Welcome 2013

Another year.  No doubt another handful of posts.  I have realised though, seeing as we dropped our external hard drive last year and lost ALL our photos, that things like Facebook and blogs are quite useful for at least retaining some of them.  So I really should be more diligent at uploading stuff to the interwebs.

Last year was a complete rollercoaster.  Huge highs - a month long trip through Europe, and huge lows - Dad dying.  So I am hoping that this year will be a bit calmer (busy is fine but let's try to keep the emotions in check).  So on that note here's my dad in his younger years flying a Skyhawk

I posted most of the places we went to in Europe and have since got the ones back from Slovenia, Rome and Hong Kong so here we go

Skocjan Caves in Slovenia were amazing.  I had to leave mum behind because she's not a huge fan of cave-like places. 

We hung with Gasper in Ljubljana

We had osmizza in Trieste with Angus and Iga.  Here we are eating the mandatory boiled egg beforehand

And we at suppli in Rome which are my new favourite thing.  SO GOOD

Another day in Slovenia we went to Lipica and saw the beautiful horses.  Unfortunately some of them are kept in stables 24/7 which is not so cool.

Then via Hong Kong on our way home.  Crazy bustling city.

And they have dodgy looking scaffolding.  It's held together with plastic ties.  Oh god.

So when we got back we had a week with Dad before he passed away.  It was a pretty horrendous time but in some ways we have to be glad that it was sooner rather than later.  He was suffering a lot and no one wanted to see him go on like that for much longer.  

We held his funeral at the Island Bay Surf Life Saving Club.  A bit of an odd place for a funeral but Dad would have loved it.  It had a view out over Island Bay, a place he held dear to his heart, and so many of his friends, old and new, turned out to farewell him.  Some amazing stories were told about his incredible life.  I think he would have been proud. 

Token creature shot.  Marty and the band found this beaut male Hawkes Bay tree weta hanging out on the back on the sofa in the garage.  Don't see many males around here so that was quite exciting.

Marty's board making skills are improving rapidly.  

This is the A & P Show that Dino and I went to.  He looked beautiful....

                                      

And behaved atrociously.  He was fine to start with and then got himself completely worked up and had a mental.  Not much fun.

                                                   

Emma and Max did really well though.  They got many ribbons :)

                                                   

6 ducklings were born - we have 2 left.  We don't have much luck keeping ducklings alive.

Detour played at the Sanctuary Sounds Music Festival

And I drank beer in the sun

Found a velvet worm!  So exciting.  Quite rare.  Love them.

We had 2 wwoofers, Ali and Laura who were super helpful.  Here they are helping Marty carry the Christmas tree home

Along with the velvet worm we found a tree with honeycomb inside.  And many bees

I got my first taste of Polo X just before Christmas.  I rode a lovely horse called Trevor.  Hopefully will do a bit more of that this year.  Not on Dino though!  

                                     

Angus and Iga came to visit for Angus' 30th birthday.  We saw them again in Awaroa over New Year but I don't have those photos yet - I forgot to take my camera.  Dumb.

Dog was overwhelmed with Christmas

Christmas morning before everyone arrived

Boxing Day bagels and lox

Unbelievably Isos, the ancient, earless cat caught a mouse the other day.  then he accidentally let it go and caught it again.  Then he dropped it and it got away.  Good effort though for an 18 y/o!

Last weekend Marty, dog and I went fishing up at Tangoio Beach.  The only things we caught were 3 crabs and a foul-hooked fish that was smaller than the hook.  There were some stingrays out there though.  So beautiful! but scary as well. 

We went to Marine Parade first but the dog was way too hot.

Marty fishing at sunset

 

The minuscule fish

                                                  Burgers on the beach at Marine Parade.  

Also last weekend we decided to spontaneously rip up the carpet in the TV room so reveal the beautiful rimu (we think) wood underneath.  Here is the transformation....

                                     

The final coat of polyurethane will go on today.  It looks SO much better.

Yesterday we heard an almighty crash outside but we couldn't figure out what it was... until I went to see the horses....

Piwaka v Bath.  Amazingly Piwaka only came away with a tiny cut on her back leg.  Unbelievable.

And that is it from me.  Time to go and help Marty with the floor.  

Well hello again!  It has been a very long time since I last wrote. Oops.

Spring has sprung and things are looking more promising for this summer weather-wise.  I seem to always comment on the weather but it is because it plays such a huge part in our lives up here.  From whether we have enough grass to how animals will cope (especially with Dino who seems to be allergic to rain!) and whether we have enough water.

So, Mum and I went to Europe for a month.  I tried to post regularly on http://slothhunt.blogspot.com but it all got so crazy busy that I managed to get up to the 5th day or something and then it was abandoned.  Poor effort, sorry.  So here are a few more photos.  And I will go back and caption the ones on the other blog.  It was an incredible trip!

Cap Formentor, the lighthouse on Mallorca with spectacular views over the Mediterranean!

We stayed at Mary and Simon's picturesque house in the Loire Valley and visited quaint little towns and a very weird modern art gallery Chateaux D'Oiron.

Angles sur L'Anglin - forgive me if I have spelled that wrong.  it sounds like "Onglongslonglon'

In the tiny town of Santa Maria Maggiore, Italy, they have the annual Convention of Chimney Sweeps.  Awesome. 

Our first night in Ghiffa, Lake Maggiore.  An antipasti overlooking the lake.  Holy christ the Italians know how to do cheese! And fresh vegetables.  Drooool.

Isola Bella.  Insane.  Supposedly the neighbouring islands all tried to out-do each other with extravagance.  You can imagine what it turned into.

