Saturday, April 30, 2011
Abseiling photos
At last - I have managed to get some photos back up on Blogger.
The computer is a bit confused still about whether it is running Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla, but I got these pictures up by using trusty old IE!
More to follow.
The computer is a bit confused still about whether it is running Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla, but I got these pictures up by using trusty old IE!
More to follow.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Trouble with posting
Hi folks
Just a quick note to say that I have been having major problems putting pictures onto the blog over the last few weeks. The problem seems to be that everything changes so constantly that things that used to be compatible no longer are!
We have been trying out different ISPs having been told that Internet Explorer was majorly flawed and that we could have all our worldly savings stolen without us knowing by some computer Phisher. So we tried Mozilla. Then found that sites would not load properly and cookies were disabled. So tried Google Chrome and found that the pictures would not load onto blogger from Picasa. So went back to Mozilla and could not even get into Blogger!
Imagine oneself to be a 19th Century gentleman sitting at his desk writing a letter to his parents back in Mother England. He would have no idea what the writer was talking about in the paragraph above. It is a wonder that anything is compatible with anything else on the net.
Anyway I hae tried to load pictures of Stuart in front of his shed. I have tried several times to load pictures taken last weekend when we all escaped our routine and went to stay at a remote DOC hut down the east coast. We allhad ago at abseiling. Eric and Chantelle did a 100m abseil down a cliff called the Dukes nose. Just looking at the pictures gives me vertigo.
I will try again in the holiday. That kicks off at th end of this week, than goodness. We have two terms of 11 weeks this year to accommodate the world cup finals in Auckland in October. It has been a long slog this term and we are all looking forward to a break.
Just a quick note to say that I have been having major problems putting pictures onto the blog over the last few weeks. The problem seems to be that everything changes so constantly that things that used to be compatible no longer are!
We have been trying out different ISPs having been told that Internet Explorer was majorly flawed and that we could have all our worldly savings stolen without us knowing by some computer Phisher. So we tried Mozilla. Then found that sites would not load properly and cookies were disabled. So tried Google Chrome and found that the pictures would not load onto blogger from Picasa. So went back to Mozilla and could not even get into Blogger!
Imagine oneself to be a 19th Century gentleman sitting at his desk writing a letter to his parents back in Mother England. He would have no idea what the writer was talking about in the paragraph above. It is a wonder that anything is compatible with anything else on the net.
Anyway I hae tried to load pictures of Stuart in front of his shed. I have tried several times to load pictures taken last weekend when we all escaped our routine and went to stay at a remote DOC hut down the east coast. We allhad ago at abseiling. Eric and Chantelle did a 100m abseil down a cliff called the Dukes nose. Just looking at the pictures gives me vertigo.
I will try again in the holiday. That kicks off at th end of this week, than goodness. We have two terms of 11 weeks this year to accommodate the world cup finals in Auckland in October. It has been a long slog this term and we are all looking forward to a break.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
New car
Here is the car that we bought in Auckland the other week. It is a Nissan Pressage, it seats 7 and drives very comfortably and quietly.
Its fuel economy is better than the Toyota Estima that we traded in for it.
It has a flash dashboard, a weird key that has chip in it so you just have to have the card on you for it to start. The "hand" brake is operated by a foot pedal.
It has pretty low clearance, so we have to be careful on some of the more rustic roads, but apart from that we are pretty happy with it.
Its fuel economy is better than the Toyota Estima that we traded in for it.
It has a flash dashboard, a weird key that has chip in it so you just have to have the card on you for it to start. The "hand" brake is operated by a foot pedal.
It has pretty low clearance, so we have to be careful on some of the more rustic roads, but apart from that we are pretty happy with it.
The Shed
Stuart built a shed with his Granddad over the summer. He has well and truly moved in now and so here are some pictures of the finished product. He has called his enterprise "Sinalfx" and has even made a website to show some of his creations.
You can view it here:http://sinalfx.webs.com/
As you can see, Stuart's shed looks a little chaotic, but that is just an illusion. I borrowed tools from it last night and put them back later on. Apparently I had returned them to the wrong places!
You can view it here:http://sinalfx.webs.com/
As you can see, Stuart's shed looks a little chaotic, but that is just an illusion. I borrowed tools from it last night and put them back later on. Apparently I had returned them to the wrong places!
Friday, March 04, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Eye Eye!
Just a quick update for those of you who are curious and who do not lurk on FB.
Went to see Dr Watt on Monday at the eye clinic. He gave me the all clear for surgery to have the lens put in. He asked if I had received an appointment and on finding that I had not said that he would see what he could do.
I received a phone call the next day asking me to come in on Friday. This time we did not have to stay overnight and as I was on the afternoon list, I did not need to forgo breakfast.
I had a biometry from Liz to see what sort of lens would work best. Contrary to popular knowledge they have artificial lenses now made out of plastic. Apparently this can be placed in its usual place behind the iris or in front of it. When I was waiting to go into theatre, Dr Watt had still not decided what type to insert.
I was knocked out with a GA and came round a few hours later. My eye was looking pretty angry and I had the usual cocktail of drugs to take. We went home before Dr Watt did his rounds as we had left Stuart with a friend having 2 molars removed. He is being fitted with braces.
I was pretty woozy last night and my legs were wobbly, but coming right today. Starting to get some focus in the affected eye.
I am going back to the clinic on Monday and will find out what Dr Watt did. Overall though I have been very impressed with my latest brush with the health system. Once you get over the 2 1/2 hour journey to the main hospital, the service is very prompt and friendly. There were signs that the surgical unit was working at capacity and they have been instructed to reduce waiting lists. There was none of the chaos and stress that we used to see in the various UK hospitals that we used to visit.
