....... And Four days in Ohope.

  We had a leisurely pack-up and trip over to Ohope and got ourselves parked next to Dave and Sandie, with a bit of interference from another camper who thought he could guide Duncan into the spot better than me. We had to move it when he wandered off.  We went for a couple of swims while we were there - the water was warm, but the breeze was a bit chilly.

We put up the gazebo between the two caravans and I think the guys watched the cricket, or was it rugby (or maybe both) on Daves laptop.

Sunday 7th. Went for a drive up the peninsula towards  "the other side" of the bar from Ohiwa. We walked for a while, but the tall grasses were still quite wet and the tide was in, so we couldn't get to the nearest point to Ohiwa. There is certainly a huge amount of estuary to a very small gap out to sea.

It was Sandies turn to cook that night - I  hunted through my cupboards for the placemats and serviettes.

In front of their caravan

Monday 8th We are noticing the advent of autumn with cooler morning temperatures and later sunrise. Dave and Duncan are playing golf today at Ohope, so Sandie and I go off for for a walk - down Charles street, past Anne Street, Phillip St... But we did not find Elizabeth, Andrew or Edward streets.

It is recycling day, and it appears that Ohope Beach supports the majority of the liquor industry on its own. One person found that if you stack your bottles in an orderly fashion you can get more in your recycling bin. The neighbour, by contrast had a real mish mash of bottles, but proudly on top was a Moet bottle. It was a very interesting walk - probably as well I didn't take my camera, but it really was a photo essay of Bottle recycling bins.

After a cuppa and some of Sandie's excellent ginger cake we enjoyed a swim before lunch. Later in the afternoon we got the call to join the guys for a drink in the club-house.

I spent some of the afternoon sketching

View from the clubhouse.

View towards Ohiwa

We went up to a cafe for dinner, but it was pretty basic, along with the rest of the Vets golfers who had come up from Gisborne.

Tuesday 9th March. The golf for Duncan and Dave is in Opotiki today, so they get an early start, leaving me and Sandie to head into Whakatane to do some shopping. It isn't long before we are in and out of the changing rooms at Patterson's as the "new Seasons" fashions have just arrived, and the summer stuff is reduced impressively. Sadly The French Cafe is closed,  but we have lunch and then go for a short walk along the river.

Tonight is my turn to cook. Sandie does nibbles while I do steak and a selection of vegetables which I have to juzz up with a cheese sauce and herbs, as it is the last night of our holiday and the veges we bought from home are looking a bit tired.

While we are having our nibbles the couple in the tent opposite us take off in their car, and manage to crash into a low bollard and damage two panels of their car as they drive out to get their fish and chips.. Later,we are just finished our meal when the woman comes over in tears. She can't find her husband who has stage 4 cancer and "not in a good space". Darkness is just falling when we begin our search, and fortunately it is not long before we locate him - I think he had been in a quiet area of the Recreation centre.

Although it is quite Bleak driving home next day, we find that Gisborne has had very little rain and we have to water Blocks 3 and 4 again. Still, a lovely break away.

Four days in Ohiwa.

Tuesday 2nd March

We packed up at a leisurely pace and drove through to Ohiwa and got set up before we had a late lunch.Then we put up the gazebo- which was probably better for sheltering from the showers rather than the sun. We've just finished a large tree planting session and were looking forward to getting away for a rest.

I cant work out why this bottle is so empty and its still daylight.

Wednesday 3rd March

The weather is reasonable so it's time for a swim, and the water is quite warm. I'm wallowing around, catching a few short waves. Then my life guard (alias Duncan) declares "Its starting to rain, I'm going up." I don't like swimming alone and there is no one else on the beach. On the way back I grab a few  flowers to do some sketching from.

I will fill these in with watercolours when I get home.

Later in the afternoon (ie after a nap) we go down to the estuary to do some fishing.

The tide was going out and the wind was blowing in so the water was quite disturbed, and despite reports of good catches of snapper here recently none of the people fishing today caught anything.

There is really heavy rain overnight, and we are relieved to find we have been able to locate and fill the seepage around the bathroom skylight.

