went to Whangarei on Saturday to re-experience the delights of its large Wharehouse. The primary objective was to get a better choice of clothes for the boys. That succeeded and they all got an extra outfit that they were happy with.
We went on to the museum which was on a large site with lots of different buildings run by various groups. We saw a kiwi in a kiwi house and had alook in a small church and a colonial style house. There was a miniature and a large railway. The museum was quite good, usual mix of artefacts, natural and man-made. We found a talking tui at the native bird recovery centre. Onto burger king for a fatty takeaway and then we travelled the 2 hours back home over the Mangamukas.
We watched the first Lions match against Bay of Plenty. Eric was allowed to stay up late to see what proper rugby is like. He has been introduced to the game at school and apparently did ok in his first game. The Lions match was Ok, a shame that Dallaglio got injured and a relief that the team managed to put on a convincing lead. The boys at school have been asking me about my allegiance and then giving me stick for supporting the Lions; as for the staff.... we won't go there.
I was up before dawn on Sunday to go on a fishing trip with Pat. He took me out in a kayak across the sea from Matai Bay to a small island where we spent a fantastic day fishing into deep water off a ledge. We caught a feed of fish and put back several smaller ones. We saw gannets at close range, a pod of dolphins and a penguin a way off. I took loads of pictures and then erased them all by mistake. Whoops! Even more whoops was not following the instructions and tipping the kayak over as we were launching it. Fortunately everything was tied on securely and nothing was lost. When we got home we had a fantastic meal of raw fish salad, crayfish (thanks Les!) and baked snapper.
We made it out to the farm at Diggers today and the boys went off for a walk in one direction whle the adults climbed up a hill in the other. We stayed in contact with walkie-talkies (thanks Nick and Karla) and re-united after 3/4 hour, both parties happy with the separation.
Back to school tomorrow for the second half of this term.
We went on to the museum which was on a large site with lots of different buildings run by various groups. We saw a kiwi in a kiwi house and had alook in a small church and a colonial style house. There was a miniature and a large railway. The museum was quite good, usual mix of artefacts, natural and man-made. We found a talking tui at the native bird recovery centre. Onto burger king for a fatty takeaway and then we travelled the 2 hours back home over the Mangamukas.
We watched the first Lions match against Bay of Plenty. Eric was allowed to stay up late to see what proper rugby is like. He has been introduced to the game at school and apparently did ok in his first game. The Lions match was Ok, a shame that Dallaglio got injured and a relief that the team managed to put on a convincing lead. The boys at school have been asking me about my allegiance and then giving me stick for supporting the Lions; as for the staff.... we won't go there.
I was up before dawn on Sunday to go on a fishing trip with Pat. He took me out in a kayak across the sea from Matai Bay to a small island where we spent a fantastic day fishing into deep water off a ledge. We caught a feed of fish and put back several smaller ones. We saw gannets at close range, a pod of dolphins and a penguin a way off. I took loads of pictures and then erased them all by mistake. Whoops! Even more whoops was not following the instructions and tipping the kayak over as we were launching it. Fortunately everything was tied on securely and nothing was lost. When we got home we had a fantastic meal of raw fish salad, crayfish (thanks Les!) and baked snapper.
We made it out to the farm at Diggers today and the boys went off for a walk in one direction whle the adults climbed up a hill in the other. We stayed in contact with walkie-talkies (thanks Nick and Karla) and re-united after 3/4 hour, both parties happy with the separation.
Back to school tomorrow for the second half of this term.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Look Nick you missed a beaut!
Well in recent weeks my friend ,Mandy and myself have been fishing, which out any luck what so ever. We thought we had been jinksed. But today was a good day.
Mangaoni whalf , it was clouldy ,and we got there at low tide. 1 hour later Mandy's line shot of clicking into the distance. After a couple of minutes she had it close enough to pull in, but because we were on a whalf and the tide was not fully in we had to get help. One friendly fiherman from one of the boats got a hook out, but unfortunaly the line gave way ,and off it went.
I then caught a snapper ,which although was a good size ,we decided to return to get bigger, and for me to catch another day!
