A small message today

Not a lot to report today.

The Mitsubishi passed it's COF, so now it is ready to go to the auction in Hamilton some time soon. The dodge is at the autoelectricans having the electrics done for the electronic braking. Then it has to have an inspection to make sure it is all ok. Quite a performance. We can't wait to take it on a maiden voyage with the dodge for a weekend somewhere.

I have begun training for the half marathon in Taupo on the 4th August. Eddie's niece is going to do it with me.

We had a very wet weekend just gone. Jim emptied out 50 mls of rain water from the gauge on Sunday morning and by 10 am it was back up to 17 mls. There was a small lake where we park, but other wise we were high and dry.

A little progress

Eddie got the Mitsubishi ready to go for a certificate of fitness yesterday. We are taking it to the auction as soon as we can. One less thing to worry about.

On Thursday the dodge is going to get the electronic braking on. More progress.whoop! Whoop!

Yesterday I went to the Martha Mine at Waihi on a guided tour via the Waihi Echo Walking Festival. We had to wear hard hats and vizi vests for part of it, even though the open pit mine hasn't been working for 3 years. They had a big slip and now have to work out how to get the gold that is under the slip. After the mine we went to look at the workings that the old miners did in the 1860's. The cyanide tanks were used to get the gold out of the ore. They still use cyanide, but in a much more environmental fashion.

slip on the north face of the Martha Mine

Old Cyanide Tanks

Tunnelers memorial 

 We were also taken to the memorial for the tunnelers who went to France in the first world war and dug tunnels under the enemy tunnels. All very interesting.

Pinnacles Walk

We set off in the rain on Saturday morning. We weren't sure whether we would be able to go up or not. 

We crossed a ford just before the visitors centre, where we stopped. The 2 ladies behind the counter told us sorry but the next river crossing would be up to your chests, so the road is closed. They had about 60 people up at the hut that couldn't get out. (It sleeps 80). We had lunch and set off for home, only to find the ford was a lot fuller and running very fast. Tony ( driver) went out into it to check the depth and decided it would be pushing against the van and it wasn't safe. We all agreed with that decision! Back to the visitors centre ( very glad it was there). We watched a movie about the kauri logging that went on in the early 1900's there. Very hardy men and huge logs!. They put the logs into a stream that had a dam in it. When it was full they let the logs go and they whizzed off to the mill. They have a little model dam we went to look at before we went home.  After the movie we checked the ford. It was dropping, but still to high. We then watched “The Hunt for the Wilderpeople”, which we had all seen before, but we all enjoyed again.

The stream had dropped by now, so we were able to safely leave and head for home. 
The ladies told us that they had emptied 78 mls of rainwater out of the gauge that morning and there was another 15 mls in it just before we left at 3 pm.

Eddie checked the washing machine yesterday and found a broken fuse, which he changed. For some reason it has only fixed the agitator. The spin won't work at all. All very mysterious.

 

 The visitors centre is a lovely building, where we ate our lunch.

The ford running faster than when we arrived.

model kauri dam

View of the hills from the visitors centre

Washing Machine.

Sad to report that the little twin tub washing machine stopped working on Tuesday. First it wouldn't spin and then it wouldn't agitate, and then I got agitated.
Eddie is going to check it out at the weekend, but as it only cost a small amount of money it is hardly worth getting it fixed. Hopefully he will do something magical and it will work again. In the meantime it is off to the laundromat.
So if I turn up with a pile of washing, you will know why.

The weather has suddenly got cold. Autumn is here at last with winter hard on it's heels. We are very cosy with our gas furnace and electric heater.

I am going on a weekend tramp this weekend with the club. We are going to climb the pinnacles. I hope it isn't as scary as it sounds. I shall report next week with some photos.

Not much else to report today.

A trip to Gisborne

The weather over the weekend was lovely, but I don't think it's going to last much longer.

We went to Gisborne this weekend to visit my cousin, Adele and her husband Russell. They also live in their caravan at the Gisborne Show grounds. We rented a cabin and had a lovely catch up. We haven't seen them for about five years. We went to Lone Star for dinner on Saturday night. We decided to have a lemon meringue pie for dessert. The meringue was huge. They looked liked little sailing boats coming across the dinning room floor. It was really yummy. I haven't had lemon meringue pie for ages.

We now have a cat. Her name is Mayda. As you can see she is made of wood hence her name Mayda Wood. 

Mayda Wood

This is the Waioeka Gorge that is the longest in NZ. It is about 60ks long and is between Gisborne and Opotoki. It is a really lovely drive. We did it once on the motor bike which we really enjoyed.

Ahh the good old days!

There are 7 little stops in the gorge with stories about the history of it all. It was farmed at one time, but the poor, unstable soil and the returns for farmers was so poor that it is now regenerating bush and is a reserve. 

This is a cliff at the rest area. It is a bit hard to see, but the rock is greywacke and quite crumbly. There are lots of areas where there have been slips. The rock is covered with pumice from volcanic activity which makes it even more unstable.

Progress!

The hitch is ready to go. The next job is to get the braking and electrics done. They have to be certified when they are done. Then we will be mobile again! We can't wait.

dodge under the 5th wheeler