Thursday 4th March. Headed into Opotiki to get supplies, had a bit of a drive round, checking out the Ocean Beach subdivision.

Went for a short walk on the beach - but really another lazy day.

The sea was quite rough and the weather not too pleasant, but fascinating as ever.

Friday 5th March.

I have made plans for today: walk, swim, visit to nearby macadamia orchard.

However.... at 2.27am things changed with a prolonged but regular rolling motion of a 7.1 earthquake. It even woke Duncan up. I checked my Geonet App. It seemed extremely deep so I thought there would be no risk of tsunami as the energy waves get refracted while the depth gets less towards shore. However I keep my phone on and watched the huge number of aftershocks as Duncan drifted off to sleep.

After breakfast the alert of my phone went concerning the earthquake in the Kermadecs. The tsunami warning now included Matata to Tolaga Bay, and evacuation was required. Todd and the staff were getting people to move and he suggested we go up the hill and there is a concrete driveway which leads to a new subdivision. We left very quickly and probably should have thought more about what we would need.

Fortunately one of the land owners came and unlocked the gate to the subdivision road.

Not a bad view to spend some time looking at. Thank goodness it was not raining.

 We drove up to the top of the subdivision and there were stunning views. Some of the cars remained at the bottom by the gate, so for a while our only company were two elderly sisters, and it soon became apparent that one was suffering from a bit of dementia. "I come from Taita, and we have bad earthquakes. But I've got a spot in the hall where I go and stand which they say is safe. But one time a cup fell off the shelf! but it didn't matter because I had another one in the cupboard". Gales of laughter. We laughed the first time too - not so much the third time. 

It wasn't long before Pete came along and asked us if we would like to come up for a cup of tea. Which was very welcome as we hadn't packed water. Maureen, the neighbour had bought over some muffins. We accepted because the realisation that we could be here a while had just sunk in.

Now you may be thinking that Pete has a house up here, but no, he lives in a converted truck body (with great skill) into a small unit. He was also using another truck body as storage.

As you can see, the front is all glass, so going to the portaloo was a tad embarrassing! He has to remove this when his proper house is built - but I said "Call it a Tsunami shelter, and maybe the council will see the benefits."  As the morning wore on more people drifted up the hill, and we all started to see possible unusual patterns on the estuary, but they were probably just the turn of tide.

Chrissie is in the green polo top and matching shorts sitting on the steps.

Duncan got talking to a Bulgarian man who was a cognitive psychologist who was living in Te Kauwhata with his wife who was a GP. They had  lived in Britain for 20 years, but were being messed around for Residency through the COVID lockdown. Very hard as they can't buy a house - just watch as prices go up.

"I live in Taita and we have alot of earthquakes there. I don't want to get caught in my nightie, so I wore the same clothes for three days and never got changed." Towards the end of the morning Chrissie was starting to get very woosie because she had forgotten to take  her medication, so we made a small convoy back. By now the first Tsumani warning had been called off and the second earthquake in the Kermadecs had occurred, but we were told that the coastal surges were due in about 40 minutes. He went down just to close up the caravan which we had failed to do the first time. Quick turnaround, then back up the hill where Pete invited in to watch the 12.00 news via his computer. We got Chrissie settled in an armchair.

Pete's wife was still in Auckland due to COVID lockdown changing her plans, but by 1pm Pete produced a loaf of wholemeal bread from the breadmaker and invited us to share lunch with him. He was just going down to his no dig garden to get the tomatoes and lettuce when the all clear came through. We thanked him profusely. There was so much about Pete we don't know, and very likely we will never see him again  - but a frightening experience made very enjoyable.

Back at the camp we felt quite exhausted for some reason, so I caught up on a bit of sleep that I had missed. It was a beautiful day, but the water was breaking very messily, and with a lot of sand stirred up so I didn't venture in.

Next morning it was  time to pack up and move on to Ohope - briefly glimpsing Chrissie in the same clothes as we pulled out.

