Roadie

Good morning,

Autumn has now officially arrived. Obviously summer missed the boat and decided to stay elsewhere this year. I shouldn't complain, we've had some really nice days recently.

Anyway, Marty and I took off to Auckland a few weeks ago for a well deserved break. Our initial reason for the trip was to pick up a bar top that we bought off Trademe a while back. It was a spur of the moment buy but hopefully our kitsch 70s basement (garage) bar will be awesome. We've been picking up a few things for it recently including an old American pay phone which has been modified to work without coins. Very exciting. Picking that up this weekend. We missed out on a 1950s globe last night but we'll keep searching. Here's the bar progress so far...

So, after the market on Sunday we headed off on our trip. We stayed a night at Lake Waikaremoana which was absolutely beautiful even if we did get ambushed by mozzies. The next morning it rained but we walked up a little river to a waterfall that we'd seen on the drive in. Amazing waterfall - HUGE! I took 1,000 photos with my new Nikon D3000 DSLR so I'll have to add a few when I get home. The Urewera National Park is quite amazing. The road goes on unpaved forever, winding through the hills and native bush. We came across a few of the wild horses (who weren't that wild) grazing on the side of the road. There's not a lot along the way in terms of civilisation. Ruatahuna is the only town between Wairoa and Murupara it seems and that only consists of a petrol station (minimally stocked) and some unfenced livestock. There were a few barns and a church I think but all look disused.

We eventually got to Murupara where we thought we'd stop for a coffee... why? Hmmm... Murupara didn't survive the recession. The only places that haven't been boarded up are the WINZ office, Credit Union, 4 Square and the post office. Even the 'Wines and Videos' and The Clobbershop were out of action. The one cafe that we came across, Kokomo's Cafe - Fine Foods and Catering, was inhabited by a group of acquaintances chatting away. We entered, witnessed the menu (chop meal etc), ordered a coffee ("would you like one from the machine, or instant?" - the machine was a Nestle Cuppamatic or something equally uninspiring) and took a wobbly seat outside. The girl behind the counter gestured to the Cuppamatic as though she were starting a magic trick... she seemed pretty impressed by the machine. We got instant. The instant turned out to just be dirty water, Marty added foam to his.

Hard to see but that sign says, "Murupara Wines and Videos"

Our rego had expired on the ute so Marty went off to the Post office to get a new one just as they were closing. He asked if he could get a rego. The woman barring up the shop said, "oh, nah, we don't do those. Only big places like Rotorua do those". We left, rego-less and still in need of a coffee.

We drove on with no idea of our next stop. We headed toward that big place, Rotorua. We were both quite tired and I was grumpy due to lack of sleep (thanks mozzies) so we pulled off the motorway to Wai-O-Tapu. We went to some hotpools which had been blocked off due to construction. There were several tourists on the other side of the fence, disinterested in the possibly danger, gazing over the bubbling mud. We did the same. We took off again, still no closer to finding a place to stay the night. We drive aimlessly down a road toward Waikite Valley and came across a really lovely, fairly new hot pool place. We camped again and, in typical camping style, Marty decided the only thing we should cook that night was venison with a plum and red wine jus. Of course. So we spent ages in the kitchen as tourist after tourist came in with their 2-minute noodles and other sensible camping food. The meal was amazing though and well worth the slightly odd looks.

The next day we finally got to Auckland. We met up with Graeme at his cafe, Twin Peaks, and made ourselves at home in his little flat. The boys went surfing a lot and I caught up with a few people. I had forgotten how horrible Auckland is to try and get anywhere. Traffic was horrific, I had forgotten how to get anywhere and ended up almost crashing several times and running REALLY late due to all the dead end roads and no turning signs. Terrifying. After that I just used the trains which work surprisingly well.

We caught up with Ed the Engaged at his work briefly and then went to get some food at the lovely little restaurant, Wine Loft, before Graeme joined us. We were trying not to drink for about 4 days but everytime something happened and we ended up having at least a glass of wine.

The highlight, of course, was Faith No More. It was great that our trip coincided with the gig. They were spectacular! Mike Patton put on a great show. I really have no words to explain it. It was just amazing!

Anyway, Marty, Graeme and Charles had decided that the day after the gig they were going on an early (5am) morning surf. So Charles sensibly went home to get some sleep and we headed back to the flat where we continued chatting until about 3am. I fell asleep and Marty and Graeme had a total of 1 hour sleep before heading out to Pakiri. Marty took some amazing photos of Graeme.

