Christmas and the laundromat

 We had  lovely weather in Taupo for Christmas. We took warmer clothing with us and didn’t need it. We spent a couple of days with Eddie's sister and her husband.

We got to there on Christmas Eve, early afternoon. After a cuppa we went for a walk. They have a walking / biking track near them, so we did a loop. They were a bit disappointed to learn it was only 1.5 km long.  

On Christmas morning we slept in until 7: 30, which is very unusual for us. We woke up at the normal time and went back to sleep.

We had so much food for Christmas lunch. We had ham and leg of lamb; cooked chickens; A roast pork; venison sausages. There were lots of salads and new potatoes too. For dessert we had ambrosia, pavlova, strawberries, cherries, watermelon and trifle.

I did some washing at the laundromat just down the road from where we are camping. I put the powder and softener into the machine and then realized it was out of order. So annoying. Luckily there is a powder etc dispenser, so I bought some more. The softener didn’t come out, so that was annoying too. As it happened when I got back from the supermarket the man was cleaning the laundry. I told him of my lost softener and he gave me one. Then he tested the machine and it worked so I don’t know what I did. He gave me the one he got out too, so that was kind. When I put the washing into the dryer, the motor went but it didn’t spin. I was really glad he was still there. He used the company card and we put my washing into another dryer and off it went. He thought the belt had come off the first one. Just before he left he found a card with $8 on it that someone had left behind and he gave it to me, so all in all not a bad outing at the laundromat. Who knew that laundromats could be so entertaining!!

I am getting back into walking as I have been a bit slack over the last few weeks. I will have to get up earlier and go before it gets too hot. I tend to lay in bed and read. The chestnut trees along Tower Rd are out in flower. The photo is a bit blurry, but you can see what they are like. They weren't really what I was expecting when I had a closer look.

The chestnuts get collected by people every year when they fall in the autumn. I think they are lovely looking trees.

Opotiki to Matamata

We left Opotiki early as we thought it might have been busy coming through Whakatane, but we got through nice and easily. We arrived at Matamata at lunchtime and set up after we had eaten. It almost feels as if we have never been away.

On Friday we went and bought 2 presents for secret Santa at our family do at Eddie's sister's house in Taupo. We bought a soft toy kakariki that gives the call when it's tummy is pushed and a 365 day calender with a joke for each day.

We haven't seen family there for a while, so we are looking forward to catching up with everyone. Eddie's great nephew's partner is expecting a baby in March, so a new twig for the tree.

It was supposed to be showery on Saturday, but it was sunny all day in the end. I did the washing down at the laundry at the end of the road. I had to load a card with the money on it, to use the machines. I was hoping it was an eftpos run one, but no, so now I have another card in my wallet. I have one from the Opotiki laundry too. Because it was supposed to be showery I used the dryer too. It didn’t quite dry, so I finished it off on the line at home.

While I waited for the washing, I went for a walk. I put it into the dryer and went off again. I ended up doing  5 ks, so I was pleased about that. It’s the longest walk I have done for a while. It made and interesting map on my Strava app.

Island View Camping Ground Opotiki

 Opape didn’t open, and we still haven’t heard from her, so we went to Island View camping ground at Opotiki. We enjoyed it last time we were here a few years ago with friends.

They have done up the toilets and kitchens since we were here. It is a very quirky decoration around the place. The showers are so nice and quite hot too. I think they are the best showers that we have ever seen in a camping ground.

When we arrived we were surprised to find Lloyd and Beth and Don and Sarah Jane from Thornton. Even more strangely we are alongside each other. There are big hedges between vans, so we can’t see them, but we know they are there. We have had a couple of social evenings before dinner over the last few days.

Eddie fished at Maraenui and caught a nice size trevally. He caught a snapper at Opotiki, so the drone is beginning to earn its keep.

I had a nice swim one day. The water was quite nice and not too cool.

It’s been a bit windy since we got here, so it was nice to have a calm day. I went for a walk along the cycle trail that runs between the dunes and the back of the camp.

These 2 totem poles are on the walk/bike trail I walked on one day. They tell the story of 2 brothers who came on the first waka. They had 2 pet taniwha which they released into a spring, O-potiki-Mai-Tawhiti, which means 2 pets from far away.