Then my line shot off, and this time we managed to land this 4lb Kohwai (sp).
Will make a nice raw fish sald and the cats enjoyed the cooked head.
Mangaoni whalf , it was clouldy ,and we got there at low tide. 1 hour later Mandy's line shot of clicking into the distance. After a couple of minutes she had it close enough to pull in, but because we were on a whalf and the tide was not fully in we had to get help. One friendly fiherman from one of the boats got a hook out, but unfortunaly the line gave way ,and off it went.
I then caught a snapper ,which although was a good size ,we decided to return to get bigger, and for me to catch another day!
Then my line shot off, and this time we managed to land this 4lb Kohwai (sp).
Will make a nice raw fish sald and the cats enjoyed the cooked head.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
First family visit.
After 2 weeks travelling around NZ, Nick and Karla joined us for 5 days.
The highlight of their trip so far was probably breaking down on 90 mile beach ,half way up a dune ,no touch , phone and with fading light. Or friend ,Patrick, a guide for the area ,and teacher took Nick, Karla, Mike and Stu out, so they were in good hands. Kiwi's love living dangerously, don't know about Pom's.
It was good to see them both.
The highlight of their trip so far was probably breaking down on 90 mile beach ,half way up a dune ,no touch , phone and with fading light. Or friend ,Patrick, a guide for the area ,and teacher took Nick, Karla, Mike and Stu out, so they were in good hands. Kiwi's love living dangerously, don't know about Pom's.
It was good to see them both.
Summer dead? maybe not!!
Ok, so there's been rain, but the weather is still stonking. Cool , chilly mornings ,then up it goes into the early 20's. .
Friday, May 20, 2005
Its raining!
Well the rainy season arrived this week much to everyone's relief. The pasture looks dead, the rugby field lloks painful when they tackle on it and dust rises into the air, I am mindful that the water tank on our new house will be filling up. Over here most rural houses have their own water supply, either a bore or a water tank that stores roof water and is used for all the household needs. If your tank runs dry (which it can do mid-shower!), then you have to buy in a refill from a water tanker at a cost of $100's. In any case the rain here is pretty warm compared to Uk rain. It also has not washed out pollutants from millions of cars and factories on its way to the ground, and by and large it stops raining after a short time and the sun comes out.
Listening to http://www.95bfm.co.nz/default,live.sm over the internet as I write this. I think it an Auckland Uni based radio station. They do witty adverts and the music is to my liking.
It has been another tough week at the chalk-face. (Note to UK teaching colleagues: they still have blackboards with chalk here, I am learning the art of chalk drawing, and if the teaching goes wrong I'll be well on the way to a second ... third ... career as a pavement artist).
Tough because it is raining and we all know that the slightest variation in climate is enough to turn sensitive adolescents into raving banshees. Added to which I am fighting off a bug, checking out the NZ remedies. I have to say that the slight fever has added to my classroom banter. Made an analogy today to active transport and climbing sand-dunes whereas diffusion is like jumping off said sand dunes. Factor in that it is report writing time, have to write for 4 junior classes in what seems like rather a short interval, plus the expected crashes in report writing software, printers and human support, so expected as to be predictable. I am not stressing too much about it. Tell you what though, it is nice to be able to write more or less honestly on a blog rather than write ever so cautiously on a report. How do you report on a child who regularly disrupts your lessons and seems to have experienced a parenting bypass.
Other news: there have been major land slides in the Bay of plenty area after heavy rain, Dover Samuels came to our place today offereing lots of money to rebuild the tec block, The budget was yesterday - and I cannot really make a short witty comment on it.
Closer to home, Eric says he wants to rediscover the extinct moa when he grows up, Stuart is going to be a travelling scientist with a briefcase full of equipment that opens up and a microscope comes out, Patrick played for the Pirates last w/e and played defensively, we even videoed it. Chantelle travelled North today and back along (0 mile beach so we had tua-tua fritters for tea.
Friday night comedy tv is on now so I'm off. Probably won't write next Friday as I am going to Auckland for a course and won't be back till late. Arrividerci.
