End of holiday

We are up to the last weekend of the holiday. It is raining hard with more forecast for the next 24 hours. It is also the eve of Anzac day so Eric and Stuart are camping out at ATC HQ just down the road in preparation for the dawn parade tomorrow. This will be Stuart's first and the rain certainly did not put him off going. Eric was keen to go as well.

We have had a pretty good holiday. We mostly stayed local, with a couple of day trips just to get us out of town. The first one was an all-day fish last week sometime. Eric and friend Amos accomapanied Chantelle and I out to Puketu Island where we got ourselves cut off by the tide for the day. Our fishing trips normally last a couple of hours and there is always the feeling that time is short and we should be going home. So it was nice to know that even if we wanted to go home early, we couldn't without wading up to our waists. So we fished and cooked fish and ate, and sat and explored and sat in the shade of rocks for the whole day. I had always wanted to climb to the top of the island, partly for the view, partly because there was an old Maori bloke (tohunga) who used to live up there, and mostly because there is an innate part of me that sees a hummock and wants to get on top of it! It was a steep climb, nearly vertical, through shallow rooted grass and gorse, riddled with rat holes. It put off the 2 young 'uns early on! The top of the island has been planted with flax and other natives and was very thick. Got some good views and different perspectives from usual. I can see why the tohunga made his base there and was able to warn his people about the neighbouring war party heading their way from Taipa.

That day on Puketu marked the start of the holiday proper. After which I could sleep in and not wake up worrying about school, pupils, classes. We spent some days mooching around. Did lots of farm work, getting the veggy beds ready for winter plantings of garlic and strawberries. The boys came down the odd time to do some work. Stuart is a dab hand at the scythe. Eric proved pretty good at digging. Paddy is always up for helping and weeded the strawberries and gave the windows a good clean.

Transition Town Kaitaia had a film show on Friday night, showing a cool film about Mike Reynolds - an American architect who has built a whole series of highly energy efficient houses mostly out of tyres and other waste products. This led to finding out that a community garden is in-planning on a site adjoining our school. Very exciting!

This week Chantelle and I have been doing some of our respective works. Meanwhile the boys have amused themselves with constant trips into town. Paddy and Stuart routinely cycle to and from town which is great for all concerned. Eric's bike is apparently too small for him ...

We all had a trip out to Whangarei on Wednesday. There is not a huge amount to do in Kaitaia if you want something non-beach or bush. So we had a city day. It started with Laser maze - a big hit with all 3 boys (yes! all of them came out sweaty and smiling!). BK for "lunch" - once in a blue moon, nuff said. Then clothes shopping was perhaps less successful. Eric found a rare edition hotwheels for his friend. We found a cool second hand bookstore positioned unexpectedly in a huge retail park. Then onto the cinema to watch Pink Panther 2. I think we all enjoyed it. Paddy and I were laughing out loudest - I did not expect it to be so good. Finally a stop at our favourite Chinese - Tai Tong - where you buy a plastic pot for $6.80 and fill it with whatever takes your fancy from whatever the chinese call a "smorgasbord". Oh no .... Paddy insisted (all day) on going to a dairy to buy more lollies. We headed back north through shocking rain, very carefully.

Pictures later ...