A trip to the Hamilton Gardens

We have had a bit of a social weekend.

On Saturday we went, with Eddie's sister and her husband to see the movie "Ford versus Ferrari". It was very good and had funny bits in it, which made everyone in the laugh out We all enjoyed it.

On Sunday we went to the Hamilton Gardens for the tramping club's Christmas outing. We had a walk about some of the gardens. There are themed gardens, such as the kitchen garden. It was a big walled garden as they would have had in the 18^th and 19^th century in the big manor houses. There is a Japanese garden, an Italian Renaissance garden, a Tudor Garden. Lots of others and many more being constructed. A great asset to Hamilton and all free. They have just opened one called the Mansfield Garden which is based on the short story “The Garden Party”, by Katherine Mansfield. There is even the facade of a huge house in the garden. I have attached photos of it and one of the food for the party.

The facade of a house in the Mansfield Garden

The "food" for the garden party set up on the tennis court.

Alice in Wonderland statue

After our walk, we went for a ride up the river from the Gardens to the city centre and back again. It took about an hour. A nice peaceful trip. We had our picnic lunch at the rose gardens, which smelt lovely with all the roses in bloom.

There is still heaps to see at the gardens, so we might have to go back.

A remote control yacht on a small lake.

A quick note

Well here we are, nearly into December! We will be starting the count down for our trip to Australia soon.

Not a lot has happened this week. There was a tramp on for Sunday, but friends rang and said they would like to come for a visit, so I had to cancel. They are looking at getting a 5^th wheeler too and wanted to pick our brains, as you do. We had a nice catch up as we haven't seen them for a while. We had a fish and chip lunch out on the patio. We pretended the passing traffic was the sound of waves breaking on the shore. Can you tell we can't wait to get back on the road?

The weather is hot and summery, which is lovely. It is 31 degrees at the moment. We have put 2 little fans into the bedroom that are nice and quiet, so we can sleep with them going. They are like little breezes blowing and rather good.

Recovered Furniture

We went to the movies on Sunday to see “Bellbird.” It's a New Zealand movie. It was quite slow and we didn't enjoy it as much as we thought we might have, which was a bit disappointing. However, we treated ourselves to lunch and it was very nice. So not a completely lost day.

We have had the couch and dining squabs recovered and they look very pretty. We are very pleased with the result. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take before photos, but they were a very ugly brown pattern. 

New squabs with Browning and friends above it. He's the one with the pink hat.

Our Flash Couch

The hanging garden I got for Christmas last year has finally been planted and is looking really good. I have filled it with herbs. It's nice to be using fresh herbs again. They seem to be doing very well, although they do need watering every day, so I have to remember to do that in the evenings.

Weekend in Wellington

Here I am this week. I thought you might want to know what we have been up too after 2 weeks. Not a lot as it happens.

It seems that summer might be here, as we have had several lovely days lately. It is 28 degrees this afternoon. Nice.

We went to Wellington for Labour Weekend as it was my Mother's 92nd birthday earlier in the month. We stayed at the Top 10 camping ground, which is always a nice place to stay. It is only 4 ks from Mum and Dad's, so we took the bikes with the idea of biking to and fro. We did it once. Wellington really lived up to its nick name of Windy Wellington. We didn't feel it would be very safe biking, so we went in the truck.

We had a nice lunch on Sunday at the Sea Salt Cafe and Eatery in Day's Bay, which was really nice. I had a salmon salad. Salmon is usually my go to meal at a restaurant. One of my cousins, who lives in Palmerston North came up for the lunch too, which Mum and Dad really loved.

We left Wellington at 6 30 on Monday morning, to miss the traffic coming out of Wellington, after the long weekend. In the past, we have stopped at Levin, at McDonald's, for breakfast. They don't do their breakfast anymore. Who knew! So after a greasy hash brown and 1 bite of a horrible egg and bacon mcmuffin, we left. Eddie took the tray up to the counter and told the staff it was disgusting. We went on to Foxton and had a lovely breakfast.

Eddie got a new bike while we were in Wellington. He is very happy with it.

trying out the new wheels

yahoo! Good buy!

Eddie put the brakes back on to the caravan, so we will taking back for it's COF in the not too distant future. We think we will take it for a few weekends away to bed the brakes in.

raising a pergola

On Saturday we went to a friend's place in Tauranga to help her build a kitset pergola. There were 5 of us all together. It was suggested that it would only take an hour or 2. Six hours later, 5 very tired people were sitting under it. The instructions weren't as clear as they could have been. Of course they had been translated from Chinese, so that made it very much more difficult. I wonder if Chinese have trouble with kitset instructions translated from English. I imagine that they have a good laugh at the funny way the translation has been done like we do. 

