Africa 2: Boxing Day

Gosh this Christmas week has turned out to be all we had wished for. The 4 families have got on well. Everyone has pulled their weight with the cooking and cleaning up (if the only the bare minimum has been done). We are living in 4 cottages and eating meals in the largest one which is in front of the pool. Plenty of space to allow for privacy when one wants it. We sort our own breakfasts out and join up for lunch and supper (sorry, 'tea' for the kiwi readers!).

Tuesday, after my first blog, we all headed off to the dam a few kms away for sundowners.

As we 18 arrive in 2 vehicles and on mountain bikes there was a couple there sitting quietly with binoculars!!! We apologised from the off-set for the noise as we settled down to GnT’s, chips n’ dips. I felt sooo sorry for them but they were fine saying they were staying very close by and could come down any time. Vaughan and I made our way through the bush to the other side of the dam to get a better view of the sunset but I did not have my camera. On the way back Michael happily relinquished his bike and I had my first taste of mountain biking, be it just on farm tracks. However, I had 3 large GnT’s on board and it was mainly downhill and much of the track was soft sand. I yelled most of the way and still do not know how I did not fall off. I guess the booze helped to dull my senses/relax me so I did not care. I don’t know. Whatever, it was exhilarating and great fun. I should thank Michael for doing the uphill slog bit for me.

On Wednesday Eric, Alice and I went into Vaalwater to top up supplies! It is a real African small town. A few small shops, one supermarket and Africans everywhere. There was a strike going on outside the Spar with lots on singing and chanting with posters accusing the owners of being racist and not paying a decent salary. It is so sad to see the extent of the poverty, but where on earth does a government start to address things? The road from Vaalwater is lined on both sides with game farms like the one we are staying on so you sometimes see game. Eric saw 2 giraffe as I was driving back on this occasion but I missed them.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, was lazy. I went with Ali and Mel to visit her friends Denise and Alan. Alan is the son of the owners of this place and they live here on the farm. Their home is amazing. Denise is a fine arts artist and I comment on her beautiful paintings throughout the house, not knowing she had painted many of them!! The stoep (patio) is huge, probably 40’ by 15’ deep and looks out onto the longest pool I have ever seen in a private home. The garden is surrounded by snake proof bush fencing. It is another world!! They told us stories of living in the bush, including watching a troop of baboon attacking a python who was crushing, and then ate, a full sized female. The python was so badly injured it probably did not survive.

Eric, Alice and I went for a game drive in the early evening. We found it difficult to follow the maps and ended up at a road end with a sign to a lookout. For some reason I thought it was just a few yards into the bush so we poured a GnT each and headed off. We walked, and climbed, for 15 minutes thinking “It can’t be much further” as we rounded each bend. We reached the top about 1 minute before the sunset and boy was it worth the climb.


I was then immediately nervous, not sure how much light we had left and very keen not to be caught in the bush with no torch! We hurried back, well tried to but Eric was struggling on the downhill climb because of his leg, and eventually got to the Kombie with just a few minutes of dusk left.

Christmas day was perfect. I ran in the morning, so I would feel less guilty eating later! The day was soo relaxed with far too much food. We managed to get 2 huge tables together to seat all 18 of us.

CLAIRE, ALICE, ERIC, HARRIETTE AND YVONNE

Dinner consisted of a starter c/o Eric. A whole, camembert stuffed with gorgonzola and soft goat’s cheese, topped with walnuts and a cranberry sauce.


Absolutely divine - everyone wanted the recipe. Turkey, braaied fillet steaks and a gammon with salads and roasted vegetable made up the main course. Lynne was just going to do Christmas cake and coffee but we insisted on desserts (of course) and did a mango tiramisu (orange juice and sherry to soak the biscuits instead of Tia Maria, and topped/layered with fresh mangos) and Harriette did a pavlova. We even managed to find kiwi fruits for that.
STEFFIE, LYNNE, WILLIAM AND HARRIETTE IN THE KITCHEN. YVONNE, MEL, VAUGHN, ABBY AND ALI AT THE TABLE.

We did nothing else all day except laze around and when it got too hot, swam. This is Mark and I.

This is Willam, Mark, Eric and Mel in the kitchen.


This morning, Boxing Day, I went for a run, swim, press-ups and then sunbathed (at 7am!) before breakfast. This has been my routine here. The run was very special this morning as I disturbed a small herd of impala. They ran ahead of me down the farm track for about 5 minutes, stopping every so often to see if I was following, and darting in and out of the bush before finally disappearing. Amazing!! After breakfast we 4 Tanners took the Kombie and went on a game viewing drive. We are staying on a game farm of about 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres in old money). There are no large cats (apart from a few leopard), rhino or elephant here, hence you can walk and cycle in the bush. There are more kudu than I have ever seen and we saw this feller

with about 12 others when we went out on Christmas eve evening. They are my favourite antelope. We see a lot of kudu, impala (by far the most common antelope) and wart hogs from our accommodation. When we wake up in the morning I creep round the place looking out all the windows as they are often very close to the cottage, until the sounds of tea making and breakfast start up!
On our drive today we saw the above, plus wildebeest with lots of babies, zebra, baboons, eland, hartebeest, bontebok and the animal we had been most hoping to see, giraffe; a mommy and baby:

Eric and I got out the Kombie and took a few paces closer to the giraffes to get a better picture but mommy spotted us and took up a very protective stance, and my battery died on the camera! I then walked down the farm track and watched a few small herds on the plain around the trees until Eric drove up to meet me. By the time we got back to the cottages I was cooking and feeling quite nauseous but then it was in the high 30’s. Straight into the pool, then lots of chatting with the others, in the shade of course, before lunch. The afternoon was spent lazing around until 5pm when William, Vaughn, Justine and I went out for a cycle. Well this was not what I expected. I thought it would be a cycle along some farm tracks, negotiating a few bumps and hills. Boy was I in for a surprise. We went mountain biking!!! It was so scary, and exhilarating. We didn’t see much in the way of animals but boy did we get round the bush. First we cycled over these 2 rickety bridges that I had been nervous walking over the previous day, then Vaughn and William decided to climb a foot path over the hill, on bikes. I reminded them that I was a novice and said that Justine and I would go a different route!! They were such gentleman they would have none of it and we took an alternate route. Back on cycle tracks this time. It was really hard work and I felt that I was holding the others back but they encouraged and advised me on the way round. The cycle paths are graded 1-3 for difficulty and on the 3’s most of us climbed/walked with our bikes for short distances. There had been a huge rain storm a few hours before we left and Justine said the bush was much prettier after the rain, the light in the damp bush was fantastic, when I was not so scared that my eyes were actually open!! It was fantastic. I loved it but boy was it hard and tiring. Sooo different to road biking. When I later commented on slowing them down lWilliam said he enjoys getting new people into the sport and does not mind the slow rides with the novices. So kind.
So who are we here with, apart from the 5 Dukes? Lynne’s brother Mark and his gorgeous girls, Justine and Claire, who are uni age, Lynne’s Mom, Yvonne and friends of the Dukes; William and Ali with their 2 children Jamie and Abby and Ali’s Mom Mel. When I lived in SA in the 80’s Lynne’s family were like a second family to me and it is great to be spending time with them again. Mark in the film/sound making industry and I am trying to persuade him that he should come and do some work in NZ for awhile.
So far, and only on the second week of this holiday, I have written 3000 words. This is going to be a novelette not a blog entry. Well done if you are still with me.

Africa1: Lindani the Tuesday Before Christmas

Well, we are finally here - Africa. Lindani to be precise. It’s mid-day-ish a few days before Christmas and I am sitting under a tree (already a tad red from sitting by/in the pool this morning), and blogging. I am writing this in Word as internet connection here is intermittent to say the least. Actually, we are not that far from civilisation. This is in effect a farm, with game, and very nice accommodation in the form of cottages. We have a cluster of 4 of them between 18 of us. There are others around but who knows where. Nowhere near here that’s for sure. The nearest town (take the word ‘town’ with a pinch of salt, we are not talking anything as big or flash as Matamata here) is about 30km away.
To describe where we are, and by the time I post this the photos will accompany, the accommodation area is a mowed area of grassland surrounded by hills of African bush, i.e. scrub and thorn trees. The cottages are spaced out and look out to mowed grass with a pool dotted with huge red rocks around it and a native looking fence and shade area. Then it is longer grass, through which a small herd of around 50 springbok strolled 30 minutes ago, and then the hills. The farm has farm tracks along which you can drive (we plan to do that later this afternoon) and walking and cycling tracks.

