Queen's Birthday Weekend

Last w/e was ace!

For starters we had 3 days off cos Monday was a Bank Holiday - Queen's Birthday. God Bless Old Liz!

The weather was pretty kind. A bit cloudy on Saturday but the predicted storm mostly missed us.

Soccer was a bit of a disappointment as Paddy's team lost 1-0 to Pukenui. They are reckoned to be one of the better teams, so the score was not too bad. Paddy actually finished the game injured with a stud mark on his ankle but he soon recovered.

In the afternoon Eric and I went up to Kaimaumau for a Science Fair field trip. We had a couple of lads from the college and quite a few teachers with their children. we were having a look at what lived in the sand in the Rangaunu harbour. This is an important site for bar-tailed godwit (kuaka). We were joined by Kevin Matthews, who was able to add a load of extra knowledge to the trip. We found lots of interesting organisms in the sand and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing what they could find.

We spent Sunday doing church stuff and chilling out.

Monday we decided to do something nice as a family as we haven't been out together for a while. Chan wanted to show us a fishing spot that Rissy had shown her. It was a good walk from where we parked the car, over a swampy stream and then along a long beach. The forecast was for heavy showers, but again we were lucky. And was it worth it? A beatiful place, that has restored my faith in the East coast as a coast worth visiting. Also it was nice to catch some fish after nearly a year of poor fishing experiences. At last they were taking my bait. We took home 4 good sized kahawai and put afew smaller ones back. Eric and Stuart got to hook into one each and feel how strongly they fight. So on top of a healthy walk we got to eat lovely fresh fish for our tea. It was a great afternoon and reminded me of why we live here and how good life can be when you take time out to do something special.

Autumn Sunshine

We have enjoyed a week of sunshine, with the days starting off clear and cold and ending up warm and clear. We lit the fire for the first time yesterday and it kept the front room all toasty.

We are all getting over our viruses and school has been a lot less busy for me this week as the seniors all go on exam leave. It is great to have a bit of respite to catch up on ... sleep, being normal and 1001 delayed jobs.

Last weekend really was unpleasant and the blog entry was written whilst being virally challenged. We had committed to killing and spit roasting a sheep for a Salvation Army band meal on Saturday night. It was a bit of a mare getting the job done, but with a lot of help from friends we managed it.

Just back from a good soccer game. Pamapuria 2 beat Kaingaroa 4-2. The opposition had no reserves and played a good passing game. But Pamapuria could rest their players with 4 reserves and even started to pass to each other at some points in the game. Paddy scored 2, with the second in the last minute of the match.

The pictures shoud be mostly self explanatory!

The cool looking dude with the shades is Stuart!

The jet landed at Kaitaia Airport a few weeks back and the 2 resident plane-spotters were up at the airport to look at it in minutes! (I am a birder and I married a plane-spotter - better than a bus-spotter I suppose!)

The sheep need a shear. The one eating out of Chantelle's hand is Ginny, very tame and staying on our maternity block.

And the team is most of Pamapuria 2, taken on the day the were thrashed by Eastern. The coach deserves a medal for his patience. I would find it hard to remain good-humoured and to strike his balance of taking the game seriously, so that the kids have a chance of winning, but also keeping it fun.

Finally Stuart again in his go cart. Currently stationary as the wheels are not attached to the shell, but one day .... it might get finished.

Autumn Viruses

We are all currently in various stages of attack by viruses. Stuart and Patrick were off school with it earlier in the week. Chantelle and I have been hammered this weekend and Eric seems to be starting with it now. It gives you a headache, saps your energy and amches your neck and shoulders ache.
Not very pleasant at all, and kind of irritating when there is always so much to do. But in the interests of remaining positive and finding a silver lining in every cloud, perhaps there is something to be said for being laid low by a virus. Maybe it is because we are so busy that we need to be forced to stop evry once in a while. I have always found those tv ads where some thrusting executive carries on meeting the deadlines by popping a potion, even though he has flu, to be disturbing. I wonder whether we are more likely to just pack up if we keep forcing ourselves to go on when our bodies are telling us to stop. Not that I have not been taking Lemsip and Paracetamol to keep going last week until I gave up on Thursday night.

What else have we been up to?
Mostly just the day to day stuff and not very exciting.
Patrick has had a couple of good soccer games. Pamapuria 2 surprised the pundits by beating Ahipara 3-2. Don't ask me how, they carried on with their pack tactics where every player tackles any other player, including their own team and hoofs it in the general direction of the goal. This tactic overcame Ahipara's careful spread out passing play.
They got a wake up call last week when they were thrashed 6-0 by Eastern. Shame really as it was the first match that Chantelle had come along to this season. At the end of the day, the kids all seem to enjoy playing and they are getting better slowly.