Listening to http://www.95bfm.co.nz/default,live.sm over the internet as I write this. I think it an Auckland Uni based radio station. They do witty adverts and the music is to my liking.
It has been another tough week at the chalk-face. (Note to UK teaching colleagues: they still have blackboards with chalk here, I am learning the art of chalk drawing, and if the teaching goes wrong I'll be well on the way to a second ... third ... career as a pavement artist).
Tough because it is raining and we all know that the slightest variation in climate is enough to turn sensitive adolescents into raving banshees. Added to which I am fighting off a bug, checking out the NZ remedies. I have to say that the slight fever has added to my classroom banter. Made an analogy today to active transport and climbing sand-dunes whereas diffusion is like jumping off said sand dunes. Factor in that it is report writing time, have to write for 4 junior classes in what seems like rather a short interval, plus the expected crashes in report writing software, printers and human support, so expected as to be predictable. I am not stressing too much about it. Tell you what though, it is nice to be able to write more or less honestly on a blog rather than write ever so cautiously on a report. How do you report on a child who regularly disrupts your lessons and seems to have experienced a parenting bypass.
Other news: there have been major land slides in the Bay of plenty area after heavy rain, Dover Samuels came to our place today offereing lots of money to rebuild the tec block, The budget was yesterday - and I cannot really make a short witty comment on it.
Closer to home, Eric says he wants to rediscover the extinct moa when he grows up, Stuart is going to be a travelling scientist with a briefcase full of equipment that opens up and a microscope comes out, Patrick played for the Pirates last w/e and played defensively, we even videoed it. Chantelle travelled North today and back along (0 mile beach so we had tua-tua fritters for tea.
Friday night comedy tv is on now so I'm off. Probably won't write next Friday as I am going to Auckland for a course and won't be back till late. Arrividerci.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Friday 13th May
Just limped to the end of another week, first beer of the weekend has been cracked open and we are into the friday night wind-down. We have just been entertained by a school rugby match on the field in front of our house. Not entirely sure who was playing and what type of rugby it was, but it looked like our lot won.
I was supposed to be going away tonight to stay at a marae near Mangonui with my Te Reo course, but it was cancelled on Wednesday for some obscure bureaucratic reason. I was not too bothered as I was feeling very run down on Thursday and was not looking forward to sharing a mattress on a floor with lots of strangers. So I have yet to experience the joys of a "noho marae". The te reo course is going quite well at the moment. I recognise more of the words than I used to and felt like I was really learning something on Thursday night. Some nights I find it all going over my head. He aha tenei? He kihine tena! (What's this? Its the kitchen). Knowing a bit of Te reo comes in handy at school especially with some of the awkward pupils who try to pull the race card on me!
Chantelle is waiting for Uncle Nick to make contact as he is now in the country. The boys can't wait for him to show up as well, especially Eric!
It is now nit-combing time so I need to log off!
I was supposed to be going away tonight to stay at a marae near Mangonui with my Te Reo course, but it was cancelled on Wednesday for some obscure bureaucratic reason. I was not too bothered as I was feeling very run down on Thursday and was not looking forward to sharing a mattress on a floor with lots of strangers. So I have yet to experience the joys of a "noho marae". The te reo course is going quite well at the moment. I recognise more of the words than I used to and felt like I was really learning something on Thursday night. Some nights I find it all going over my head. He aha tenei? He kihine tena! (What's this? Its the kitchen). Knowing a bit of Te reo comes in handy at school especially with some of the awkward pupils who try to pull the race card on me!
Chantelle is waiting for Uncle Nick to make contact as he is now in the country. The boys can't wait for him to show up as well, especially Eric!
It is now nit-combing time so I need to log off!
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Our new home- to be
This is our new home. It's about 1.5kms outside Kaitaia. As you can see it has quite a bit of land.
What you cannot see is a lovely pond ,with it's own family of Pukeko on it.
We hope to move in sometime in late june, as there are tenants in there.
What you cannot see is a lovely pond ,with it's own family of Pukeko on it.
We hope to move in sometime in late june, as there are tenants in there.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Our Coromandel Holiday ...