This morning Eric woke about 5 and I was up about 5.30am. Outside the cottage were lots of impala (smallish, elegant buck), and I think Eric saw a kudu. Mark saw a herd of buffalo but we missed them. Harriette, Eric and I did a short bush walk about 7am but didn’t see anything.
I guess I ought to start at the beginning. When we went to the UK in 2007 we said we would meet Trish (Eric’s sister) and Simon out here for Christmas 2008. They live in the UK but have built a house in Wilderness (on the Cape Coast), I think to retire to. We therefore planned for that trip but in 2008 they said they would not be out here that Christmas so we re-arranged for 2009. We managed to wangle 6 weeks leave somehow. So, we left NZ on 17th December, so exhausted after a hectic (I mean more hectic than usual) 3 months and arrived in Johannesburg on Friday morning (6pm NZ time). We spent a 7 ½ hr stopover in Singapore airport, leaving at 2am local time. Two 11 hr flights. Lynne collected us from the airport and we battled through traffic jams like I cannot remember, to their house. Lynne and Vaughn are amongst our dearest friends. Lynne and I met in 1984 when we both did our ICU training in JHB. During this time Lynne and Vaughn dated and finally married some time after I left SA. They have 3 children; Michael (15), born the day after Alice, Stephanie (10) and Daniel (9). Vaughn has his own mine consultancy business and talks in billions of rands (the local currency – R1+NZ$5) in his dealings. Lynne assures me she is very busy, but does not work and has a full-time maid and gardener. You can imagine how I tease her . They live in a gorgeous house in crime ridden JHB. Their house, like all others, is behind a high fence topped with 5 electric wires entered through a huge remote controlled gate. Once inside you are not really aware of the security, it just feels like a nice secluded garden.

We managed to stay awake all Friday but did not see Vaughn. He left for work at 6am and returned at 3am Saturday morning for a few hours kip. I saw him when I went for a run at 6am as he headed back to the office. (Just as well really as I had no idea how to exit the property!) They were just finalising a mining feasibility study for some Indian clients and right on the deadline. I am not sure if that was the projects deadline or Vaughn’s as he was heading off on holiday. He said he’d be back about 12. Naively I thought he meant mid-day. He finally got home at 11pm Saturday night! I’ll never complain about Eric working in the evenings again! (It’s all gone very quiet here, the children have left the pool and I think everyone that can is tucked up in the shade reading or snoozing. Eric’s asleep in our bedroom).
Saturday, still in Johannesburg, we went to Fourways to collect our car. We had booked a small people mover, a Toyota Avanza but they upgraded us to a VW Kombie. Now Alice dreams of owning a kombie and nearly burst into tears of joy when we met back up with the girls and told her she would be cruising round Africa for 6 weeks in one! Later that day we went to Monte Casino HYPERLINK HERE , a very impressive Tuscan style mall, I guess you would call it, but rather than shops it is mainly entertainment and food orientated. We had a late lunch/early supper there at John Dory’s and bought tickets for Cinderella on Ice, which Lynne has seen and said was unbelievable. We go on 2nd December and will take Steffie, who missed out on it first time round. We then headed home for another early night.

Sunday we, and Steffie, went to a Sandton mall shopping for last minute Christmas presents. You cannot believe the shopping here. I have never seen so much wealth, and contrasted to such poverty when you move out of town. Everywhere there are car dealers for Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lexus. It never stops. And the shops!!!! I have never seen so many. It is quite a culture shop after NZ. Cheryl (as in Mark and Cheryl) is in NZ at the moment visiting Mark who lives there (Yes an odd set up but the plan is that Cheryl will eventually move out there), asked me a few weeks ago if I missed proper shopping living in NZ. I said no, not really understanding the question as I had everything I needed in NZ, but when I was in Sandton I thought of the question again, and understood! I think I prefer lack of choice (most of the time. How on earth do you find the time to shop here. You could go on forever!!
On Sunday afternoon we went to Alberton to see Anna and Ginty (Ouma and Oupa to Harriette and Alice). This elderly Afrikaans couple ‘adopted’ me when I lived out here after I supported them in caring for their son, my friend, Alex. Alex had motor neurone disease from the age of 21. He was their only son and an incredibly gifted guy. He died after about 6 years living paralysed and on a ventilator at home. It was terribly tragic. I admired and loved Alex and cannot imagine what Anna and Ginty went through. Anyway, they are both very dear to us and it was an emotional visit. We will try and get over there a few more times while we are here.
Monday was shopping and packing for this trip. We spent a small fortune in Fourways Woolworths (R4,500 = nearly NZ$1,000), Lynne also left with 2 trolley loads of shopping. When it came to packing up it was such a good thing we had the Kombie. I am not sure how we would have done it otherwise! We finally headed out of JHB about 3pm (which was the time we had planned to arrive!). We had to drive through a township and had strict instructions from Lynne on about approaching the 2 sets of traffic lights slowly if they are red so you are not actually stationery for too long. Lynne drives like a madman (the girls said they would never complain about my driving again) but assured us that we were not in a hurry and it would be a leisurely drive. We averaged 130km/hour all the way there!!!!
PHOTO’s

Breaking Point?

That's where I was yesterday. I am very stressed at present. I am doing a presentation to the National Immunisation Conference next week and have got sooo much work to do to get it ready. I am also involved in a second DHB (sorry District health Board) presentation, again, work needed on that. At work I am involved in reviewing the NZ Immunisation Handbook, which is due for re-publication, have a 6 monthly report due in etc, etc.... I am also waaaaay behind on my GDITE and the final assignment is due in the day after conference. Add to that I have 2 major meetings for the Waikato Youth Music Association (which I chair) in the next fortnight, the Xmas events are beginning, oh, and I'm meant to be training for Taupo in 2 weeks time and, well you can see where my stress levels are. Today is one precious day in about 6 weeks when I have nothing specific planned and tonight is only one of 3 nights in over nearly 3 weeks. Yesterday I drove to Diane's in Matamata, and we went in her car to Te Aroha where we were participating in a cycling event. My plan was to do the 42km route with the girls, then cycle back to Diane's (another 40km) in the afternoon, and drive home form there. I won't go out with those doing the 80km ride because they cycle fast and I am a plod er. With hindsight I should have cycled with Lindsey on the 80km route. He came in way after the others and did not enjoy it as he did most of the ride on his own. I also would have got home by 2.30pm instead of 4.30pm. The ride back on my own was OK (I am listing to the Twilight series on my iPod) except for the wind. I groaned out loud occasionally during the last 10km's as it was sooo hard. I barely got above 16km/hr as opposed to the 23-32km/hr I usually do. Got home to find the house in the same tip it was when I left (I was teaching Wed and got home at 11pm, out at band on Thursday and Friday and left home 7.30am Sat), Eric had been butchering a side of beef all day and was tired and crotchety. Alice seemed to have spent all day clearing her bedroom floor (which still was not clear) and writing essays with no thought of helping Eric or even putting the shopping away I had done on Friday night. When I made a tea and sat down (well fell into the chair) I felt like Eric resented me taking a break (he's adamant that he didn't) but I fell asleep in the chair anyway. We were going out to a surprise 50th birthday party in Hamilton for Kathy. A band mom and mother of Alice's nearly boyfriend - Kent. It was a pot luck and Eric was making a bobotie but it was not going to be ready until the last moment to get us there for 6.30pm. Alice then said it was a 6pm start - opps. I jumped in the shower and went to change the head on my lady razor but after about 15 attempts couldn't because I could not see what I was doing. My eye sight is shocking. I screamed so loudly in frustration that Alice and Eric came running and my throat hurt! I threw the razor at Alice for her to sort out which she did and then she shoo-ed Eric out, muttering, probably something along the lines of "Mommy's gone mad leave her alone".

