Last few walk pictures

More walking

Pictures of walk

As promised, a smorgasbord of pictures for your delectation!

The last cutie of the season

Well here he is, the last lamb addition of the year... Bisto, and isn't he cute.
We watched as his mum , Nippy gave birth to him yesterday ( you can see her in the background of one of the pics)
Bisto will be weaned ,then put up for sale, as we already have one Pitt Island Ram lamb to replace Skippy. Any offers will be considered...

We are extremely happy with our lambing this season as all the ewe's have produced without problems. And all are proving to be excellent mothers.

Holiday japes

Saturday evening here and we are getting into the flow of being on holiday. Even Chantelle is off! Deeply chilled with the occasional outbreak of fighting is how I'd describe the atmosphere right now. Boys have been out and about doing their things so enjoying some downtime with the vid.
Stuey and I are just back from our Challenge walk. It is the second in a series, started off last year with Eric's trip along the beach from Te Paki to the Cape. Stuart finishes at primary this year and we decided to walk from Ahipara to Herekino. Eric took a keen interest in the plans to make sure that Stuart didn't have an easier time that him! I think that in the balance Stuart had a tougher walk. For one thing we were not on a recognised walkway, so there was not always a path to follow. Our decison on which way to go led us into some tricky situations at times. The low point for me would have to be crawling through chest high kikyu grass to climb out of a bay onto a headland, struggling to move forward whilst my feet filled up with stinky bog water and Stuart urged me to get a move on because his feet were getting wet. The funny (?) thing was that when we dragged ourselves to higher ground we realised that there was a car track going all round the back of the headland that we had spent 1 1/2 hours negotiating!
On the plus side we had good weather, saw some sights and places that few others round here will have seen. We camped out wild for 2 nights, ate some wild food - rock cod, mussels crab and winkles. We had nothing but pleasantness from the people we met which was a relief as some of the blokes at College had suggested that we were heading into bandit territory.
We walked out today and decided to follow the vehicle route off the beach instead of going out along the coast. It took a lot longer than I was expecting and involved climbing from sea level to 200m and then back down again. We were both pretty stuffed when Chantelle drove into sight by Rangikohu Marae.
The icing on the cake - apart from the coffee, iced bun and pork bone she'd thoughtfully brought us as a snack, was that Nippy went into labour as soon as we got home and gave birth to a beautiful chocolate ram lamb in front of our eyes.
Pictures of all the above to follow.

What Eric has been getting up to

And yet more lambs

One of our ewes is called Survivor, because she is the last remaining ewe out of the 6 that we started off with. We culled out her fellow girls one by one as they were so difficult to work with. Survivor also survived the only case of flystrike that we have encountered so far. So we know she has staying power.

I knew that she must be close to lambing last Friday because she did not come to me when I went to feed the nuts out. She had selected a rather inappropriate (to my eyes) place to lamb on Stewart Island. It is overgrown and boggy over there, but there must have been something that she liked because she had pushed out triplets by lunch-time. 2 ewes and a ram. Fortunately Chantelle had been keeping an eye on proceedings because one of the lambs had fallen into the ditch.

Now a week later all are doing well and we have a 100% survival rate. Touch wood!

There is one ewe - a Pitt Island called Nippy, who might yet lamb. She is a 1 year old ewe - a hogget - and they normally lamb later than their older kin. We did actually catch Skippy mating with her a few months ago, so she might be pregnant. The Pitt Island's do not tend to have as many lambs as the larger white breeds.

We are consequently very pleased with our first lambing season. We have had to intervene hardly at all and yet have a whole field full of lambs. Either we are doing something right, or we have been very lucky.

Other news: Illness has been the dominant news this week. Paddy was up and puking on Sunday night, Eric was down with it Thursday and Friday, I have been fighting it all week and finally succumbed last night when I got in from school. Chantelle has been off for the last 2 days as well. Stuart is the only one to escape - so far.

Patrick qualified for the cross country champion ships in Houhora but came home limping with his knee in a bandage because he had twisted it.

