The Grass is always Greener in the Bottom Paddock: Today was made for pies

Mmmm... pies. The rain has been bucketing down since yesterday so as today progressed we watched the garden filling up with water and little rivers running down the paths.

We visited the boys to make sure they hadn't drowned in a puddle and found them standing at the top of the hill looking like a couple of soggy quadrupeds. There was quite a lot of splish sploshing around but they were grateful for the apples we provided.

So we waded back through the undergrowth to the warmth of the fire and really there was only one thing to do - bake! So I got on with making crumpets from scratch and (stupidly at the same time) mushroom and pinenut pies. I have never made pies before but was inspired by many of the numerous cook books that line our shelves. And I have to say they are thoroughly enjoyable to make. I made the base pastry myself as well which makes it all the more satisfying.

I got Marty to start cooking the crumpet batter as, by this stage, I had too many things on the go and couldn't keep up with it all. They turned out really well but only having 2 tuna cans with the bottoms cut out made it quite time consuming as we had to clean them out between each batch.

The pie filling was ready and we loaded up the bases, flung some puff pastry over the top, carved a little 'V' into the top of each and off they went into the oven. Half an hour later we were eating (well, first photographing) delicious home made pies. Now I just have to think up some more yummy fillings and we will have a lifetime supply of pies because I think I just want to make them everyday.

Having gorged ourselves we went off to feed the boys and check out the flood damage. When we got to the horse paddock there was about a foot of water lining the fence and bottom of the paddock and we noticed a mound of grass that was seeping (bit of an understatement, really it was a torrent) water into the enormous puddle. We questioned whether the mound had always been there but discovered that it was just a huge build up of water under the ground so you could stand on it and it was like a water bed, all squidgy. Marty wandered around on top of it...

We thought we better check out the driveway to make sure we weren't stranded. Between the horse paddock and the diveway was like a mangrove and our cattle stop was completely submerged. The paddock on the other side of the driveway also had a large river running through it from the water that was pumping out of the horse paddock.

Down the road a bit there was a big waterfall that is usually a trickle and the Makaretu river is enormous! A speeding muddy current that is 4 times it's usual size. Luckily the bridge is still there unlike a previous storm according to our neighbour who we bumped into while we were admiring the fast flowing water. Apparently it took out half the bridge and piled a huge amount of driftwood and debris up in its place.

We then went back to the house and thought we'd have a look at the view over the river from the back paddock. The Ruahines looked beautiful covered in fog but there was nothing particularly impressive.

So I'll add a few photos of our soggy day. Minimal in comparison to some places it seems!