We finally got to the party and ended up having a really good time. Well I had a good bottle of wine and certainly felt a lot better. Richard and Robyn were also there as were Liz and Steve (other band parents who we really enjoy). Sarah (flute), Alice (clarinet) and Kent (alto sax)played some music along with Kent's brother Ash (drums), Steve (tuba), Patrick (Steve's son- trumpet) and some other trumpet players. All totally un-rehearsed and great fun. I so admired that they could all play music so well that they could come together and just play and have such good fun - and give others such pleasure. Kathy was totally overwhelmed by the occasion and Ray had done a fantastic job pulling it off in total secrecy. I didn't have my camera but pinched Kent's. When I get some photos I'll post them.

Mark popped in last weekend. He had just arrived from the UK and was on his way home. It was great to see him. He had not seen Cheryl, Myles and Laura for 4 1/2 months which was hard on them all. Still, Cheryl arrives in a few weeks and we will catch them just before we head off to South Africa on 17th Dec. They will be gone when we get back though. Not sure what there plans are after that.

We have friends of Mom and Daddy staying with us at the moment, Maxine and Gary. They are on an LSD trip (look, see, decide) and bought a house in Cambridge this week. We haven't seen a lot of them as we haven't been around really. Maxine is a nurse so I have set her up with some meetings with people about work. Gary is an electrician.

Well I am going to get up and potter now.

A Saturday Posting for a Change

Another Sunday morning. I should be working on my course but instead I'm here. I am doing a 'Graduate Diploma in IT in Education' (GDITE). The first module is online and I have not really got into it. I have gone weeks without looking at the site and am really busy at work so it keeps dropping down on my list of priorities. It is also very primary school teaching focused and so not relevant in that sense to me (I teach adults). Anyway, I will press on with it.

It's a long weekend here. Yesterday was gorgeous. I went on a bike ride up Taotaoroa Rd and back. It's 15km long and seriously, and I mean seriously, hilly and windy (going round bends windy not weather windy!). It is the first real ride I have done this year. The hills nearly killed me. I could have easily been sick at the top of one of them, but coming down was so exhilarating. I got up to 60km/hr on one :-) . I am meant to be doing an 80km section of the Round Lake Taupo challenge http://www.cyclechallenge.com/index.php?id=34 in late Nov and have to get some serious training in to get fit enough for that :-( I then spent the day pottering in the garden. I weed sprayed the drive (350m of it) and strimmed the paths in my veg plot and started tackling the huge amount of weeds in there. As we are away for 6 weeks from Christmas I am in a dilemma as to whether to plant lots of veggies that we won't get to eat or put large parts of the plot to rest and have nothing when we get back. I am advertising for a house-sitter for the 6 weeks we are away do hopefully we will have someone in who will keep on top of the weeding (assuming I can get on top of it first!!)

Today we are vacillating between another day at home (I will go out with the peddlers, Eric will kill a few sheep for the freezer) or a day ticky touring around the Coromandel. I think the former will win and we can go out tomorrow.

Tsunami Horror

We have been shocked by the earthquakes and tsunami's hitting the pacific region, mostly the ones in Tonga and Samoa. Lalamonu is the worst hit area of Samoa, which is where we stayed in July. In fact if you go to this link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10601073&gallery_id=107687
and scroll down to picture 64 (4th up from bottom in left column), the guys are standing at almost the exact spot where our fale stood as far as we can work out.

It makes my winging about last weekend, when we had real water problems at Cedar Lodge, seem pathetic.

It also sounds like 2 sisters, in their 20's, from Matamata may have been killed in Samoa. I feel sick with sadness for all the loss and suffering.

A Water-less Weekend

The last blog was the week from hell and this one could be 'What a bl**dy awful weekend' but, because I'm a generally optimistic type, it isn't. It has been an awful one though. It's Sunday morning and I am hoping things are on the up now.

It started on Friday night. I took Alice to Youth Band practice, we leave at 4.30pm. Harriette had gone in to Matamata after school to shop for a dress (had an 18th birthday party on Saturday night). She was meeting Eric at the car parked behind his office at 5pm. She called in at 4.30pm and he said he'd be done by 5pm. At 4.55pm Eric was asked to swear an emergency affidavit. He went out to tell Harriette but she had popped round to the bank (having left a message attached to the rear view mirror. However, Eric did not get in the car so did not see it. He got cross that she had cleared of without telling him! He then went back to office, Harriette returned and waited... and waited....... She repeatedly texted Eric but, of course he did not reply. So, by the time he emerged at 6pm she was pretty cross (understandably). I am guessing they rowed on the way home. Harriette had bought hair dye but when she went to use it there was no water. Eric then had to investigate this in the dark. Someone, we assumed the neighbour Ian, had turned off the water pump. He turned it back on but there was still no pressure so we had to be left with no water overnight. In these situations we use buckets of water from the pool to flush toilets and have bottles and bottles of stored water. When Harriette relayed the office mix up to me later Eric went balistic at her. Alice then sprung to Harriette's defence (she should be a human rights lawyer, she's a great one for springing to the defense of someone she feels has been treated unjustly) and a huge row followed.

I have been reading Jodi Picoult's Handle with Care which was hard to put down so ended up reading until 1.30am. At 4am Eric woke up feeling he had something in his eye. The next 30 mins was spent me trying to see what it was - nothing. He was in a lot of pain and huffed, puffed, tossed and turned through the next 2 hours. We finally fell asleep about 6.30am and woke at 9am. So, so far, big row, no water, no sleep and Eric with a very painful eye.

Saturday morning we got up and Eric set to the task of sorting out the water problem. When he turned the water on again he could see a water fountain from the front paddock. He fixed that and all seemed to be OK. I took Harriette to work (before the water had been fixed so she was still cross as she could not shower) and did a huge supermarket shop and things seemed to settle down. I replaced the tyre on my bike (it had burst 6km into my first bike ride of the year the previous Sunday), and finished my book. All was good until I went to make tea late in the afternoon. No water!!!!! So, poor Eric had to go back out and start all over again trying to work out the problem. He thought he'd sussed the problem but did not have the required items to repair so we had to call out the emergency plumber. We always end up calling them at a weekend when the call out fee is huge!! It's like Alice, she only ever gets really sick at a weekend. Before he arrived I had to pick Harriette up and convey to her that we did have water but now it's off again! Poor girl, it was really turning out not to be her weekend! When the plumber finally arrived Eric had relayed a whole new load of alkathene piping to by-pass the area he thought was a problem (some underground piping) and they attached it to the water tank. Still no water and they could not work out the problem was. So, back to basics, we walked the pipes again and found a separated joint and water pouring in to the paddock. Eric had not checked this in the afternoon (normally the first thing we would do) as he had done this in the morning. So, we had a call out fee for something we could easily have sorted ourselves. Anyway, at least we had water. Harriette, and the rest of us, got showers and we finally got out for the evening. Harriette to her 18th and Eric and I to a 21st for one of the girls in his office. I was not looking forward to it. Eric hates parties, loud noise and won't dance! On top of that he is tired and grumpy. It actually wasn't too bad, except for the speeches. The sound system did not work well and so lots of people at the back were talking which made things worse. On top of that the father gave far too many details about the twins conception, and the twins friends were only able to relay events of drunkenness that went into a cringingly awful detail. Note to self, what not to discuss at Harriette and Alice's 21sts. Anyway, Eric had a good few beers and lightened up significantly so was not hurrying me out the door at 10pm. In fact Harriette texted at 11pm asking us to pick her up.

This morning I was meant to be up at a reasonable time as Liz and Kenny were coming by early to pick up Liz's car that she left here on her way to Auckland. Liz was taking one son on to Rotorua for a football game and Kenny would carry on home with the other 2 boys so would not be in a rush. They are Sottish, have lived here, well in Whakatane for a lot longer than we have. Kenny is an ex-cop and now runs a kayaking business and does some work with youth (I think, not totally sure on that). I think Eric and Kenny would get on well. They missed each other on Thursday when Kenny collected Liz and so I thought we could have a coffee and chat this morning. Didn't happen though as we woke to find they had already been and gone! Oh well, another time maybe.

A Week From Hell

8.15am, Sunday morning. The news is on the radio. I'm obviously blogging earlier today as Chris Laidlaw hasn't started yet! Eric is sitting next to me writing up notes from his Flying Start Course (something all lawyers have to do before they can become a partner), Alice says she's been awake since 3am and is on the computer in the living room and I guess Harriette is on her computer, she's still in bed.