Our brief stay in Bellano, Lake Como, was slightly odd but this was the view from our bedroom window.

Ahhh... Venice.  Yes.

Venice wouldn't be complete without the Film Festival.  Above and below we see Robert Redford and Shia le Bouf 

Ljubljana was wonderful and great to see Gasper who was a fantastic host.  Thank god he knew where we were going because we would have been lost on our bicycles!

In Novo Mesto we encountered Ludvik and Dragica, friends of Sandi and Vesna, Eva's parents.  They have a cute little vineyard and treated us to a night of stupendous wine and impromptu singing... and much of both!  Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Lake Bled, Slovenia, was incredibly beautiful and the stunning day just added to the beauty of it.  

I have some others from Trieste, Rome and Hong Kong but my USB stick had a tantrum so I need to transfer them again.  Will do in the near future.

So needless to say when we got home we were pretty knackered.  Jet lag followed me the whole way through Europe and plagued me long after we got back.  I am finally over it now though!

More recenlty we had Jen. Em, Andy, Rach, Pete, Rowan and Greg here for the weekend as well as a random hitch hiker Greg and Marty picked up in Waipuk.  It was so good to have everyone here.  We made so much amazing food and generally just had a good time.  I managed to sneak in a ride on the Saturday morning before everyone got up.  First time I'd ridden Dino in a while.  We have a show coming up this weekend and he has been such a sweetie recently.  Will update on the results... definitely not holding out much hope for best presented!

Oh lovely Dino.

Happy as a pig in shit.

One morning Pete inadvertently dressed Rowan in exactly the same outfit as Marty. Complete with pants tucked in to socks.  Hilarious.

Pete vented some pent up rage.

River outing/dam-building

Fence-sitter

Rowan, as usual, channeling Pete.

Marty and Greg made a bbq out of half a 44-gallon drum and we joyfully sat around it and drank bubbles.  What a great way to start summer!

Computer is going to run out of battery and I need to go to bed.  

Will update about the show!

Update.

So, after the last couple of posts I feel I should update on a few things. We got Rex back from the taxidermist...

He is now sitting proudly on top of the piano. When I picked him up I also needed to go to the mechanics. I should have done the mechanics first because when I did get there I had to ask them to be careful when taking the car for a drive because of my pheasant in the boot. They looked at me very oddly but when I returned Rex was still intact. Thanks guys :)

Last weekend Jen came to visit and I managed to rope her into helping me load Tigger onto the float to take her up to Napier. I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own so she was a great help even though we were both petrified and suffering from severe disaster vertigo throughout the experience. Tigger is pretty sweet. Not much phases her but she definitely tried a few sneaky tricks.

Once we had finally loaded her and jumped into the car, shaking uncontrollably, we just drove. We didn't want to stop for anything and I was praying that we had enough petrol to get to Napier. Jen was on 'ear checks' every 10 seconds to make sure that Tigger was still standing. She was swaying about all over the place and I could feel the drag on the car whenever she pulled backwards which made my heart race to my mouth thinking she may somehow push the ramp down and fall out (highly unlikely but this is the nature of disaster vertigo).

Halfway to our destination Jen suddenly said, "I can't see her ears". I almost died. This went on for quite a while and still her head didn't come up. We were on the motorway with nowhere to pull over and check on her so we had no choice but to keep driving until we had a clear space to stop. It was a while later, still no ears, and we managed to pull over on the side of the motorway with cars and trucks whizzing past. We looked in the window and Tigger had her head stuck under the front bar of the float and she had slipped her halter off somehow without breaking or undoing any of it. I have no idea how she did it but she was looking a bit confused when we opened the door and release her head. She actually didn't seem that fussed by it all by this point, it was more Jen and I that were trembling with anxiety. So we fixed her up, tied her with a very short rope and continued on our way, slightly relieved in the fact that she was coping well.

We got her to Bonnie's where Tigger was overjoyed with new smells and new friends. She and Bengali hit it off but there is a big mare in the paddock who is definitely the top dog. She gave Tigger a few deathly looks and a couple of charges but hopefully Tigger won't be so stupid as to taunt her (although I'm not holding my breath).

Jen and I left after a while to head down to Sanctuary Sounds Op-Shop Fashion Parade where Marty was playing music and modelling. We were both exhausted from our 2 hour adrenaline rush so we pulled up, watched Marty do his modelling (complete with moonwalk which he had been practicing in the kitchen for a week), had some food and then took off home.

A few days later Bonnie posted some photos of Tigger's progress. Her first ride.....

She looks so happy. I am ecstatic! I'm so proud of her and so thankful that Bonnie is breaking her in. I was so impressed with the way she handled Bengali and how he has turned out that I couldn't have sent her to a better person. Yay! Now just to find someone to ride her once she is broken in.

The cat has finally settled in - 3 months later - and is happily wandering outside of his own accord. No more forcing him outside only for him to run around the corner and straight back in the window. Hes put on heaps of weight and, as Marty said, is looking like a normal, healthy cat. You'd never know he was 17 years old. Although he still gives me this sad, slightly deranged look quite often....

Marty, dog and I are heading up to Mahia for the weekend. We were going to do the whole East Cape but the weather (the bloody weather) is not looking great and also we're a bit short of moolah so we decided on just the weekend. It's our 11 year anniversary tomorrow. Ridiculous. So, seeing as we both forgot our 10 yr we thought we should make the most of this year. Hopefully we'll be able to do some fishing and just spend some time together. The dog will hate the trip but love it when we get there. He will probably sit like this in the car....

He's quite strange. He has no idea he is a dog. He thinks he's people.

Anyway, I need to go and pack.

Ciao

Kerry :)