Easter Fun at the Mount

We got an early start on Good Friday to head up to Mount Maunganui where we had "Book a Bach". We  guided Simon and Jackie to our spot, and Jackie had gasped at all the old Bach stuff which is quite sort after now such as the Mc Alpine Refrigerator Jug. I was more taken with the teapot with the tea cosy of knitted pansies! Their bedroom was a bit squashed with Theos bed in there too, but we managed to cope. Jackie and Simon headed off for a quiet lunch and left Duncan and I to adjust to the continual talking by Theo, including that hardy perennial "Why?"

 The weather was warm, but what we hadn't counted on was the fact that the water was also warm. I didn't put my togs on, but got plenty wet anyway.

 Theo showed great confidence and even the odd time he got bowled over by a wave he seemed to get up with only a minor look of surprise.

Bring on the surf!!

I love this picture of us both waiting for the wave!
That night it was my turn on cooking, so it was kebabs, rice and veges, with a less than succesful (but had potential) cake.
Next morning Simon and Jackie took the kayak out in the harbour while Theo, Duncan and I built sand castles. There was a cruise ship in so a continual stream of people walking up and down the boardwalks along the shore. It was quite cold, but by lunch-time it had warmed up quite a lot. We went to Tay Street Cafe, and had soon colonised enough tables for all of us - Carla and Rodney, Rachel and Paul, Me and Duncan, Simon and Jackie and Theo and Lyn. The food was pretty good, but Simon got very hot in the sun. So this afternoon I put my togs on to go to the beach. The water was still very warm.

 We played lots with  balloons which you blow up using a pump and then stay afloat for quite a while, but we had a few fly over the fence to the neighbours. Theo was philosophical about it.

 The agony of trying to tie your shoe laces

 He actually got the first bit right.

Hot cross buns with Grandad.
Simon and Jackie on cooking tonight - pasta with bacon and chicken.
Next morning Simon and Duncan went to play golf. Jackie and I checked out Spotlight, but it wasn't open - what a shame they didn't say so on their website, instead of "4 Day Sale" which sort of implied that they would be. We came back and wandered up town for morning tea , I bought a necklace, and then went to the park where Theo swung for a very long time. So we were quite late when it came time to go to the beach and the wind had got up so soon Theo was shivering. We went to the Hot Pools - Duncan uses his Gold Card for OAPs there. Unfortunately Theo didn't want to get out of here and there were a few tears as we exited!

 After a bit more balloon playing it was off to an Indian Restaurant for dinner - very good food, especially the Naan bread.

 Next morning it was time to pack up and give the bach a thorough clean so that we got our bond back. Didn't manage to catch up with Carla again - even though she was in apartments just over the road. Just time to take some family photos before we left.

 I had to go to Spotlight as there were things I wanted to get for Market Day. We don't have a Spotlight in Gisborne anymore which is a great shame when it comes to all those craft things.

 Simon and Jackie headed off for home, but I was allowed a half hour shop at K and K at Bayfair which I was able to use to pick out 2 tee shirts, a cardi, a vest for golf and a snood! Well, who can blame me with 30% off all new season stock.

Then we went out to Jill and John Thurston's bach at Papamoa (yes I know they only live at Te Puke). We had lunch with them and then a drive around Papamoa. The Papamoa road I used to know (11kms long) was just dotted with baches, but now it is full of flash houses and several streets deep. There is a huge population of mainly permanent occupiers, a couple of schools and several shopping areas. On the way home I started to feel a sore throat coming on. Its laid me low for a few days now. I just can't keep up with these grandchildren! But it was lovely.

Spending the OAP

Duncan's birthday dawned a clear crisp day in Queenstown and after breakfast, presents and texts we left with Pinotthyme Wine Tours. Jim has worked in the wine industry, here and in Oz, had his own vineyard and made his own wine. He had just sold his vineyard and gone into the wine tours business. Joining us on the tour were Tom and Jenna, a young couple from Queensland. I did wonder about Tom's occupation when we suggested that they should try a bungy and he retorted - "I'm not going to risk a detached retina" It turned out that the young Tom Cruise look-a-like was a doctor and his tall, willowy partner was a nurse.
The first winery of the day was Peregrine, where the riesling was a stunner, but the servings were miserly (which, of course may have been a good thing at 11 in the morning!)
Aurum was next - a Kiwi grapegrowing family whose son married a french wine maker, Lucy. We arrived just as a group of voluble  french wine buyers were leaving. Fortunately Lucy switched back to English when they left. She is from Burgundy so we are expecting great things from her Pinot Noir.
We had been to Wooing Tree before, and here we found the first - and only - decent Chardonnay of the day.

