Paddy's Birthday

 

 

It was Paddy's 11th birthday last weekend and he had 3 friends round for a sleep over. Lots of fun was had as one of them brough a Wii with him. Guess what he wants to buy with his birthday money? The blurry photo represents the speed of movement as they chased around. I think that some of them got some sleep between 1am and 6 when they woke up looking for birthday presents and more sugar.

The other pic shows the 3rd round of the Northland Secondary School Chess Tournament. This was organised by moi and held in Kaitaia College library on Wed June 16th. We managed to lur 4 other schools to come and play, no mean feat as some of them travelled over 2 hours to get here. Normally Kaitaia has to travel south to play in tournaments as the schools in Whangarei are not keen to travel. The chess teams did. We drew with the closest competition, the prestigious Whangarei Boys High School and won the tournament by 1 match point. Quite a relief. Now we qualify for the Nationals in Christchurch in september. Fundraising is in full swing.

I suspect that the schools will train harder for next year's event and we might have a harder fight on our hands.

Back at home plus the rabbit

 

 

 

Lake Ngatu Fun

 

 

 

 

Queens Birthday fishing trip

 

 

 

Last w/e was a long one and were we ready for it!
The forecast was shocking with high winds and heavy rain due in on saturday afternoon. So Chantelle and I decided to get up early and go fishing. My sources told me that the fishing kicks off just before the storm hits as the fish sense the impending weather and feed up. It certainly kicked off for us. We got to our place just as the sky was lightening - before 7am. On my first cast I caught an octopus. Chantelle caught big kahawai with every cast. They were about 2kg each. She also caught a good size rock snapper. I got a few but it was definitely Chantelle's day. We stopped fishing after a couple of hours because we had caught enough!
The rest of the day was spent gutting, scaling, filleting and distributing the catch amongst friends and neighbours. The weather also turned as bad as predicted but we had gotten ourselves out and did not mind to much. We had battered snapper and kahawai for tea with roastie potatoes and kumura.

On Sunday the fun continued. Took the boys up to Lake Ngatu. Paddy even went for a swim but the others were not so brave (or crazy). They found a bit of pipe and made a skipping pipe with it. Tricky to get a shot of them in the air. I went looking for Kuta grass - it is a reed that is harvested and woven into waterproof blankets and other garments. We carried on down to the beach to see how much the surf was pumping. It was good to see some pingao growing in the dunes. It is becoming rarer in these parts. We are growing some in the horticulture class at College and when it is much older I would like to plant it back on the dunes.

On the Bank Holiday Monday, the poor weather continued. The boys were happy to potter around. We had a toasty fire going. Stuart stayed at Nathan's house and together thay ran down a wild turkey in a swamp. That is not something I saw him doing 5 years ago! He cooked it for tea tonight and has carved the meat off to take on another hunt tomorrow.

I got some peace by going for a walk around the block. I went through the Matthews Mission Bush up the valley and then came back through neigbour Geoff's place. I got some great new perspectives on our place as his fields are over the stream from ours. Took a few pics of the wilderness that we call home.

The tree planting continues. Our place will change rapidly as they get bigger and shade out the grass.

The forest is started

 

 

 

 

Too the camera for a walk round last weekend. saturday was squally showers, but Sunday was a stonker. Calm and sunny.
We harvested kumura on Saturday, Se the pic below. The largest individual tuber had a mass of 1200g! Monsters. We have been enjoying lots of kumura soup.
The interesting structure is Stuarts "shed". He is laerning hands on about building on hills, the cost of materials and how to complete work. Dad can talk .. I spent a good bit of time working on our new outside toilet. Not quite finished.

The fields have grown a good crop of hay this year. It rots into good soil, or can be cut and thrown into the chickens where it makes awesome black compost.

At the front of the house we are growing some trees up to soften the view of our neighbours who have constructed a huge mound on their front lawn. We call it Mount Taranaki! I wonder what they nick-name our overgrown garden?

