A mower story

 

The lawn mower needed a new catcher. Somehow the order didn't get sent, so it won't be here until after Christmas now. Eddie isn't too worried as it slows now the mowing and there is more than enough to do. It takes up the biggest percentage of his time. When the rain decides to stop, I think it will dry out very quickly as the soil is very sandy and then he won't have to mow at all.

We took the mower into Whakatane for a service on Tuesday. It wasn't ready yesterday and the lady said we are waiting for new blades. Eddie said it doesn't need them as I have just put new ones on. Oh she said ok. It did seem a bit odd, but we never thought anymore about it. When he went in pick it up today, they said it's over there. What was 'over there' was a hand mower and definitely not a John Deere ride on. The name was similar to Thornton motor camp and they had got them muddled. Our ride on hadn't even been done! They said come back in 4 hours and Eddie said no I'll wait; do it now. It only took them just over an hour. I was glad I hadn't gone with him. I got quite a good amount of gardening done while he was gone.

We have rain again yesterday, but today is nice and sunny, with not a lot of wind, which makes a nice change. The Rangitaiki River is making the sea very dirty looking with all the mud it is bringing down at the moment. (we are right by the river mouth). Eddie hasn't been fishing for ages. It just hasn't been the weather for it.

Eddie is getting through his list of things to do. He washed down the cabins on Monday and cleaned off all the green on the gutterings.

The garden is coming along. I have come across a nasty weed that is a creeping grass. It is either cooch grass or twitch. Whatever it is is very well established and is going to take an age to get rid of if at all. It certainly slows down my progress. Hopefully when the weather gets dry over the summer it will slow down it's growth, but I am not holding my breathe. Weeds are very tenacious. I was trimming up one bush and discovered it was actually 4 bushes. One had been completely smothered by the others so now there are 3. I am picking not a lot of gardening has been done in the past. 

An update

 

We have a wet and windy day today. There was a seagull trying to fly towards the beach yesterday and kept being blown backwards. It was soaring around in big loops and squawking like mad. I am not sure if it was cross because it was being blown backwards or enjoying itself.

There is a couple from Chile here at the moment. They are staying in a tent. Last night it was so windy that Louise let them stay in one of the cabins here. I am sure they found it much more comfortable.

Eddie put new blades on the mower earlier in the week. He is very happy with the results when he took it for a test drive. He mowed on Monday  and the amount of grass coming off was quite amazing. He is going to have to put the mower up a bit higher. With the sharper blades he has scarfed the grass a bit in place, which he doesn't like to do.

We like Whakatane. It's a nice town with lots of shops and always seems to be buzzing with people. We found a nice cafe that we go to on shopping days. They do a really nice cheese scone and date loaf. The first time we went, Eddie asked if they had marshmallows with the hot chocolate. He said some places don't give you one and some only give you one and not two. When the hot chocolate came he had four marshmallows. We had a good laugh. He only got two on Tuesday even though he dropped a few hints when we were ordering. It must have been a different barista on that day. He is such a cheeky boy.

There is a  pohutukawa tree beginning to come out in flower,  so perhaps summer isn't too far away in spite of the stormy weather we have been having. 

Awakeri

 We had a busy weekend, so the cleaning took a bit of time Saturday and Sunday. Eddie gave me a hand, so it wasn't as long as it might have been.  I did some time in the garden too. I have got to a really weedy patch, so it is slowing me down. I thought I was being really smart and getting along quite quickly. You just never know where things are going to get slower in a new garden. ha ha.

Eddie is quite busy around the place, as the man before us didn't do much over the last few weeks he was here. He has been weed whacking, spraying and mowing this week.

We have a blow up jumping pillow in the grounds that is very popular with the children and adults alike. On Monday, Eddie had to ask four people to leave who came in off the street to use it. We are parked by the entrance, so we get to see people coming in, park and wander off. Some people are very cheeky.

We went and had a swim at Awakeri hot pools yesterday afternoon. It was lovely and relaxing. Eddie found it good for his shoulders after his hard work during the week with the weed whacker. It can make ones arms very tired. It made us feel very relaxed. I am sure we will be going again sometime in the future. It was only $9 each plus 50c for taking the car down to the pool.

We used to go to Awakeri back in the day when we lived in Kawerau. It made a nice outing with the kids and an ice cream for on the way home.

I didn't take my phone so there are no pictures of it. Next time.

The tramping club came over this way for some walks a few years ago. We stayed at Awakeri in a cabin. We spent every evening soaking after our walk. It was rather a nice way to recover from a long walk.

I got a nice hair cut yesterday. I had asked a friend for her recommendation and she gave me the name of her hairdresser. When I rang, I asked about the price and it was going to be $68 for a dry cut. I said no thanks and found a much cheaper one via Joan who lives here, when she isn't traveling to visit family. The lady I went too works from her home, where her husband has made her a salon from what was a carport. It's construction kept them busy over the first lock down.

A Quad Bike

 Eddie decided that a quad bike would be good to have to go down the beach on, especially if he wanted to go further from the crowds in summer time to launch the drone. It's always better to be away from a lot of people.

He found one on trade me which we picked up last weekend. It has had the carburetor cleaned and a new spark plug put in. It is a 1988 model, but has been really looked after and has not rust on the body work. 

 

Eddie on the quad 

The shed to Eddie's left was a takeaway once a long time ago. Nowadays the room is used by the life guards over the summer as a sleeping hut when they are here for the summer.