The week from hell started off Friday a week ago. I got sick again. I had D+V, probably norovirus. Because of my lack of large bowel (colectomy for unlcerative colitis in 1995) when I get D+V I rapidly become dehydrated. In fact, because I had weighed myself Friday am, I knew that overnight I had lost 3.7kg (that's over 8lbs)!! No wonder I am on the verge of fainting every time I stand up. Now this really threw a spanner in the works for Mom's taxi service! Cathy had taken Alice and Claire to Youth Band in Hamilton (we alternate Fridays) and Claire stayed overnight as they had a sectional in Hamilton 6-8am Saturday. A ridiculous time I know but it means many of the members can make it prior to Saturday jobs and sports committments. Now Eric was on his course in Hamilton from 9.30am so the plan was, Eric would take them in early, watch them, have breakfast and generally kick his heels until 9.30am. I would feed out (silage to the 4 cows, chooks (not silage obviously :-) and dogs), then drive through to pick the girls up at 8am, come home, take Harriette to work for 9am in Matamata and drive through to Walton to drop Claire home. That was the plan anyway. What actually happened was; Eric got up at 4.30am to feed out then took Alice and Claire to Hamilton for 6am but had to bring them home. He literally dropped them off and hurtled straight back to Hamilton, just getting to his course on time. We then got a neighbour Shirley to take Harriette to work and drop Claire at her grandparents in Matamata where Cathy collected her. Eric had bought me some Gastrolyte in Hamilton (I had not replaced our stock we used up in Samoa) which made me feel much better. By 11am I was just about able to drive Alice in to Matamata for netball. I didn't have the strength to stand and watch so curled up in the back of the Mistral and slept! Harriette finished at 1pm so walked round to the courts and drove us home when Alice finished. Needless to say, Eric and I hit the sack at about 8pm Saturday night.

Sunday evening Mom and Daddy came over for a meal. I immediately knew something was wrong when I said the "Hi, how are you?" on their arrival. Daddy said he was being investigated for liver cancer (I hasten to add the subsequent liver scan was normal). Anyway, I asked why? Pain in that area and a blood test that indicates that he has cancer somewhere though I have seen his blood results and can't see what the doctor is talking about. I was very rational 'let's wait and see what the scan shows', 'don't put 2+2 together and make 5' etc but as soon as they left I completely lost it! Although my head told me it could not be true (Daddy looks disgustingly healthy, no weight loss) I was so scared! I spent Sunday night thinking it all through, our trip to South Africa would have to be cancelled, Daddy would either be dying or have recently died by December and we could not leave Mom, what would Mom do, stay in Paeroa, go back to the UK, move into a smaller house, Paeroa?, Matamata? It was awful! Anyway, thank heavens they had a liver scan arranged for Monday morning. I met them Hailton for this and it was normal. We all just about cried when the sonographer told us. The issue now is that he may still have cancer and where. The GP wants to repeat the blood test and I think he needs a colonoscopy (Daddy had bowel cancer in the 1990's which was resected.) Still, whatever it is there is almost no diagnosis as awful as liver secondaries.

So, after acute illness and 24 hours on an emotional roller coater Alice then got the bug and had Tuesday and Wendesday off sick. She was proper poorly and poor girls was on her own much of the time as it was the only 2 days of the week I was out and about. I did offer to cancel my appointments but she said not to. She slept most of Tuesday, well when she wasn't on the loo anyway.

Things then got better and I am hoping for an uneventful week. I was really hoping to spend the weekend gardening as we have had a couple of weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather. Harriette then reminded me that I had a Rotary convention on Saturday and on top of that it has hardly stopped raining since Thursday night. 4 of us went to this convention in Rotorua and I really enjoyed it. Picked up lots of tips to improve our local club. I must say Matamata is a very dynamic club but there are things that could be tweaked. As Eric was on the second day of his course the taxi service was again unavailable so Mom and Daddy came over and took Harriette to work and Alice to and from netball.

Today we plan to catch up with Richard and Robyn. It is calving time and so they are holed up on the farm for 6-8 weeks. I'll ring them shortly to see how their day is panning out and when would be best to meet them. Harriette and I will also go to the gym and Eric will swim (I am trying to get him to do some exercise and get a bit of weight off before we go to South Africa).

Well, I think that's all I have to report. I must go and get an email off to Schools Band. I really need to update them on all the arrangement for the Festival in September and all the playouts we have been offered over the coming months.

A Frosty Morning at Cedar Lodge

I took these this morning from the top of our drive.

Swine Flu?? Don't know but Eric's proper poorly.

Sunday morning. Sitting in bed with feral (the cat) fast asleep. Eric has just struggled out to feed out, Alice is asleep in the cottage with friends (her birthday sleepover) and Harri hasn’t surfaced either yet.
My weight is going up!!! I suppose after a holiday and a week of cheesescake and birthday cake for Alice hanging around I have a bit of an excuse but.... it needs taking in hand. I made Alice a Nigella chocolate cheesecake for Alice last Monday but she lacked appetite for most of the week (she is very good at only eating when she’s hungry unlike me who eats for a hundred other reasons, hunger being low down on the list) so hardly touched it. I on the other hand, I tucked in every time I opened the fridge. I was in Auckland on Wednesday and Thursday and left instructions that it was to be gone when I got back. It wasn’t so on Friday Eric and I finished it. Poor Alice. She came home at 9.30pm from band practice in Hamilton fancying some and was mortified to find it gone!!!! I felt very guilty but no way am I making another one. I ran yesterday but was not going to go to the gym today. However, having seen what the scales say I guess I will.
Eric has been proper poorly. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I told him he should stay off, he had the most awful cough and rigors. He kept going in claiming he had too much work but it got the better of him by Thursday and he took 2 days off. I have been feeding out etc but this morning he has gone to do it himself. We’ll see how he gets on. Yesterday it was a gorgeous day and he pruned some trees while I was planting in the orchard and coped OK. At work we were surprised with a significant, if not huge, pay bonus this week. Although pretty broke (Samoa and S.Africa flights just paid) I decided to use some of it to buy fruit trees. I spent more than Eric expected and he was not happy!!! He then announced we had 3 bills to pay I was not aware off (including repairs to the water pump and feed). My attitude is it was money we were not expecting and it is exactly the right time of year to plant trees and I didn’t spend all the money. His attitude is my spending was frivolous I guess. These was no big row just a difference of opinion but it this was very unusual for us. Anyway I have bought: 4 plums trees, 1 each of persimmon, feijoa, apricot, nectarine, orange, 2 pear, raspberry canes also, some asparagus crowns and seed potatoes. The day was divine, warm and bright blue skies and I enjoyed planting. I have more to put in today but the weather looks the same, it’s frosty though. So today, when I get up, and get Harri up, it’s off to the gym, back for a late breakfast, tree planting, more tree planting, even more tree planting then a roast chicken for dinner. I was going to ask Mom and Daddy over for dinner but they won’t want to put themselves at risk from flu or colds so we’ll raincheck that. I am sure Eric’s not infectious but I don’t want to risk it.
I had some sad news on Friday morning. My Auntie Mary died during the night (our night). As a child I used to love going to Auntie Mary and Uncle Sid’s. They had an old bungalow adjoining the rugby fields of the University of Kent. Sid was a wonderful gardener and the garden was large (well as a child I thought so) and wonderfully kept. I remember in particular a holiday I had there with my cousin Pauline and another niece of theirs Valda. I was probably about 8-10. Sid and Mary had no children themselves. Uncle Sid died many years ago, quite suddenly of an MI (sorry, heart attack) and Mary then moved into the flat vacated by my grandparents when they moved into residential care. The flat was opposite her sister my Auntie Cis so had family close by until recently when Cis also died. In the last war (I mean the Second World War) Mary had worked as a nurse and I regret now that I didn’t talk to her more about those experiences. This is one of the big disadvantages of living so far from family, you are not there to support at times like this. I would have chosen to be there by her side during this time and know it put a little more pressure on family that were there that Mom, Daddy and I could not do our bit. We also will not be there at her farewell, again, very hard for us.
There is noise from the kitchen and I can smell chocolate croissants! I guess that means that Alice and co have emerged. Some are being collected shortly for church so I’d better get dressed. Until next time.

Samoa - final entry

Piccie of our fale.