We have been busy as this week. Seniors on exam leave and we are all fighting off autumn bugs with varying degrees of success. Mists in the morning and cold starts give way to clear warm days. It ended up being 18C here today, after a chilly start.

I shall endeavour to take some human pictures this week in case you think I have done away with the family.

Shocking to hear all about the Cumbrian shotgun murders. I went walking in that area many moons ago. Just goes to show that beneath the surface lurks all sorts of angst. I was moved to see the Guardian pictures of bodies all over covered with blankets. The police have a horrible job to do.

 

 

 

 

Alter-natives

 

 

 

 

Last weekend we headed south over the Mangamukas in the brilliant autumn sunshine. It was the first weekend of decent weather we had had in several. We were heading for a tree nursery that was described as being in Waipu, but which was actually dozens of km away on the otehr side of State Highway 1 up in the hills south of Whangarei. No matter as this very generous nursery had put a small piece into the free newspaper saying that they were giving away 93 lots of 100 native trees to any land owners who cared to apply for them. I duly put in an application and was later stoked to get a phone call saying that I had won a lot.
The nursery was stacked full of very healthy looking trees of lots of different species. We loaded up our 100 and thanked the kind lady and drove off. We now have 100 holes to dig! I have put in about 10 so far in the last week. The plan is to have them in 3 places: one load as a south west wind break on Stuart Island, another third as a windbreak for the house itself and a final group on the road edge to give us more privacy.

After visiting the nursery we popped into Waipu caves not far away. The cave goes in quite a way and had huge stalactites and mites and a stream flowing out of it. The setting reminded me of Woodwell in Silverdale, except the trees growing up the limestone cliffs were totara instead of yew.

We headed for Whangarei after that and shopped for clothes. Burger King for the boys and then we belted back home.

In the local news this week: work has started on the new community centre. Our tech block at school has been knocked down to make way for a new one.

 

Autumn rains

We are heading into Winter quite quickly it seems. We have gone from light and warm and dry to wet,wet,wet in the last week. So much so that we have lit our woodstove to make the house toasty and to keep the place from getting damp.
The good news is that the drought is officially over. The river level down the road is slowly rising. Our dam has gone up by a few feet. The veggy garden is soaking in all the water and is becoming sticky again in places. The microbes in the soil can start breaking down all the mulch that has been sat covering the soil all summer. There is a satisfying mouldering smell in the air. Life's cycles that have been temporarily slowed, can once again turn and put old plant material back into humus. The grass has put on a spurt and there is knee high kikyu to wade through where I have not scythed it.
The beds in the garden are looking a bit sad, but the trick over here is to remove old summer crops and replant with winter veggies. The broccoli and cabbages are doing well. The broad beans are cautiously sticking shoots through the tilth. They are such an exuberant plant and the smell of their blossoms is lovely at a time when flowers are in short supply. Their seeds are good for the first few meals but then tend to be ignored because of their gassy consequences.
The chooks are doing their work of turning and scratching and shitting all over the straw that they live in. Every few weeks I scrape a load out and tip it on one of the beds. It makes great soil. We are getting a few eggs most days, but most of the birds are having a winter rest. I don't begrudge them that. We were given afew hens from town friends who had outgrown them. They had got some of them from a local battery farm. 3 of them integrated well with the existing flock, but one was in a bad way, with few feathers and a dripping back end. I checked it for a stuck egg, but it seeemed ok. She is now enjoying retirement walking around the garden free at last. I am not particularly sentimental about animals and don't have much time for animal rights, but I do not like to see an animal being mis-treated either. A food production that churns out chucks in the sort of condition that this one is in seems to be wrong in my book. We were talking about the price of dressed chickens at tea the other night and although $16 seemed expensive, in some ways it is not unreasonable for something that has taken quite a bit of effort to grow. Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect to eat cheap meat every night if this is the cost?

