A Break In

The wedding venue got broken into last Thursday night. They took meat, alcohol, and some money that they found. They tried to take the generator, but couldn't get it into their vehicle. They came prepared with boxes to put wine in. They even took the bubble wrap they found to wrap it. Eddie found a hand trolley behind the locked gate on the ttrack that leads to No 1 Line, so that must have been where the vehicle was parked.  I didn't even see it when I biked back home that way. The road gate was open and I did think that was a bit strange. There was a fault with the video, so they can't use it. They also took containers of fuel that are easy to access. The lady who runs the wedding venue had to dash out and buy more food in time for the wedding that was happening in the afternoon. It must have been very distressing for her.

Tony has a few chrysalises hanging now. There is a lot of eggs on the plants still. He may take some off, so that the plants don't get completely demolished.

It was supposed to be wet on Saturday, but it didn't get much past a heavy drizzle for a short time. The rest of the time it just spitting, so of no use at all for the track. It is being watered every evening. Matia was away for a couple of nights, so Eddie and I went over and turned it on. Baz has  some friends over from the Netherlands and they have gone to Ngawi. A couple who had come from Ngawi, told me   that they left Ngawi, because the wind was forecaste to be 48 ks. I thought that will be fun for Matia and their guests, but she said that the wind wasn't too bad and they were able to go diving and get some paua.

When I went for a walk one morning, I decided to go around Jim's motorcross track in the back paddock. (I am not sure if I have mentioned that Jim lives in a house on the race course property with his wife Sandy). I thought it went around in a circle, but it went back on itself a few times, so I got disorientated and didn't really know where I was after a while. Luckily there was a tractor near the gate. When I got back to it for the second time, I found the gate and was able to get out. I was giggling to myself and thinking I was going to have to ring Eddie to come and rescue me. I am going to have another go and see how I get on the second time.

On Sunday, Eddie locked the back gate. Some friends of Jim's came in to use the motorcross track.  Eddie said they came in via the back gate. In the afternoon, he heard them saying to Jim that the back gate was locked and they had to go out the main gate. 

The Spark man came finally came on Monday and put a new modem into the office and a new sim card into our eftpos machine, so we are all go again and not using our wifi.

I took the photo on a walk one morning this week. It is a gum tree flower.

 

Monarch Caterpillars

The weather has been hot and sticky this week. We found a slightly deeper hole in the river to soak in one day. It was very refreshing. It was a 5 minute walk, so by the time we got back, we felt we needed another soak.

Tony cooked dinner for us last Friday.  Alan, Tony friends who are staying here for the weekend and us. He did a fillet steak on the spit. I made a salad and Tony did some corn. It was the nicest corn that we have had all year. So far it has alll been dry and not very nice at all. It was nice to hve some juicy cobs for a change. The steak was absolutely delicious. Tony's friends, Jill and Barry bought a cheese cake and ice cream for afters. We had a pleasant evening.

On my walk on Thursday,  the sun was shinniing through the trees. I thought it was rather lovely. It was looking through the trees to the Remutaka range, but they didn't come out in the picture.

It was suppose to be thundery and wet on Sunday, but nothing happened. Just heat. It got up to 33 degrees in the van and 30 in the awning.

The eftpos machine went off line on Sunday afternoon. It still wasn't going in the morning. It turned out that they are having problems with the internet here. Spark is supposed to be coming to fix it on Wednesday.  We have got it on our wifi until it's fixed. 

We had a thunder storm on Monday morning with really heavy rain. Matt said we had about 30 mls in a short time. The sheds flooded up over the pallets. Luckily, Eddie moved the paper towels into the wheelbarrow before it got to  deep. The water flowed along the camp road beside us. A little tributary flowed off the main "river" and flowed into the old stables. When Eddie went out, it was midway up his calves. It drained away quickly and then he swept out the rest. 

Tony planted half a dozen swan plants a few months ago. We have never seen a monarch butterfly since we have been here and neither has he. Out of the blue, we have monarchs flying around. His little plants have about 10 caterpillars on them. He is quite proud of them. We do wonder how they find the plants. One of natures mysteries.