It’s now 7pm-ish Thursday evening 16th July. I am sure of this as we fly at 6.40am tomorrow. We are back at the Outrigger after 3 nights at Taufua Fales. This place feels like luxury compared to the fales. We are in the main building, upstairs. The rooms are much nicer compared to downstairs, quite colonial looking. The bed is hard as rock so I’m glad we only get to kip in it for a few hours. We have a taxi booked for 4am to take us to the airport. I was sick last night. We had lobster among other things for dinner. Within a few hours I had taken to the loo and although only sick once it was a long and miserable night. Dashing to the loo meant extricating myself from the mossie net, climbing out of bed without squashing the girls on the floor right beside us, literally no floor space, then a dash through the other fales on the beach and across the road to the loos. I was so dehydrated this morning that I nearly fainted when I tried to shower and had to give up. When the kitchen opened I got a cup and mixed some rehydration fluid which certainly relieved the muscle aches and stopped me feeling like I was about to pass out every time I moved around. It was all a bit of a repeat of the last night in Tonga in Feb last year!! I haven’t eaten today and the tummy feels quite delicate but I am certainly over the worst of it.
Before getting ill last night we watched a display put on for us on the deck of the dining area of local dancing, music and fire eating/dancing. The Samoan ladies dance in a very similar way to the Maoris and where dressed beautifully, but the men’s dances are quite different, lots more clapping and far less aggressive. As usual they called up spectators to learn the moves and, as ususal, Eric was called up. What is it about him that he always gets picked? True to form Eric applied himself and really got into it. Quite amusing knowing how much his legs were hurting. Both legs. The one with the hole in and the other one because he had tried to use it to protect the injured one. All very enjoyable the dance display, not watching Eric suffer - as if!!!

This morning after checking out we headed back to Apia by a different route to the one down, heading west then cutting up the only road across the middle of the island. About 20 minutes out I said to Eric “You did collect the stuff from the safe didn’t you.” The look on his face was answer enough and did not require the “Oh Shit!” confirmation. Thank heavens I asked then and not 3 hours later back in Apia. After heading off for the second time I found navigating a challenge, which you would think impossible with so few roads but it was. We stopped at one of the few T junctions and had a conflab. Matters were not helped by the signs only being given for 2 of the possible 3 directions and not being able to find any of the places on the map! We agreed on a route and after 15 minutes decided we were going the wrong way. Harriette then chipped in and we got back on the right track. Saw a stunning and very long waterfall on the way back, Papapapaete we think. If the photos come out I’ll add but the falls looked lost in the mist. I think this was the highest waterfall I’ve ever seen, excluding Victoria Falls. Actually, we’ve just discussed that statement (Eric is now sprawled across the bed next to me, under the fan, reading) and we think that they were even higher than Victoria.

We got back to the Outrigger at about 2.30pm and after a much needed cup of tea, Eric and I checked out Sliding Rocks. Well that was after we found it! We drove round in circles for ages. None of the roads have names and nothing seems to follow the map! Now bearing in mind that Eric was struggling to walk at this point, we arrived, paid out 2 tala each and headed towards the rocks. Only to look down well over a hundred steps that we needed to descend to get there!!! Bless him, Eric pressed on but we decided not to swim when we got there as the pools and rock slides meant an additional lot of climbing. I also, was feeling far from energetic. Very pretty though and I think worth the effort.

(Post Script back in NZ). Here endeth the story of our trip. Taxi arrived and got us to the aiport. Uneventful return but I must say I was impressed with the planes we flew on. Either new, or newly re-fitted. I was expecting the bottom of the fleet planes for flights to a remote island but no, very plush planes and heaps of seat room (or maybe that's because my bum's not so big these days!!!)

Samoa 2

Another hot day:

The computer says it’s Thursday but I’m not sure if that’s NZ time or not. I think it’s Wednesday here! We are now in the Aleipata area of Samoa, on the south east corner of Upoulu Island, one of the country’s 2 main islands. The beaches here are stunning, real Bounty advert stuff as you can see. This photo is taken from exactly where I’m sitting. and the second one is taken looking up the beach to the left from the fence you can see (that's Eric on the beach).

We hired a car from the Outrigger (with a huge, but usual Tala 2,000 excess, about NZ$1,400). It is little and spanking new, or looks it. It is parked alongside the road (which about 1 car every 2 hours passes) and this morning Eric noticed that someone has hit the rear bumper!!! We will have to wait and see what the cost is but it will almost double the cost of our holiday. We were told the car would be ready for 9am. That obviously meant 9am Samoan time because it was closer to 10.30am when we got it. We then drove down here on the only road that comes this way. Samoa is typical tropical island with gorgeous beaches (this side of the island anyway) and lush, hilly hinterland. There are coconut trees everywhere. As you drive around you see small piles of coconuts long the roadside which I gather are collected for the industry. Many of the houses are fales, that’s roof structures with no walls. Very few possessions evident and the poverty is glaring. Everything looks incredibly run down, but brightly painted originally. A pleasant thing is that children do not accost you every 2 minutes and tourists are advised not to give money to them. Such a contrast to S.Africa where, when you drive through poor areas, the children run in their tens, if not hundreds, after you begging for sweets and money.
Today, whatever day that might be, we went to To Sua Trench. It’s about a 20 min drive from here. Mind you driving at 30mph feels fast and I told Eric to slow down twice. Yes, this is Michelle typing!!! We entered some well kept and very pretty gardens and walked down towards the trench. This turned out to be a hole in the ground developed from a blow hole originally I would guess. You looked down to a stunning green-blue pool about 60 – 80 foot down with a diameter of about 50 foot. I don't think you can really appreciate the depth from these pics but you get the idea.

Stunning eh! Of course, no barriers to stop you tumbling in but, the preferred route was a very long wooden ladder. Eric managed it but when asking him just now how far down the water was (I'm not bery good at judging height) he said “My eyes tell me 20-25m but my leg tells me 500m!!” Poor guy, his injured thigh has been put through its paces this week. A very long walk uphill to Robert Louis Stevenson's last home and then climbing this ladder. That's us swimming in the last piccie!(Writing interrupted by the arrival of Janet and Ken, a S.African couple living in NZ whom we met last night).

The way people live here is real subsistence culture but then the waiters all seem to have ipods and cell phones and the cars are all newish and shiny. I can’t quite get my head round it. One waiter here does a guided walk which I did yesterday. The walk was on his property which extends up the mountain behind his house. We had a talk on the medicinal properties of the various plants he grows and roasted some beans in the kitchen, which comprised of a thatched cover over a small stone fire using one old frying pan. We sat on the ricketiest of seats and watched him husk, open and desiccate coconut. He then wrapped the desiccated coconut in what looked like a loose ball of string (the fibre being stripped leaf that is cobbled together). He then literally wrang it out into a coconut half and gave us the coconut cream to drink. It was delicious! Luckily there were only 3 of us on this walk (as opposed to 19 the previous day) so we got a real drink, not just a taste. In fact he went and found some more coconuts and did it for us again. This first piccie taken on the walk with the roofs of our fales just visable in the distance. (Is the plural of roof roofs or rooves Carol??) Note the fire behind the coconut squeezing, this is what they cook on!

Samoa, 30 degrees C and very humid

Sometime Sunday evening.

Do you know that really hot humid feeling, that constant stickiness? Yes? Well that’s what I’m experiencing at the moment. We are in Apia, Samoa. That’s the other side of the date line to NZ and somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 4 hours flying time from Auckland. We acquired air miles when we flew to the UK and said we’d use them on a Pacific Island trip. We left NZ in the depths of winter, which seems almost surreal now. Our flight got in at 2.30am, 17 hours before we left Auckland. And they say time travel hasn’t been invented. We were held up at the airport with Swine flu screening. When I say we, I mean that literally, well Eric and Alice! In NZ everybody has colds and flu. Eric, H and A have/had the usual winter colds. I, I hasten to add, have been fine! Anyway, on the plane we filled in forms which listed symptoms. Eric and Alice had to get their temp done and Alice had to have nose swabs taken. The pictures are hazy as the camera steamed up in the humidity and heat coming off a relatively cold aeroplane.

Ironically it’s Harriette that’s poorly now. Anyway, we finally arrived here at 4.30am. We are at the Samoan Outrigger. The room is a small breeze block construction which was basic but clean.