Wahau Bay and Maraehako

We stayed for 9 days at the camping ground at Waihau Bay. The only problem was that there is no wifi, data or phones as we are in a dead area. We found a spot up on a hill on the other side of Waihau Bay where we get reception. We rang Wireless nation and gave us a 5 day credit. That was the best they could do. We did hope for 9 days, but 5 is better than nothing. It is one of the areas they don’t reach. It’s the first time we haven’t been able to get services since we have been with them, so I guess that’s not too bad.

Eddie has been doing a bit of fishing, but hasn’t caught anything yet.

We have often wondered why our waste water gauge always said it was ¾  full and while we were at Omaio we found the answer. We had trouble emptying in Opotiki and in the end Eddie opened a valve under the shower and empty it that way. At Omaio he was fiddling about with a stick up the pipe and pulled out a chux multi cloth which must have been in there for ages. I don’t use them in the kitchen, but the sink doesn’t have a filter on it and the pipe goes straight to the tank. We think the man before us lost a cloth that way and it has been blocking up the system ever since. Now our gauge is accurate, so hooray for that.

I was doing a load of washing one morning at Waihau Bay and the machine stopped working, so the manager, Bub, told me to put it into her washing machine out the back. I think it’s the one they use for camp linen. It is a Haier machine and it took 2 hours!! I tried to make it just do a rinse, but I couldn’t change the settings, so that was a bit annoying. This afternoon another camper tried to use it and had the same problem as me. I saw Eric (Bub’s husband) taking her load of washing to his place on the back of his quad bike. He told me they have new machines coming. It would seem not to be a moment too soon with the summer rush about to start.

We had some nice walks along the beach. It’s nice to walk on as it’s fairly flat and the sand is hard when the tide is out.

We have so many leaves on our roof and in the gutter, so Eddie spent some time one morning pulling it all out and cleaning the gutter.

So that we didn't fill up with leaves again we moved to a site without trees around us. We were on a non powered site for the last days of our stay. 

Forgot to mention that we were having a bit of trouble with the gas water heater when we were in Opotiki. Eddie had a look and found that the bit that ignites had a bit of soot on it. With a bit of dry steelo pad he was able to fix it. 

Our TV is struggling too. There is something not right with the aerial. It goes ok for a while and then starts to freeze and the sound makes weird popping noises. Eddie thought he had fixed it in Opotiki, but it didn’t last very long. I think it might be necessary to get someone in to look at it.

We went to Te Araroa to get groceries last Sunday for the next week or so. We checked out the huge pohutukawa tree that is reputed to be 350 years old before we got the groceries. The flowers are still coming out, so it wasn’t as impressive as it will be in a week or so.

From Waihau Bay we went to Maraehako for 2 nights. Eddie was a bit disappointed he couldn't use the drone there. He did some surf casting, but no fish again.

View of the bay above and our van under the pohutukawa tree on the right.

Ohiwa, Opotiki and Omaio

 We have been moving around a bit over the last week.

We had  3 nights at a freedom camp at Ohiwa, just out of Whakatane. We went for 1 night and stayed for 3, which is the maximum you can stay. Eddie did a bit of fishing, but no catching. We  paddled our feet on Friday night and thought ooh, that's nice and warm, so the next day we had a swim. It wasn’t so warm on Saturday, but refreshing all the same. I had just done a walk and was feeling quite hot and sticky, so the water made me feel more comfortable.

On my walk one day, I saw these yachts in the harbour. 

From Ohiwa we went to Opotiki and stayed in a caravan club camping area which only costs $10 a night, so it was very economical. We spent two nights there. The photo below is one I took from the river bank walk that goes around Opotiki. We are the caravan on the left, nearest the camera.

The pohutukawa trees are starting to come into bloom, which is always a good sign that summer isn’t far away.

We went for a stroll around the town. We treated ourselves to afternoon tea on our way back. Opotiki is a bit sad really. A lot of the shops are empty and look shabby. I took a photo of an old church. The spire is copper. 

Today we were going to a little camping ground at a place called Opape. It is about half an hour from Opotiki, so not a long journey. When we got there it was closed for maintenance, so we came on to a freedom camp at Omaio. It is a very nice spot, but I haven’t taken any photos of it yet. Next week’s newsletter. We cab stay here for 2 weeks, if we want to, but time will tell on that score.

River Bank stock

 A caravan came in on Monday morning and then moved to another site. His wife came out of the toilets looking towards where he had been. I could see her doing a double take until she looked to her right and saw their van. I had a chuckle.

