A new year in New Zealand
23 rd December. Just less than one day to go before our stuff arrives. Getting very excited about where things will go but to be fair there is so much storage here, we will be fine. More good news is that miserable Mourinho is gone and lovely Ole has taken over. A win of 5 1 at Cardiff...... omg things are looking up!!!!!
24th at 9am NZ Vanlines turns up. Two guys and one very strong girl start unloading. Each time they enter the property they shout a number between 1 and 96 and we had to say which room and tick it off the checklist! Despite the worst forecast since we arrived it stayed dry until they left and then the heavens opened and it rained for the rest of the day. Looked like this at lunchtime Christmas Eve.
Dining room
Garage
Just after they left
Boxing Day Activity
This also arrived Christmas Eve and we wanted it to be up for when Jill arrives in two days time.
A well earned Gin and Tonic!!!!!!!!!!
27 th December
Now all gone.
Dining room
Patio
Lounge
28th December. unpacked last of the boxes and went to the tip along with the rest of the population! Surprisingly, Ashford was much better at recycling than here in Tauranga..... only some plastics, glass, cardboard and paper, green waste and white goods. No metal, no wood, no small appliances, no clothing and no shoes. Since China has refused to take the world's waste products, NZ has had to increase its use of landfill. When we were in North Northland, near Pukenui, there was a huge protest going on about a new proposed landfill site near a small community. The problem is the land up there is not fit to grow much on so it is prime for landfill applications. Another problem is the roads are not fit for the hundreds of waste lorries that would have to pass through small villages to reach the site. Therefore uping the recycling effort seems to be the only choice for New Zealand. Watch this space.
The weather forecast for Christmas Day was so awful we had Roast Pork. The promised BBq has been delayed due to unpacking needs. Boxing Day was glorious weather but the putting together of a Danish set of Outdoor furniture, where the diagram was the wrong way around and the screw threads were hard to start.................... suffice to say it took me all day to get it done. Next time I suggest ordering a piece of flat pack furniture online....... remind me of Boxing Day 2018!!!!!
Afternoon of 28th December. All done and ready for our first staying guest, Jill. At least it is a lot closer than the UK for her journey. We are driving to Auckland to pick her up tomorrow afternoon.
Collecting Jill went well and despite being 40 mins late she travelled well. We sat up chatting for a couple of hours and had a a long lay in on Sunday morning. She had rested up for most of Sunday but was keen to cut a lemon off our tree for a well earned gin and tonic.
New Year's eve came and went. The first day of 2019 was glorious weather and we attempted a trip to the Mount but as it was holiday time we bagged it and decided we would do that after this week. BBQ steak was a great way to start the year.
2nd day of 2019 we took Jill across to our old stamping ground to the Barn and called to see Karin, the girls and the two dogs. Coffee overlooking the harbour and a nice breeze off the water.
The Pohutukawa trees are just coming to the end but are being replaced by the Jacaranda.
You can just see the red flowers on the Pohutukawa.
Jan 5th. Couple of lazy days taken after a busy time. The son of a friend of Jill's called this morning for a catch up. He moved to NZ twenty years ago. Yesterday saw that our shipping company MSC had a ship off the coast of Belgium and Holland that lost 270 containers in the sea, after a massive storm.
So not feeling too sad that our container was a bit delayed!!!!!!! Could have been a lot worse!!!!
watched Sri Lanka and NZ in a ODI yesterday and just before 9pm the camera man picked up something in the sky. Either space junk or an asteroid. Looked like this!!!!
Twelfth night and all is said and done for Christmas and New Year. Lovely day although a bit windy. Just lost my sheet off the line.... over the fence and ended up on next doors boat.!!!! Won't take long to dry at this rate.
Thought I would send Blog 7 now as the next one will involve a bit more travelling. Plans are to go to Whakatane, Lynn's old stamping ground to meet up with Sue and Rick and Kathy. Then yesterday, out of the blue, got an e mail from Annie who I knew from childhood. Turns out she lives in the Coromandel, where Lynn and I have booked a five day break after we take Jill back on the 31st Jan. Blog 8 will have a bit more travel and pictures of New Zealand.
Until then..... good health and much happiness for 2019.
