What will the children find?

 Recently we spent a brief time  at Mount Maunganui while we waited for the caravan to be serviced. The beach had been cleared and graded and new yellow sand bought in. It looked very clean.

But what will the children find on their walks? Nothing. 

Then we went to Ohiwa.

Big logs to climb over and make believe.

Long grasses to hide in - in fact you could easily lose a child in here for several hours.

Rare and precious things to learn about - but actually see as well.

Shells to pick up, Holes to poke sticks into.

Plenty of choice.. do you choose the best ones or the most interesting ones?

Bits of driftwood - doesn't this look like a baby bird?

Sand hills to run and slide down... may not be so environmentally friendly.

Waves to jump over

Mangrove seeds in their fleshy pods - you can make these germinate and grow a bit, provided they are in salty, brackish water.

Your choice of Christmas tree.

And if you're patient, you might even land a little fishy.

Country Life

 In the first week it seemed like our babies doubled in size each day, but by the second week they seemed to double their feathers each day.

There are definitely three of them now.

More feathers and those big orange beaks.

Now their beady eyes are open, and although I saw one standing on the edge of the nest, they can now see me coming with my camera and quickly huddle down into the nest.

Wit wit wit.....wit wit wit... wit wit wit....

Last Wednesday I was out gardening at the back of the gazebo when I heard what I always associate with the distress call of a bird.

Wit wit wit...wit wit, wit. Then the neighbours chooks started performing so I thought I'd better go and take a look. And low and behold there was a large Alsatian dog in the garden. It looked a bit bewildered, and I wondered if it had fallen off the back of a ute.

Duncan chased it up the drive with instructions to go home, but a little while later it reappeared and sat down on the lawn and watched, dolefully, as I prepared dinner, we ate dinner, and when Duncan did the dishes. By now it was too late to call anybody, so we left it to sleep on the lawn.

In the morning we awoke to what to all intents and purposes was a dead dog sprawled on the lawn. "That's a big hole to dig" said Duncan as he dialled the dog rangers phone number. A wee while later the dog lifted his head and struggled to his feet. The Dog ranger arrived soon after  - the dog was apparently an ex-police dog 19years old and living out his days on a rural property just across the road next to the school. I can now see that the bewildered look was poor eyesight, possibly poor hearing, but seemed to have a good sense of smell.

But then we discovered - the nest was empty!!! It had not been disturbed in any way, there were no baby birds on the ground, no mother blackbird gathering worms. We could easily see that a big dog could trot up the steps, put its paws on the handrail and delicately help itself to a hot dinner.

Or was it co-incidence???

The nest stands empty now. The sparrows are taking an interest.

Its Twins!! - or possibly triplets.

 On Thursday morning we noticed that Mother blackbird wasn't there, and on peaking in there were these quivering bags of skin.

We think there are two of them lying side by side. They are so vulnerable, but I am still puzzling how all of this fitted into the pale blue speckled shells. The only recognisable thing is a huge orange beak which surely stretched the length of the shell..

Now it is Sunday and the naked little bodies seem to be getting some dark fluff.

Its hard to tell how many are in here now, or whether the wings are spread out a bit. Some parts may just be the yolk sack. There appear to be two dark eye structures too.

We're expecting!!

 

We have a blackbird who has made a nest in the olive tree right by our front door! She has  been sitting on it nearly all the time for three days now - so we are expecting! Apparently they sit on the eggs for about a fortnight. We can get quite close to her to take pictures, and she grimly eyes us. Now, as you well know I don't like birds at all, but I do like mothers - so I'm letting her stay for now.

Light and Fresh. Sunday 16th August 2020

 Todays main task was to look at lighting shops in Dunedin. We don't have any specialist lighting shops in Gisborne now, so with the impending update of our ensuite, and the Build at Kaka Point we hit the lighting shops.

Considered  strip lighting - maybe too harsh.

Chose a button light with a black rim for the ceiling. This allows us to choose our light intensity. Most lights are LED now - build in, with no bulbs to change.

These are for the side of the mirror - again with a black trim.

The button light was sent from a warehouse in Tauranga and the side lights came all the way from Dunedin!

The Black trim may make more sense when you see the picture of Phyls that we intend to hang.

A leisurely afternoon was spent until the My Food Bag arrived. Jill and Rua get Fresh Start which is lots of fresh veges and small servings of meat.