Animals are all doing well, the ducklings are getting bigger. Chucks seem to like their new coop. Rock looked like he had been attacked perhaps by a rat and was blind in one eye. He is a bit crankier but otherwise recovered. We acquired 2 new sheep this week. One was only on our land for a few days and is now feeding the Salvation Army Band in town. the other is staying to (hopefully) lamb and then might end up on a spit later on.

I can't think of any other exciting news. My brain is like mush so it might come back to me. Haven't taken many photos recently either.

Pictures

Friday Night Update

We went back to school Monday and so tonight are all collapsing in a heap.
The holiday was just too much fun and just too relaxing, so it will take a few weeks to get back up to speed.
Margaret and Ian went back to the UK 2 weeks ago now and it seems like ages. We spent the last week pottering about, doing farm jobs such as making a new chicken coop in the veggie garden. We also culled 5 of the older hens to keep the numbers down over winter so that we are not feeding old hens that will not lay in the Spring. We also culled out 3 shavers so that our flock becomes a mix of bantam and barred rock. We like the characteristics of these breeds the best out of all the breeds that we have experience of so far.
We also did the Kaitaia Walkway as far as the lookout post! Those of you who pay attention to this blog will know that this is our third attempt at this bush walk. The first two times, we gave up before reaching the post because the track became too overgrown. Last week, we found a team of workers from DOC who were repairing a bridge over a washed out section of path. They had also cut down the regrowth and we were able to reach the look-out in less than an hour. It was nice for Chantelle and I to be behind the boys as they charged on ahead. Back in the old days we would be coaxing them along on walks and waiting for them to catch up. Now the boys are waiting for us. It was even better that Eric expressed an interest in coming back to do the full walk over to Digger's Valley. I think I would want to go prepared for that though as looking at the route on Google Earth, we would be going through a huge section of forest miles from any roads. I still haven't got used to the remoteness and wildness of this country.
We had a day trip up north on the last friday. It was a good combination of fishing and fun. Chantelle caught 2 good sized kahawai at Paua wharf and the boys watched 3 other fellas trying to hook one of the kingfish that was cruising underneath it. Then we went for a sand dune surf at Te Paki. A great place to build up strong calve muscles. We carried on to the wharf at Te Hapua to look at wader food in the sand and then finished with a mammoth ice-cream at Te Kao store.

This week was punctuated by Anzac day on Wednesday. It is a public holiday over here, taken to honour the war dead from the Gallipoli campaign in the first world war. Last year I went to the late morning service with my folks. This year I went to the dawn parade. Eric and Stuart both asked to go and got themselves out of bed at 5.30am. I was impressed by their enthusiasm and also by the number of other children there. It is a recent phenomenon in New Zealand that more and more young people are going to Anzac day parades. Captain Doug from the Salvation Army puts it down to young people's quest for justice in the world.

That will do for an update now. I might try and post some pictures as evidence of some of the activities described above.

Arrival of Ian and Margaret

Grandma and Granddad Cambridge have now been her for nearly 2 weeks. The boys are enjoying being spoilt. Eric is now so comfortable that he thinks he can get away with doing rabbit fingers behind Grandma's head! Foolish boy.

We have been doing all the usual Easter things. Went to the Saturday market today - very busy. Eating lots, drinking moderate amounts and generally kicking back and enjoying the start of the Easter holidays.

We went down to Ahipara with Don and Ivy to get Tuatuas last night. So we had a good feed of fritters tonight. The weather has been very kind since school finished, but there was very heavy rain last week. Indeed our visitors had to abandon planned trips to Whangarei and Kerikeri because of flooding.

Farm news: the fields are growing well after their cut and the later rain. There is plenty of grass for the stock to eat. We have been all on "Shag alert" watching to see if Skippy will do his manly business with the 4 girls who are in his presence. We have seen a fair amount of bottom sniffing and even a bit of kissing, but not the actual event. We are fairly hopeful that this year we will get some lambs. Our neighbours Don and Ivy have had their ewe, Ginny, over with Skippy in the hope that he will give her lambs. She went back to their today. Handling her and No14 who is another large white sheep, reminds me how awkward sheep can be. I am determined to go down the Pitt Island route as they are smaller easier to handle and are better looking. The disadvantage is that they don't have as much meat on them, but in the round I am pro this breed. I had better dig out some pics so you can see how cute they are.