The above photo was taken on the stop bank of the Rangitaiki River. The two big steers at the back kept the grass down over the winter, but it has got away on them since spring sprung, so now they have the company of some calves. They are a mixture of heifers and bulls. One supposes they will be separated when they are bigger, otherwise the heifers will get no peace.

The weather is very wet today and we have an orange weather warning in place until 11pm tonight. So far it hasn't been too bad; just rain, but not really heavy as I was expecting.

Random thoughts for the week

 6 Wednesdays and it will be Christmas Eve. We’ll be writing 2026 before we know it. 

Josh (Eddie’s boss) asked Eddie to work a bit longer in a new International truck he has just bought and we nearly said ok, but pulled ourselves up in time and said no. He was bribing us with free parking on a block of land he leases with great views out over the ocean. There is shed with water and power. He even said he would get me a washing machine.

On the 21st of November, Eddie is having an xray and scan on the shoulder he hurt when the truck deck crashed. After that we are going to be doing a bit of traveling towards Te Kaha.

I have put a strava app on my phone to measure the distances that I walk or bike. I have now discovered that the speedo on my bike isn't very accurate and when I thought I had biked 20 ks I had only done about 181/2. It's amazing the difference a GPS makes.

I walked past this tree the other day. I did a google search ( as you do) and I think it is a horse chestnut tree. Whatever it is, it is very impressive.

Eddie was talking to a camper on Sunday, who arrived on his bike, with a tent and not a lot else that I could see. He is from America and said he had biked around NZ 30 years ago and always wanted to do it again. The funny thing is he is finding  the hills steeper and the wind stronger this time. I wonder why? He is still enjoying himself though.

Red Devons

 We have a lovely day today. Over the last couple of days there hasn't been a lot of wind, which made a nice change.

I am not sure why I start each message with a weather report.

Eddie has 7 working days (not counting today) left before he finishes. Not that he is counting or anything. His shoulder is still quite sore from when the truck hoist crashed.

I went for a walk along the track above the dunes on Monday morning and the sand was already too hot to walk on with bare feet, at 10 am. I ended up walking on another track a bit further over that is grassy. I had a paddle too. The water wasn’t too bad, although I don't think I am quite ready to have a swim yet.

Yesterday, I tried out the dehydration function of my air fryer oven, which I have never used and I have had it for quite a while now. I dehydrated an apple in it. It turned out quite nice. I had some for my lunch and put the rest in Eddie’s lunch box today. 

Eddie borrowed a carpet cleaner from another camper on the weekend and cleaned the carpet in the bedroom. It came up quite nice. He did it 3 times before the water became clear. It’s probably never been done in its life.

The photo today is of 2 Red Devon cattle that I passed on my walk last Saturday. They were both very nosy as I walked past them, so I took their photo.

Labour Weekend

 We had a big thunderstorm on Monday night, but otherwise we have been quite lucky with the weather, compared to some parts of the country. The southerly wind has a snowy bite to it though. There has been no power and in some places no water in the South Island for a few days now.

With the Labour weekend, last weekend the camp was busy. On Saturday night there were lots of quad bikes going up and down the camp road. We felt like we were on a main road. We were very pleased to see everyone go on Monday morning.

The new management, in it’s infinite wisdom, decided that  there was no need to do the rubbish on Sunday as their compactor truck from Ohope would come at 10 on Monday morning. Well that was a mistake. There were rubbish bags all sitting alongside the rubbish bins. The truck finally came at 12. 

Hampshire Holiday Parks have bought quite a few parks around the country, especially in the South Island. I think they will spend quite a bit here to update the cabins and build more houses. There are about 12 permanent homes here. They lease the land and own the house. A lot more infrastructure has to be built before more homes. Louise was going to do it, but the cost of the infrastructure put her off. It will be interesting to come back in a year and see what has been done.

The Lament of Cow 174

 The Thornton Beach Holiday Park sold on Tuesday to Hampshire Holiday Parks, which is Australian owned. It's a bit odd without Louise in the office. We both hope she enjoys her new life whatever she decides to do.

The good news is there were no injuries this week.

The cows in the district are all being painted with tail paint now as the mating season approaches. Below is a little story I wrote many years ago. It was read out on the Country Life programme, so that is my claim to fame ha ha.

The photo isn't necessarily cow 174, but what she may look like.

THE LAMENT OF COW 174

Dear Farmer,

Today you painted the base of my tail blue. Next month, when my herd sisters have rubbed it off, you will paint it pink. Then, the biggest indignity of all, the man with "the bull in the bag" will come, with his arm covered up to his armpit in a rubber glove, and do unspeakable things. Well, I mean to say, would you like it? I think not.

