In the South Island

 A week or so before xmas, our lovely friend Melita was in Sydney and caught up with Kirsty. She delivered on her promise to send a photo of the two of them - yay!

Two beautiful women who we love dearly.

In March our wonderful elder grandson, Olek, is arriving in NZ for a 6 week sojourn, mostly with us. Apart from the shenanigans of moving into Parkwood, we plan to be out exploring the upper North Island in the motorhome. To save 18 year old Olek the indignity of sleeping for several weeks in the same space as his elderly grandparents who probably snore and definitely get up at night for watering purposes and who'll wake up early (not teenage hours) for cups of tea, his kindly grandparents have purchased a tent (two person) and a camp stretcher so he has his own sleeping quarters.

One fine (for obvious reasons) morning David quietly snuck out to put the tent up - partly to see if he could and partly to check it was all there. He snuck out so that he got to do it without me interfering/chipping in with advice, taking over helping. By the time I came through the house and then outside to see a) why my plaintive calls for my 4th cup of tea had not been heeded, and b) what he was up to, he had the inner of the tent constructed and the bed put together. I was only nee3ded for two things: a) help get the bed in the tent, and b) help insert the strut that holds the vestibule (fancy schmancy...) up.

Tent inny with vestibule strut in place, bed at the ready ... Bag, bag of stakes, canopy on the ground - discarded as not required for this exercise!

I wonder if I'll be more successful in calling for tea from here?

Only the inner structure - it's a 2 person tent, but that appears to presuppose sleeping on the cold hard ground and we couldn't do that to Olek!

The miracle is that both tent and camp stretcher fitted back into their respective bags - that has always been a hassle. Not that we camp in tents mind you, but the kids used to and the bags their tents came in were always microscopic, as if the tent and poles and stakes and guy ropes had been vacuum packed and hermetically sealed in the bag, never to be re-inserted in their entirety. But these are Kathmandu brand - designed for the fashion conscious who don't have time to do that puzzle. And to be fair, we mostly bought quite cheap tents for the kids based on our income level at the time.

We have actually purchased two tents and two campstretchers because Kirsty has decided she would like to come and spend time with us while Olek is over here. And as she wants to be part of the extended family visiting, we decided to spare her the sharing of the motorhome sleeping space as well.

The other very kind thing we have done for them is to launder the Argos sleeping bags - they are fabulous, double sized, but so large they do not fit in our washing machine. So I dropped David and the two sleeping bags off at the local launderette which has GIANT machines. I'm not sure how much cleaner they are but they spent that very hot day out in the back garden drying and being turned over regularly, and they were sent out for more airing the following hot day. So the burning hot sun will have helped in the cleaning and freshening process.

We are now having 12 days in the South Island - we were invited to a wedding in Amberley, and decided we would take advantage of the opportunity to have a wee holiday. And because the weather here on the eastern side of the Main Divide is purported to be baking hot - suitable for scones and pastry in the open air - we decided to head for the West Coast, where we can go to see friends and not be so overcooked.

In preparation for the 12 days away, David made hummus and falafels. He decided to go out on a very slim limb and use the slap dash method of measuring by handsful, as his wife does... Still and all, he felt the need to divide the soaked chickpeas up before using the food processor.

But he had to check to make sure his slapdash method wasn't too discrepant ... 50gm difference between the lightest and heaviest bowls, in case you are interested!

 We managed to share the bench reasonably successfully - I was baking bread and preparing lunch for guests. I think the two photos above were taken on bread making day because that yellow egg poaching pocket is what I use to measure the starter for the poolish (leaven). Only 6 loaves this time, and I baked it the morning before we left home. I only gave away one - to Jillian in return for a dozen lemons.

When we booked our trip there were not many sailings available - tourists are back and it's school holidays and statutary holidays for the xmas/new year period as well. So it was a late evening sailing. That did mean we had the whole day to get ready - and we needed it, because Melita and her family are going to stay in the house for a few days, and she is a much better housekeeper than we are...

That's Paul and Nigel's house between the two right hand lamp posts. I messaged Paul and we waved while waiting in line.

We arrived at the terminal quite early - it was the last day of the stat holidays and we thought the traffic into Wellington could be quite heavy. But no! We went in on SH59 (the old road in local parlance) and there was almost no traffic at all. Bliss!

When we were lined up I made a cup of tea and a tomato sandwich each thinking we had a while to wait. But no sooner had a I sat down and the vehicles in front of us moved forward about 50metres. We followed and sat eating peacefully but watchfully...

A lovely sailing - we found a table in the bar area (no children), David watched the cricket, I read. But it was a very late night for me in particular! We headed a few minutes down the road from the ferry terminal at Picton, to the Parklands Marina Holiday Park at Waikawa Bay, where we have been a few times. Lovely place. We crept in as quietly as possible and Nick and Hayley had left a space for us pretty close to the entrance which required no manoeuvering (FFS, I can never spell that word!), just drive straight on to it, close doors as quietly as possible ...

I think I posted that on Facebook at about 1.15am or thereabouts - exceedingly late for me!

Yesterday we headed south after a quick shop at Picton. We fetched up here at Donegal House just on the outskirts of Kaikoura. $20 per vehicle a night with power or without. Cheap but eating at the pub was not! Nice food though. The guy who runs the place is steeped in the family history of Irish emigration. You can read about it here: Donegal House

All of the sites have Irish family names. This is the view out behind us - a mountain range of course - we ARE in the South Island

 

And the view out the door of the motorhome. That is a mountain, not a hill, okay! - I will need to look it up to find out what it is called.

OK, up to date, so I had better go and shower and get ready to head away. 

Today we are going to visit Greg and Alan in Rolleston (we met them in Hanmer Springs when camping nearby each other and found friends in common). And tomorrow we head back up to Amberley to meet up with other wedding guests. Some of them I will know because I worked with Gavin and Deb in DOC in Hokitika and Greymouth when I was doing the mines remediation work. Gavin was the Works Officer who was my customer - the sites were in his bailiwick for maintenance once remediation was complete. I am expecting to see Jim too - Jim was the mover/nagger behind getting the Waiuta work done. I am keen to find out who else will be there that I know.😊😍