I think I'll go home in the red ferrari.

We had lunch at Cromwell in an Italian restaurant. I had an apricot smoothie, Duncan had a beer, but Tom and Jenna had another glass of wine! - we were impressed by their staying power and love of the drier wines. After wandering through the artist's quarter we set off to Quartz Reef - a favourite sparkling wine of ours - and were impressed with the sparkling rose which had a bit of extra oomph to it.

A calm Lake Dunstan

At the historic village of Cromwell

Tom, Jenna and I enjoy the terrace at Mt Difficulty

It is a spectacular drive up to Mount Difficulty wines, with intense blue skies behind the rugged bronze peaks. Mount Difficulty is now the biggest wine company in the region, and their wines are more readily available in Gisborne. The Chenin Blanc was very interesting.

Duncan checks out the Brennan Vines

"Save the best till last" applied to Brennan - a winery that we had never heard of before. The tempranillo (that far south!!) and a vertical tasting from 2009, 2010 and 2011 which showed the development of the skills of the winemaker were highlights.
So with several dozen of the product to be sent to us we enjoyed stocking up our wine cellar.

A glass of bubbles to start

 After a rest and an upgrade of dress we were picked up by a complimentary taxi to take us to The Gantry for dinner. We were impressed with the 6 course degustation menu, but the 6 accompanying wines might have been a glass too far!!

 However we wine matched each of our three courses. I had pea and smoked bacon soup, followed by duckliver pate with cherries (really an entree) then roast peach and Mille Feuille for dessert.

Duncan's main

 Duncan had tomato, basil and red pepper soup then salt crusted venison - very tender - and a deconstructed lemon meringue pie where the lemon part was semi freddo and the base was a sprinkling of toasted crumbs and nuts.
I was highly delighted to see that they hadn't added the 15% surcharge for Otago Anniversary Day on, so I decided to add a tip - then at the till I mentioned this and he thanked me for my honesty and added it on - as well as the tip!!!

Cheers!

A truly memorable day. Duncan got his first payment of the pension the next day $61.13. Didn't quite cover the Birthday Celebrations!!

The Diffuse Bees do Relay for Life.

Its taken a while to get this BLOG posted and catch up on sleep and housework that we should have done on the weekend that we did the Relay 4 Life to raise money for the Local Cancer society. The idea is that you raise funds by getting sponsorship, but we ran a sweepstake, and then walked around the showgrounds track for 24hours.

Me and Olwyn - both had Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma. The red sashes were for survivors.

 We put the tent and gazebo up on Friday night the all assembled at about 11am on the Saturday. The survivors lap started at 12.00 and while the mayor droned on at the opening, a drone flew overhead taking pictures which distracted every-one! Me Olwyn and Stef walked the survivors lap and then the rest of the team joined in.

Robyn, Dawn, Anna and Norma

 We were recording the laps for the sweepstake, but got a bit distracted by having an interview filmed in the second hour. then we received the prize for the best dressed team and tent and soon we realised our lap rate was very low,so we put it in the hands (or is it feet?) of our fast walkers and were soon averaging 10 laps an hour. We just had to make sure we had some of the team on the track at all times.

Penny, Stef and Anna

 Even Duncan donned a stripey shirt and a set of wings! (no photo though!). We were Diffuse Bees after the type of lymphoma Olwyn and I had (Diffuse Large B Cell) and so we had a "B" banquet for dinner that night, starting with Bharghee mix, Brie, Bluevein, biscuits, and blinis with beetroot relish and cream cheese followed by burgers with beef of beetroot patties with bean or beetroot salad. Dessert was berries from Anna's bountiful garden, brownie, beaten cream and boysenberry yoghurt.

