A Fair Isle Vest

Eddie has got himself a casual job at a local quarry. He was finding that he didn’t have enough to do at home. He going to be doing about 3 days a week. He knows some of his fellow workers from when he worked for Swaps. He said they have a lot of laughs during the day.

I have been around the gardens again. It didn't take as long as it did when I was here doing them last year. I am going to be doing 1 day a week in the office while Louise goes out for the day. It's the only way she can get a break from the office.

I have attached a picture of the Fair Isle vest I was knitting. I am very pleased with how it came out. I haven’t done a Fair Isle pattern before. Last time I tried, I couldn’t get it to work and Mum ended up doing it for me. I think I will do another one in different colours. I may find a different pattern too.

I had a migraine on Sunday morning, so it was a very quiet day. I haven’t been able to work out what triggers them, but they come on every now and then. My vision goes funny at first, so I take a nurofen and go to bed. When I wake up, I feel much better, but just take the day quietly.

When I went for a walk on Monday afternoon, I saw a house in two parts sitting on the side of the road, half way through being transported to a new site. They are only allowed to move at night time here. There were 2 drivers there, so I jokingly asked if they were going to be on the telly and they said they were. So now I have to wait for it to come on the "Moving Houses" progamme, as I never thought to ask them where they were going and where they had come from. I am not a good spy!!

a new toy in our life

 It was wet yesterday with a bit of thunder too. It wasn't as bad as as I thought it was going to be and it had stopped by lunch time. I was able to get a bit of the garden done in the afternoon. It came out sunny at about 4, but it was too late to do much outside. The farmers will be pleased as it hasn’t rained much lately and they will be complaining soon.The days are drawing in now, but on the bright side it will be the shortest day soon.

Eddie has been wanting a motorbike for quite a while now and I kept saying you will need to get a job to support it. So he has got himself a casual job at the local quarry at Awakeri. He went and did the induction on Monday and came home with a huge pile of A4 paper with all the things he had to know. I wonder what happened to common sense ha ha.

He found a Ducati ST2 at Turner’s auctions last week. We went and picked it up on Friday.

It was a bit fraught at times as when we got there, they said did you know the battery was flat. Well no we didn’t. They gave us a battery charger to get it going, but  Eddie couldn’t get to the battery. He thought it was under the seat and the key to get the seat off wouldn’t work. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. He had taken his riding gear and was going to ride it some of the way home, so that didn’t happen. He finally got the seat off at home, only to discover the battery wasn’t there, but tucked up under the fuel tank. More fairings had to come off to access it. What a mission. He did get the lock for the seat fixed though. A nut had come off at the back of the lock mechanism. He got that all fixed on Saturday. He went into the motorbike shop on Saturday too. The battery took ages to charge and he thought it had had it. He was told it was the wrong battery anyway and another one isn’t available until July. What!!  So, when the registration, WOF,  insurance  and the new tyre is on we will be able to go for a ride. Eddie took it down the road and back on Sunday after he had got all the fairings back in place. He was a happy chappy.

He has taken it for it's WOF today and registered it. Just the insurance to go and we are there. We are looking forward to some biking adventures.

It looks orange in the photos, but it is really a nice red. I am not sure why it came out orange.

A trip to Whale Island.

 We had a bit of an adventure on Saturday.

We went to Whale Island with Louise and her friend from Waipu, Aleda. ( Not too sure of the spelling). Its Maori name is Motuhora. There were 14 people all together on the boat. 2 Canadians, 3 Americans, and a Chinese family of 3. The rest were Kiwis. 

Our first stop was the office, where we filled out the form with names and addresses and a contact person not on the boat.

Next step was to go across the road to the caravan on the wharf, where our bags were emptied and checked for any unwanted hitchhikers such as mice. Moutohora is a pest free sanctuary, which is why everyone is checked carefully. 

Then we were on the boat after washing the bottom of our shoes in a disinfectant bath.

We couldn’t have had a better day for the trip. It was sunny and not a lot of wind.

We did a circumnavigation of the island first and then we landed on a beach. We had to take our shoes off to get off the boat as we stepped off into the shallows. We saw kiwi tracks in the sand as we went up to the DOC hut. There were lots of fantails swooping around there. They were so tame and got very close to us all.

There is no natural water on the island, so DOC rangers go out once a week and top up all the water containers around the place for the birds and check for any predators. There was a kakariki (a bright green parrot) splashing in some water, quite oblivious to the audience he had.

Next we walked up to the saddle that looks over the sea towards White Island. Whale Island has 2 peaks either side of the saddle. On the way up, the guides told us all about the plants and the history. They have farmed there and mined for sulphur. I think there was something else too, but I can’t remember now.

Back to the hut and then down to the hot water beach for lunch. The guides dug holes in the sand for us to sit in. Everyone just paddled their feet as the wind was a bit cool to get into togs. Some parts were boiling and others just right to soak in. One of the guides told me, if the tide is low he goes and gets some little black mussels and cooks them in the hot water. A lady found some tuatara footprints on the beach, but I didn’t get to see them. I was eating my lunch at the time and forgot later. 

When lunch time was over and we had soaked enough, we got back on the boat and went to look at the baby fur seals resting on the rocks. They were very hard to see unless they moved, as they blended in so well with the rocks. Such cute little things.

Then it was back to Whakatane. We had pizzas for tea at Louise’s place and waited to see the aurora that is happening about the country this weekend due to solar flares on the sun. We weren’t so lucky. Aleda was very cross as her daughter was sending her photos from Waipu. We never saw a flicker. A bit disappointing. 

We didn't see it Sunday night either.

Below are the photos I took on the island, with an explanation with each one.

This slip was created by the big earthquake that hit Edgecumbe

in 1987

Whau Tree. Very light and used by the Maori to float nets.

 

A place for geckos and skinks to hide

A shearwater burrow They are dotted everywhere and one has to be careful not to step in them.

The view from the saddle with White Island on the horizon

A thermal active spot

Shark tooth cave. The rocks are shaped like shark's teeth

Another cave. There were a few in the cliffs

Landing on the beach

sign on the beach

A grandson of the chief who lived on the island.

Some whale bones from a whale that beached there

The arches

cliff views

A bit more about the whau tree. Because it is so light, it can get uprooted very easily by the wind. To defend itself, it develops holes in the leaves for the wind to blow through. We saw one in a sheltered position with no holes in its leaves at all. The one I photographed had quite a few holey leaves, but they were too high up to take a photo of.