It was supposed to be fine, but that conspired against us too and we got rained on. Corina went and found some very thin ponchos, that she had for something and Eddie wore her work raincoat. I had considered taking our raincoats, but decided against. Next time I will listen to my inner voice. Probably not. ha ha.

Yesterday we had a quiet day. It was tramping day, but I decided not to go. I still felt tired from the day before. I did a 5 K walk in the afternoon instead.

Yesterday was such a nice day and got to 25 degrees in the afternoon. Today it is blowing and quite cool. Only 14 degrees at 2 pm. I guess it won't get much warmer now. It is suppose to rain and the clouds are quite thick. Spring weather can be quite strange.

I have planted some tomato seeds. They have sprouted and looking very happy in their little pots. They only have 2 leaves so far, but they should be growing well soon.

A walk to the Blue Lake and Lake Okareka

Lake Okareka

Blue Lake

Board walk on Lake Okareka

Carved Punga Man  on the Blue Lake track

The Blue Lake is called Tikitapu in Maori, because the daughter of a chief lost her green stone tiki in the lake, making the lake sacred.

Lake Okareka means the lake of sweet food. In early times the Maori grew kumara there

They are both lovely lakes.

We walked around the Blue Lake first, which took about hour and a half. It's an easy walk with not a lot of ups and lovely views of the lake. It was quite busy with lots of people walking their dogs. Mostly all on the lead and well behaved. I did see one couple with 2 dogs. One on the lead the other one not. I said is the one on the lead the bad dog and other one the good dog. The lady laughed and said, you've got it in one.

After morning tea, we drove down the road a bit to Lake Okareka. This has a board walk over the swampy bits. Lots of nesting water birds here. Hundreds of Canadian Geese. Very noisy when they flew over head. There were heaps grazing the paddocks along side the lake. It must frustrate the farmer loosing so much grass to the geese. We walked to the end of the track, which is where the out let is now. It didn't have one and often flooded, so an outlet was created and the water now flows out to Lake Tarawera via underwater channels and forms the Waitangi waterfall. (thank you

Wikipedia). It was very windy at the outlet, so we went back to the seats where the wind was much less and to eat our lunch.

We enjoyed an ice cream at the ice cream parlour in Rotorua before we returned home. I had a limonetta cheese cake flavour. Yummy. It can be very hard to choose, as there are so many flavours. What a terrible problem to have ha ha.

It was a lovely day out with no rain, although it did look threatening at times.

Caravan Show

Unfortunately, the brakes were still not right with the new linings, so the wheel will have to come off again. Uncle Eddie is going to get the brake linings skimmed and put in new magnets. Fingers crossed.

We did have a nice time at the caravan show with Sheaffs (friends from way back) and Janice and John. We were all parked together, which was nice.

We decided to go on Thursday night and spent the night at the reserve called Little Waipa on the shore of the Waikato River. It was very peaceful and we enjoyed the time there.

We were quite surprised how many caravans that were there. I am not sure how many, but there seemed to be thousands.

On Friday, once we were settled and had drunk a cup of tea, we went over to the show and had a look around. At lunch time, we went back to the caravan for lunch and then back again for another look. We repeated the exercise again on Saturday. We went with a shopping list, but didn't end up buying anything there. 

So many lovely caravans. When we win lotto we are going to buy a new one. We won't be holding our breath though.

Early morning mists at the show.

A Walk up Mt Kakepuku

Eddie has changed the brake linings. We will be taking the caravan back for it's recheck on Thursday, as we are going to go to the caravan show on Friday in it. We are staying at Mystery Creek with a lot of the caravaners.

I went on a hike up Mt Kakepuku near Te Awamutu. (about 40 ks away). Near the top there are 400 steps to climb.They took us half an hour to to up  and 15 minutes to come back down. There were quite a few tuis about enjoying the kowhai trees. No dive bombing this week though. There is a bit of predator being done, so there are baby trees growing and quite a bit of bird life on the mountain.

DOC sign at  the beginning of the track

The beginning of the track is a bit deceptive. It gets steeper

View a little way up

Pungas lining the path

View higher up

some of the 400 steps

a little gateway near the top

almost at the top of the steps whew!

On Friday night we went and saw the local dramatic society's performance of “'Allo 'Allo”. It was very funny and we both enjoyed it.

We are going to Wellington in October for my mother's birthday, so we have booked ourselves into the top 10 in Petone for Labour weekend. We are going to take the bikes again and do a bike ride or 2.

10 K walk at Kinloch

Janice and I had a good walk in Kinloch on Saturday. It was fine, but a cold wind, especially when we were walking along the lake front. I felt sorry for the marshals as they were standing in it all day. We think we took a bit longer than last year, but we finished, no injuries and we weren't last. They had no cups at the aid station and hadn't told us that there would be none. We had to slurp out of our hands. Not very satisfactory. I can understand the cutting back on plastic cups, but it would have been nice to be informed. I am going to mention it when they ask for the survey on the race. There was beer at the end for participants, but nothing for the non drinkers and when I went to get a drink of water. Guess what. They had run out of cups. In the end, I went to the coffee truck and had a hot water.