When they arrived back Graeme decided to stay home and catch up on some sleep but Marty and I had made arrangements to meet up with Chrissy and then later on some drinks with Amy, Dario, Gareth and Lorraine and then later still, Courtz and Tim. So Marty had to struggle through the sleepiness tugging at his bones. It was a really lovely day though and it was great to catch up with people.

The next day we started our journey home. We got in touch with Mark and Tracy who were staying in Papamoa so we went and stayed with them for a night. Marty continued on his goal of surfing as much as he possibly could on our holiday and took off across the road early the next morning.

We had booked at my regular work motel, Colonial Lodge, in Napier so we started making our way back towards the bay. We stopped in a fantastic little place called Okere Falls just north of Rotorua. It has a nice little boutique food shop and a beautiful little garden and a river across the road. We had a coffee, took some photos and went on a brief walk. I will definitely be going there next time I'm passing through Rotovegas.

We got back to Napier and checked in to our room. Marty finally met the owner (and regular muesli buyer) Mark - albeit in a slightly intoxicated state after a one of the winery concerts. It was quite amusing. We went out to dinner at a really flash-looking place that turned out not to be quite the top-notch place we expected due to really simple things that weren't done well. It was a little bit of a let down. I basically had to climb into my bowl in order to get at the food inside because the bowl was so massive. And a really late and uninspiring mojito for Marty... so uninspiring he sent it back and waited some more.

The next day we headed back to the farm via a last minute job. It was nice to get home but it was a fantastic trip. We'll have to do it again sometime soon :)

Hello? Summer? Is that you? ... oh, no, just winter in summer clothing

Well, it seems that Makaretu has decided that summer is a no go. Instead we have been thrust into Autumn weather already. The place is underwater and we may need to provide SCUBA gear for the animals.

Mushrooms are popping up already, we haven't had to fill up a trough in a month and we've had the fire going (for atmosphere rather than cold). What has happened? I haven't even contemplated a swim this season. Not even the fainest though of a sunbathe.

The grass and veges are having a riotous time and thriving in the damp and heat, however. Although the tomatoes are now covered with some sort of mouldy/fungusy thing which is upsetting. The things that are doing the best, of course, are the thistles. Tigger is on thistle eating duty at the moment. The sheep are no use at all and prefer to roll in biddy-bids and rose cuttings which we then have to remove by hand. Rambo doesn't like the feeling of the wool pulling on her skin so she takes off as soon as you touch her. Moose is more placid and is desperate to get the itchy things out.

The pigs have been set free in the shed paddock (and the garden unintentionally). The first day of freedom was about a week ago. We didn't let them out but they managed to escape from their pen. I got home to find them rummaging through a bag of thawed food that we had removed from the freezer. They had spread squid, rotten jerusalem artichokes and unidentifiable things all over the lawn. Things that had turned to mush and smelled TERRIBLE. As soon as I removed the pigs from the garden the chickens took over - not to mention the dog who happily hoovered up the remaining squid. It was not a pleasant event.

Eva and Gasper have now departed for the last time and will be sorely missed. They are heading to Auckland, then to Aus and then home. Home may have become Spain though. We will have to visit them some day.

Anyway, work beckons so I better go but I may have some free time tomorrow to finish this off. No photos unfortunately as everything is at home while I am in Napier for 3 days. I will add some from the festive season soon.

Bye :)

Pigs!

Ok, well just a few photos of Pybus and Porcellus. They were both loving having a tummy scratch today... they almost fell asleep they were so content. Cute!

Goodbye 2009

Hi,

This may well be my last post for this year. Between work, Un po di, the animals, wwoofers, organising pre-christmas drinks and a New Year's Eve party I can't see me getting onto the blog much. We'll see.

Speaking of Un po' di, our new business for those who haven't heard, things are going well. Martha's Pantry in Wellington have ordered a few to sell and also want to serve it (once we get the DHB's approval). And we had a woman come up to the market last week and ask what Un po' di means (A little bit of...) because she had been writing about it on her blog. So, we have our first review and it's a damn fine one, I must say! Check it out at www.penneylaneonline.com, scroll down a bit and you should see it. We were pretty impressed :)

There have also been a few changes to the zoo. The goats have gone to a new home in Masterton and I hope they're doing ok. I do miss Sid a bit but they jumped into the vege garden a few too many times so they had to go. At least they aren't being eaten. One guy called up from Auckland wondering how far away we were. Apparently 7 hours is too far for a feed. But the people who took them seemed nice. They needed some land cleared.