I have also included a picture of the veggie garden, showing the application of beautiful rich chicken manure straw to a bed that will be used to grow potatoes next year. I might be odd, but I get a massive kick out of applying such gorgeous stuff to the ground and then seeing the sickly thick clay break down into a beatiful humus rich tilth.

Nearly the holidays

Some pics of our fishing trip last weekend, Shania the goat having a cuddle, Dippy the ewe waiting for her manicure, and the latest addition to the menagerie 7 muscovvy ducklings.
We are all a bit stuffed here so I will say no more at the moment.

St Patrick's Day

Today is apparently St Paddy's day. It is the day that Chantelle and I renewed our wedding vows back in Lancaster _ years ago, so is our seconfd wedding Anniversary.
We celebrated by getting a baby-sitter and going fishing at Maitai Bay at the end of the Karikari Peninsular. Very beautiful location and a lovely peaceful evening. We had some bites and both hooked into small fish. It did not really matter.

School continues through gales and waves of illness. If you are interested in some of the writings of my pupils have a look at www.caniusethetoilet.blogspot.com . I take a small Language class and encourage the folk to read and write. This is their blog about the things that have been happening to them. I am looking to increase the hit counter especially with overseas hits so that the little map at the bottom has some hits from around the world. Tell your aunties and uncles in Khazakstan and Chile!

Not a huge amount of news at the moment, we are too busy getting used to being on the school treadmill again. It takes some getting used to as I might have already mentioned.

Farm news: we are watching Skippy the ram closely to see if he is doing his business with his 4 ewefriends. Our 3 have been joined by Don's from down the road. He has a Border Leicester and is anxious that she becomes pregnant. The owners of the flock from which we bought Skippy et al told us that the Pitt Island rams can mate with larger sheep, but they are a lot smaller and it would be good to see it happening.

Chickens are all well, not laying much as we head into Autumn. we have 9 chicks at the mo and are going to do some culling of adults before we go into winter to ensure that we keep only the best hens. Patrick tells me that he found a duck sat on eggs this afternoon, so we might yet get some ducklings before winter.

The veggy garden is starting to go over. It has been a much better year than last with good crops of beans, courgette, potato and pumpkins. I have had some good cherry tomatoes and lettuce in the top garden. There is one aubergine that is swelling up, but we will save the picking until Margaret and Ian arrive in a weeks time. I have developed a system for expanding the beds with minimal effort. It involves sheet mulching the kikyu grass - like couch grass on steroids- witha thick later of chicken manure and straw, then cardboard then topped grass on the top. I will plant gross feeders like pumpkins on top, then dig it over after a seaon, by which time the soil should be workable and suitable for a potato crop.

The big family news apart from the imminent arrival of the in-laws (and associated stepping up of cleaning duties!) is our trip to the uk planned for Christmas this year. we booked the tickets today, so our plans have taken a big step forward. We are having to cut back on our spending, but that has its compensations. The boys have cut their weekly pocket money from $5 to $1 and as they understand the reason, they are not too bothered about it. So look out UK we are coming back!

The A&P Show

We went to the show and had a good nosey round. The boys spent lots of money on the sideshows and we mosied round the food stands. My personal favourite was the chainsaw carving - WEEEEAWWWWWWEEEAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!! The sort of spectacle where you either need to deaf to watch it for long or be wearing earmuffs. There did not seem to be the same amount of trouble as usual so the alcohol ban must have worked.

We had a visit from Don and his powerful tractor and mulcher on Monday. For the first time since moving here we can walk across our paddocks in a straight line without have to walk round large stands of thick grass. It took him 2 hours to tame the wilderness and we hope that the sheep will be able to keep on top of it in future.

The last picture is not of Patrick asking for more food, but of our Friday night tea, rustled up almost entirely out of home-grown ingredients: omellette topped with spinach (and cheese), potato salad (and mayo) and a tomato salad with basil dressing. Yum yum!