 I can remember my yearling year, when Boris and Ernest cavorted with me and my sister yearlings. Oh, but they are a couple of bulls! I see them in other paddocks with the new yearlings. I moo out to them, but they take no notice of me. I am either pregnant or they are too busy.

 At the end of the mating season, those cows lucky enough not to have cycled regularly, get a visit. It's not fair!

 So, my cow cocky friend, this is a warning. This year I'm not cycling at all. I shall shrug off all attempts to rub our my blue and pink stripes, because I want Ernest and I want him now!

 Yours Sincerely

Cow 174

 PS Down with dogs. Cows rule OK.

Broken down truck

 Eddie had more excitement than he needed on Friday. He was tipping off some metal on a site, which was soft. Only the left side of the bin emptied, so the right side tipped slightly in the soft soil. He quickly put the hoist down, but the whole thing collapsed (probably due to the imbalance on the tray) and the tray landed on the deck of the truck with an almighty crash. ( as you can imagine).  He had just taken his seatbelt off to get out. When it crashed down he went up and hit his head on the roof of the truck; his left arm was stretched out on the controls, so that shoulder was badly jarred; his right elbow hit the arm rest and now is sporting a huge bruise. When he came down he banged his right hip on the engine hump. His boss brought him home and he has been very quiet and resting since. He will probably go back to work on Thursday depending how he is feeling. He is feeling a lot better today. The weather has been quite wet, so there may not be any work tomorrow anyway.

On Monday night, at about 9: 30, our neighbours knocked on our door and said there was a huge water leak. It was like a water feature, with water rising up like a small fountain. They had tried Louise, but the office phone isn’t close to her bedroom and there is a fire door between the two. Eddie rang Mike and he came down and turned off the water for the night. It is almost on the same spot as one Eddie had to repair when we were working here. The plumber came and finished the job on Tuesday. It is all good now.

It's a nicer day today than yesterday and there is still flooding further south. I think there are roads still closed with flood waters.

Learning New Things

There isn't a lot of news this week owing to the fact I have been in the office. Even the weekends aren't free. I'm not sure how Louise has run the camping ground for 10 years. I don't think I would have stuck it out that long. She is very pleased to have sold it, so this will be the last time I work for her.

I learnt two new facts on my birthday last week. The first one was that the little pointy bit that plugs into your laptop for charging will also plug into the ball of your foot if you stand on it. Who knew? I am now sporting a hole in my foot. It is getting better, but walking was a bit painful for a couple of days. I got Eddie to take a photo of it, so I could see what it looked like. I was going to post it, but I didn’t want to gross you out.  The other thing I learnt is that you can cut the side of your thumb with a potato peeler if it slips. Luckily I haven’t had a third thing to learn.

We had a couple of thunderstorms with a little hail too, over the weekend and there was a tornado at Awakeri which is only about 10 ks away from us. 

Eddie has been asked to be one of the witnesses at the wedding we are going to in January, so he felt rather honoured. 

Fishing Competition

 We had a busy weekend at the camp, as there was a big fishing competition called the Snapper 1000. Unfortunately not a lot of snapper were caught. The sea is quite weedy after all the wet and windy weather we have had, so they caught a lot of that. One lady said they went home with some kahawai, so they were pleased enough with the result.

The fishing starts at 3 pm and goes all night. It’s been going for at least 19 years. Inspite of the all night fishing they get a good turn out each year.

In case you don't know what a kahawai is I have put a photo below. It is also the called Australian salmon in Australia. The New Zealand name means strong swimmer. They have to be gutted and bled as soon as they are caught otherwise the flesh is very dark and not nice. They are lovely smoked.

Eddie caught one once, not long after we had started on our traveling journey, and we decided to smoke it for lunch, but we couldn't find the meths to light the smoker with. We hunted high and low. To this day, we don't know where it was. We bought a new bottle and I don't think he has caught a kahawai since.

Their Latin name is Arripis Trutta and they grow to between 5 and 6 kilos as adult fish.

Moving a Digger

 On Saturday, I went to work with Eddie. He was transporting a digger to a farmer. I haven’t been in a truck for a while, so it made a nice change. It was a bit nerve wracking for me when the digger was being loaded. It was on the ramp with the tracks in the air, until it got to a point when it dropped down on to the deck of the truck. It must be a disconcerting feeling to the driver. Eddie was on the deck telling the driver which way to turn. There wasn't a lot of gap between the edge of the tracks and the ramps. Pretty much the same size I think.

