The Northern Explorer and summer activities.
2nd November. Final weekend of the Rugby World Cup. The ABs did over Wales last night to restore some national pride and we are up tonight to face the S.Africans and overcome their kicking game. The first T 20 yesterday saw us win easily against the Black-caps.... 2nd one tomorrow. Preparations for summer visitors are well under way with the purchase of bunk beds for the girls in January and a large Cantilever umbrella to sit out under as the patio is in full sun all day! We have booked our handyman to come after we return from our adventure to Wellington and he will be busy all day building beds, umbrellas, pressure wash cleaning patios and pathways and setting up outside furniture for ourselves and our guests. Pictures to follow.
Thank you to all those who have contacted us with their news. It has been lovely to catch up with people who we haven't heard from for ages. Keep those comments coming in the future.
3rd November. Now I know how the kiwi's felt last week after our mauling by South Africa. Very disappointing. Hopefully the second T 20 today will make up for our loss last night. Off to the cinema tonight to see Official Secrets with Keira Knightley in the lead role. Gorgeous day in Pyes Pa....... 25 degrees and blue, blue skies.
Really enjoyed the film although shocked that neither Lynn or I had heard of this story at the time of the start of the Iraq war. Worth a watch when it comes out.
November 6th. Just seen Jo Jo Rabbit which was recommended by Dave and Vrons. Interesting with some great young actors and a huge anti war film.
It has been the year of the Flinders travel woes. Jill with three aborted landings in Sydney back in Feb.... Simon and family with their 60 odd hour trip from Sydney to the UK and now it is time for Jill's daughter and the Blake family to complete the round. Antony had an invite to run in the New York marathon and so the family left Sydney for New York via San Francisco. Delayed flight and missed connection...... bit of sightseeing in San Fran to kill the time and then flight arrived in New York.... passengers not allowed off..... police boarded and escorted two people off then returned to interview the pilot!!!!! Eventually Sarah, Ant and the three children were allowed off and all slept for 12 hours after missing two Aussie nights sleep. Ant ran 3hrs 07 which was great... even greater after their lengthy trip out. Fingers crossed that all flying visits here over the next few months go smoothly.
November 17th. An unusual lengthy delay in writing the blog as we have embarked upon our public transport holiday to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Taxi to town and bus to Hamilton. Watched the climax of the T 20 series with a tied game and another Superover victory by the Poms!!!!
Overnight stay then caught the Northern Explorer train to Wellington........... seeing all the stunning landscapes in between. I have put together a short slide show to give you a flavour of the trip. Please click below to open the slide show and then click again on the first slide....... Going South.. https://spark.adobe.com/video/gkCwE12fyEAO9 Then click on the back arrow to return to the blog.
The train journey was approx 8 1/2 hrs long with spectacular scenery along the way.
Our time in Wellington took in the Te Papa Museum which was brilliant. A tour of the Parliament buildings and a hop on hop off bus tour to all the major attractions. Wednesday saw us travel to Paraparaumu where Janet and Mike Secker met us for an overnight stay at Ruamati South. We haven't seen them since 2015 when they visited us in 12 Southbourne. It was great to catch up and as with all of our long term friends, time does not seem to affect the ease of the friendship. All transport worked out very well despite having a bus replacement service between Paraparaumu and Wellington.
One last night in Wellington before the long trek home. We have loved our time in the capital and will definitely return in the not too distant future.
Dave and Vrons called in for coffee and a catch up before their next visitors arrive. They had stayed at the Copthorne Hotel too so could picture where we were in Wellington.
Time to catch up with Patsy and give her our knowledge of the train journey as she is coming down from Auckland to Hamilton on the 23rd. Had really good Whatsapp call last night with her where we were able to discuss her travel dates, flight numbers etc. Got some things on her bucket list too.
Tuesday 19th November. Richard Handyman has arrived for the list of jobs we have for him. Pressure wash patio and pathway; build the bunk beds; build the Cantilever Umbrella; get out furniture ready for the next good spell of weather and check over the BBQ for summer action. Last night I think we saw evidence of the Aussie bush fires in our skies. It was unusual colouring.
Patio before:
During:
And after:
26th November. Outside furniture all set up ready for "the gathering" on the 7th December. Dave and Vrons called in with English friends Bella and Tony.
We had been to the cricket test match at The Bay Oval the day before and they were going on the Sunday so they were asking about our day. Sadly we lost the test after a very poor performance. Only bright side was that Marshy told us to look out for Zak Crawley who is in the squad. George, Marshy's son, and Zak used to open the batting together for Kent under 11's!!!!! He came on as sub fielder in last two days. Second test starts on Friday.
29th November. First two Christmas cards arrived.... thank you Carol and Janice. Second test started and Zak is named in the squad. We have had two bird crashes into windows which left them deceased and I noticed an Asian Paper Wasp building a nest in the overhang. We zapped it at dusk and it died instantly. Then we saw a dead nest wind blown on the lawn so we zapped that too!!!!
We are waiting for our landlords to finish off the killing of a climber that was ripping into the fence so we will ask them about disposing of dead nests in case there are still eggs in there. The climber has been ripped out by Alexis and Mac so we are all set for the weekend gathering.
December 2019. Black Friday sales saw us get bed linen for the girls room and a new laptop to replace the old windows 7 which will be obsolete in January.
December 5th. Went for a golf lesson today with the Pro at Mount Maunganui in preparation for playing with Sarah, Jo, Jan Martin and Robbie on the 17th. We had a good session and returning for another next Tuesday.
December 6th. Eileen contacted me to tell me that Tony Maltby had died. Tony was a lovely home tutor at The BEP and was still working with children in his 89th year. Before moving back to Kent he had been the Headteacher in Derbyshire at the school Eileen's son attended. Trent College put out an obituary on him which I forwarded to Mary and Angie. He was 91. It was good to hear back from them too. The house next door.
December 7th. The day of the gathering of Lynn's NZ friends has arrived......... and so did they!!!
From L to R: Rick, Lynn, Sue, Dave, Vrons, Ellen, Win and Ken. Lynn was the link between their two schools in NZ, having worked in both in the 70's . However, people who hadn't met before knew of each other in the Blog so there wasn't a time when conversations were struggling to take place! The rain didn't dampen spirits either! It was great that everyone, who could, came to celebrate one year in Kereru Place and all the contributions and gifts were very welcome indeed. Apologies to Sue and Peter as they had left before I remembered about the photo. Vrons wanted me to be in the photo but if you look carefully at the picture...... I already am!!!!!
It is time to close Blog 17 and send it on its way. We have loads of things to look forward to in the next few months. Had a good catch up with Patsy last night as she prepares to flee the UK after the election, arriving with us on the 23rd. We are really looking forward to her visit. The next blog will be after our time with her and before the Flinders family arrive at the end of January.