 

Curious Cows

 

We are still having hot weather. It was blustery on Thursday afternoon, which made it feel hotter somehow. On Friday it came over very cloudy and we thought it was going to rain, but nothing came of it in the end. We could do with some as it is very dry and brown in the camping ground. On the upside, Eddie doesn't have any mowing to do.

Gabriel has refined the booking system, so now we only have one page. Everything is either powered or unpowered. It should make life a bit easier. 

On Saturday mroning,  I did an 8 k walk. It's quite nice early before the heat of the day starts.  A herd of heifers ran along side the fence as I walked past them, so I took a photo. It's not the best as the sun was in the wrong place. They are lovely looking jersey heifers. 

Curious Cows

I have a plan in my head to take a photo every day, but I mostly forget or I don't see anything I want to take a photo of. On Saturday I remembered and saw something to take a photo of, so win win.

We had some rain on Monday and the temperature dropped in the evening. It's the coolest day we have had for a while. I got some gardening done before it started and the washing almost dried on the clothes horse. I finished it off in the dryer later in the afternoon.

The rain had all gone by Tuesday morning. The air felt nice, fresh and clean when I went for a bike ride. 

I went out via the back gate to Line 1. I tried to lock the padlock on it, but it is quite stiff and needs a good squirt of CRC. I made it look like it is locked, but I can still go out that way.  I did 40 mins today, which equated to 7.74 ks. My fitness levels have improved. I mostly use level 1 on my electric bike, unless I am feeling a bit tired and need a rest. It is uphill coming back along No.1 Line, so I used level 2 for a while coming home, but I was on 1 all the way out.

 

Music Event

 

Thursday 4th January 2024.

Sunny today and quite a few in for the concert weekend. It is a three day event called Music in the Country. as apposed to Country Music. They have other acts that aren't courntry music, so they altered the name a little.The weather isn't going to be so nice tomorrow or Saturday. Last year it rained the whole time, so a few showers is a definite improvement. 

The track that goes out onto No. 1 Line is open at the moment. Usually the gate is locked. It was used on race day for members of the club to use. I walked it today for a change in routine. It goes over some of the Donald's farm. The Donald family have been here for many years. One of the original family, donated the land for the race course in 1883. When we first came here I was told  it was 10 ks by the time you walked home via the road, but it was just under 5 and a half. Still, it was a nice walk.

Friday 5th January 2024

It was cool and cloudy today and it started to rain in the late afternoon.

We had a few more customers for the music event. We can hear it from here, so that's a bonus.

One day, a couple of weeks ago, Eddie came back from the showers all wet because he had forgotten his towel. We had a good laugh. Blow me down if I didn't do it today, so more laughter. In the almost 7 years we have been doing this, it is the first time we have forgotten our towels. I had my jeans over my arm to put on after my shower, so I think the weight made me think it was my towel. I rubbed myself down with some paper towels, to make it easier to put some clothes on. Luckily there are paper towels in the showers.

Over the raceing day, we had a man ask if he could pitch his tent up by the ranch house for his friends, so they could be close to one another. Matt said he could. It was a big old, canvas tent, a bit like the first one we ever had. It was still there yesterday. Matt told him that he couldn't be there anymore and he would have to come and pitch it in the camping ground. This weekend the ranch house is going to be occupied by the artists at the event and he couldn't stay where he was. Eddie went up to see what he was doing at 11 o 'clock. He was packing up, but he never came to us. We were going to charge him for staying up at the ranch house too. We think he was in it and not his friends. We are now wondering if he paid to go to the races and decided to go before he had to pay for the music event. The cheek of some people.

Saturday 6th january 2024

I did a 7 k walk this morning. The gate I was going through to No. 1 Line is closed again, so I went the usual way; through the bush path, past the stand and down the drive to the road. I went along No 1 Line until I got to the house with the big solar panel array and came home again. I had done an hour and a 1/4 by the time I got back. It started to rain not long after I got home, so the timing was good.

We have had rain most of the day. The weather forecaste said clearing in the afternoon, but it didn't happen. The concert is going on. They are hardy souls in the audience. It's supposed to be fine tomorrow, so that will be good for everyone.

I put some mince on before I went for my shower tonight. When I got back it was starting to burn. I hadn't turned down the element before I went. I was a bit cross with myself. I am not sure how Eddie didn't notice it, until I rushed to take the pot off the element. 

