Easter 2017

Once again, Easter was upon us and once again, it was time for our annual extended family holiday weekend. This year the location was Porangahau...or more precisely, Whangaehu Beach which is located about 20 mins from Porangahau. After a 4 1/4 hour drive we arrived at a tiny settlement on the East Coast. As usual, we were very spoilt...a gorgeous location, a great bach (holiday house) and weather which was much better than we had invisaged after Cyclone Cook had wreaked havoc a mere 24 hours earlier!

 

Our home for Easter Weekend 2017 - "Whangaehu Absolute"

This was a well set-out bach; it was "U-shaped" in design with kitchen and living area along one side, toilet/bathroom/laundry across the top and then 4 bedrooms along the other side...perfect for us all to be together but have our own space. The setting was spectacular; see the next photo for the view from the deck!

 

 

We got to wake up to this every day and it never got tiring! I walked up to the top of the first hill every morning to see the sunrise-great exercise to work off those Easter eggs!!There was a small river running out to the sea and it was a icy cold wake-up call crossing it each morning!

 

 

But the sunrises and the views from the top were worth it-an absolutely stunning way to start the day! It was Briar's birthday while we were there and we dragged her up the hill on her birthday to see her own special sunrise-I'm not so sure she really appreciated it but I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do on your birthday :)

 

 

One morning we had a special visitor! I'm not sure who was more surprised to see who...Olivia nearly ran into the seal who had snuggled in for a snooze just off the beach and gave her a warning 'bark' to remind her of personal space!! He was a gorgeous fellow, only moving off after a few hours and even returning the next day for another visit. We found out later there is a seal colony somewhere further down the coast so he was obviously on his way to or from there, I guess.

 

 

We did a bit of sight-seeing while we were here as Jeff's Dad had worked in the area in his youth and even had his 21st at the Porangahau pub! We drove past the station where he had worked and stopped at the pub but it was closed :(

We discovered a famous landmark on our travels-try saying the following place name in one go!! We all had fun trying!  :)

 

 

Yeah, it's a bit of a mouthful, huh??

 

 

And here is the explanation for all those letters! Imagine writing that as your address  :)

 
 

 

We spent a lot of time down at the beach-it is the perfect place for families and holidays. As I said, we were SO lucky with the weather as Cyclone Cook had blown through about 24 hours earlier and I really thought we would be in for a wet, windy weekend! But apart from rough surf when we first arrived, the only signs of it were soggy lawns! Honestly, the sun shone and the wind dropped away and we spent so much time on the beach, out on the deck or out and about geocaching, exploring the area and generally relaxing.

 

 

I love walking so couldn't resist heading off to explore the clifftop walk that local landowners had kindly marked and maintained for visitors to use. It provided stunning views from the top of the hills and certainly 'blew the cobwebs away' with the coastal winds keeping things fresh! I walked about 2k along the top before retracing my steps back home. Part of the track is shown below...

 

 

Another great Easter weekend...roll on 2018!

 

More letter writing!

 

 

So we all know I like to write letters...and with a successful LetterMo behind me (yes, I sent mail every business day), I am now looking for my next challenge.  And I have found it...

 

 

 

 

 

WRITE ON ... a challenge to write a letter EVERY DAY during the month of April.

 

 

Woohoo-bring it on. I am a little behind in my replies to penpals so will have at least eight letters to write but will have to find some other 'lucky' recipients for my scribblings!  :)  Of course, there is always my daughters while they are away at boarding school during the week...and I could join some letter-writing swaps on Swap-bot. Then there is the list of  'reasons to write' on the official Write On website.

 

 

While you are checking out their website, take a look at the "Resources" tab and check out the list of websites dedicated to snail mail! Perhaps it will inspire you to put pen to paper?! You could always write to me!  :)

 

 

Briar's winning year!

I just have to have a (belated) boast about our amazing youngest daughter, Briar, and her fantastic end to her Intermediate schooling career  :)

 

Each year we head along to prizegiving and sit through a couple of hours of speeches and awards and are always very proud of the achievements of our girls. But I have to say, 2016 just blew us away!