Since they are meals for two - Alex makes most of his own food - Duncan and Rua had the Salmon dish

While Jill and I had the leek and chicken pie - except there wasn't any pastry, just slices of Kumara to put on top, and a pitiful amount of parmesan cheese to put on top, so I supplemented this with extra tasty cheese.

However with the little pouches of sauces and herbs they were very delicious meals.

Masterchef in action!!You can see in the background that the "snug" at Gourley Street is about to be worked on by painters and plasterers. They duly arrived at about 8 am just as we were taking off for the airport. Our route home was via Auckland, so it was masks all the way!! There were spectacular views, including this one of Mount Taranaki. I'm sure the air has been clearer since Covid has reduced air travel.

A great long weekend away.

Shopping in Dunedin - 15th August.

 Jill and I make a beeline for H and J Smith and we are both very happy with our purchases. We meet up with the guys for lunch and then do a little Tiki tour around points of interest in Dunedin. First is a drive-by of Carrington where Millie is living. We don't go in - not sure that they are encouraging hoards of visitors even though it is only level two. Next is the house that Millie will go flatting in next year. It looks in very good nick , and the pictures on the link look good for a student flat. Then we go to the university to see Jill's office.

Impressive entrance!

This is the chemistry lab in the foyer - computers at each station. Where are the bunsen burners and test tube racks??

Jill at her desk.

Her qualifications are deemed to be an earthquake risk!!

Next we head to the Ocho Chocolate factory, which is a nice little destination now that Cadbury has left, and most of the buildings have been demolished to make way for the new Hospital. Ocho stands for Otago Chocolate and also Ocho is spanish for eight, so the factory is built around a little viewing octagon with glass walls. Fortunately the tour guide was ill, so we got the head chocolate maker to take us through the factory and tasting. He has a degree in Literature but worked here in the uni holidays. He will probably write very eloquently about chocolate some time in the future.

Ocho does not have a chocolate fountain like Cadbury or WillieWonka, but it does have a continually running tap of chocolate.

The tasting notes give you quite generous serves - including some from unspecified other chocolate makers.

You can see the pod on the tasting sheet. They are picked while the beans are still soft and white, fermented and dried. When they come to New Zealand they are dark and hard. They taste OK - Just a little bitter.

This was my favourite - the white cocoa butter with shards of cacao nib

 

You can see how they just do small batches by the scale of the machinery.

We had to buy a few of the range!

More Dunedin tales

 These might be a double up with Jill's BLOG, sorry. But we take the free bus into town to the Prohibition Smokehouse. Our table is under a couple of flamingos - which puts us in mind of the time Millie was a flamingo in the gangshow (I think she had about 19 costume changes!)

After a short wait, Millie arrives with Jordan and he obliges by taking some family photos.

Jordan seems very nice, and is studying Botany and Genetics. Being from Rotorua he is obviously aware of Scion - the old Forest Research Institute (FRI) from my day.

The food was pretty yum....going, going gone.

Even a nice pic of Alex - these are rare.











Alex was going on to a party. Here he is negotiating with his parents about what booze he can take. (four cans of beer to last 4 hours.)

The Bushes fly South In Winter - August 2020

 Because of the re-emergence of COVID we set off with great trepidation to Dunedin. No one wore a mask on the afternoon flight from Gisborne to Wellington. The flight was very quiet with no tea or coffee service. It was a beautiful view until we got close to Wellington. We had dinner in the lounge, and on the next leg from Wellington to Dunedin EVERYBODY wore a mask - again, a very full plane.

Not sure - should it be the white side out - or the Blue???

Jill was in the pick-up area to greet us, and Rua's painting was delivered without damage and had very kind and encouraging accolades from Alex.

Friday Morning was fine but icy, so we left with Jill for Kaka Point about 10. It is a very easy drive and the scenery is spectacular, especially when we get to the sea and surf.

Rolling farmland

Coming into Balclutha over the Clutha River

The walkway is a minute away.

Looking down to Nugget Point. Next stop Antarctica

Great surf - might have to get a XL wetsuit!!

Me and Jill at Kaka Point.

The site at 2 Tarata Street is smaller than I thought, and the deck is sheltered at the back of the house, but with glass windows and doors through the house to reveal the sea views. The section is quite challenging.

The beach is glorious, the pub, store and local brewery are a very short walk away. We stop at Balclutha on the return journey for lunch. The cafe is very popular, but Jill is probably the youngest person there, and even she has some grey hairs. When we get back to Dunedin, the painters have arrived to review the job that they will be starting on Monday morning - just zhuzhing up the underused part of the kitchen.