Robyn and Dawn on Night patrol

 I went home soon after that as at 9pm there is a commemorative service for those who have died from cancer. I am not quite ready for that. Plus I needed some sleep. Up at 4 and back on the track by 4.30am. The night walkers had made good progress in the lap count. Most of us had individual goals. I did 50laps (20km) but Dawn, Penny and Anna were going for a marathon of 106 laps. Regrettably Dawn got blisters in the early hours of the morning, but the other two completed.
I was on cooking the bacon and eggs as the organisers decided to only have a healthy option breakfast of fruit and cereal. Let me tell you that if you've been walking since 4.30am THAT does not fit the bill.
We were struggling to keep fresh people on the track by 10am, but Duncan was back and put into service while the rest of us began the pack-up. It was decided that we would walk the last lap together - I have to say I swore quite a bit when they suggested this! Then got out and did it - and proud of it!!

The Ladies of the CWI decided to knit the track since they are all getting a bit old to walk it.   It didn't quite stretch all the way.

We raised close to $3000 for the local Cancer society and we sincerely hope our efforts will inspire others to do the next Relay for Life so that we can have a rest.
226 laps has really worn us out.

Footnote: Dawn and Anna are now training for the Rotorua Marathon.

A day at the cricket

After much discussion I dug my toes in about going to a World Cup game unless NZ was playing. So last weekend we left after Saturdaylunch for Napier. We stayed at The Nautilus on the waterfront as our friends Fred and Leigh were away in Twizel watching their granddaughter race. We settled on a Thai place for dinner which was just a walk away from the motel. Next morning Duncan went for a run - which proved his undoing as he suffered a really sore knee while I made the filled rolls and packed up the cushions and water. Finally we took our place in the stand and took a selfie.

 You can see we are in our jerseys here and although the wind blew all day, later in the day is got so very hot. It was great to be at a ground again, and just to see the running and the distances involved. The wickets that glow when hit were much better in real life too!

 Here we are - there must have been a wicket! The Afghani's batted first and it was great to see our bowlers in action in the flesh. Many people had the orange Catch a million teeshirts on, but Duncan finds Tui beer so foul he couldn't bring himself to buy one. The man next to us had one on, but I really don't think he was too serious as he took off his leg (artificial)  and used it to store his beer in. He was rubbish at the Mexican wave as well.

 This man in front had the most amazing hair - I wanted to run my fingers through it! It was like a very soft bristle brush.

 The Blackcaps set a very aggressive field - here we have 3 slips and two gullys. We tucked into our rolls and enjoyed a cider while all about us ate hotdogs and pale chips.

But once McCullum was out and the sun really started to beat down on us it was not so pleasant. I queued for an icecream - $5.50 for a magnum. However we stayed right to the bitter end, and saw the win before walking back to our motel. We went Indonesian that night, with Ristoffle - sort of like Indonesian tapas with about a dozen little dishes. We drove home early on Monday morning, so a nice little break away.

Taking the team off the beaten track

Many many times we have driven through the gorge, past Tauranga Bridge. The new Waioeka Journey signs say there is a hike into the back country to where the settlers tried, but failed to establish a farming community. So this year I determined that we should all head back into the gorge to follow this trail. Although the track is only 5k or so it did warn that there would have to be two river crossings of the Tauranga Stream.

Millie dances over the stones in a small tributary.

 It was difficult to know just how much warning I should give them about this. Lyn was worried about the uphill, Jill and Millie were worried about fish in the water, however it didn't seem like there was any obstacle that we couldn't overcome together. I had the advantage of taking my tramping boots and stick. I gave them the standard talk about sticking together, and although Alex was often in the lead with his walkie talkie he was always mindful of us older folk behind us.

 And being more steady on his feet was able to be sent back through the water to help others.

The second river crossing was much deeper - well up our thighs and if you didn't move graciously you would have wet your knickers!We all looked fine at the end. It was a bit of a challenge to those not used to going into the bush, but the tracks were in excellent condition and I would thoroughly recommend it.

It also meant that we could enjoy our wine and nibbles that night knowing that we had earned them. Its great now that Millie and Alex are a bit older and we can do this should of activity without too many grizzles from Millie - whereas Alex just loved it.

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.