 

Briar has always had very good reports and success during her time at Tokoroa Intermediate and she enjoyed her time there, being challenged to strive for her best always, with some wonderful teachers who encouraged her immensely.

 

She participated in extracurricular activities such as choir, school production and squash and always gave 100% (well, most of the time!) It was a pleasure to see her take one of the lead roles in the school's bi-annual production and watch her confidence in public performing grow from that. She certainly takes great pleasure in performing... and singing! (see below)

 

So we attended the final prizegiving knowing that she would be on stage to collect one or two awards for her hard work. But the school always keeps the two top awards a secret-no one knows who will receive them! We sat through class awards, house captain awards, extracurricular awards and then the top 15 student awards. Finally it is time for the 'top two' -  the school names their Dux as well as the top student for overall excellence. Can you imagine our surprise when BRIAR was named as top overall student??!!

 

Te Tino Tangata for General Excellence!!!  OMG...I just started crying! I was SO proud of her-she had worked SO hard and it had all paid off for her. What an amazing kid  :)

 

 

 

 

The Te Tino Tangata for General Excellence trophy

 

 

 

Her major trophies

 

We are SO proud of your well-deserved success, gorgeous girl!

 

Look at that beautiful smile!

 

Trophies for Performing Arts and Drama

 

BUT WAIT...THERE"S MORE....

 

Not only did she win at school but then Briar decided to enter a singing competition on the national radio! After an over-the-phone audition she was rung back to say she had made the finals! She and two others had to sing live on the radio on Christmas morning and the winner was.....BRIAR!!!

 

OMG...we were all SO excited!! She did awesomely and was such a gracious winner. Her prize was a set of headphones and "Ollie" - a remote-controlled gadget that spins, zooms around and does other amazing stuff by control of an app on your iPad. So exciting for Briar and a great end to her outstanding year!

 

 

Celebrations!

 



 



 

And what an occasion to celebrate...a 50th Wedding Anniversary!

Yes, November 2016 marked 50 years of marriage for my mum & dad and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner to celebrate.



 

 

We decorated the Taumarunui Senior Citizens rooms and put together a photo board showing milestones and family occasions over the years, which caused a lot of "remember when..." and "OMG, don't put THAT photo up there"!!   :) 

 

But the memories and anecdotes that it prompted from guests later that night made us glad it was there. There was a lot of reminiscing done!

 

Guests came from near and far to help us celebrate and it was so good to catch up with so many people we hadn't seen for ages (years in some cases!) I always enjoy having a happy occasion to catch up with people rather than a sad one which seems to be more frequent these days  :(

 

 

A great time to get an updated family photo!

 

 

Mum & Dad - Congratulations on 50 years together! Thank you for your love and commitment to each other - it is a wonderful example to us all.

 

 

 

 

SNAIL MAIL

 

 

 

 

Those of you who know me will know I LOVE sending (and receiving!) snail mail. I write letters to pen pals, send postcards via PostCrossing and generally help keep NZ Post  in business!  

 

 

 

Every February I try to participate in LetterMo and this year I was very successful and as able to send a piece of mail every day-yay! Some years I have not been quite so successful but I figure that any mail sent is still winning.  :)

 

 

 

This year I have discovered a new challenge - Write On. The challenge is to write 30 letters in 30 days during the month of April which, apparently, is National Letter Writing Month!

 

 

 

 

I actually discovered this last year but circumstances meant that I didn't even get started on this challenge. This year, however, I am ready! I have quite a few pen pals that I need to reply to but I really need a few more people to write to  ensure I get 30 letters sent.

 

So if you would like a piece of 'real' mail instead of an email leave  me a comment and I will get in touch and get your address.  (Please don't post your address in the comments-I would hate to be responsible for you getting unsolicited mail!!) I will write about life in NZ (if you are international) or you can suggest a topic that I may be able to write about.

 

I wouldn't expect a reply (honestly, I REALLY do enjoy sending mail!!) but if you wanted to send a letter too, I would be happy to hear from you  :)

 

So, leave a comment below and I will be in touch or perhaps you may even like to join Write On too? Click on the link above and accept the challenge!

 

 

 





We have bees!