…gets off to a slow start as we try to combine packing the car with transferring £lots into NZ$ not being entirely sure that the internet transfer will send it to the right account in the UK. I was being all blasé with Chantelle, saying we should leave it until we got back. She suggested we sort it before we went as we could lose all the money. I felt a cold sweat run down my back at the prospect and sent the boys out to the car again.
We had hoped to leave Kaitaia at 10 in order to clear Auckland by 3, but it didn’t work out like that. We got some sense of how far North we are as it took a good 2 hours to get to Whangarei over wooded mountains and through lightly populated farmland. We made the harbour bridge at about 3.30. Got over it and saw the Skytower again. Then we hit slow traffic, crawling along with sophisticated city drivers slowly south towards Bombay. We persuaded the driver to hit the burbs for a break and a stretch and a promised ice cream. We cleared Bombay at dusk and headed for Thames in the gloaming. There is an Autumnal feel to the sky down here, helped by the larger number of deciduous trees that are dropping their leaves.
Dickson’s Holiday Park was a few K’s along the coast from Thames. Friendly owner showed us our shed, a little caravan with a permanent ply board awning stuck on the side. Tiny 2 ring stove and 2 sockets for the whole shebang. Either I am getting soft in my middle age, or it was freezing and I was tired from the journey. We went back to Thames for a KFC and light and warmth before an early crash out. Fortunately we had brought the laptop with DVD’s to chill the boys into a pre-sleep torpor.
Friday
The forecast was best for today so we decided to do the most outdoorsy things we had on the itinery. Drove up over the mountains to the East coast to Hot Water Bay. Scenic drive through mountainous terrain with bendy roads that would keep Uncle Giorgio happy. Hot water beach was well worth the journey, a huge deserted beach apart from one spot where lots of folks were gathered. We had timed our arrival (showing an unusual degree of Bryan organisation) to coincide with the low tide. Hot water was seeping out of the sand and we were able to dig our own bath in the sand. Great fun especially when a friendly nearby family let us borrow their spade. Our bath grew in complexity until we had a lower deep pool that could be topped with hot water from a header pool. Gradually the tide came in and restored all the sand works to flat sand, beat that for ecotourism.
From there we went on to Cathedral cove. This involved a 30-minute walk from the car park through bush and down the hillside. Fantastic views out over green water studded with steep islands; giving the feeling that any moment a whale would jump out of the sea.
Stuart has had a nasty cough for the last 10 days and he did find the walk difficult. It really was worth the effort to get down to the steep sandstone lined cove. It made it more magical. The final descent was down a set of steep steps into a huge Puri (?) tree. When one walked through the branches out onto the sand … WOW! One of those places that it is impossible to capture in a picture.
Saturday
A bit cloudier today as forecast so we went to Thames so that the boys could spend their saved up pocket money and we could check out the market. There was the usual mix of second hand tat, veggies and crafty stuff. We sampled kiwi berries very tasty and got some decent apples (Kidd’s Orange) at last. Salami smoked over manuka and a charming bright picture of 2 pukekos for our new house. Patrick had not managed to source anything so we went to the other end of the retailing spectrum The Warehouse to buy Lego. The Warehouse for those UK readers who are not familiar is a bit like Wilkinsons, cheap and cheerful. Eric was throwing a wobbly cause he had managed to spend all his money before we went on holiday. We went a bit past our site to Te Tapu School. This was where some Lancaster friends had spent a year with their children. School right on the shore with a fantastic ship adventure playground.
In the afternoon we split up and Chantelle went on a goldmine tour with Master History (aka Eric) and Paddy, while I took the other one dripping nose and all in search of the Karaka bird hide. It was found pretty much next to the Warehouse car park and gave some protection from the elements and a view out over the estuary. There were several thousand pied oystercatchers and maybe 1000 pied stilts plus a couple of spur-winged plover but no other waders in view. This surprised me as Thames is reckoned to be one of the best over-wintering estuaries in NZ. They seem to have a lower species diversity than in UK but more of the species, so harriers are very common as are kingfishers. It is sad that the commonest passerines by far are all introduced, house sparrows, starling, blackbird and mynah. I have high hopes for our visit to the Miranda Naturalist’s Centre tomorrow.