Bak 2 skool

Well we have been back at school for a couple of weeks and for the first Friday night since then I am not so knackered that I just need to crash out as early as possible. A blog update is called for.
Putting up holiday photos has taken ages, so we have a few weeks of holiday and then the last few weeks of school to report back on.
We have some photos of various events that may or may not be posted up.
We had a good 3 weeks between coming back from holiday and starting back at school. We held a "Bak To Skool" party on the last Sunday for friends, colleagues and neighbours. A big part of this was killing 2 more sheep. We despatched tagless - an awkward ewe who we decided we did not want in our breeding flock. She was expertly(?) butchered by us this time and went from running animal to pieces in the freezer in the space of 3 hours. Now that we are eating her bit by bit, I realise that the art of butchery needs practise to master. Our technique of hacking up carcase into chunks was mostly successful, but overuse of the meat cleaver instead of careful knife use to cut up at joints results in chippings of bone in the meat that end up breaking our teeth. (Revenge of the tagless!)
A week later Ewe 14 went the same way, but she was hung overnight in the toolshed to set and then we chopped her into 2 at the waist on Sunday morning and spit roasted her. She took about 6 hours to cook but went down very well feeding about 35 adults and numerous kids.

School started as a rude shock to all our systems. I know I will get no sympathy from readers who work regular hours with 4 weeks holiday a year, but teaching is the most intense job I have ever done. Today I fronted up to 5 classes of kids of varying levels of interest, compliance and ability. I did a morning duty and took care of a house group of 20 pupils in the morning and afternoon. I stayed after school for 11/2 hours more to put things straight, but I will have to spend a few hours on Sunday back at school preparing for next week's lessons and marking homework collected today. The contrast between being in full flow as a teacher and being in full chilled out mode on holiday is massive. It takes several weeks to relax to the point where I do not think about teaching every 1/2 hour. So it takes a while to crank the old body up to required manic pitch. Nuff said!

Other news: We have 5 little chicks down the bottom, barred rock types. Another 2 hens are sat on 14 eggs between them. I am trying to rationalise the hens because we had an overproduction of eggs this year and were giving away far more than we were eating ourselves. Big project at the mo is to create a fenced paddock on the hill leading up to the race so that we can push the sheep into there and then get them into the race more easily. That is the theory anyway. We went down to Don and Ivy's tonight to help them catch a ewe that needed drenching and then bringing up to ours to get familiar with our ram. She went round the paddock evading our efforts to catch her then she decided to try and squueze through the wire fence. That made her easy to catch as her head was caught. I wish that ours were as easy to catch!

Human news: Chantelle is back at work having fun with her little people. She is getting into sewing stuff and has been knocking out some good stuff. Eric is getting used to his new school. Patrick and Stuey are still going out to Pamapuria on the bus.

Local news: The A&P show is on tonight and tomorrow. It is a big local event. Agriculture and Produce is what A&P stands for. Tonight is when the teenagers all go and get pissed and have big pitched battles. It was pretty bad last year so the police have declared it alcohol free this year. My kids at school were getting amped up for it this afternoon. School could not finish too soon. We will trot along tomorrow when the carnage has finished and look at the cows and sheep and the rides and tractors and stuff. If you are lucky there might be a report on here with pics.
LaterG as they say in these parts.

More pics

Still on holiday - but not for long!

And then we broke down

Here we are again! First pic shows us at the camp hut at Lake Ohau. Probably the most uneasy night's sleep of the holiday (even more uneasy than with the cars crashing into the tent at Blenheim and the earthquakes at Wellington!) . There was a strong wind blowing into the hut in gusts. Plus a constant barrage of suicide sandflies attacking any exposed skin. We lit a fire and all camped on the floor. I was happy to get up at first light and to climb up the hill by the hut into the meadows. Apart from the stunning views (pic 2) and alpine flowers, I found several riflemen in the beechwoods.

We headed further south towards Wanaka and climbed over the Lindis Pass. This was too much for poor Daisy (the van), who leaked coffe coloured liquid from her innards when we stopped at a little settlement to refuel. After a short period of engine inspection we decided that the liquid was the radiator fluid and that we needed AA assistance. 2 hours later we were still waiting. patrick amused himself by making plaster casts for his legs. Stuart amused himself and others by doing a magic show round the tables of the cafe. Daisy was hoisted onto the towaway truck and taken off to Wanaka. Stuart had his first experience of hitching as there was not enough room in the truck for all of us. The mechanic at Wanaka diagnosed a rusty radiator and faulty fan and suggested that we replace it all. We took our chances with his repair and headed west into the hills hit the Coast.