Yep, Jeff and I are now the proud owners of a working beehive, after discussing it for years and never actually getting around to doing anything about it! It all seemed quite daunting starting from scratch and with no knowledge of what to do. Then we learned of a woman who would not only provide and set up all the equipment we would need but would also provide on-going support and training while we got to grips with it all. Bingo…we were sold! So in November our bees arrived…so exciting. We set up the hive halfway down our back paddocks, underneath a plum tree. The hive didn’t start off as big as it is in the 2^nd photo-that was after about 6 weeks. You can see some of my busy workers at the base of the hive in picture 3.

 

Every fortnight we check the hive and this involves about 2-21/2 hrs of time. Bear in mind it is summer here in NZ and we are decked out in head-to-toe suits for protection and although they are ventilated, it does NOT feel like it! But the time flies and I am always amazed to return to the house and discover how much time has passed.

At first I was afraid of how I would handle the bees buzzing around me, especially as I was in their territory, but I was pleasantly surprised to find how quickly I got used to them buzzing about me. It was almost 4 months before I got my first bee sting! (Which didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would and is now one less thing I have to worry about-it was always on my mind when I would get my first sting!)

It is fascinating to learn how the bees work and operate-they really are busy little bees! J They breed so quickly-our hive grew a level (called a ‘super’) every fortnight. Watching a bee hatching from its cell is always wonderful to see-they are so furry! Spotting the queen is always a mission-it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack but once you see her it is fairly obvious which one she is-just so hard to spot her amongst all the bees crawling all over the frames.

Each visit saw more and more frames being put into the hive-each of these from the second super up would eventually be filled with honey – hopefully for us to collect! We have to check each frame in the bottom super to ensure the queen is there (we place a special mat down called a ‘queen excluder’ to ensure she doesn’t go up through the other supers laying her eggs where the honey is. We need to check she is laying eggs, larvae are growing and hatching and that the hive shows no sign of disease. There are 10 frames in a super so it all takes a bit of time, especially for a

beginner! It’s a tight fit to get the frames in and out of the super and I am always afraid of squashing bees with my clumsy fumblings. Unfortunately, a few casualties are inevitable L I feel like I am killing a family pet LOL.

 

Finally, we could harvest our first batch of honey-so exciting!! We only had 4 frames that were full enough but decided to start on that small number so we could practice and save the other frames for next time. This turned out to be a great decision…we did NOT anticipate the amount of honey each frame holds!

 

 

So here is our setup the setup for collecting the honey; the ‘nuc’ box holding the frames inside it, the double strainer over a food-grade bucket, the scraper and finally the sample jar as we have to test our honey for tutin levels.

 

 

 

 
 

Finally, it was time to start honey collection…second photo shows a frame full of honey; a beautiful sight J

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are actually rather heavy especially when you are trying to hold it AND scrape the sticky honey and wax off it! But so exciting to see all that gorgeous honey!

 

 

 

 

This photo shows all the wax and honey from ONE frame! It took about an hour for the honey to separate from the wax and drip into the bucket.

 

 

 

 

 

 We then put the wax into another bucket and after all four frames had been collected and drained initially, we put all the wax back into the double-strainer and left it to drain for 24 hours. (photo 3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Of course, as seen in photo 2, if there is even a remote hint of food to be had (yes, even sticky, non-dog-friendly honey!) then Ace and Ollie are there too. J We had a lot of fun collecting our first batch of honey and ended up with a clear result from the lab so can now get on with eating it all. We will be giving a lot away as we ended up with approx. 10 jars of about 500ml each and that is only from 4 frames-another 20 or so to harvest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, my hard-working, amazing bees!

 

 

 

 

For the second year in a row, we have hosted an AFS exchange student. This year Alicia joined our family for eight weeks, arriving at the end of July. Unfortunately she immediately started a new school term which meant we did not get the chance to get to know her as quickly as we did our French student last year, who joined us in the school holidays and had a week with us before starting school. However, school is a big part of their experience while here so she just got on with it.
The weather was HIDEOUS for the first two weeks of her stay; it rained nearly non-stop and Alicia was even asking "does it ever stop?"!! It severly hampered our efforts to get out and about to show her some of the countryside.

