A strange new world

Well I hope you are all coping in this new normal that we are experiencing at the moment.

It is very odd indeed. We are both home from work. I finished last Wednesday and Eddie on Thursday. 

Eddie has been painting. There is only the bedroom to go now.

This is the ghastly fabric that covered our furniture and the edges of the slide out.

Eddie removing the fabric

The first coat of new paint

The side pieces nearly done

Finished 

Side pieces finished .

We have been out for a walk or two and I went to the supermarket on my bike. People are very respectful and keep a good distance from each other.

Eddie read in the Herald on line that here are 10 cases in Matamata. Nothing about how serious they are. 

The other job done is the barbecue has finally been attached to the wall. Hooray.

Weekend at Whakapapa

It was a mad day at work for me on Monday. We were  busier than usual, but at about half past 1 it went really mad. We didn't know why at the time, but it was just after the Prime Minister's speech about going into lock down. I had afternoon tea at 4 40 pm. Eddie came and got me at 5 30. I was very pleased. I was quite tired and well over the day. I don't know how the supermarket workers coped.

Yesterday it was a bit more calmer and I was able to go home at 2. My job is finished now. Although it is a food shop, my boss has decided It is safer if he closes. We aren't sure what is happening with Eddie's job yet.

I got some paint yesterday, so Eddie can finish the painting. A lot of people are painting. At 8 in the morning Mitre 10's paint department was quite busy.

We had a lovely weekend at Whakapapa. Our daughter was going to do the Ring of Fire, which is a run around the volcanoes. Of course with all the corona virus it was cancelled. We had booked a cabin at the Whakapapa camping ground, so we decided to go and stay as we had paid for it. Originally we were going to take the camper. They said we could have fitted in, but we couldn't see where, so we were glad we changed our mind.

We did a couple of walks and had dinner at the local pub. There were a few people there who looked like they may have been doing the run that Katrina was going to do, but came anyway because they had booked their accommodation like we did. I talked to 1 lady who had done a 20 k run that morning as that was the closest she could get to doing the 72 ks.

On Saturday we went for a drive to National Park and checked out the Kiwi camp there. It is a cheap stay over place with toilets, showers and a laundry. We had morning tea at the National Park Railway Station, which is now a cafe. I had very yummy savory muffin and Eddie had a toasted sandwich that came with a salad. I ate the salad ha ha. 

We were going to go up the gondola and check out the highest restaurant in the country, but it was closed for maintenance. We decided we would go before we left for home on Sunday, but it was wet and there would have been no view, so there didn't seem to be much point. We will have to go back. There are lots of nice walks to do there. 

National Park Railway Station

Morning tea time

Whakapapanui Stream. There is also a Whakapapiti stream in the area

Lots of these flowering bushes. I think it is heather

Mt Tongiriro and Mt Ngauruhoe

Mt Ruapehu peeping over the brow of the hill I had just climbed

Views from the top of the hill. The little bit of blue you can see is the Chateau roof

done at last

Eddie put the wall back together on Sunday. He added some beading around the edges to make it look better than it did. We are very pleased to be done with that job. He was very cautious where he put little pin nails when he was doing the beading.

ad put the wall back er

We had no water on Friday night and Saturday morning. The pipes that bring water out from town are getting old and due for replacement in 2024. I think it might need to be sooner. We hadn't put water back into our tank when we got home from Kaiaua either, so  Eddie went into work and filled up some barrels from the bore there.

There isn't much other news this week. We still need rain. There maybe some later in the week when the remains of a tropical storm comes close.

Yay for the electrician!

We had another progress weekend this weekend. 

The electrician came on Saturday morning. He was very mystified because the power was coming out of the wire, but where was it going? The power board is hidden under a box between the 2 chairs so that it acts as a small table. We had been pulling it around a bit lately what with one thing and another and 2 wires had come loose. Of course it was the only place that Eddie hadn't checked. It was nice to have everything back together again.

Eddie also put up the extra solar panel and put the ceiling fan back together. It was making a funny noise, so we got it a new bearing, which cost the grand total of $4. After it was back together still made the noise.Down it came again and  Eddie tightened all the screws on the blades and it still made a funny noise. Next he tightened all the screws in motor and no noise. So it would seem we didn't need a new bearing after all. Never mind it will last for ages now.

We went to Janice's on Sunday and sorted out our boxes that she is holding. We had 4 and when we had finished we had 2. That was a bit of a surprise, but good for her, as she is shifting soon and will have everything in storage.

We have a had a bit of rain this afternoon for a nice change. I don't think it is going to be very much though.

Henderson Tram Line Tramp

We have made a bit more progress. On Saturday Eddie undid one side of the internal wall, where the wire loom is and found the offending screw. He made a temporary fix with some connectors, which gave us power in all but 3 of the power points and the fridge. We weren't sure about the hot water, so we turned off the gas and it was hot in the evening for showers, so all good there. The electrician wasn't able to come on Saturday, as he had a call out in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. Hopefully he will be able to call in after work one day and have a look

I went on a tramp on Sunday up the Henderson Tramline in the Kaimai Ranges. It was logged for it's rimu by the Henderson Timber Company from 1936 to 1957 when they had taken all the wood. You can see the remains of the tram line they used to haul the logs out in places on the track..There are a few rimu making a come back and some little totara too.

There are a few river crossings, but not a lot of water in them, because of the drought. One of the rivers had algae covered rocks, which were very slippery. Two people slipped as they made their way across, I got across in one piece, until I was climbing back up on to the bank and down I went on my back side. Ouch! My walking pole clattered on the rocks and some of the group thought I had broken a limb. Later I managed to wrench my knee climbing over a big rock. I have never been so wounded on a tramp before. I am a bit stiff today. Other wise all is good.

Some of the track

A dried up stream bed

A dried up lake bed. A good lunch place

A stream with water

Last river crossing