Sunday 24th April
Ma and Pa slept badly last night what with high winds and rain combined with an uncomfortable bed, so we got up feeling a bit fragile.
Sold the boys a deal based on them going to the Miranda Hot Pools complex IF they co-operated at the bird place. They just about held it together. I was disappointed with Miranda. The centre was well laid out with some excellent displays showing how it fits into global migration. There was a good display of shells and some stuffed bird displays.
The wind was very strong on the estuary and as the tide was some way out the waders were thinly scattered. Would really need to be there at a high tide in the right place. Did get closish views of a couple of wrybills and a bar-tailed godwit. Later on we found a White heron hiding behind a bit of reed on a slack. It was a bit like a trip to Hest Bank on a low tide with unfavourable light and wind. The difference that conditions made there to viewing was considerable. Never mind, it is only 7 hours from home, so I might visit again!
The boys were less impressed and a minor revolt broke out when we decided that the Hot Springs were not worth it at $41 a family! It was cold out and the pools were out and we would have only been in there an hour so it didn’t seem worth it.
Mum made up for it by buying them a few gems each from the Gem shop in Ngatea. I am not a big fan normally but was impressed. They were further impressed by the trip on the model railway - even Eric!
Back at base camp we crashed out and caught up on sleep and then Eric and Paddy braved the outdoor pool. It’s amazing how much you can pack in on holiday when you don’t have housework and TV and telephones to eat up all the day! I haven’t even mentioned the walk up the valley where we went into an abandoned coal mine, or the epic game of Monopoly we played after tea that finished amicably.
Monday was our last day and we had a bit of a potter about. Went to see the butterfly house on site, very warm with some ace plants. Eric and chantelle hiked up the road to see the bloated possum.
We went out in the afternoon to see the square Kauri – huge but not square.
On Tuesday we drove home and it took us from 9am until 5pm! Coromandel looks quite close to Kaitaia and is about 450km away. We did stop in Auckland for about an hour trying to find Colin’s house to drop off a letter. And we sampled the dual delights of Whangarei and Subway (they have multi-storey buildings in Whangarei!; Subway has too much choice for children).
We had hoped to leave Kaitaia at 10 in order to clear Auckland by 3, but it didn’t work out like that. We got some sense of how far North we are as it took a good 2 hours to get to Whangarei over wooded mountains and through lightly populated farmland. We made the harbour bridge at about 3.30. Got over it and saw the Skytower again. Then we hit slow traffic, crawling along with sophisticated city drivers slowly south towards Bombay. We persuaded the driver to hit the burbs for a break and a stretch and a promised ice cream. We cleared Bombay at dusk and headed for Thames in the gloaming. There is an Autumnal feel to the sky down here, helped by the larger number of deciduous trees that are dropping their leaves.
Dickson’s Holiday Park was a few K’s along the coast from Thames. Friendly owner showed us our shed, a little caravan with a permanent ply board awning stuck on the side. Tiny 2 ring stove and 2 sockets for the whole shebang. Either I am getting soft in my middle age, or it was freezing and I was tired from the journey. We went back to Thames for a KFC and light and warmth before an early crash out. Fortunately we had brought the laptop with DVD’s to chill the boys into a pre-sleep torpor.
Friday
The forecast was best for today so we decided to do the most outdoorsy things we had on the itinery. Drove up over the mountains to the East coast to Hot Water Bay. Scenic drive through mountainous terrain with bendy roads that would keep Uncle Giorgio happy. Hot water beach was well worth the journey, a huge deserted beach apart from one spot where lots of folks were gathered. We had timed our arrival (showing an unusual degree of Bryan organisation) to coincide with the low tide. Hot water was seeping out of the sand and we were able to dig our own bath in the sand. Great fun especially when a friendly nearby family let us borrow their spade. Our bath grew in complexity until we had a lower deep pool that could be topped with hot water from a header pool. Gradually the tide came in and restored all the sand works to flat sand, beat that for ecotourism.