Eventually though, we got a fine weekend and we managed to get to Mount Maunganui and Wairere Falls for a couple of good walks!

Other trips included a day out in Taupo with fish 'n' chips in Turangi before driving right around Lake Taupo to home.

Alicia had expressed a keen desire to visit Hobbiton so one afternoon I took her and Caitlin, along with another exchange student, to Matamata and she got to see Hobbiton. I'm guessing from the smile on her face when she got back it was a successful tour!


AFS arranged a "Kiwi movie night" one weekend so Alicia took advantage of that, spending a night in Hamilton watching films like "Boy", "Whale Rider", The Piano" and others. Although it sounds like not much movie watching was done as exchange students from all over the Waikato region met up and swapped stories and experiences all night long-one very tired girl returned to us on Sunday evening!

Another weekend we spent in Hamilton visiting the Gardens, walking along the Waikato River a bit and, of course, shopping at The Base! (A typical NZ teenager experience, of course!!) Then after a meal at Olivia's hostel and a movie (how scary was "The Shallows" huh?) we stayed overnight at Sonninghill Hostel to head out to Raglan the next day. We spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around Raglan enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Then we headed to the Bridal Veil Falls just out of Raglan...OMG, they are just stunning! It was my first visit too but I will certainly go back. I just loved the falls!


We decided to head off down a gravel road and our adventure brought us to Kawhia where we just had time for an ice cream and a look around before heading back to drop Olivia off at hostel then back to Tokoroa. A busy weekend.

AFS then organised another weekend trip, heading to Rotorua and Taupo, experiencing things like Zorb, Agroventures, Kuirau Park, Mitai Village and Redwoods. A visit to Wai-o-tapu was also planned and Taupo offered a bungy jump for anyone brave enough (not Alicia!) But she certainly gave everything else a go; getting involved in Kapa Haka and other school activities. There were two other exchange students here at the same time so there were combined trips and visits which I think made it more fun for Alicia.

 

We certainly enjoyed having her join our family for 8 weeks and hope we can keep in touch...I always wonder what they are up to and what they thought of their time in NZ. We provided a glimpse into a "Kiwi" family life - I hope Alicia enjoyed the experience!

Gosh, it has been a while since I have posted on here! It seems there are never enough hours in a day and sitting at the computer is the equivalent of talking on the phone-kids immediately demand you time and attention! But I want to record what we have been doing so hopefully I will get a few posts written over the next week or so.

(This did not happen as it is now Jan 2017 and I have only JUST found the photos taken at this event! However, as I keep this blog as a diary of our life, I shall post it anyway :)
 
Briar recently entered the local "Wearable Arts" competition held in early August. Weeks of planning and designing, preparation and construction and quite a few TENSE moments finally culminated in an entry to be proud of!


The Primary/Intermediate section Briar was entered into had the following themes to work within: Mad Hatter, Nursery Rhymes or Candyland. Briar chose Candyland as her theme and after a few ideas, finally settled on Willy Wonka as her inspiration.

Entries are always of a very high standard and Briar immediately set about working on her entry to give it the time and effort it required. I am so proud of how hard she worked on it and particularly that it was all her own work (apart from some help from Nana gluing glitter on the shoes!)

After weeks of work the entry started to take shape


The day of judging required the entrants to be at the local Events Centre all day. You can only imagine the noise level as approx. 20+ entries and helpers congregated in a room together. The nervous excitement grew as each girl was spoken to by judges to discuss their entry and photos were taken for judging also.  Finally it was time for a practice run down the catwalk in preparation for the night event which was open to the public.

It was a long day and Briar and her friends did well to stay focussed and enthusiastic throughout. My energy levels were certainly starting to flag by the afternoon! But after heading home for an early dinner it was time to get back and get ready!



Final makeup done, costume touched up and nerves at an all-time high, it was time to strut the catwalk and show off the creations. Briar did herself proud as she confidently showed her entry.  While she did not win a prize I think she was satisfied with her effort and would happily repeat the experience. Thank goodness it is another year before it rolls around again!!

Well done, Briar!