I was not impressed initially but have got quite used to the place now and am very comfortable here. We had a bad experience in Tonga with our last night in Nuku'alofa so I only booked 2 nights here in case it was the same. Our plans now are, 3 nights here, which takes us until tomorrow, and then we are hiring a vehicle and driving to the South East of the island and staying in a beach fale. A fale is a basic, uprights and palm thatch roof structure with mattresses, on the beach. There are no beaches here in Apia, Samoa’s capital, but the ones further down are meant to be spectacular. After 3 nights there we will return here for our last night, well part of night, we have to be at the airport at 3am to fly home.

As I type I am sitting on the deck of the Outrigger while I sup G’n’T and Eric and Harriette cook pasta in the adjoining kitchen. Eric has just bellowed at the Harriette, something about you stupid child then blaming me for the stupid genes (which of course I disputed), much to everyone’s amusement. Most of the other guests are med students from Edinburgh (girls) and Belfast (boys), on their electives at Samoa’s only hospital.

Yesterday we walked up the hill to Robert Louis Stevenson’s home for the last years of his life. The walk was hard work, just a street but very uneven and intermittent paths, quite steep and very hot and humid. It was a pleasure to be there as it was decidedly cooler there with a nice breeze.

The afternoon and today we have just lounged around the Outrigger, reading, swimming and playing cards. Real chilling out stuff.

I know I haven’t blogged for probably 6 months. Life just seems to get in the way but a few comments from friends saying they miss the blog has inspired me to try and catch up. Also, I actually have the time at the moment. I must say it is incongruous sitting in such a poor, 3rd world country with a laptop typing. I hasten to add I am doing so in Word and will transfer on to the web when I get home.

So, where to begin? Life plods on a Cedar Lodge much the same. Eric remains busy at work, though overall the practice is noticing the economic downturn. Eric has been made an Associate Solicitor, with a pay rise of about $60/year!!! I am still waiting for him to earn a decent salary! He should be a partner next year which means we will then be shelling out for a loan to buy him into the partnership. I am struggling to see light at the end of the tunnel. Thank heavens for his police pension. Without that we’d be bankrupt!

Having declared how poor we are I am now going to contradict myself by saying we have booked a 6 week holiday in South Africa! Thank God for a police pension and credit cards!!! We fly out on 17th December and go straight to Lynne and Vaughn’s. From there we go, with L, V and all Lynne’s family to a game reserve for 20th – 27th December. There are 18 of us in a lodge. The reserve does not have the big 4 (lion, buffalo etc) so it is safe to leave the lodge on foot/bike and explore. Something you can’t usually do in a game reserve. We are all very excited about it, especially since I booked the flights last week. We then go back to Jo’burg where we leave the girls for a night or 2 while Eric and I disappear for a romantic few days for our wedding anniversary. Then it’s back to Jo’burg, collect the girls and head South to Wilderness, on the Garden Route and West of Cape Town. There we will stay with Trish and Simon, Eric’s sister and brother-in-law. They live in Shropshire but have built a house in S.Africa to retire to. They will be in S.A. while we are there. We plan to explore the area, and head up towards the Western Cape which is one part of S.A. I am not familiar with. I must say it is the most exciting trip we have planned in ages. I just hope it lives up to our expectations.

After S.A we have resolved to get to Australia for our next short haul trip, and Canada for our next long haul, possibly on the way to the UK. I also, would like to get out to Majorca to Eric’s sister’s place the next time we get to Europe.

Eric got to the UK in May for Trish and Simon’s wedding. We did contemplate all going but that would meant we would not get to S.A., no contest in the girls eyes, particularly as they recently went to the UK and it’s been 8 years since we were in S.A. Eric had a good trip and spent some quality time with his parents who, while fit and healthy, are in their 80’s. It was much better for him to that alone where they could all give each other their undivided attention and I am sure they appreciated him.

I have asked Alice what has been significant for her about this year. Nothing she says. “And if your life depended on saying something significant that happened to you?” “I joined year 10”!!! Hardly exciting! She has joined Waikato Youth Symphonic Band, the next level up from Schools Band. That means I now have to travel into Hamilton 2 nights a week, Thursday for both of them to go to Schools Band (the one I manage) and Fridays for Youth Band for Alice. I can think of a hundred things I’d rather be doing on a Friday night than driving for 40 mins to Hamilton then occupying myself for 2 ½ hours whilst she practices, but then I guess I am not a mother to stand in the way of my child’s musical aspirations and enjoyment!! I must also say that the band is very good. And in reality, it’s actually only on alternate Fridays as I share travel with Cathy, a friend of ours from Walton who’s daughter also goes to Youth band. On the subject of the bands I have been planning our trip to Rotorua for the annual music festival. Rotorua is only an hours drive from us, less than 2 hours from Hamilton, so much easier to organise, and cheaper, than getting them all to Wellington like last year. The Festival is the first weekend of September. I must say I personally am not inspired by the music they are playing this year. I have also made it clear that I will not be managing the schools band next year!!! I really wanted to get them on a music tour of Australia whist I was manager but it just has not happened. I have not had the time to organise all the funding applications and fund raising that would go with it.

Well I will finish this blog for now as I am struggling to stay awake. The busy deck area has cleared as most people seem to have gone to bed and Alice and I still have the washing up to do.

Night night. Moxoxox

Bit's and Bob's in April

I'm sure I've blogged more recently than the Haitape Hill one at the top of blog at the moment!! Maybe I've blogged in Word and not loaded it onto the site. Need to check my USB sticks!

In brief, polytunnel is up and has pumpkins, courgettes, lettuce, radishes, beetroot, strawberries, beans x 2, various flowers, spinach, peppers, chillis, tomatoes and herbs growing. Eric has to put doors on this weekend as the temperatures have recently dropped. Very autumnal at the moment. Really cold mornings but gorgeous when the fog/frost clear and in tee shirts by lunch time.

Good Friday today and the girls have started their Easter hols. Harriette plans to join the gym and go as much as possible over the next 2 weeks to boost her weight loss efforts which are sluggish at the moment and that's being generous!! Alice probably has no plans but reading and computer use for the next 2 weeks! I actually have 6 days off. On the Tuesday I am off to Auckland to pick Mark and Cheryl up. Well actually Harriette is driving up!!!!!!! M+C are here to sort out housing and schools prior to their move here. We are sooooo excited. Mark has a job with Fonterra in Edgecombe near Whakatane, about a 3 hr drive from us. Their trip co-incides with Olivers 18th (Cheryls godson) and his mom Mandy's wedding to Ken on 18th April in Taupo. Brilliant timing.

We have had Alex and Ted with us for a few weeks. Alex is one of my friend Nicky's many sons! He and Ted are on their OE's after uni. They spent a few weeks with us and are now apple picking in Hawkes Bay on our friends Steve and Liz's orchards. After that they are heading off to the South Island and coming back here in May prior to their departure for Fiji I think.

Harriette has her first senior school ball in June. She went shopping for a gown 2 weeks ago with a girlfirend and found one she liked. Last Friday on our way to Raglan we called in and bought it. She looks gorgeous in it but you'll have to wait until June for photos. Whilst there I was just looking around the sale racks and found a gorgeous plain red dress which fitted perfectly (size 12 :-) I was delighted when I bought it. The dress was $170 reduced to $90 but the store had 30% off everything so it was only $60!! Harri's dress was also 30% cheaper so it was a good trip.