Overseas visitors who went as far as Cape Reinga will be interested to hear that the last 19km of road from Waitiki Landing is to be tar-sealed. There was a bit of a spat at the dawn service on Monday as the work was blessed by the kaumatua from the Ngati Kuri tribe on whose lands the road runs. Other Maori were there to protest against the road-works saying it would ruin a very spiritual place. The Cape is the most northern part of New Zealand that can be easily visited and is believed to be the departure place for souls going to the ancestral homeland of Hawaiiki. I can see that there is a conflict between a place being spiritual and having several tour buses of foreign tourists stopping off every day. This sort of conflict is nothing new though and English cathedrals find some balance between tourism and spirituality.

The solution at the Cape was for the local Maori elders to tell the protestors to go back to where they came from (which wasn't local!) and get on with finishng the road.

It just so happens that some of the Ngati Kuri children attend Te Hapua school and are having some of their lessons delivered by video-conference by various teachers at Kaitaia College, one of whom happens to be me. This week the Educational Review Office has been looking at this pilot project with a view to rolling it out in other remote areas. I have been observed delivering a lesson by VC, doing a face-to-face lesson, and I had a meeting with the review team after school on Thursday. It was all a lot less threatening than I had expected, and it was different from my last experience of ERO at the College, when they were doing a regular audit. So Ngati Kuri may be the northern-most tribe, living 2 hours from the big city in Kaitaia, but they have shown themselves well able to embrace new ideas to their advantage.

Final news for those interested in our feathered friends is that the Kuaka are on their way back to New Zealand. They are the bar-tailed godwits that migrate to Alaska to breed during our winter and fly back for the NZ summer round about now. Last Autumn a number of Kuaka were fitted with transmitters and then were satellite tracked as they flew north. The first one has just arrived back. Here is a fantastic website that shows you where they have been for the last 6 months. http://www.werc.usgs.gov/sattrack/shorebirds/overall.html

More lambies

Spring has sprung up here with a grand total of 6 little lambs bleating in our paddocks. Ginny sprogged on Wednesday sometime and produced 2 more ram lambs. She is a refugee from Don and Ivy down the road who lost Ginny's pal to a parasite attack and so she came to live with other sheep at ours to get preggers. Skippy has done his work well. We were surprised that both rams were pretty white looking when Dad is a brown colour.

So the total score now is 5 ram lambs and one ewe. All have survived so far and there have been no problems with births. Touching my head now in the hope that Survivor and Nippy don't have problems lambing. Channy and I spend a bit of time checking out the forum at LifestyleBlock reading threads such as this one:http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23991
and having nightmares about our little darlings.

Further confirmation that spring is here or at least coming is that we have our first bunch of chicks hatch yesterday. A barred rock starting sitting on eggs in the pump shed a couple of weeks ago and was duly shifted to a safer place on the front lawn, where 4 cats and a dog can keep the rats and other predators away. She hatched 6 little chicks. Future replacement pullets or rooster dinners. We had a rooster for dinner 2 weeks ago and he made a fine meal. His friend is currently in my sights as he is upsetting Rocky (not to mention our good neighbours Goff and Janet with his early morning crowing.

Kid news: The boys have all been down with various bugs. In fact we have all been afflicted by bugs that are rife at present. Eric has been off for the last 2 days. Stuart struggled in today and did cross country at Pukepoto school. He came last. Paddy was off for several days last week and I was down with it last Sunday. Chan has been on and off ill with it as well.

We escaped the wet and dismal on Saturday when we went to see Irene and Lee with their 3 girls at Peria. We had a bbq and admired Lee's veggy garden. He shows me what is possible round here. He has carrots in the ground, ripe tomatoes and capsicums in his hot house. Very impressive! We all ate well, drank, and had a good yabba about this and that.

That's all for now folks.

Super Sally !!!

Well, at last Sally has produced her lambs, and what a surprise, TRIPLETS!!!. 2 boy's and a little girl.