In the meantime Stuart's mouth is a bit sore but he was eating pizza tonight and has kept his mind of pain by making little stoves out of tin cans.
Went to see Dr Watt on Monday at the eye clinic. He gave me the all clear for surgery to have the lens put in. He asked if I had received an appointment and on finding that I had not said that he would see what he could do.
I received a phone call the next day asking me to come in on Friday. This time we did not have to stay overnight and as I was on the afternoon list, I did not need to forgo breakfast.
I had a biometry from Liz to see what sort of lens would work best. Contrary to popular knowledge they have artificial lenses now made out of plastic. Apparently this can be placed in its usual place behind the iris or in front of it. When I was waiting to go into theatre, Dr Watt had still not decided what type to insert.
I was knocked out with a GA and came round a few hours later. My eye was looking pretty angry and I had the usual cocktail of drugs to take. We went home before Dr Watt did his rounds as we had left Stuart with a friend having 2 molars removed. He is being fitted with braces.
I was pretty woozy last night and my legs were wobbly, but coming right today. Starting to get some focus in the affected eye.
I am going back to the clinic on Monday and will find out what Dr Watt did. Overall though I have been very impressed with my latest brush with the health system. Once you get over the 2 1/2 hour journey to the main hospital, the service is very prompt and friendly. There were signs that the surgical unit was working at capacity and they have been instructed to reduce waiting lists. There was none of the chaos and stress that we used to see in the various UK hospitals that we used to visit.
In the meantime Stuart's mouth is a bit sore but he was eating pizza tonight and has kept his mind of pain by making little stoves out of tin cans.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Catching a ray
The following 5 or 6 posts all relate to our holiday on Moturoa Island.
This was our third stay and we had a good time again this year.
Took 140 odd pics and videos and whilst they all have some merit there is not room to show them all. So there is a selection of diverse photos below. This post shows the fighting of a large stingray on one of our nights of fishing. These stingrays are good fighters and in the past we have been bust off by them after they have done a run. This one was played for 10-15 minutes and landed on the beach before being cut free. They do not make good eating imho.
This was our third stay and we had a good time again this year.
Took 140 odd pics and videos and whilst they all have some merit there is not room to show them all. So there is a selection of diverse photos below. This post shows the fighting of a large stingray on one of our nights of fishing. These stingrays are good fighters and in the past we have been bust off by them after they have done a run. This one was played for 10-15 minutes and landed on the beach before being cut free. They do not make good eating imho.
Fishing at dusk
We did not clock how many hours fishing effort went in this year but there were 7 of us and we all had at least one go. The catch was small considering the effort. Most of the fish caught on lines were snapper and most of those were between 20 and 27 cm long putting them below the legal limit for keeping. We did catch enough on the first full day to have a fish supper. Chantelle caught the biggest and only kahawai that was about 2-3kg. I caught the biggest snapper which was 34cm.
We had some good (ka)yak sessions and all the boys went out for a paddle. The conditions were pretty rough on 2 of the 5 days as the remanants of 2 cyclones passed through. So we did not get to paddle all way around the island. We did get to go right across the Kent passage to land on the other side (Patrick), to visit a gannet work-up where the fishing was disappointing, but Stuart demonstrated that a rod is not needed. He caught a keeper snapper on a piece of wood and a line. Eric and I saw a beautiful dawn and fished a tern work-up where the fish were splashing all about us but nothing would take our baits. Chantelle and I did a few paddles into the passage. We found that Kent's Passage was the most consistent place to hook fish, but there just did not seem to be any large fish.
We had some good (ka)yak sessions and all the boys went out for a paddle. The conditions were pretty rough on 2 of the 5 days as the remanants of 2 cyclones passed through. So we did not get to paddle all way around the island. We did get to go right across the Kent passage to land on the other side (Patrick), to visit a gannet work-up where the fishing was disappointing, but Stuart demonstrated that a rod is not needed. He caught a keeper snapper on a piece of wood and a line. Eric and I saw a beautiful dawn and fished a tern work-up where the fish were splashing all about us but nothing would take our baits. Chantelle and I did a few paddles into the passage. We found that Kent's Passage was the most consistent place to hook fish, but there just did not seem to be any large fish.
In the bush
Did a couple of bush walks and had a good look at the trees and plants. I was lucky to get good views of a morepork that landed in a nearby tree. There was also a NI Robin in its usual place. I took loads of photos of trees and their barks as I am trying to build up my id skills. Eucalyptus is an ozzy import that is of dubious ecological value over here, but its bark is very pretty.
Plasma TV widescreen views
One thing I like about going to Moyuroa is that the tv reception is crappy at the best of times. this year it was even worse because someone had run over the aerial cable with a hoover severing it into 2. It did seem possible to get some TV3 reception, but we kept missing the news and did not watch any TV. The radio reception was not brill either and the news was depressing when I did remember to tune in. The sofas mostly all faced the view out of the main sitting room window. Stuart referred to it as the plasma screen. We noticed that the programming was a bit dark after 9pm, but we went to bed pretty early and did not feel too cheated. With the constantly changing weather and tides going in and out, not to mention the comings and goings of rails, dotterels, terns, gannets etc, it was like watching Animal Planet live.
We all read lots of books and it was amazing to see all 3 boys immersed in books for hours on end.
We all read lots of books and it was amazing to see all 3 boys immersed in books for hours on end.
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