Home again

 Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Another lovely day today.

Eddie went surf casting this morning, but had no luck. After lunch he took the drone down and caught 3 nice snapper. We had 1 for our tea tonight. Very nice too. It's been a while since we had fresh caught fish.

Tuesday 28th November 2023.

Eddie went and had his medical for his truck lisence this morning. The doctor said that she didn't see why he had to keep having a medical every year when has been well since his heart attack. She wrote a note on the medical to that effect. Perhaps he won't have to have one next year. They cost $70, so it would be could if he didn't have to do it.

Louise woke up this morning feeling unwell and tested herself. She has covid. She probably got it off the ship. So far everyone else is ok. Fingers crossed we don't get it. We don't think we got too close to her, so fingers crossed

We didn't leave Edgecumbe until 10 30, so we never got home until 6. We had a good trip down. We stopped at Turangi for a Burger King lunch and a wee wee stop. We had a brief stop at Woodville for a breather and another wee wee stop. We parked outside a nice park. It is called Foutaine Park. The land was gifted by a settler for the town. His name was Mr Foutaine. Not sure if I am spelling it correctly. It was complete with band rotounda and a playground. One of the trees was planted by the Prince of Wales in 1920. 

There was a lot of broom in bloom along the side of the road at Waiouru. As the picture below shows. Very pretty, but such a weed.

When we got home, Tony, Darren and Tony's friend Nick were having a bbq tea.  We got a great welcome from them all. Even from Gypsy, Darren's dog. Nick and his partner Leigh are staying here for a while. Darren has done a good job looking after the cleaning and the vege garden is doing ok too.

Back to Thornton for a week

 Wednesday 15th November 2023

It was sunny again today and the wind wasn't bad as earlier in the week.

We've had a couple of overnighters come in this afternoon and Eddie did some of the lawns. Tomorrow he is helping to put up the glamping tents for the weekend glamping weekend, which we will miss. Darren is going to do the cleaning while we are away. We are heading back to Thornton for a week to look after the place while Louise is away.

Thursday 16th November 2013

Another nice day with not quite so much wind until the evening.

I did the cleaning and weeded a bit of the garden at the gate. A lot of the weeds were dead from when Eddie sprayed them, but it looks tidier if they are gone. I wonder if anyone will notice.

Eddie went and helped put up the glamping tents this morning for the Taste Masterton weekend. They put up 9 altogether. They were going to put up the centre poles first, but Eddie said no; do the corner pegs first and go from there. They started about 10 and he was home again just after 12, so they did alright. He was pretty tired when he got back and had a nap straight after lunch.

Friday 17th November 2023

A bit showery today, but not cold. Windy tonight of course.

Matt rang at lunch time to see if I could go and help make the beds and set up the glamping tents. Gabriella (she helps Matt in the office and does the marketing). was doing them on her own and there was so much to do. I went over at about 1 and got back home just before 4, so it would have been  a big effort for 1 person. Fiona Scott (she does the cleaning of the ranch house) came and helped us too. I won't be there to take it all apart. whew! They did look lovely after we had done them. I wished I had thought to take a photo before I left, but I didn't. Very annoying.

Gabriella asked about my Baha'i pendant, so I told her about the Baha'i Faith for most of the morning.

Tuesday 21st November 2023

On Saturday I helped Gabriella to reset some of the tents as the wind had blown them about a bit and some things had fallen over. She said her and her husband had googled the Baha'i Faith and seemed to be suitably impressed by it.

Matt invited us to the bbq they were putting on for the guests, so that was a nice surprise. The catering company that works out of the race course is called Rose and Smith. About 5 years ago, the lady, Paula, came and asked the committee if they had any idea about the value of the buildings they had. They said not really, so she has built up a business using them. Last year there were 78 weddings. She called her business Rose and Simth because when they were cleaning up the building they found a little sign that said the building had been built by Rose and Smith. I thought it was a nice touch.

We had a good trip up to Thornton on Sunday, except the wipers were on most of the way. It is suppose to be wet this afternoon, but it is really lovely and quite warm.

I seem to have got my head around all the things in the office, so that's good. 

Eddie is really happy to be back. He is going to go fishing tomorrow; he says. We will see. He would like to come back on a more permanent basis. I said what about going to Australia, but he isn't too sure. Sometimes he thinks ooh an adventure and other times not so much. He is a worry.

Another week

 Friday 3rd November 2023

It was a bit cooler today and rain this afternoon. I went for a walk before the rain this afternoon.

We have put the sunscreen and the side wall up again. Fingers crossed we don't have to take them down again. We also put up the sunscreen for the front of the awning that we bought in Australia. It makes our front a bit more private. 

We went into Masterton this morning to get some parts for the laawn mower he is fixing. While we were there we checked out the 2 NZMCA camps there. One is $30 a night. It has power, showers and toilets. The other one is $10 a night with no facilities. They are both nice places.  

Mondsay 6th November 2023

We had a bit of rain over the weekend, but today is very wintery with rain and a cold southerly blowing. We have been indoors all day. At least the gardens are up to date, so it's not so bad if I don't do some every day.

There was a marathon here over the weekend, so we had a few campers in who were running.

We have had a couple in who are using their van for the first time. They did 2 days on power and then they did 2 without, to see how it work out. They seemed to be happy with the result.

The river was very brown on the weekend, so I think there must have been a bit of rain higher up the valley wherever it comes from. It was clear again the next day.

On Saturday we went out for dinner in Greytown. One of the ladies, Sally Wilding, from tramping club in Matamata was down for a garden tour. We had a lovely evening with them and their friends they came down with. 

Thursday 9th November 2023

A cool day today. There was a cool wind blowing.

The weather is going to be nice on Sunday for the first race of the season. We get free tickets and are allowed to go into the members stand. How flash is that.

Eddie  mowed the lawns with his repaired mower and they look good. Matt was impressed with them. Tomorrow we have to go Masterton to get the tyres and the scarfing wheels and then I think it is all done. 

We bought a subway for lunch today and went to the Kaitoki Regional Park to eat it. It's very big and quite pretty with lots of bush around and the Kaitoki river running along one side. There were a few campers in and some looked they had been there for a while as they had long grass under them.

Below are some pictures of the camp at Tauherenikau. I just realized I hadn't put any on of where we are now. The building you can see in the background of the photo of our van, is the ranch house which is rented out to groups. It was where the jockeys lived when it was a training race course.

Entrance to the camp

Toilet block

our set up