We awoke to the sight of them in the paddock opposite.

We went stright over to invesitgate, our neighbours came out to tell us that they heard the lambs being born last night at about 9.15.

We feel lucky that Sally has produced 3 live births, without help, and has not rejected any. All are feeding well. The next couple of days are important, so let's hope they are prograssing well.

All this after Sally nearly drowned in one of the streams at the bottom of the paddocks. Thank goodness Mike was there on hand.

Spring Lamb

Yesterday I had a lovely surprise when I went down the hill at dawn to feed the animals. There were the 3 big white sheep looking like stranded whales and obviously still very preggers. "Ah well" I thought to myself "one of these days we will get some lambs out of these girls. Or maybe they will just explode because they are fat and not pregnant." Then out of the corner of my eye I saw Dippy sat in the gorse of the orchard with a dark shape at her feet. Yipppeeee! a lamb.

He is a ram lamb, with impossibly long legs and chocolate and white markings. Very cute. Mum did not look too happy with her head down and rear end upwards. I wondered if she was having another or maybe passing the afterbirth. We all had a look before school and the boys were thrilled to hear lamb bleat and totter over to mum.

We had some concerns yesterday that lamb (who shall have no name to prevent distress when his time comes) was not drinking. After school we all reassembled and sprayed his navel with iodine to keep infection out. We put him and mum together in the pen so that she could bond with him in peace and get him feeding. I attempted to shove him on the tit, but he would not drink. I was worried that he would die from a lack of food so milked mum into a container and tried to feed him some of her antibody rich milk from a bottle. The teat was designed for small rodents, so did not work for sheep. I got a proper one today, but was pleased to see him feeding a couple of times.

It feels like we have waited 2 years for this little fella, so we are all stoked. We are having some interesting discussions with the boys about our future sheep plans. They like having them around but moan like crazy when asked to help with the routine work.

Pictures

Grandad UK has requested pictures of growing boys so here they are. You know you are getting old when "things were different when I was a lad!". On the trip to Auckland last week, we made some gunge in the AUT chemistry lab. Some of the kids were getting really into it, simulating snot etc. I said that it was a pity I hadn't brought a camera. Next thing I know, they all have mobiles out and are taking photos of each other. Later on several of them are sharing the images with mates who did not go, cameras joined together and transmitting information through some sort of beam. Back in the old days you would wait 2 weeks to get photos back from the processor, or at least overnight. Now we can share a picture within minutes with someone 12,000 miles away at no cost!

Eric does not normally look like a zombie. Stuart has not really been arrested. Paddy does spend every available opportunity to be on the computer. Sally still has not lambed. The picture above was taken a few weeks ago. The fields really were that wet, that was the day that many houses in town were flooded.

Term 3

Term 3 is now at the end of week 3 and we have collapsed in a heap having hauled ourselves out onto the safety of Friday night. The weeks have been full of school and work and the weekends have been for recovering. Altogether not very exciting, but if I go through it all i am sure I can pick out a few highpoints.

Weatherwise it has been wet, wet with some wind, a little bit of sun, grey and then some more wet.

Ericwise there is nothing to report. He is sporting a smart new haircut. He has made his gun telescopic by trading Stuart's sight for a BB gun. It is a 4x32 apparently.

Stuart is still pottering about, puncturing the peace with manic hammering from his bedroom at all hours. The latest project apparently involves getting cow bone and carving it!

Chantelle is getting used to her new job with the Salvation Army. She is a Community Worker helping people to get over the effects of the recent flooding. She helped to put on a meal at the Community Centre last week for flood survivors, giving them the chance to meet up and swap stories. Pretty important for many who have been scattered around away from neighbours into emergency accommodation.

Patrick is hosting his friend Reuben this weekend. They are pretty inseparable and Patrick would like to live at Reuben's house, while Reuben would like to live at ours. His football season is almost over but he has not been able to attend practices, because he has moved schools and we cannot get him out in time. He does need to be doing a team sport and to learn how to cope with losing because they are his weak spots.