Eddie's truck

This is the digger waiting to be loaded.

All aboard. Now it just has to be turned around.

Ready to go

Once the digger is loaded they turn the body of it around so the shovel is at the back. Then it is ready to be unloaded.

On Wednesday, Eddie went off to work expecting to be working at a roadwork site all day. No one at the site seemed to know what they were doing or what was happening, but after a while they cleared off some of the seal for about 100 metres. The other truck took the old seal away and Eddie spread his metal into the gap for them to smooth it out. Then he was told that was it for the day!. Josh wasn’t happy. The 2 trucks had been booked for a week. Eddie was home by lunch time. 

We have been living in the flat at the back of the main house since Monday and we will be here for the next 18 days. Louise went off to the USA on Monday morning. I spent quite a bit of the day bringing up bits and pieces. Eddie brought  the rest in the car when he got home in the evening. I keep finding things I need. The kitchen here isn’t very well equipped, so I am going back to the caravan most days to collect something else. The trouble is, it will all need to go back soon enough. I will start taking things back a few days before we finish.

Wind and Whitebaiters.

 We have had lots of windy days at the moment. I feel we should have a kite to fly, although it might have been a bit much on Sunday. It was very windy.

Eddie spoke to a friend in Katikati on Sunday and he said it was so windy that when he was walking along the road with a friend they were leaning into the wind so much that, if it had stopped blowing they would have fallen down. They get strong winds there. They come over the Kaimai Range and dump down on Katikati. It’s called the Kaimai buster.  

I was in the office on Monday as Louise was shifting some of her things to Tauranga. She is going to be so gutted if the sale doesn’t go through in November and she has to move it all back again. When she is in America next week, we are going to be living in the little flat at the back. It’s the only part left with furniture in it. I will be the office girl for 18 days. By day 14 I will probably have had enough.

The photo is of a couple of hardy whitebaiters standing knee deep in water. Their legs must have been frozen. The river isn't that warm in the middle of summer.

Whitebait and a new Fridge

We have some lovely days, even though the wind is rather cool. We have had some showers today and the wind is quite strong.

Yesterday we went for a walk on the beach and we were glad we had warm jackets and hats on as it was very blowy.  

On Saturday, it poured with rain most of the  day. When the rain was really heavy Eddie popped out and washed the car and some of the caravan windows. Yes he is a little barmy. He reckons it’s the best time when everything is wet.

The whitebait season began at the beginning of September, and there are a few more campers in to go fishing. There are cars parked alongside the river bank all day at the moment. The ones I have spoken to don’t seem to be doing too well yet. The season has been shortened in an attempt to protect the stock levels, as there are less whitebait now than there were a few years ago. I don’t really like them. I’m not sure what all the fuss is about ha ha. 

The fridge that Eddie used to keep his beer in finally gave up the ghost a little while ago. The temperature display gradually went up, so it ended up  saying that the temperature was 51 degrees centigrade. Inside the beer was frozen, so that’s not good. We were able to get a new second hand one and went up to Katikati to get it a couple of weekends ago. 

Spring is in the air.

 It’s nearly September. How did that happen? 

I saw a sparrow with a piece of grass in her beak the other day, so I think spring is starting to move the birds. I have seen blackbirds “discussing” territory too. I always find them quite amusing to watch.

On Sunday we took the drone along the coast a bit further to try some fishing. It’s been so long since he used it that Eddie had a bit of trouble remembering what to do. We got it out ok and back again, so that was good. He had set up the drone before getting the line ready, so that the drone started to tell us that it's battery was getting flat. So I think the moral of that story is to set up the drone last. No fish as we didn’t leave the line out for very long. It started to rain with a cold wind, so we came home again to the sunshine. Weird as we were only about 10 km from home. Better luck next time.

We have decided to be back on the road in November for a few weeks and then park up at Matamata for the summer break. Camping grounds are very expensive at that time of the year, so we try to avoid them if we can.

A pretty bush in flower at the moment. 
I have no idea what it is called.

A quiet week.

 We have a lovely day today, although the wind is cool. There has been a lot of snow around the country over the past few days. There was a little frost this morning. There was one yesterday too and Eddie hadn’t put the cover over the windscreen. He put a bucket of water over it and when he got in he realized he had only cleared the passenger side. Another bucket of water in the right place and he was off.