In place of the goats we have 2 new kune kune piglets. 2 little 3 month old boys. Both ginger and oh so cute. But they are sneaky cheekies as well. They took off the first day we got them (I was in Napier so Marty had to search on his own). One was found by Graeme and Barbara's and Rosie saw the other one in her garden but couldn't catch it. So one was missing for a few days. Yesterday Colin turned up and asked if the zoo had, by any chance, lost one of its members. Yes, in fact, we had. So little piggy was returned to his brother (there was a lot of squealing between the truck and the pen they are in) and both sat down to a feast of scraps. Little lost piggy was starving! Their names are Pybus and Porcellus although we're not quite sure which is which yet. They are very similar.

Brother has been sent to Napier to learn a few things. I saw an ad on Trademe for a beginners horse that said she may swap for a young or troubled horse so I called her up and she is a dream come true! We organised to take Brother up on a Tuesday morning so we borrowed Hamish and Vicki's float and had a practice run on Monday. We've never floated Brother, only trucked and it's quite a different experience for them so we thought we should be on the safe side. So on Monday Brother lead me up the ramp of the float, no worries. Sweet! I mentioned that having a horse that didn't go on floats is one of the most frustrating things in the world... I jinxed it again. So Tuesday morning rolled around and we decided to leave a bit early so we could spend some time with this girl and have a chat. Off we tottered into the paddock, put Brother's leg bandages on and lead him towards the float. Brother planted his little feet firmly in the ground and wouldn't move. It started raining but was still about 100 degrees and it took Marty, Hamish, Vicki and I 2 and a half hours to get him on the bloody float. Grrr... By that time I was an hour and a half late for work so I had to leave Marty to take him up there on his own. Apparently when they arrived Marty assumed Brother would bolt out of the float backwards as soon as he opened the back door so he set up a little contraption so that he would have hold of a rope so Brother wouldn't take off. But Brother had other ideas. He now didn't want to get out of the float. At least he didn't want to back out of it. So he kept trying to turn around. It took a while to unload him as well! Ridiculous horse! But this girl has done wonders with him. There's a possibility that he still has a sore shoulder but we'll wait and see. But she's also give me the courage to jump on him and really push both myself and Brother. We cantered and jumped a little jump the other day (I don't think he'd ever been jumped before then) so it's a big step!

Anyway, we are off now to build a pig pen in the paddock until little piggies get a bit more used to their surroundings. And amazingly the sun has come out! Haven't seen the sun much recently.

Ok, I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas and wonderful New Year. See you in 2010.

Kerry x

I jinxed it...

So much for Spring. Today we have been engulfed by a massive snow storm. At least a few inches fell (the heaviest dump in quite some time, it seems) and it has blanketed everything. Very beautiful but bloody freezing! Obviously my last post jinxed spring. The weather has been immaculate for the last few weeks and then BAM, snow. The dog loved every minute of it and did his stupid run around the garden many times. We have a little miniture horse of Vicki and Hamish's at the moment. Her name is Lilly. She was shivering from the cold this afternoon so I hope she's ok tonight. She doesn't have a cover but she and Tigger are now in the shed paddock so they should have plenty of shelter and we have been feeding them hay all day. Marley and Spencer couldn't care less about the snow. Spence was bounding around in it.

Tigger and Lilly

Staking the kaka beak that had toppled from the weight of the snow

Our little lambies, Rambo (in front) and Moose

Marty skiing in the paddock

The driveway blocked by snow-laden trees

And... The View

We decided to go for a ski/toboggan in the paddock behind the sheds which was cool. Could hardly feel my fingers but it was worth it. A few trees have come dowm as well just from the sheer weight of the snow so we'll have to deal to them next week.

Marty and I are off to Waipatiki tomorrow for the weekend while mum hosts her Bollywood party. I'm quite glad to be escaping really! We're going to a beach farm park and hopefully the weather will hold out enough for us to get some fishing in. And if it's nice we might one day take the horses as well. Will wait and see about that one.

I've had a few riding lessons recently on both Brother and Dino. It's almost killed me but I'm happy to be getting Brother going again. He's been really grumpy recently for some reason. I think the spring grass affects him quite badly. Dino also has been very nervy for the same reason I think.