We were back to rain again on Sunday for coming home.

ready for the off

Eddie took the wheel off the caravan and found that the linings need replacing, so they are on order. He got very dizzy with vertigo by the time he had finished checking everything out. He also sprayed the ceiling of the awning which is covered in a red mould. He read the instructions yesterday and realized he should have been wearing a mask. No wonder he wasn't feeling very well. He has been home today, having a quiet day, but he is back at work today

A Sunny Weekend

We actually had a sunny weekend, which was lovely. Today is going to be fine too, if the fog lifts.It's starting to clear at last. 

On Saturday we went to the Plywood Man in Tauranga to get the last of the bits we need for our repair. Now all we need is the fine, slightly warmer, weather for a week.

I went up Mt Maunganui, in Tauranga, yesterday with the tramping club. We had a lovely day. Heaps of people out and about enjoying the sunshine.

Eddie cleaned the caravan and checked the brakes ready for the certificate of fitness on Wednesday. 

We are going to the caravan show on the 20^th September and taking our house with us and staying there for the weekend. Some friends and Eddie's sister Janice and John are coming too. It should be a nice weekend.

New Awning

The weather is still showery and driving everyone to distraction. We had a sunny day on Saturday and hoped Sunday would be the same, but no such luck.

We had to re configure the pellets that are our patio and under plywood. Eddie unscrewed the plywood and we were easily able to pull the pellets out to turn them. Getting them back in wasn't as easy, as the weed mat kept getting hooked up, but we got there eventually. We were pooped though and our backs weren't that happy either!
However, now our door way won't get went when it rains.

inside the awning

awning front

awning back

Pauanui

It is going to be sunny today and tomorrow too. It will be a nice change.

We had a lovely week off work and went to  Pauanui for a few days. Such a lovely place. We went with Eddie's sister and her husband. We stayed in a bach that belongs to her step daughter.

On Wednesday we had a bit of a walk down to check out the beach. It was still there ha ha and looking lovely.

On Thursday we decided to find our way to Eddie's niece's bach.  We put the GPS on in the phone, but I think we did a wrong turn, so we gave up on that and just navigated by instinct. Janice sort of knew where we were going. By the time we got back home, we had walked 6 ks. (according to my watch).  

Eddie and I went and put the fishing line in the water in the afternoon, but no luck. It was nice to be out in the fresh air and the sunshine though.

On Friday Eddie had another go at fishing and Janice and I did a walk along the Pauanui Tairua track. It hasn't got to Tairua yet, but it is about half way there. We walked to Duck Creek. Whio Whio ducks live there, but we never saw any. We did 8.8 ks by the time we got back to the car.  Eddie had no luck in the fishing department, so we went for dinner at the local working men's club. Very nice too.

We came home on Saturday and caught up on some jobs around the place.  Eddie did some throwing out of stuff he hasn't used since we have been in the van. It's amazing how we keep finding things we haven't used. I did a drawer last week and took some stuff to the op shop.

Pictures of our walk on Friday.

Start of the trail

Board walk and reflections

river views

river views

Duck Creek. The turn around point.

Janice and a seat with bromiliades growing

of awnings and washing machines.

I didn't do a message last week as there didn't seem to be anything to write about. This week there seems to be oodles. Such is life.

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The weather is still showery, but not overly cold, so that's a bonus I guess.

We are on holiday this week. We were going to go to Simpsons Beach in the van, but the truck is getting work done for it's COF (certificate of fitness). It should be ready today. The weather isn't going to be too good all week, so we have decided to stay home instead.

We are planning to go to Pauanui on Thursday for a few days with Eddie's sister. Her step daughter has a bach there, that we are going to use.

We have added walls to our awning, to make another room. We have 2 sides and we are waiting for the lady to come today to put in the 3^rd side, which is the side the weather mostly comes in, so it will shelter the steps nicely. There are windows in the front and a door on each end. 

You aren't going to believe this, but we have bought yet another washing machine. We have just about had as many in the last 2 and a half years as we have had in the 48 years we have been married. The last one was getting very rattly. When we installed it, we had the drain hose at a 500 mm rise. One day it wouldn't pump until we took it outside and it went. On reading the manual we discovered the rise for the drain hose was only supposed to be 100 mm. Whoops! The poor little pump had been working over time. We put it back in and redirected the hose, but it was making a nasty rattling noise as it pumped out the water. Now we have a front door loading machine which is made for small apartments.  Eddie has had to shorten some drawers to get it in under the bench. I can still get everything in the drawers, so that's ok. I will be able to fit my winter sheets in, so that's a bonus. I won't have to go to the laundry anymore.

