Waikanae is wonderful

We have had a lovely couple of days here in Waikanae – mainly seeing friends and shopping. We decided David could do without more clothes – after all we have just cleared his wardrobe and chest of drawers, so why refill them? But we did go yesterday and buy a TV for our new home, but rather than leave it in the store to be collected when we move in, of course it is coming back to Cherswud with us – the reason, apparently, is that it will mean we can sell the old one … A bit spurious as a reason goes, but a boy cannot be parted from a new toy.

The garage sale a couple of weeks ago netted us almost $1000 – I am wondering how many times we have spent that metaphorically in justifying new purchases …

After our shopping expedition we visited friends. We first drove up to have lunch with Derek in his new home at Otaki Beach. We had seen it from the outside before he moved in but hadn’t been inside. It has the most stunning views – north to Mt Taranaki on extremely clear non-hazy days, north east to Mt Ruapehu in the same conditions, south west to Kapiti Island and the South Island, and east to the Tararuas, a beautiful range of hills that would qualify as a mountain range in the UK, I think. So from the lounges and open plan kitchen he looks out to the sea (north, west and south), and from the lounge and kitchen to the Tararuas.

After a yummy lunch (asparagus tart, salad, new potatoes) we set about rearranging the furniture in the lounge beside the kitchen for Derek to trial. If he wants to move it back he will have to get someone to help him as the sofa we moved is super heavy!

Off then to call in on the two Peters at Peka Peka who had spent the day preparing for the Kapiti Art Trail weekend next week; a quick cup of tea and catch up with them – Peter M is the man who produced the Waka Huia name and scrolls for us. He hadn’t followed the blog so was pleased to know it had all worked out well. We also let him know we are going to commission scrolls/koru for the bow – we will ask for a spare in case of disaster.

Then on to see another Peter on the way back to Bruce and Gary’s place. Rob, our gardener**, was there too having finished a day’s work at Pete’s, so an immediate invitation to dinner was tendered and accepted. Rob’s partner arrived soon after and it was a fun evening.

** Rob gardens for all mentioned in this post apart from B&G. He also does our neighbour’s garden in Johnsonville as well as a few others. He is great.

Today I went back to Paraparaumu to purchase the outdoor table and eight chairs for the patio area, and also bought a substantial cantilvered umbrella while David put another film on to scan for editing. (Not sure if I have ever written about David’s business, Weaving Memories, in which he gets people’s films, videos, slides, photos, tapes, music and publishes them digitally – not just copies them on to digital media, but edits, corrects colour, orders footage to create the stories people want told, and then publishes them. He is amazingly talented at this work and, since we got back from our OE in late 2007 he has only ever advertised on TradeMe in the Services section – and has always had work in the pipeline. Now is no exception as there are 12 jobs on his list, ranging from very small to rather large.)

Once the film transfer was underway he set out for Joy and Autry’s place, along the river walkway instead of the road. Joy and Autry were fellow B&B hosts in Johnsonville until they moved up to Waikanae a couple of years ago. They lived at 145 Helston and we are at 121, so essentially we were 12 houses apart there. When we move into our new home in Waikanae, we will be neighbours again, this time about 20 houses apart – as we agreed this arvo, it’s merely staggering distance after dinners at each other’s places … They have the most amazingly lovely cottage garden – they are both very talented gardeners – and their place will be featured in the Kapiti Garden Trail in January. Definitely one to see. Joy is going to keep seedlings for me for when we move. My list of plants I require is growing: feijoa tree/s, passionfruit vine, deep maroon abutilon (chinese lantern) cutting from 121, other cuttings from the garden at 121, lettuces, spring onions, tomatoes, herbs, climbing roses, my lemon tree in a wine barrel, rhubarb …

Tomorrow when we get home, I need to complete the application for the UK pension I am entitled to as part of the reciprocal agreement between NZ and the UK – I won’t receive it as I am too young for the pension here but it’ll go into the government’s coffers to pay David.

David has to do my GST (our VAT) return, and provisional tax calculation and payment by Tuesday. The price of having retired at 55 is that he has to do the administration - I have been known to stab the mouse mat through the GST form that I was messing up the completion of … That was some years ago before you could submit the return on line though. I could be better at it now, but why find out? It may be bad for my mental health, plus the online form and the computer screen may be endangered.