I will try and remember to take my camera out and document some of the things that are happening about the place.

Not much other news really.

ANZAC day

Here is the photo (Northland age), of ATC , 64 squadron ,Kaitaia on parade for ANZAC day.

Bushcraft Camp ATC

 

 

 

 

The last weekend of the holiday saw Eric Stuart and I take part in the ATC bushcraft camp. I was assisting the Unit Commander Matt and officer in training Shelley with the event. The walk started in farmland and quickly got into bush at the start of the Kiwanis track just South of Kaitaia. The plan was to camp after a short walk and give cadets the option of dumping unwanted and heavy gear in vehicles before embarking on the second much longer day of walking.

Stuart and I had a night under a tarp, which I found fairly uncomfortable and cold. I had just had my back put in by the osteopath, so was feeling a bit vulnerable in my spine. In true military fashion, reveille was at some ungodly hour (0530) and the cadets cheerfully made a variety of breakfasts on the concrete pad shown in one of the pictures before being briefed about the walk.

The bush walk had been made more interesting by becoming a rescue exercise where some lost trampers needed to be located and made comfortable overnight. Grid references, compasses and maps were used and leadership opportunities given to the youngsters. It was interesting for me to see how much control Matt gave the cadets and how he devolved a lot of decision making to them. It obviously works because 20 teenagers gave up the last weekend of their holiday to do this walk. They ranged in age from about 13 to 18. Many of them are considering careers in the armed forces.

As it turned out our exercise mutated into a proper evacuation when one of the youngest cadets twisted her ankle and needed to be stretchered towards the road. Our route had to change from going deep into the bush and off the main track. It was still a good hike though and we all learnt how to make a stretcher out of trees and shirts.

We ended up at Ruth and Stephan's far,m coming in by vehicle at the front gate instead of walking into the rear of the place. The cadets took time to have a swim and then walked out to the paddock where they put up communal bivvies. I decided that it might cramp Stuart's style if I shared his bivvy and went to fraternise with the civilians at the farm house.

The next morning the campers were split into their two teams and took it in turns to bridge a stream with some bits of rope. They then climbed up the steep hillside. Again it was interesting watching them work as a team to solve the practical problem that they had been set. A real demonstration of hands-on learning that required leadership and teamwork skills.

That was 2 weeks ago now. Since then we have had school start. The clocks have gone back so our evenings are shorter now in terms of daylight. The sun is setting at about 5.30 and it is dark by 6. It is still pleasantly warm, without the punishing heat of Summer. It is also still dry as. We did get about an inch of rain on Tuesday, which did a little to get the grass growing. My veggy beds are still pretty dessicated though.

Last Sunday was ANZAC day and the boys were back at the ATC for an overnighter and an early morning. It is becoming an important part of our calendar here. They did the dawn parade and the 11 oclock community service as well. I went to that with Patrick. Our College head boy spoke along with the head girl from the other big school in town. They were both thoughtful speeches. I am deeply ambivalent about armies and the use that they are being put to in the world today. At the same time I am grateful that I do not live in a Nazi world. The NZ army tends to take on mostly peacekeeping duties in the Pacific rather than get involved in full on wars.

No pictures of Anzac I am afraid.

Until next time ...

More holiday fun

 

 

 

 

We got a phone call from Merv the fisherman at 8am saying that it looked like a good day to go out on his boat and we would need to be at the wharf by 9am. We had only just got out of bed so it was a manic half hour feeding animals and getting stuff ready. We even stopped in town to pick up cream doughnuts.

Merv took us out into the Rangaunu harbour out from Unahi wharf. We did lots of fishing, trolling lures through water where the terns had been diving. That was the best fun as we hooked onto kahawai with 25plus metres of nylon already out and getting the fish in was good arm exercise. We all had a go and all caught fish. Even Paddy hauled in one that I hooked for him and he had a big grin on as he did so!