Generally, we are busy with the autumn tasks of woodchopping (remember we have over 20 trees felled late last year) and the usual fencing, leaves clearing etc. Although very pretty I do not like this time of the year as it heralds the onset of winter and that means I am going to be cold for much of the time for the next 5 months :-(

Visitors Again

We have visitors again. Alex is the son of my long time friend Nicky whom I did my first degree with. Nicky has more than her fair share of boys aged from about 6 to about 24. Alex is travelling with his friend Ted and they are in NZ for 3 months. They are based here but planning to travel and do some work. I organised yesterday for them to do some fruit picking on our friends Steve and Liz's farm in Hawkes Bay so they'll be heading off there late next week.The most exciting news we have had for a long time is that Mark and Cheryl, again long time friends (you get a lot of these as you get older!!) whom we met in the early 80's through Mandy and David, are emigrating to NZ. Mark and Cheryl have 2 children and live in Derbyshire. They are most most generous people I know and we love them to bits. Cheryl works ridiculous long hours as a high flying PA constantly spreading herself across UK cities and often abroad. She works between Nottingham and London and is a mum in her spare time!! I think she is looking forward to eing able to focus more on the latter role. They are on a reccie visit in April, which they have managed to time to co-incide with Mandy's second marraige to Ken and Olivers 18th. Olivers is Mandy's middle child and Cheryls godson. All great timing. M+C are staying with us until the wedding then heading off to Whakatane to suss out schools/houses etc. Although M+C have had a few trips out here and we stayed with them when we visited the UK it will be great to have them closer and be able to see them a lot more often.I am sitting in bed with the house reeking of Ylang Ylang which I am burning to mask the smell of very burnt popcorn. We are planning to hire Quantum tonight so I needed to watch Casino Royale last night to remind myself of how it ended. In the break Harriette decided to make popcorn. Despite me saying don't let it burn she decided to go to the loo whilst it was cooking. Burnt is an understatement and despite putting the pot outside the house still reeks this morning.Last weekend I had to take Alice into Hamilton to meet up with friends for a girlie shopping trip. These 14 year olds all looked totally gorgeous and had a great time. Robyn had been the other chauffer so we had a long sushi lunch and did some shopping of our own. I pointed out that despite being very good friends for several years now we have never been shopping together! It was very pleasant. This weekend is Harriette’s turn. She wants to shop for a dress for the annual school ball and another one for the wedding. I have to man a stand for Victim support (I am on the local committee) at the local flea market this morning so will take Harriette to work then do that, come home and do an hour or 2 in the veg plot before collecting Harriette (she's on a short shift) then going into Hamilton. Tomorrow (Sunday) I am doing a 5km fun run for the girls college. Harriette and Alice were going to do the 5km walk but Alice has cried off. Mind you she did have a stinking cold this week when I put the forms in. I have never run 5km before but I will try and do the whole thing. I have done about 4km. I haven't done much cycling lately. I did 55km last weekend but did not eat enough and was feeling quite ill after 45. I was rescued by a museli bar provided by a fellow cyclist. Must cycle in the middle of this week as I am participating in the Sarah Ulmer challenge next weekend where I will be cycling 65km. I don't plan on doing lots of these events it's just that I obviously support the college and I wanted to encourage my friend Helen who is just starting to get fit and is doing the 25km challenge next weekend. Harriette was going to do the 35km cycle but decided cycling bores her!!We had a big storm 2 weekends ago and some major boughs fell from the liquid amber tree on the drive close to the house. It took some branches out from the walnut outside our bedroom and smashed some of the new fencing. Eric had to get the chainsaw out to clear the drive before taking Harriette to work in the morning. Alex, Ted and Eric are going to finish clearing it this morning.Must go and take H to work now.

Brief Catch Up

I'm off cycling in a few minutes. I haven't been able to get out so much since the girls went back to school. All the music activities start up again and occupy 3 evenings a week. I did cycle round Lake Rotorua a few weeks ago with the cycle club and a few weeks ago cycled to Mom and Daddy's which is about 70km

Haitape Hill conquered

(Did you know, if you click on a photo in blog it comes up full sized in a separate window?)
I did it. Not quite the ride I meant to do but I got up Haitape Hill. This probably means nothing to you, unless you are familiar with the Taupo Bike Challenge. The challenge is 160km round the beautiful Lake Taupo, and can be broken down into a relay. I did the 3rd leg. The 4th has the dreaded Haitape Hill, about 2km long and steep. Being on the final leg it is a killer if you have done the whole 160km. I did not do it on the challenge as I was scared I would not get up it and was nervous of 40km let alone 40km with hills. As it was I also had a huge one but not as unrelenting as Haitape. Anyway, our team mate was not able to get up it, without stopping, and I was curious to know if I could have. At the changeover point, at Motouapa, there was a small campsite, on the lake front and a spit from a cute marina. I resolved that we would camp there and I'd do the 40km into Taupo. That's what we've done this weekend. Sort of. I always struggle with Maori names. I checked the websites for camping grounds and duely booked us into Motutere Bay campsite. On Friday I was working and Eric, although officially on holiday, had a settlement so had to go into the office to do the paper work for that. We aimed to leave at 5pm but I was working until gone then so we left at 6.10pm and Harriette drove (that meant religious sticking to speed limits!!). When we got there, thinking we were at the changeover point I didn't recognise anything!! We drove on a bit then went back and went to check in. Yes, they were expecting us. Bugger!! The campsite was huge, we hate crowds, and right on SHW1 (NZ's M1 equivilent). More to the point our site was about 10m from the road. It was late. I dropped Eric, girls and tent off and rushed off to find a take away. The fish and chip shop 6km away had stopped frying so I had to go into Turangi. Just got in before they stopped cooking pizzas at the only decent place open. I got back an hour later to find tent up, and amazingly, everyone still talking to each other. Then the teasing started. I had promised a quiet spot and here we were, feeling like we were camping on a lay-by on the M1! It was also blowing a hooley off the lake but very warm. The pizzas were great and I'd bought pre-mixed GnT's as a peace offering! The first piccie was not to show my bike, rather our proximity to the waters edge, 2 shows same detail in relation to the road!!



So, the bike ride. So much for doing the 4th leg. We were camped 10 km closer to Taupo so the route was 30km, not 40. I had mentioned to a colleague, Fe, who is seriously fit (Iron Man level) and lives in Taupo, what I was doing and she said she'd join me for the ride. She then added 3 friends to the mix - intimidating or what!!! On Saturday morning, after a terrible night being shaken awake at irregular intervals, Eric and I had a drive down to Motouapa. Eric agreed. This site would have been lovely! Walked round the marina and lingered longingly by a Bayliner boat (a large launch) for sale for $125,000. Got back, thinking I'd maybe cycle 5km and back to add the 10km and pretend I'd done the 4th leg but Fe and co turned up earlier than expected. They'd cycled down from Taupo. Todays bike ride was to be a warm up for tomorrow when Carey and Fe were going to bike round the lake!!!!! So, bolted a bowl of cornflakes, got dressed and headed off. And, well I made it. I think Taotaoroa Rd has been good training. In fairness, the weather was much cooler than the day of the challenge, and I had 10km less under my belt when I hit the hill, but, although it was hard, I never doubted I could get up it, once I started. Fe was great and stayed with me, chatting most of the time and coaxing me gently on. Needless to say she was not even breathing heavily. The others were way ahead of me. One day I'll cycle up hills without drawing every breath as if it were my last!! We got to Fe's place in Taupo and everyone was very nice and encouraging over my efforts.

While I'd been cycling Eric had taken the girls into Taupo for a 1 hr horse trek. They had passed us on the way, after the hill. Eric had the bike rack ready to take me back but, in view of the 30 instead of the 40km ride in I decided to bike back. That meant getting up the other side of Haitape but that was a slower ride. Still hard though. So yesterday, I did a 60km ride, albeit with an hour long break in the middle. I am quite npleased with myself! Came home Sat pm so we could continue with the polytunnel today. Very windy here though this morning.

Happy New Year for 2009

Happy New Year. May 2009 be very good to you all. Maybe I’m getting older but I find myself, ever more frequently, being so thankful for the life I have. The expression ‘living the dream’ so applies to us. That does not mean that our life is perfect, by any means. My biggest stresses are; the girls, that usual lazy, teenage selfishness that probably just means they are like any other teenager. Alice just completely ignoring me when I tell her to do something, or not following the very specific instructions I give (“Alice. Please empty the compost bin {onto the compost heap} then rinse and dry the bucket, put a sheet of newspaper in the bottom and put it back” 2 hours later {when I want to use the compost bin}, I find it dirty and on the drive haven fallen off the deck where it was dumped after being emptied), and Harriette arguing in a ‘why should I have to do that’ manner, every time she is asked to do something. The second thing is lack of time. So Hey, that's me and almost all of the rest of the female population!! The cash flow could also be better (which is true of lots of people also, but not many in Matamata I think) and I really do not want to be working full -time, but, other than that, life is pretty damned good. All these issues will be addressed though. I am determined to work on cutting my hours, hopefully this year. Eric’s salary should continue to increase, though the current economic climate will probably slow that somewhat, and he is due to be made an associate solicitor in April, and finally, the girls will grow up soon. Unfortunately, just when I expect them to grow out of these attitudes, and become the delightful adults I know they will be, they’ll leave home, and I cannot tell you how I am dreading that!!!!