For the next thrilling instalment tune in again in a few days .....
In the old days people used to bore each other by inviting their friends round to look at their holiday snaps, which would arrive 2 weeks after the holiday had finished. It makes me feel old to remember doing that. Nowadays we can edit our pictures immediately after taking them, deleting the mistakes and blurry ones. we can take video and share it with the world the minute we get access to our computer. WOW! What will be doing in another 20 years time. Going on virtual holidays with each other. Instead of suffering all the inconvenience of actually going to South Island and the tedious journey involved getting there, we will go on a virtual holiday. Load the program, sit in a special chair, stick on a few touch pads and goggles. We will be transported to wherever we want, complete with sight, sound, smells, movement and tastes. The adventurous will be able to virtually bungee jump, or experience minor or major setbacks to their holiday so that they have something to share with their friends e.g. getting robbed at gunpoint or having food poisoning. You could go on holiday with anyone you wanted and have chats round the camp-fire with .... Jesus, Hitler, the Pope, David Beckham (yawn) , Richard Dawkins ... wow! I bags this idea in case anyone from Microsoft is reading this blog "Virtual Holidays Company" CR 2007 Mike Bryan

The Southern Alps

Some more pictures from our holiday. It is retreating rapidly into the past as Summer grills on. Here we have Stuart with a fish that he did not catch on New Brighton Pier. He was modelling it for the fisherman! Then you see the road that leads from Christchurch to the Southern Alps. Snow covered even in high Summer. Check out the beatiful lupins that line the road for mile after mile. And all the tourist buses coming the other way. The 3rd pic shows the campsite near Lake Ohau where we spent one night. It was my personal favourite because we were in the midst of such fantastic scenery. I had a dawn walk up the hillside and got to see my first ever Riflemen. These are the smallest NZ birds and are similar to a goldcrest in the UK.
The 4th pic shows paddy bringing his gear over to camp. We were surrounded by sandflies which were a bit of a minus (to put it mildly). Paddy did not complain !
Finally Stuart (again! - he manages to worm his way into most of our pictures) shows us Aoraki (Mount Cook) in the distance over an impossibly glacier coloured Lake Pukaki. Just a few days 2 japanes climbers were killed trying to climb this mountain.

Stunning comet.

If you go to the link provided ,you will be able to see what the buzz over here in NZ is at the moment.
This stunning comet really does look this good ,with the naked eye. it's so long and clear ,when you wathc it you can almost see it move.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10420247

More on the holiday

We have switched to the Google version of Blogger and I hope this post works out OK. A week ago today we were still driving in the dusk towards Okahune having left the campsite on South Island in the morning and caught the ferry across to Wellington. It feels like more than a week, mind you the camping gear that is strewn all over the house waiting to be put away is a constant reminder that we have not long since returned.

These 5 pictures find us pushing South into new territory, down the wild Kaikoura coast where there were lots of campsites squashed in between the huge hills and the wild crashing sea. Perhaps it is not always wild there, but I would not fancy spending 2 weeks being buffeted around. We made it to Christchurch to a very pleasant and surprisingly quiet campsite in South New BRighton. It was only 20 minutes from the city centre as we discovered when Paddy split his head open in the playground that first night and we had to go to the 24hr doctors in the city centre. Fortunately he just needed some glue. His brothers were most impressed by the plasma tv in reception - where people often have to wait for several hours to be seen - which had just started showing LOTR as we sat down! They were disappointed that Patrick was seen to within 15 minutes. Very efficient friendly clean and all for $45 .

The next day we went back to the cente to spend lots of money, to await the opening of the UK shop (which didn't) , to enjoy the range of shops - second hand books, magic shop, sushi etc. We enjoyed the buskers in Cathedral square and the giant chess was very dramatic too.

The first picture is of me fishing. I am having a very poor run of fishing at the moment, having notched up some 16 hours of fishing in about 10 different places using a variety of techniques, baits times without catching anything big enough to eat. The picture shows me trying at Blenheim, but I also tried Brighton Pier, Okarito Lagoon and today we went back to Tokerau Beach. The water has warmed up and I have been hearing other people talk about catching fish around the place so I was mildly optimistic. Instead the sea was full of red seaweed that clung to the line and bait and made it impossible to fish. Perhaps I should see how long I can go without catching anything even though I am trying my hardest.

To add insult to injury Eric took my swimmers having decided that he did actually want to have a swim and then he left all the towels next to my fishing bag, just before a large wave came in and swept everything up the beach. I have to say that I was in quite a bad mood after that! Trying to salvage something I spent 20 minutes untangling the stunt kite that Uncle Nick and Aunty Kala (spelling dodgy?) had bought for Stuart many moons ago. We figured out how to build it and it was ace, ducking and diving in the strong wind with its 20 foot long tail. All the boys had a go and Eric was the best at keeping it aloft. It was nice to do something that they all enjoyed and made up for the other disappointments.