Checking it out - The Bucket List

As you may well know, Duncan and I wrote our bucket lists for this New Years Eve. Duncan got the exercise off with a bang by declaring he wanted to play - at least one song -  on the saxophone! He has another mind boggling item on the list - an alcohol free month, but this is probably in tandem with the desire to do the Gold Coast Half Marathon within 2 hours 10 mins. Which is probably related to another item on Duncan's Bucket list - to get his knee looked at. He also wants to play golf at 5 overseas venues and to visit Vanuatu. So although we had some travel items the same there were some of my list which Duncan does not share enthusiasm for. One is to go down the Rere rockslide. I am enlisting the help of my grandchildren, and hope to accomplish this next Christmas. On Monday, after staining all our outdoor furniture and trimming the hedges we went out to Rere to Investigate.

This is Rere Falls  - very pretty - just up the road from the rockslide.

There are two passage ways down - one on the left, and one on the right. The pool is quite deep and I will have to practice up my swimming again.

The big tyres are one way of getting down. Others include body boards, but they really get up some speed and catapult you into the pool at the bottom - one guy even managed to stand up on his board! The problem with body boards is than sometimes you lose your grip on them and you end up going down on your tummy. I will definitely be looking for something to grip onto.
So now I have replaced the fear of the unknown with the fear of the actual act. Jill has suggested I practise on the hydroslide. It was gratifying to see that larger people - or two people on the same mattress or tyre went slower than little light people.
There were some guys - Devin Super Tramp and Fun for Loius - from America making videos for U Tube there too.

Other items on my Bucket list include a hot air balloon ride, WOW (world of wearable arts), a road trip to Ngawi - its the journey, not the destination that I am interested in. I also want a food and wine trip to Tasmania, watch the Black Caps overseas - preferably India,  And one last proper tramp with the girls.

Shared ideas were: one last trip to Europe, hopefully combining a few of the destinations we want to go to. A trip to the Galapagos Islands, the Train trip from Wellington to Auckland, and a carvanning holiday in the South Islands

So lots to look forward to and prepare for. We'll review each year and may make some changes.

Back at the campsite

 Here we all are on Christmas Day with Alex's "Salad shots" as entree. If we all have a slightly glazed look on our faces it's because Duncan tended to take a while taking the photos.

I organised a pass the parcel game based on the Wright Family (pass it right) who had nothing left (pass it left) to do before Christmas. Millie won a jaunty cap.

One of my usual holiday past-times is to do a jigsaw puzzle. This one was a 1,000 piece puzzle looked like  I wasn't going to get it finished before we left. Even Duncan put in some pieces. But we did it! The picture was of a French street scene, so when we had finished, and finding a bottle of french champagne unconsumed, it seemed right to put the two together. The puzzles were 2 for $20 so I will have to put myself through that torture again next Christmas.

The birdlife was incredible this year, as well as many pesky rabbits. This weka got more and more brazen as time got by. One day when I was working away on the jigsaw in the awning it poked its head around the door to suss things out. With my bird phobia I was petrified! Johnny and Ann tell us that some well-meaning person introduced the weka to the district, unaware that they eat the eggs of the near extinct dotterel.

And this picture of the wood pigeons is taken without zoom. They just sat there and chatted to one another while we had drinks.

2015 - At the Beach

Jill has done such  a splendid job of most of the Christmas photos I will just add some other selections.

 Theo has improved a great deal with his putting shells on sandcastle skills.

 The water was so warm this year, but Theo still thought this was the best place to be  - he went into the water up to Simon's knees. We swam most days and the waves  provided some good surf

No, Grandad its too rough.

Millie proved a great little baby-sitter

Theo is really into the sand.

And when its time to rest Millie had a comfortable double layer bed in her tent - decorated with one of her birthday lanterns.

Labour Weekend 2014

This year we went to Ohiwa at Labour Weekend. As a child I always remember going to the Mount and having the first swim of the season, and while we enjoyed fine weather the wind was cold and we spent the weekend changing in and out of our warm jerseys,

 Simon and Jackie met us there - Simon had bought the kayak down so we took Theo to the beach and taught him basic sandcastle skills while Jackie and Simon went for a big paddle around the estuary.

 The camping ground was very full. Sharon and Russell were there, so we had a quick chat with them as we inspected our site. Todd has filled and mowed it even more so it is getting very large now, but still only one power point.