The Storm Soiree

 My plans to have a birthday bash this year at 69, so that I could spend my 70th in Oz, got swallowed up in Post Christmas lethargy. However I did decide to have a do on Friday 5th of February for all our Gisborne friends. This would be about the time we would have race day - except there are no races at our course now. Since we have such lovely sunsets out here I billed it as a Sunset Soiree. Sadly the weather did not play ball, and it was cool and windy with the odd flick of rain.

Storm clouds gather. Heather (50s F)and Brian Cochrane, Anne Harvey and John Clarke.

I asked  a friend from 50's F if she would come and help out in the kitchen and this worked wonderfully well. I have 2 gluten free friends and had gone to extra lengths to provide a gluten free platter, but neither of them came! Never mind, the sausage and dukkah mushrooms which were gluten free were the hit if the night.

First course.

Sue, Dawn, Anna, Alice, Norma, Jean, Robyn

Jean,  Robyn, Olwyn Graeme, Cliffie, Ray and Linda

Camille, Sandy, Duncan, Shirley, Vance, Sandy, Teressa (back) Judy, Rocky

As you can see they were friends drawn from the whole spectrum - old friends from bringing-up-kids days, walkers/trampers, golfers, 50s forwards, bookclub, fijjam teachers and spouses. There were about 40 in the end.

Some people even bought wine, chocolates or flowers. I think they thought it was my 70th. Cheeky! As I said in my speech - do I look 70??? No I'm only (just) 69.

All we needed was a sunset. What about this one, taken about 10 days later at Ohiwa.

Christmas 2020

  By the time Heather arrives on the 22nd I have had a few baking days and stuffed the freezer full of food. She has been consigned to the office sleeping quarters.

Lunch and wine tasting at Milltons

I have winetasting on the Program for Wednesday, but I was caught out by the fact that so many of the wineries were shut, so in the end we did a comprehensive tasting at Milltons - which as you can imagine was very popular with visitors to Gisborne, and enjoyed our picnic lunch. The Rose was particularly good, and the Chenin Blanc is most distinctive.

Thursday  Heather and I went to Supergrans to do some packing of flour and coffee; and also went for a walk along the riverbank to see where the new Supergrans building is being renovated with a commercial kitchen, then along the cut to the beach. 

After our good deeds we manage to wile away the time with reading, puzzles and Heather kindly helped me dead-head the roses which are now blooming beautifully. Heather can also add Nut Spotter to her CV, which was very helpful me as she checked one side of the tree and I checked the other.

Soon 5 o'clock rolls round and it is time for a predinner drink on the deck.

Well always think that Champagne is a prerequisite to present opening on Christmas morning. We're not going to change that habit even though there was only 3 of us.

We had a leisurely day, with new books to read, and the weather was starting to turn.

Jill, Millie,and Rua arrived mid morning on Boxing Day and it was straight into the activities on the Rail Bike Trail.

Jill and Rua are in the rear going out - thoroughly enjoying the view.

The most adventuresome part was crossing the Waipaoa River

One part had no side guard rail which was a bit freeky.

No steering was required, but Duncan liked to just check where we were going.

The guide was Geoff Main. He paced us, and made sure the tracks had no debris on them

Heather and Millie

Bit of a selfie - clouds starting to gather.

Heading back, Duncan and I are in the rear. The rears ahead of us are those of Heather and Millie.

Not that the biking was very arduous, but Sunshine Brewery is on the same street, so we thought we would wet our whistle here before going home. I'd put on a chicken slow cooker and had a vegetarian lasagne in the deep freeze, so dinner got underway. I was intending to have this absolutely spectacular dessert of a pavlova with a pineapple sponge filling, but unfortunately the cream had been left out on the bench and curdled as soon as Millie started to whip it. Frantically googled - does long life cream whip? The answer is not very well.

 Sunday: Time for another champagne breakfast I think - this time with croissants and pain au chocolat.  The usual Christmas games were played - mainly quizzes. I would suggest Jill was the winner. The weather was not great, but we decided to go and view the new sculptures down by the wharf and on Kaiti Hill. A good bit of exercise. Tonight we headed for The Works for dinner - Heather was not feeling so good and had to sit this one out. A good night was had by the rest of us.