Our little lambies are growing rapidly although Moose (who I'm trying not to get too attached to and therefore is just being called Newbie for the time being) has had a few issues from day one. She was quite weak when she first arrived apparently (I was in Wellington at the time) and since then has been really up and down. She now has difficulty getting up on her own (although she did it all by herself this evening! Yay!) and can't really walk. She can take a few tiny little shuffled steps but then she just faceplants into the ground. Poor thing. But she is improving slowly and I'm not giving up on her yet.

Rambo, on the other hand, is exactly like Marley was at her age. She's a little rascal and is into everything. They're both outside most of the time but because the weather has been so cold and Moose is so weak they have been coming inside at night (much to the dog's delight as that means he gets to sleep in our bed!).

Rambo and Mono

Anyway, we need to start dinner... it's already 8pm and we haven't even started.

Ciao!

K :)

Spring!

Well, almost! It certainly feels like it is just around the corner - little lambo rambos are bounding through paddocks, the daffodils have popped their heads out to greet the sun and our garden is slowly coming back to life after a long period of hibernation. The early rhodos and camellias are out and I've just noticed the big magnolia has put its first 2 flowers on show. Sson we'll have our own little lambies and the birds will start breeding (hint, hint, pheasants!).

Speaking of pheasants, Marty almost ran over our old Ringnecks that ran away. They have made a new home down by the marae. Rex I is looking beautiful and even has Asterix wing things on his head. It's good to know they are still alive, athough apparently their road sense is not so good so they may not be alive for long...

Anyway, we went to the beach a while ago which was fun. The dog got over excited and started frothing around his nose from sniffing too many things...

Marty went for a surf while I took photos of rocks and pieces of wood....

We are thinking of going back to collect that piece of wood to use as some sort of sculpture on the farm. It was pretty spectacular but it is huge and probably water-logged making it impossible to move. We'll see.

I also spent a weekend in Wellington while Rosie was over. I did get some photos but they are on my old film SLR and I haven't got around to scanning them so diddums. You'll just have to wait. The ones of that weekend aren't actually that good because it was too dark but there was a nice one of Dogman and also some old ones of Berni and Graeme in Rotorua and on the Desert Road. They must have been from years ago. It's so exciting getting films back!

While I was away Marty went on a music bus from Waipuk to Napier to play music at the Cabana Bar. He met some old musos and had a great time. I was sad to have missed it but it was good to see Rosie. And I was able to give Jen a hand moving into her new flat.

And a while ago we were invited to Sherwood School's play, Amazon Antics, which had Joe and Rata performing in it. It was pretty cute and they even had a sloth in it! Joe was a philodendron and Rata, a ladybird. Both did a great job but I think they were a bit stunned by it all... Rata was surprisingly quiet afterwards...

I have a busy few weeks ahead of me and will be in Wellington most of the time. It seems all the interpreters down there have taken off overseas at the same time. Oh well. Good for the money.

I have made some progress with Tigger recently and yesterday I finally got a halter on her and led her a few steps. Then this morning we moved her and Heidi in the the paddock behind the sheds (leading her all the way) and the runway so we can give the golf course a bit of a rest. And we're going to shift Dice and Flicker around soon so we can get some paddocks in good shape for spring. Very pleased to have finally got a a halter on her. Most of the time we need food though to get her to do anything. But we're trying to break that habit. Slowly, slowly catchy monkey.

Ok, I'm tired now. Think I will go and give the boys a bit of a groom seeing as it is a nice day and they have thier covers off.

Right, ciao!

K :)

The week in photos

It's been a blustery couple of weeks as you can see from that video. The chickens don't stand much chance in wind like that! Thankfully we haven't lost many trees - nothing like last year's 13 that came down within a couple of days - and the greenhouse has remained intact (well, as intact as it has been for the past year!).

Over the past few days things have been looking up. 2 days of sunshine have dried some of the lakes that have been forming in the paddocks and has meant that the horses have had some cover-free time. They were so content today they had a lie down.

Nicki and Jordan came to visit just before the wind started so they got to play with the animals and get their hands dirty in the garden!

Poor McMunkles was highly peturbed when the sofas were dismantled for re-covering. They temporarily became a pile of cushions and he wasn't sure what to do...

He did find that Marty made for quite a comfortable seat though....

One night Marty decide all of a sudden to make creme brulee for dessert and ended up with a few egg whites left over so we made the cutest little treats ever - meringue ghosts! Oh so cute...

Anyway, Marty's terrible movie, Iron Man, has finally finished so I am going to go but I will leave you with some of Dino's many facial expressions. Well, actually, he's just yawning :)

K :)