 I took a photo of some of the vans camped up for the concert this morning. I am not sure how many there are, but it must be close to 200. The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association are the organizers of the members who want to come to the concert. They set them up in a big area. We had a couple who came to stay in the camping that were big units and they didn't want them to get stuck. The ground is a lot firmer here than at the race course area. 

Just a few of the vans at the show.

Sunday 7th January 2024.

It was a glorious day today. It was a pity the other 2 days of the festival weren't the same. 

We went over after lunch today for the first time. On Friday we were checking people in and Saturday was so wet, it wouldn't have been a lot of fun to our way of thinking. 

We met up with Matt and Raewyn there, so we chatted to them after it was over for a while. Matt is pleased with the way the event has gone, inspite of the weather.

Reacher dog was wandering around the stadium, so we brought him home with us. He is such a cool dog. I must get a picture of him. 

I gave the toilets a good clean today. They didn't get done yesterday because of the rain. It isn't a very rain proof verandah as it doesn't come out very far. We have suggested the roof is extended, but so far it hasn't happened. We just kept an eye on the toilet rolls and hand towels. Eddie went and got more paper towels today. We are amazed how much we are going through them.

Monday 8th January 2024

It was really hot today with the temperature at the caravan getting up to 28 degrees. It was over 30 inside at one point.

I got an hour done in the garden before it got too hot. 

Lots of horse floats came in this afternoon. There is a pony club event on tomorrow and the next day. They are all staying in the Ranch House, so we don't have any extra work to do. 

We went and sat in the river this afternoon for about half an hour to cool down. It is shallow, so we just sat on the edge and enjoyed the cool water flowing over our legs. It is hard walking over the stones. My beach shoes have worn out, so I will have to get some more or some sort of waterproof sandal.

Tuesday 9th January 2024.

I just realized I have been putting last years date instead of 2024.

It was another hot day today. 

We went and got the groceries this morning. We went early before it got too hot. 

We are expecting a couple in tonight, but they never appeared.  They had paid too. We have had 2 others come off the road.

The pony people all went off on a ride this afternoon. There are jumps set up in one of the paddocks on Donald's farm next door. The back gate was open this morning, so I went that way on my bike and saw them all set up. Later in the evening half a dozen or so girls went out with a wheelbarrow and pooper scoopers to clean up all the poos the horses did while they were out. We were impressed. 

Christmas and New Year

 Wednesday 28th December 2023

It wasn't so hot today, which made it more pleasant. It looks like it might rain later on this evening.

We have a few people coming in today, and then it is going to get busier over the racing weekend. 

On our way from visiting Mum today we were held up at the bottom of the Remataka range. There had been a 3 car crash somewhere on the hill. We didn't see any sign of it when we came over. We only had to wait about 20 minutes. Tony was further up the queue and he said he had to wait almost an hour. We followed a car and trailer. We stopped at Featherston and got the groceries. When we got home the car and trailer were here setting up their tent. They recognized us too.

Friday 29th December 2023

We have had a humid warm day today and we had rain this evening. It was raining when I woke up this morning, so I didn't go for a walk. 

We have quite a few in for the weekend. It's the family race day on the weekend. 

There has been a bit of confusion with the booking system. It's a bit hard to explain, but the website has unpowered sites and campsites, which are really the same thing of course. There are 44 unpowered sites and 20 campsites plus the 10 power sites. We only have 54 sites, so it makes 20 sites too many.

Matt (club secretary) and Bernie (volunteer around the place) asked for the 2 sites to be saved for them beside Tony, but we had to put 2 customers on them tonight as all the other powered sites are booked. They had booked, but somehow there is double booking there too. Matt and Bernie will have to wing it when they get here on the 31st.

Sunday 31st December 2023

We had a quiet Christmas. It was just Eddie and I. Darren has been away for a few days, so we think he is with his family. Tony and Alan went to spend the day with their families too.  

After we spoke to our children, over a video call for about an hour,  I realized it was too late to put the lamb in for lunch, so we had it for dinner instead. Ha ha. 

For New Year we went to a bbq at the track manager's house, but we came home at about 11. The wind was blowing quite hard and it made it cool and not very pleasant. If it hadn't been windy, we  might just have seen the new year in for a change. We had a nice evening with the permanant residences, Baz and Matia.