A picture of Big Bertha.

It's nearly August. How did that happen?

We had a quiet weekend. The weather was rather nice. I thought Friday morning felt quite spring like, but it changed by lunch time with cold wind and some rain.

There are 2 starlings on the fence every morning checking out the goose neck of the caravan where they have tried to nest for the last 2 springs. Last year, unknowingly, we took their chicks for ride when we went and got the certificate of fitness. Needless to say, they didn't survive. We will be wrapping it up in rubbish bags before too long. (The goose neck is the bit we hook on too when traveling)

On Saturday night, we thought we might go out for breakfast, then we thought, no let's do lunch instead. At dinner time we thought let's have fish and chips. In the end we ate at home all day. We lead such an exciting life don't we? Ha ha.

Here  is a picture of Big Bertha for your edification,  that I didn't put up last week. I forgot I had it on my phone. Sigh.

Simpson's Beach

We had a weekend away at Simpsons Beach. It is 5 minutes from Whitianga on Coromandel Peninsular.. My cousin was staying at the freedom camping ground there, so we went up to have a catch up. We weren't brave enough to take the caravan with it's damaged back wall, so we treated ourselves to a bach. The first one we chose was gone by the time we booked it through "bookabach" so we had to go for the more expensive one. It was nice to have a treat.

The weather wasn't too bad either with just a few showers.

Eddie took his Big Bertha bait launcher. It took a few goes to get it right. The first launch he lost the sinker as he had pumped it up with too much power. For the second launch the bait flew off, which a seagull caught. Third time lucky and it went where it was supposed to go with everything attached. Sadly there wasn't any fish. Russell had caught some the day before and yesterday after we had left. What's that all about!
Simpson's beach is a beautiful spot, as you can see from Eddie's photos. We think we will go there when we are back on the road again.

Eddie took this on Saturday morning

The front deck. A lovely place for lunch

The front of the house

Another Quiet Weekend in Matamata

We had a bit of rain over the weekend and didn't see a lot of sunshine. It's not too bad today. It wasn't that cold, so I guess that's a plus.

My cousin Adele and her husband Russell came to say with us in their caravan for the weekend. They are getting a new one today. So they have headed off to Taupo today to pick it up. It's a really nice German one.
We went to dinner on Saturday at the local Italian restaurant. Very yummy and no room for desert. I had scallops for my starter and cannelloni stuffed with pumpkin, ricotta and feta cheeses. I was very full when I had finished. I bought some home and had it for lunch today. 

Eddie is off to the South Island again today. He is only going as far as Blenheim, so he will be home on Wednesday.

We re watched the “Wild Hog” movie last night. Adele and Russell hadn't seen it and Eddie and I enjoyed it all again. It is a funny movie.

Mt Maungatautari and a trip south

Eddie had a good week last week when he went to the South Island for work. He took a digger down and brought a crusher home again.

 He had good crossings on the ferry. It wasn't so nice on Friday, so he was glad he got back before then. He got home on Thursday afternoon, really tired. He went to bed at 7 30 to read a bit, but after 2 pages he gave up and went to sleep. He didn't wake up until 6 the next morning. He only had to unload the digger the next day, so he had a bit of a long weekend. He was a bit gob smacked to see people walking around in Balcutha in shorts, t shirts and jandals and it was only 3 degrees. They told him it was a dryer cold there and not as bad as in the Waikato. He said (wearing a lot of clothes) what a load of nonsense. But not as politely as that of course ha ha.

I went for a tramp up Mt Maungatautri on Sunday. Lots of bush and birds there, as it is all fenced off to keep the predators out. We decided to do one of the other peaks on the mountain, called Pukeatua Peak. We walked up the main path, which is nice and easy to walk on as it is made for the 4 wheel drive vehicles that maintain the fence. We came to the track up to the peak. Up the track we went and we found ourselves using tree roots and tree trunks to pull ourselves up. We thought we were climbing Pukeatua Peak,(signage wasn't quite what it should be) but it was actually Rocky Outcrop. There would have been a great view, but the clouds had come down, as we had gone up. Most annoying. Across the valley, in the clouds, we could see Pukeatua Peak. Down we went. Mostly on our back sides as it was quite rocky and tricky to walk on. I was quite pleased to be at the bottom, where the track up Pukeatua started. We started to go up and met a couple coming down, who said the path was pretty rugged and and there wasn't much of a view because the trees have grown. (No possums to eat them). As it was lunch time and we were over rugged tracks, we went back down and sat on a bench that was there to eat out lunch.

The picture is the path down off  Rocky Outcrop.