 I dont know what has happened to my legs here!! but this was the best of our sandcastles as Theo tended to press the shells on very firmly leading to cataclysmic rupture of the sandcastle.

 We were all a bit under the weather and Theo was usually his smiley self most of the time, but dropped into a feverish sleep at odd times during the weekend as well.

 We shared the cooking around and had this delicious taco meal at Simon and Jackie's cabin. As you can see it has quite a nice area outside  which is good for playing. Lets hope they can get it for a few days over Christmas!!

DNF - Did Not Finish

Yes , those dreaded initials that every athlete fears on the result sheet. I did not finish my marathon this month. In fact I only did 16K. One of the problems was that in order to improve my time I tried to go a little bit faster than I was comfortable and then felt very tired after it and didn't do any next day. Or if I didn't have time to do 2 k I tended not to do 1 km. I found much more than that was a bit of a chore - despite the fact that I walk 5kms with the girls every Saturday. But still, that is 214 minutes of extra exercise I did in August. This month I hope to increase the incline that I am walking on. Most of last month I did it on 1 so hope to at least do some time at 10 this month. Meanwhile Duncan is still making good use of it too.

Marathon Month

With the advent of the colder weather I thought that maybe I would use Duncan's rowing machine a bit. But it doesn't suit me at all. So after much thought I decided to buy a treadmill. Duncan was not keen on this at all, and we agreed that I could buy it if I paid for it. I thought he would be pleased that I was looking for a suitable exercise machine. We duly got it installed, and after a few teething troubles with the settings we are now both happily walking away during the winter months.

Yes even Mr "I'll never use it" can be seen striding away most nights!

So I have decided to do a treadmill marathon during the month of August. But of course the days I walk with the girls, or play golf I don't use the treadmill, so I have fallen many Km short of where I should be by now, so I can see some Hard Yards coming up to get the 42.2 km done by the end of the month. It all seemed so easy when I first suggested it in July. I will let you know how I progress.

Kids on Tour

The first week of the school holidays we were to have two visitors - Millie and Alex. We went up to Hamilton and stayed with Jackie and Simon on Saturday. Unfortunately  Theo had a fluctuating temperature but we had a great night with Barry and Liz as they had been invited to dinner. Next morning Simon wasn't feeling too well - and ended up having the week off work. We picked the kids up from the airport and headed back to Hamilton. Theo rallied and played valiantly for a couple of hours before wanting his Mum again. Next morning we started off for Gisborne, having a great run around at Ohiwa in the winter sunlight before pushing on to Gisborne. We put the kids to work straight away cleaning out the hen house. They were very willing workers.

Alex fits in the hutch well and gives it a good thorough clean. His reward is the attention of Kath and Kim - especially when he has pellets on his hand!

Millie took a litle longer to get into the action, but a little chicken dance in their enclosure and she soon had them eating out of her hand. The first day was consumed with doing jobs to earn stars so that they could afford to buy their mother a birthday present.

On Tuesday we went up town to get presents for Jill's birthday, picked up some cable ties in Bunnings to strengthen the extended hen run that the kids had helped us build, then to the supermarket - its been a while since I spent $306 in a week! The kids were on dinner that night - leek and chicken pasta in a creamy sauce. We also made birthday cards for Jill.

Wednesday was a bit miserable which was a shame as the golf course had "Tiger" tees set up for the school kids. After a bit of indecision we set off for the museum where unfortunately they were in the last stages of packing up the interactive music display. Then we went to Carl's Junior a new Hamburger joint in town. They were OK, but I probably wont go again for a while. The we decided to do Putt-putt golf rather than proper golf. The scores ranged from a very creditable 2 per hole to a frustrating 27 per hole. We had the odd shower of rain while we played this so I decided that a bit of Ipod playing TV watching was OK. for now. Then we went to Lone Star for dinner. very nice.

Duncan had taken Thursday off and despite the squally weather we set off to Tolaga Bay  to do a bit of fishing on the wharf. I had told the kids to take their hats and coats, but of course they didn't see any need to until we were out the end of the wharf in a howling gale - then there was a bit of a to-ing and fro-ing to snuggle up with Grandma under the blanket. Duncan played a game of Monopoly with them on our return - I think I might have had a Nana nap.

Come Friday and we went to the Farmers toy sale to pick out something for being well behaved. Alex didn't take long - he wanted a proper rainbow loom - so that kept him quiet for the rest of the morning until it was time to fill in the paper work and send them back home!