Millie and I went shopping so I could shout her a new top since she has qualified for a Queen's Scout Award. She also went shopping with Rua - he bought quite a bit and Millie bought the top she is wearing above. So on Monday afternoon Heather left, and early Wednesday Millie boarded a bus to head to Rotorua (Where Jordan lives) for the continuation of her holiday. Jill and Rua did a trip up to Tolaga, but the weather was still not great. On Thursday 31st Jill and Rua had a winetasting and lunch at the Vines, while Duncan played golf. I dropped them out at the airport for the 4 o'clock plane. 

The place seems very quiet.

I am making my way through the leftovers.

The first ball of the first over. NZ versus West Indies 2019

 With test cricket not being shown on TV there were some complaints from the family sportsman. Duncan likes to see  the teams warm up, the toss and the first ball of the first over thrills him!! So we set off on the early flight on Friday the 11th to Wellington. We got the shuttle to our hotel, dropped off our luggage and walked back to the Basin Reserve. While the R A Vance stand keeps out most of the wind, it also keeps out the sun and so began 3 days of coldness - but enjoyment!

That night we really had to hunt for a place to eat that had spare seats - there were plenty of takeaway bars too. Finally found a Thai place where I managed to slop dark sweet soy sauce down one of my 2 jerseys, but we had a good meal there.

Next morning we were delivering my painting to Rebecca. We meet at a very good little tea shop. I order Lapsang souchong which is our usual. The young oriental man says "good choice" and when it arrives the little card says .The Weight Loss tea. Well that hasn't worked!

Duncan was anxious not to miss the first ball of the second day - and sure enough we made it in time. Kylie Jamieson was facing (great nephew of Margaret Bartram)

Already things were looking very positive for the blackcaps. We sat next to an elderly man who kept a scorebook which added a bit of interest: important etiquette point - don't talk until he has entered the bowler score, the batsman score and the total score for each ball. Again it was a cold day, but we were seated by the aisle where all the celeb broadcasters went up to the commentary box, and also saw lots of elderly blackcap players spinning yarns about "in their day". We took the precaution of booking for dinner, but when we arrived it was more like a bar with fries, so happened to spy a restaurant across the road and headed there. Goldmine had not only suffered COVID, but had a sewer pipe burst outside their premises. Once this was fixed they were able to clean and revamp - but on a very tight budget. The food was very interesting, and there was an array of French wine by the glass.

Next morning it was off down to TePapa to see the WOW exhibition. It was quite small, but then I did find the show swamped me a bit with ideas. The great value was that you could get up close and see some of the handiwork. Some of it had taken years. Here are some of my favourites:

A Moth

Made out of wool (Axminister carpet!!)

Painted Leather

Moulded plastic

Yes there is a place for the hands to come out, and for the eyes to see through. Made out of felted wool.

Hanging Leather canvases

Rather gladiatorial.

You can see that you could go right up close - but no touching!!

And yes, we were there for the first ball of the third day too. The sun didn't even bother to shine today, but the cold wind continued to gust across the ground. We were in the front row of the stand this time so had a little more room to move our feet which stopped them turning into blocks of ice. The West Indians had to follow on, and it was great to see the NZ bowlers do so well, and the beauty of being at the ground is that you see the fielders move to cut off or back up or ready to stop the overthrows. By afternoon tea time we were very cold and I suggested that I would like to go back to the hotel, and was surprised that Duncan agreed to come back too.

We had booked at a "Turkish" place for dinner, but it turned out that this meant they had kebabs - and no wine licence. Duncan went on a bit of a scouting expedition and found we could get a table at Dockside, provided we could come early - so it was very fortuitous that we left the cricket early.

I had the feta ravioli, which was even more delicious than the dessert, and Duncan had the duck. Lovely meal in good surroundings.

We organised the shuttle for the next morning as there does not appear to be an Airport Bus anymore. We had been cooking our own breakfasts in the apartment, so had to pack up some eggs.

Good on yer Air New Zealand - they arrived back in Gizzy whole!

Note to self: Pack more warm clothes when going to Wellington.