The animals are all still in varying stages of pregnancy ranging from very to not at all. We keep thinking that Sally cannot possibly get any bigger, but she carries on waddling about. Chan saw some mucus today which is a sign of imminent birth.

I do not have any big news. Went to Auckland with 38 Year 11 pupils last week. It was energising to be in the big city. Very noisy and big with huge buildings all around. It was kinda nice to get back to hills and trees!

Photos aren't happening much at the mo because our old hard drive has frozen and is stuffed full of pics. Plus we aren't taking that many. There are only so many pics of a wet field before it becomes monotonous. I am aware that pics do liven things up so I shall endeavour to add some. Let me know what you want to see phots of:

• pregnant sheep
• growing boys
• erics haircut
• a wet field
• something else.

Have to go now to play chess with Eric.

Mid-winter Holiday

Well we are coming to the end of our mid-winter holiday and 4 of us go back to school on Monday. It has been both a busy and a quiet fortnight. We have all enjoyed some long lie-ins. We almost made it until midday a few days ago! That is a new record and I can remember listening to parents of older children talk about such indulgences with a disbelief that such an event was possible. Well now I know - as long as the fridge is stocked and there is not a power cut to disrupt the TV/video/ computer whatever, then the kids will probably let you lie in all day!

We have been out and about as well. Chantelle was down in Whangarei for a course in budgetting for families who get into debt. She passed and can now officially advise people and negotiate with power companies etc. That is a big deal over here because the world got to hear about the woman in Auckland who was on an electrically operated oxygen machine who died when the power company cut off her power because of an unpaid bill. I think that it was more complicated than it first seemed and that the woman was on the verge of death anyway, but it was certainly not a compassionate act on the part of the company and they scored a very bad publicity own-goal.

Stuart has just got back from a Salvation Army camp and Paddy was on one the week before. They were down in Auckland keeping occupied every minute of the day for several days and both returned knackered but happy.

Eric and I are the only ones who have stayed around the whole time. We did get to go for a flying lesson which Eric started to report on and has not finished .... I am still pestering him over that.

We both went for a fish this afternoon. Went to Aurere beach and had good sport with little kahawai on spinners. I scored part of a beehive in the driftline which was duly hauled home for Chantelle to use to make lots more tasty honey.

The big local news was the storm on Tuesday. This brought a big dump of rain here but even more on the East coast with heavy winds there as well. We escaped very lightly with just some apprehension as we watched part of the paddocks go under water as the stream overflowed. We got soaked moving the sheep to high ground as they were stranded on a hummock between two sheets of water. Others were much less lucky and the College was turned into an emergency shelter for a few days as people who had been flooded out sought refuge. The local old peoples' home was threatened and evacuated which must have been a major undertaking. The clean-up continues and our friends in the Salvation Army are helping people get straight. Chantelle got herself on Maori TV as she went to one of the worst hit areas at the same time as the film crews descended.

The talk is all of global warming and once in 100 year events happening with increasing frequency. I have not examined the evidence properly to answer the sceptics, but the prediction is that storms will become more intense and frequent and that is what seems to be happening. The sad thing is that the people who bear the brunt of the damage are those whose houses/ islands are low-lying and flood prone. They cannot afford to choose to live on high ground like we have. They also cannot afford to pay for expensive flood insurance when the inevitable happens. They are also not the ones who are burning the most fuel and making a big contribution to global warming.

Onto more neutral matters: the sheep have still not produced any off spring, but demand food as if they are carrying at least 6 lambs each. I have a sneaky suspicion that Survivor (the last ewe out of the 6 we had this time last year) is not even pregnant at all. Chantelle and I are determined to bring to an end our shepherd duties and to concentrate on growing trees on our land. Sheep are nice to have around, but they don't mix well with fruit trees and are demanding of my time. There is always some job that needs doing with them. We will hopefully have destocked by this time next year and will start building up the trees and poultry.