From there we went on to Cathedral cove. This involved a 30-minute walk from the car park through bush and down the hillside. Fantastic views out over green water studded with steep islands; giving the feeling that any moment a whale would jump out of the sea.
Stuart has had a nasty cough for the last 10 days and he did find the walk difficult. It really was worth the effort to get down to the steep sandstone lined cove. It made it more magical. The final descent was down a set of steep steps into a huge Puri (?) tree. When one walked through the branches out onto the sand … WOW! One of those places that it is impossible to capture in a picture.
Saturday
A bit cloudier today as forecast so we went to Thames so that the boys could spend their saved up pocket money and we could check out the market. There was the usual mix of second hand tat, veggies and crafty stuff. We sampled kiwi berries very tasty and got some decent apples (Kidd’s Orange) at last. Salami smoked over manuka and a charming bright picture of 2 pukekos for our new house. Patrick had not managed to source anything so we went to the other end of the retailing spectrum The Warehouse to buy Lego. The Warehouse for those UK readers who are not familiar is a bit like Wilkinsons, cheap and cheerful. Eric was throwing a wobbly cause he had managed to spend all his money before we went on holiday. We went a bit past our site to Te Tapu School. This was where some Lancaster friends had spent a year with their children. School right on the shore with a fantastic ship adventure playground.
In the afternoon we split up and Chantelle went on a goldmine tour with Master History (aka Eric) and Paddy, while I took the other one dripping nose and all in search of the Karaka bird hide. It was found pretty much next to the Warehouse car park and gave some protection from the elements and a view out over the estuary. There were several thousand pied oystercatchers and maybe 1000 pied stilts plus a couple of spur-winged plover but no other waders in view. This surprised me as Thames is reckoned to be one of the best over-wintering estuaries in NZ. They seem to have a lower species diversity than in UK but more of the species, so harriers are very common as are kingfishers. It is sad that the commonest passerines by far are all introduced, house sparrows, starling, blackbird and mynah. I have high hopes for our visit to the Miranda Naturalist’s Centre tomorrow.
Sunday 24th April
Ma and Pa slept badly last night what with high winds and rain combined with an uncomfortable bed, so we got up feeling a bit fragile.
Sold the boys a deal based on them going to the Miranda Hot Pools complex IF they co-operated at the bird place. They just about held it together. I was disappointed with Miranda. The centre was well laid out with some excellent displays showing how it fits into global migration. There was a good display of shells and some stuffed bird displays.
The wind was very strong on the estuary and as the tide was some way out the waders were thinly scattered. Would really need to be there at a high tide in the right place. Did get closish views of a couple of wrybills and a bar-tailed godwit. Later on we found a White heron hiding behind a bit of reed on a slack. It was a bit like a trip to Hest Bank on a low tide with unfavourable light and wind. The difference that conditions made there to viewing was considerable. Never mind, it is only 7 hours from home, so I might visit again!
The boys were less impressed and a minor revolt broke out when we decided that the Hot Springs were not worth it at $41 a family! It was cold out and the pools were out and we would have only been in there an hour so it didn’t seem worth it.
Mum made up for it by buying them a few gems each from the Gem shop in Ngatea. I am not a big fan normally but was impressed. They were further impressed by the trip on the model railway - even Eric!
Back at base camp we crashed out and caught up on sleep and then Eric and Paddy braved the outdoor pool. It’s amazing how much you can pack in on holiday when you don’t have housework and TV and telephones to eat up all the day! I haven’t even mentioned the walk up the valley where we went into an abandoned coal mine, or the epic game of Monopoly we played after tea that finished amicably.
Monday was our last day and we had a bit of a potter about. Went to see the butterfly house on site, very warm with some ace plants. Eric and chantelle hiked up the road to see the bloated possum.
We went out in the afternoon to see the square Kauri – huge but not square.
On Tuesday we drove home and it took us from 9am until 5pm! Coromandel looks quite close to Kaitaia and is about 450km away. We did stop in Auckland for about an hour trying to find Colin’s house to drop off a letter. And we sampled the dual delights of Whangarei and Subway (they have multi-storey buildings in Whangarei!; Subway has too much choice for children).
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Saturday, April 16, 2005
End of term ... at last!