On Saturday we went and visited friends who have just bought a home in a  retirement village in Mt Maunganui. It’s a nice little house and they seem very happy with it. We went to the little cafe on the site for our lunch.

On Sunday, Eddie changed the seal that is between the truck tray and the canopy. It’s had bits of rubber hanging out since we bought it. It didn’t take him long. A camper helped him get it off and one of the permanent residents helped to put it back on. 

I looked after the reception on Monday, but I don’t have to be there all day as not a lot is happening. I just go up and check the emails and the answer phone a few times a day. 

My vacuum cleaner seems to have lost its suck. It’s never been the same since we had to clean out all the fire extinguisher dust back in January. I think a new one might be the order of the day. There’s always something, even in a caravan.

Planting on the dunes

 We are having dry weather at the moment, which is nice. It may not last though. There was a very pink sunrise yesterday morning.

On Saturday we went and helped with planting plants on the back dunes at the beach. There is a council run organization called Coastal Care and they do a lot of replanting around the coast line of the Bay of Plenty. They use a lot of volunteers otherwise I don’t suppose it would happen. A lot of schools do it. Thornton school has been doing it for 30 years and the organization has been going for 35. 

Last month they sprayed all the weeds and then came back and did some spot spraying which is where we planted the plants. We did 170 plants all together. There was us, Louise, another lady from the camp and the lady from coastal care with her daughter. None of the permanent residents came which we all thought was a bit rude. It is their beach after all. We had chocolate biscuits and hot drinks when we were done. The roots of the grass were pretty hard to dig through.  Eddie and I were tired when we got home, so we both had a nap after lunch.

We planted Taupata, Karo, Ngaio, Ti Kouka (Cabbage tree), Harakeke (Flax), Coastal Mahoe and a threatened species called Euphorbia Glauca. Its Maori name is Waiu-Atua or Waiu-o-Kauhukura. The first name is the more common.

Taupata

Karo

Euphorbia Glauca

Ngaio

Coastal Mahoe











                   

Flooding

 We were under another rain warning for Tuesday and they weren’t wrong. There was a lot of rain. Poor Nelson is braced for another lot of rain. This will be the 3rd storm in 4 weeks. They are trying to recover from 2 lots of flooding. I hope it isn’t as bad for them this time. Because we are on sand the water doesn't sit for too long. There were a few road closures around the Eastern Bay of Plenty with slips and trees across the roads. Both roads to Rotorua were blocked this morning. The road between Opotiki and Whakatane is still blocked by flooding at 4 pm in the afternoon. The sun is out now and tomorrow is supposed to be a bit better.

Now we are waiting for strong and unusual currents from the earthquake up in Russia. They are due here sometime after midnight.

The road out from the camping ground gets flooded after big rains and a high tide when the river comes across the road by the wharf.

The water was all over the road this morning and the playground was flooded.

Wood and other debris from the river on the bank.

I saw a weka when I was going shopping on Friday. It ran across the road in front of me. Eddie said he sees them quite often, but it's the first one I have seen here. I have added a photo so you know what they look  like.

A New Zealand Weka

Meryn, Eddie’s cousin,  came and stayed for the weekend in his motor home. We had a good catch up. He had his dinners with us and he enjoyed not having to do the cooking himself. I made pancakes for Sunday’s breakfast and he enjoyed them too.

BIrds

 Another lovely day, but a bit cool. We had a good frost last Saturday. Eddie was going into work to clean the truck, so he moved the ford into the sunshine to defrost it before he went.

It’s my last day in the office last Monday. It’s been quiet and no dramas, so I am pleased about that. Louise and the family had a lovely break.

Mike the groundsman had his 70th birthday last Saturday. He had a party in the afternoon. We had a nice meal mid afternoon, so we didn’t need tea that night. Eddie had a leftover sausage roll and I was going to eat a banana, but never got to it. I woke up in the early hours of Sunday morning feeling a bit hungry, but I managed to go back to sleep, so it obviously wasn't too bad. I did enjoy breakfast in the morning though.

There are a lot of birds here. Along with the herons there are black back gulls, red and black-billed gulls, terns, kingfisher, dotterals and shags. They are often seen sitting on poles along the riverbank or at the little wharf.

I think the terns that we have living here are caspian terns. I like their little black hats. I got this photo of the internet.