I was in a play last week. It was called "Sex, Footy and Lies" and I played a bachelor, beer swilling, rugby loving character called John, who is hosting a stag night for his mates future son-in-law. It was fun to be on stage. Quite nerve-wracking in front of an audience, but good when they enjoyed hearing the lines. It took a lot of time and effort with twice weekly rehearsals for several months, plus the line-learning in between. I learnt a lot from it though and am glad that it is over.

Pictures will follow - of all the above items and not just the de-stocking.

Captain Eric takes to the skies

bu

This post is written by Eric on his birthday:

This is me infront of the propeller of the plane i flew for an hour.I was first taught how to use the peddles to turn the plane right and left but only on the ground.

I shall post more tomorrow as i am about to have my birthday cake

Picture story

Here are some of the images from the last 2 weeks. Edited by me as being significant. You can work out the story yourself.

Also:

Paddy scored the winner in a nail-biting match against Eastern last Saturday.

The weather has turned to mush now that the longest night has passed - rain and cold winds coming up from the South.

Eric went quad biking at Rangiputa witha school friend last week.

There is one more week of school before the holiday starts.

Heading into Winter

We have had another week of mostly excellent weather.
I went to a course last Friday at an amazing garden in Kerikeri called Wharepuke. It was a science course on Unit Standards for Y11 pupils who find science difficult. It is always a bit of a hard decision whether or not to go on courses. It is obviously a good way to upskill, but if the training is not up to much, it is a lot of effort to leave work behind. The classes tend to not work as well with a relief teacher and some of them can take out their annoyance that you are not there on your room. Back in good old Blackpool, teachers were reluctant to take time off for being sick, because their rooms would be stripped by the time they came back. That was a school where relief teachers were reluctant to work. You had to be canny to go and relieve there.

Anyway the course was worthwhile and I learnt lots of things that will advantage my pupils. It was good to link up with other "local" science teachers and to agree to share resources. Plus the garden was an amazing setting, stuffed full of huge sub-tropical palms and other plants. Mum would love it and I will have to take you there when you come over again.

It was also a good way to start off the weekend especially as it was already a 4-day week. We did the Saturday morning soccer away to Pompallier. First half we were shooting all the time at their goal. in the second, they came back strong. The coach must have given them a rocket up the proverbial at half-time. The game ended up a 2-2 draw. Paddy was all over the place and did not pass to his team-mates.

The rest of Saturday was spent working on the block. I got the boys to help put in a pole where an addition to the sheep race will go. We want to be able to get them up the hill and shut in more easily than is possible at the moment. It will take a while to complete the latest additions but should be worth it. The sheep are being inspected daily for signs of belly enlargement. We are fairly convinced that the 3 white sheep are carrying lambs, but it is harder to tell with the Pitt Islands as they are more petite. In a way I hope that young Nippy is not pregnant because she is nobbut a hogget (a 1 year old ewe) and she might experience difficulty in her first labour, and guess who is the mid-wife? I would rather cut my teeth on some experienced old girls first. I am starting to wish that I had paid more attention in Will and Sheilas lambing shed in Suffolk. I can't believe that I worked there for a whole week once at lambing time and did not get to see a live birth.

On Sunday work called me in and I spent 3 hours writing reports on my seniors. Half the staff were also in printing off reports and getting things ready. Once that was done I cycled home and found Eric in the mood for a trip out. Stuart was out building a dog-kennel and Paddy was playing with his mate. So we nipped up to Unahi Wharf, 20 minute away, just to see what was happening. Without having consulted the papers we had hit a good tide and the kahawai were biting. I got a decent one and Eric had enough bites to keep him amused. I like Unahi wharf - it is one of the quieter ones around and the view is good. We counted over 100 spoonbills in the macrocarpa trees waiting for the tide to drop.

This week has been long and end of termish. As it gets darker in the mornings, getting out of bed has never been harder. I reckon I have written enough for now and will do another update later. You might even get some photos.

Ka kite ano (Maori for cul8r!)

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.