Finished school yesterday for a much needed 2 week break. I was limping into the last week when there was a serious accident at school. The tech block blew up on Monday blew up putting the teacher and 6 pupils in hospital. 2 of the pupils were so badly injured that they were airlfted to Auckland from Whangarei. Fortunately no-one was killed, and they are all on the mend. The teacher involved came back to school on Friday to a round of applause in the staff room.
You can see a news report with video here http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-4288539,00.html
We were given some post disaster stress counselling on Friday and heard various members of staff reliving their various experiences of the event. That was very moving especially to hear the eyewitness account of a support worker who weighs about twice as much as me and to hear that he was thrown over a large table by the force of the blast.
So we are trying to have an uneventful weekend. Last weekend the main event was going netting on 90 Mile beach with Raewyn and Matthew. Who needs a gym when you can pull a net through the surf and catch a meal of flatfish at the same time. On our way home we pulled a car out of the sand minutes before it was swallowed by the waves. We went back and had tuatuas, flatties and chips. Watched a really crap video "White Chicks", can't reccommend it.
This weekend the two older ones are at the marae doing Kapa Haka. This has not been too successful recently as Eric has come home on Saturday. So this time we have been mean and abandoned them for the whole day. I will go and help with the breakfast tomorrow at 6 am and take them back when it finishes at 10 ish.
Making the most of our reduced child count we took paddy to town this am and had a look in the estate agents. Prices have rocketed here in the last year and our 3 acre dream is in danger of slipping out of reach. It is still a lot cheaper here than in Uk but getting more expensive as the world looks for a bargain. One estate agent told us that Ozzies buy up rental property in Kaitaia without even visiting and rent it out as an investment. We are going to look at a place on Monday.
In the arvo paddy and I went to check out Awanui Wharf, which is only about 10 km from us and I had been tipped off that there was a spoonbill colony. And there was - 119 of them roosting out the high tide in a Macrocarpa right next to the wharf. Beautiful birds ! There was also fishing there - 2 women with a car load of kids caught several trevally. I broke the rod in 2, Patrick lost a jandal (what a catastrophe!) and I caught nothing. But it was a fantastic view, sun strong but a nice breeze to keep cool. Not too busy and not deserted. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.
You can see a news report with video here http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-4288539,00.html
We were given some post disaster stress counselling on Friday and heard various members of staff reliving their various experiences of the event. That was very moving especially to hear the eyewitness account of a support worker who weighs about twice as much as me and to hear that he was thrown over a large table by the force of the blast.
So we are trying to have an uneventful weekend. Last weekend the main event was going netting on 90 Mile beach with Raewyn and Matthew. Who needs a gym when you can pull a net through the surf and catch a meal of flatfish at the same time. On our way home we pulled a car out of the sand minutes before it was swallowed by the waves. We went back and had tuatuas, flatties and chips. Watched a really crap video "White Chicks", can't reccommend it.
This weekend the two older ones are at the marae doing Kapa Haka. This has not been too successful recently as Eric has come home on Saturday. So this time we have been mean and abandoned them for the whole day. I will go and help with the breakfast tomorrow at 6 am and take them back when it finishes at 10 ish.
Making the most of our reduced child count we took paddy to town this am and had a look in the estate agents. Prices have rocketed here in the last year and our 3 acre dream is in danger of slipping out of reach. It is still a lot cheaper here than in Uk but getting more expensive as the world looks for a bargain. One estate agent told us that Ozzies buy up rental property in Kaitaia without even visiting and rent it out as an investment. We are going to look at a place on Monday.
In the arvo paddy and I went to check out Awanui Wharf, which is only about 10 km from us and I had been tipped off that there was a spoonbill colony. And there was - 119 of them roosting out the high tide in a Macrocarpa right next to the wharf. Beautiful birds ! There was also fishing there - 2 women with a car load of kids caught several trevally. I broke the rod in 2, Patrick lost a jandal (what a catastrophe!) and I caught nothing. But it was a fantastic view, sun strong but a nice breeze to keep cool. Not too busy and not deserted. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Saturday, March 26, 2005
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