He spent a lot of the rest of the time nesting down at the front of the boat or crashed out inside out of the wind. Stuart and Eric both had turns at steering the boat and learnt how some of the instruments worked. We had a go at anchoring up and trying for snapper deep down, but had less success with this. Chantelle caught a nice sized one and Eric caught a few that we put back.

It was a good way to spend a day. Thanks again Merv!

Paddy's walk

 

 

 

 

Paddy and I are just back from his "walk", my attempt to provide some sort of rite of passage as he grows older.
The pictures are the wrong way round, so perhaps I should reverse them. Or perhaps I won't and you can cope with the fact that the pictures in this post show the end of the walk, the second show the middle and the third show the start.

We went to the Warawara forest which is north of the Hokianga Harbour about 80 km Sw of Kaitaia. It is a huge conservation forest bordered on the West by the Tasman. Three predominately Maori settlements are found on its edges. Pawerenga to the north, an old Catholic settlement: they say that the only people who go there are those that live there and those that are lost. Panguru is on the East and has a large school that I had some dealings with as a science video-conference teacher a couple of years back. We started our walk from the coastal settlement of Mitimiti. The pictures show us climbing up above this small collection of houses.

The other boy in the pictures is Lance, who is Paddy's friend.

We aimed to walk from Mitimiti up a ridge path to find a vehicle track that runs from Pawerenga right through the forest. The first day's walk was very tough on us all, we climbed 400m through thick bush. There was a track, but it was steep and semi-overgrown. Trees had fallen across it and it took no notice of contours going up and down very steeply. As a consequence, we made slow progress on day one and made it as far as the vehicle track. we set up camp next to the roadway and were careful to stow all our food deep inside rucksacks so as not to attract foraging wild pigs in the night.

I lay awake partly because my back is giving me gyp and partly because I was trying to work out if that rustling noise was a pig, or a possum, or just the wind.

Day 2 Paddy's walk

 

 

 

 

Day two dawned cold and damp. Heavy condensation left us all a bit wet. But thankfully we had no nocturnal porcine encounters.

We were back on the track with a lot of ground to make up on account of our slow first day. We had left word in Mitimiti of our eta and I did not want to cause a Search and Rescue call-out. Fortunately, it was a lot easier walking along a roadway. It meandered round following the contours much more than the walking track. We even found time to take a detour and climb up Maungapuhotu, one of the peaks named on the map. It was supposedly 625m but I actually think that we climbed a neighbouring unnamed smaller peak. Never mind - the view was panoramic and well worth the detour. See pictures of Paddy and Lance posing with the world laid out below them. Paddy gave the view and experience the highest complement, saying that it would be his new facebook profile - let's see if that happens.

The rest of day was a bit of a grind as we walked along the vehicle track almost as far as Pawarenga and then cut off East down, down down to the beach. What a place to spend a night though! A large sandy bay with a meandering stream populated by pied stilts, paradise shellduck and NZ dotterels. The surf pounding away at a safe distance. Huge logs scattered amongst the grass as evidence of decades old storms.

In the morning 2 horse and a foal moved down from the hills to graze near our camp. Paddy was conviced that it was Mongolia!

We had a leisurely breakfast and then struck camp and had a pleasant short walk down the beach back to Mitimiti, our car and then home.

I enjoyed this little sojourn. There is nothing like getting away from it all to put things into perspective. I took no books and wrote little. The boys babbled lots of boy talk to each other, so there was space just to lie and watch the clouds scudding over and let the mind empty of detritus. It occurred to me this morning as I spent 5 minutes cleaning my teeth, that we are expected to mutlitask so much nowadays, to pack in more and more and achieve ever more, that we don't have time to think about half the stuff that we are doing. When was the last time that you actually concentrated fully on brushing your teeth, and were not doing it automatically while you were figuring out what colour to paint the bathroom, or how late you were for leaving the house?

I will stop now before you start thinking that I am having a mid-life moment ... if you know me, you'll know that I have always been having those!