A trip to Cape Palliser

 Thursday 12th October 2023.

Another lovely day today, so we were in our shorts for most of the day. 

Eddie got the old lawn mower, that he found, going today. He was told it was no good and not worth doing, but he played around on it today and got it going. He was very proud of himself. Even the battery he recharged, held the charge. He did a bit of mowing to see how it went. A few adjustments to be made and it will be ok.

Eddie did some spraying this morning and managed to get some on his clothes. I put them through the wash after a bit of a rinse in cold water. Eddie had a second shower of the day, just after his first one. Better to be safe than sorry.

25th October 2023

I have been without my computer for a week. I was using it on the table and scanning photos and documents. I was stretching over the paper all over the table to write on the labels on the scanned stuff and the computer slipped off the table. If I had let it fall, it would probably have been ok, but I tried to save it and squashed it against the table, which cracked the screen. It works most of the time except when I am using web sites and then it flicks from one site to the next. All a pain in the neck. It was going to be too expensive to get a new screen. It's crazy that a new computer is too expensive to repair. Our neighbour, Tony is a computer person, and he is getting me a new one. 

We went to Cape Palliser last Thursday. The weather was lovely until we got there and then it was foggy. We didn't bother climbing all the stairs to the lighthouse as there was no view. We will have to go again another day. We stopped at Ngawi and saw all the old tractors they use to pull fishing boats in and out of the water. Eddie has been wanting to go there for ages. On a beach we walked past a young seal. We didn't see it until it began to move away from us. When it decided we weren't anything dangerous it stopped, so we were able to get a good photo of it.

Some of the road was very narrow with erosion on the seaward side and the road side.Very crumbly looking rock of some sort.

Young seal.

Road side erosion is quite bad

Boat launching bulldozers at Ngawi

Sunday 29th October.

We have had a couple of frosts over the last couple of days. A bit random when it is nearly November. 

I finally got my new computer yesterday. I got it all set up and then I couldn’t get into it this morning. Tony had a go at it, but couldn’t get it to open either. In the end we went right back to the beginning. He took everything off and we went back to as it was when it came from the factory. I must have made a mistake when I was setting it up and didn't realize. I am not that technically clever.

Monday 30th October 2023

Sunny this morning, but cloudy this afternoon. There is the remains of a cyclone up north and on Coromandel Peninsula, so they have flooding again. Poor things. I think it is going to be in Gisborne area too. We have had one weather event after another this year. 

One of the toilets is leaking. There was a big puddle on the floor yesterday. Eddie couldn’t fix it as the toilet and cistern are all in one. The plumber came today. He is going come back with the things he needs to fix it. We have only 2 toilets for a while. Luckily, we aren’t busy. One of the other toilets had a very wobbly seat, which felt quite odd to sit on. The plumber showed Eddie how to fix it and it is much better now.

A few bits of news for the week

We have had lovely days over the past few days and I have been in my shorts some days. 

Eddie's nephew, Chris, his wife, Emma and son Parker along with Emma’s parents, Chris and Mary and her brother Adam are traveling through the North Island for 2 weeks. They came to stay here for 2 days, before working their way back to Auckland. We had a lovely time with them. They live in Australia.

Parker is almost 6. He is a lovely little boy, with the Davies cheeky blue eyes. 

We took them to see the large kahikatea tree that is in our bush. We got a bit lost going in, but we found it eventually. On the way out we found the spot we should have entered the bush. We had walked right past it chatting. We had a good laugh.

Parker was a bit nervous about snakes, until we told them we didn’t have any in New Zealand.

On our way back to the caravan, we showed them the wedding venue here. On our way past one of the oak trees, which was all in flower, we could hear lots of bees buzzing. The tree was covered in them all feeding off the flowers. It was quite amazing.

We had rain last weekend and it was quite a bit cooler than it has been.

I checked to see if we were on the electoral roll, only to find that we weren’t. I was sure we were on the roll at Bay of Plenty, but apparently not. I registered us on the roll on Sunday, so we will be able to vote next weekend. 

We have had 3 customers come in over the weekend for one night. I am quite surprised how many we get off the road

We bought a bike rack to put on the back of the dodge. We plan to take the bikes and do some trails around the area. There seem to be a lot of them.

There are some very young bunnies around the place. We see them playing when we are having our breakfast. There were some others by the drive when I came home one afternoon. Very cute. It’s a pity they are pests. I saw a mouse the other day run from one of the stables behind us and into another one. 

There are some very young bunnies around the place. We see them playing when we are having our breakfast. There were some others by the drive when I came home one afternoon. Very cute. It’s a pity they are pests. I saw a mouse the other day run from one of the stables behind us and into another one. Hopefully it won't find its way into the caravan.

We went and voted at Greytown on Tuesday, so that's our civic duty done for another round. We had to do a special vote as we have only just gone on to the Wairarapa roll.

Eddie got the old lawn mower he found going today. He was told it was no good and not worth doing, but he played around on it today and got it going. He was very proud of himself