Christmas has been quite relaxing. Almost minimal entertaining on our part, and hardly going anywhere, has really kept the pressure off. We had neighbours, Mom and Daddy, and friends for early evening drinks on Christmas Eve. As I had agreed to drive to Midnight Mass I had to keep off the wine. Mom and Daddy stayed on for supper (or tea as the evening meal is called here) and then we went to Mass. Well Harriette and I did, Alice was too tired and so Eric stayed at home with her. I actually think the real reason was he was just knackered! I am making my NY’s resolution to ease up on some things and not crawl through to Christmas 2009 on my knees yet again. Trouble is, I am not sure what to drop. My current thinking is to get a secretary for Schools Band to take some of the pressure off me there. Waikato Youth Music Association, needs some serious attention and I feel I should focus on that this year. We’ll see.

Back to Christmas. It was 2am before I got the bed on Christmas morning but the girls don’t wake us too early. I think it was about 7am when we woke, later than the usual 5.45 – 6.15am. We moved away from our traditional kedgeree for breakfast and had pancakes, fresh fruit and cream. Alice was in charge of breakfast, Harriette was doing veg and Eric the beef Wellington so, in theory, I was not required in the kitchen all day! Breakfast did not go to plan. In fairness Alice followed a pancake recipe. Since when have you seen a recipe that says ‘makes 8 pancakes’ make any more than 3, unless of course you have a midget frying pan. She was making tiny, thick pancakes that would not fold nicely into 4 and insisted that as long as they tasted OK presentation didn’t matter at all. Any other day maybe but not on Christmas Day, not in my books!!! She did her usual teenage rant and stormed off to the bedroom. I made a (bigger and thinner) batch of batter then retrieved her from the bedroom to help. By the time we ate she had calmed down!

The girls then unwrapped a pressie. After coffee and stollen (there was a bit of a gap between breakfast and coffee) and we headed off to Matamata. I make stollen every Christmas and always, something goes wrong!! This year I made 2. I use the Delia recipe from her Christmas book that I have adapted for breadmaker. I misread the flour amount and used too little. I decided to make another version by hand and it didn’t rise very well so I had 2 stodgy versions. I then realised that the yeast expired in 2007 (shows how much bread I’ve made in the last few years!!). This is a downside of having cupboards stocked ready for an earthquake or pandemic. Thins expire. I bought fresh yeast and yesterday made another stolen, this time for Richard and Robyn coming that evening (more on that later). Back to Christmas Day. The churches do a Christmas meal for those who are spending Christmas alone and we had volunteered to help serve. They did not need volunteers but asked if the girls would play some carols. They only had 2 days warning but, with Alice on clarinet and Harriette playing flute, they put a programme together. We then returned home and cooked our own lunch. As I said beef Wellington, from one of our own animals. Of course, It is actually still hanging in the chiller. Eric had to strip the fillet out on Christmas Eve. He was convinced that it had not hung for long enough but it was fantastic. Definately a 10 out of 10. The beef was accompanied by new potatoes (rocket variety, the nicest new potatoes I’ve had in years) and parsnips both from the garden. We also had a few roasted potatoes (for Eric’s benefit) as we were roasting the parsnips and asparagus and sweetcorn cobs. The asparagus season has just ended and sweetcorn are just appearing in the shops. I have a few plants in the garden but they are weeks away. The broad beans (that I planted very late), courgettes and peas, were all just a few days away from cropping. We’ve since had feeds off all of them. Dessert was chocolate cheesecake with blueberries and raspberries, made by Alice, her own choice. It was very nice and beautifully presented!

After dinner we unwrapped presents. Now there were 2 huge boxes which had no labels on. When asked by the girls I lied and said they were for Mom and Daddy but refused to say what they were. The girls weren’t convinced. On Christmas Eve as Mom and Daddy were leaving I had to go to the loo. On coming out I cried out to Alice that she hadn’t given Mom and Daddy all their presents. The 2 big ones were still under the tree. “oh well, never mind they can have them afterwards.” Now the girls did believe they were not for them. We let them unwrap all their pressies and then said they could unwrap the big parcels. We had bought them midi music systems for their bedrooms. They were rapt. And after unpacking them disappeared off to their bedrooms for the rest of the day! Not a major problem as it was 7pm-ish by now!

I made a proposition in early December that we only spend $20 on each other and try to buy as much as we can for that. I implied that that was all we would spend, except of course the $2-3,000 for my bike!!!! I must confess that Eric and I did not get organised to do this for the girls but the girls managed it. One of my presents was a nicely bound piece of music that Harriette composed for me called ‘Merry Christmas Mummy’. I was very touched! Eric got a collection of op shop ties and a gross shirt. The shirt was given to him as an example of what he was not to wear. And to make sure he didn’t wear it they bought it too small for him!!!!

I did not have much to unwrap as we had picked my pressie up several days before. I am now the proud owner of a Specialized road bike. It’s priddy, white, red and black! For the uninitiated Specialized is a make. I was cycling a few days later towards Arapuni Dam (28km from the house where Eric was fishing), and a guy called Jim caught me up. We had a chat and it turns out he leases land to our neighbours, Ian and Shirley, for grazing. I remembered that Ian had, months ago, suggested I speak to Jim if I was buying a bike as he is in the business. Jim said he was expecting my call (I had to admit I had totally forgotten!). Anyway, he said that Specialised is one of the 2 brands he would have advised I go for. I have the shirt (from my round Taupo ride), cycle shoes (with clip-on cleats), gloves, hat, repair kit, bright light, cycle computer – the whole kiboodle. I’m a very happy cyclist!
Boxing Day. Like Christmas Day the weather was not good. In fact, and to Eric’s horror, I lit the fire for a few hours in the afternoon. The day was a lazy one. Breakfast was smoked salmon and scrambled eggs cooked by Harriette assisted, or rather supervised, by me. She hasn’t got timings right yet, wanting to put toast on before starting anything else. Dinner was a seafood platter but the seafood was pretty tasteless which was disappointing. A few days later Eric did an Asian seafood meal a prawns satay, which was divine, a gingered seafood stir-fry with prawns, squid and baby octopi. A much better meal.

The rest of the weekend was lazily spent. We went to Waihi Beach for a 40th birthday party on the Sunday but that was rather boring. We didn’t really know anyone and most people were on the beach. Trouble is when we went over there we didn’t know who were the party goers so just had a walk and sat on the beach on our own for a couple of hours. We were able to leave early as we had arranged to have tea with Mom and Daddy.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was officially working. I managed the first day OK. The Tuesday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Les from Rotary delivered flowers, in Rotary tradition, so he was here for an hour or so. Then we went into Matamata to go out for lunch. The girls didn’t join us. They were more focused on hitting the sales with their Christmas money and said they thought we’d appreciate a romantic lunch on our own! We had decided to buy ourselves some feijoa trees as an anniversary present. The girls also bought us one so we had a trip to the garden centre for those.

Wednesday was sooooo hot. Eric phoned his sister Ava and so I stopped work to have a chat with her. Shortly afterwards Henry (another Rotarian) and his wife Ann called in for morning coffee. Henry recently broke his arm and spent several weeks in hospital, where I visited him a few times. He is the clubs sergeant and so as his corporal I have been standing in. By the time they left it had got very hot. I really did try to work but ended up giving up! Instead Eric and I spent the day on the deck reading, sunbathing and swimming.

Thursday, NY’s Eve Harriette invited some friends over for a sleepover. They planned to swim, BBQ, take over the cottage and watch videos for the night. It was really hot and apparently Rebecca was swimming at 3am! They are all still asleep. I am now going for a bike ride. A circuit, SHW29 towards Matamata, up Puketutu Rd, left onto Buckland Rd, down Todd and back down Taotaoroa Rd. Going that was means the last 10km is mainly, and seriously, downhill. Buckland is very up and down. Should be about 30km (PS it was 38.4km took me 1hr 40mins, got up to 70km an hour on one of the hills. Alright as long as you don’t think about coming off!!!).