Tuesday; Last night was an early one for us and we got into work before dawn. I am on a mission to get the windows prep done. I sanded and filled in spots until I couldn’t anymore. Now to wait for it all to dry. It is a great day to paint but there is rain coming tonight. So we decide not to risk it running down the weatherboards. I do get painting in the veranda area as it is the safest spot. I am loving the greens! This should give sufficient motivation to do the rest! Cory fills in the hole for the plumbing, yay we can walk right around now. It also makes it much easier for me for the windows. He does some putty of the windows for the studio and then a good site tidy with lots of scrap iron that we will take to the dump tomorrow. Rowan helps Dave with the shower tray installation and finish off the framing of the windows for the studio and workshop. I am shattered, we head home early to get an early night. One good thing about daylight saving is I can be hoping into bed at 5pm.

Wednesday; The weather has packed it in. We start off with breakfast at Vanessa’s then we go to the dump to get rid off the old scrap iron. We end up in Ōamaru just before 10am. After unloading the car we set Cory up with the water blaster. Cory is working through like the champ. A quick run to the hardware store for supplies and Cory gets an indoor jobs done. No time to do anything at Till we have an appointment with the surveyors at 11am. That appointment leaves us with questions for the council. Let’s see if we can see the building team. I must say it is the first time we have walked into the council and had rude customer service, I think this lady needs a new job. No luck with seeing anyone as the lady at the front desk isn’t having a bar of it. Now it has changed to a bitter southerly. I try to get some work done but it is not easy. I do get some sanding but that’s it. Fred, comes to say hi and checks out what we are doing. As Fred leaves Jim arrives for a look. Then my new motorbike arrives too. Cory heads off to pick up Presley, while this is all happening. We take my bike for a WOF and service. It does have a current one but nearly out. I will get it some more rego too. Heading off to stay warm, we come across a guy who lost his load. Rowan helps him then we follow him home to make sure he gets it there safely. Rowan cooks us Thai for dinner. I take a hot water bottle to bed. It is the coldest it has been so far.

Thursday; A perfect painting day, I even got a little bit on the Southside of the house done and it dried! I painted up a barge board for the garage to get its guttering. Rowan put up the polycarbonate to make it all weather tight and we have natural light in the garage. Cory sanded ahead of me while I came along with the enamel. It is coming along nicely and I am hoping for another full on day tomorrow. My bike has a fresh WOF and Rowan rides it home. He said he likes it more than his bike haha. I took it for a ride around Herbert. I have to get used to the bigger size, weight, gears etc. I got it to 100km which I hated lol. Rowan is getting me to ride into Ōamaru tomorrow, I am nervous just thinking about it. We have a ride training course on Saturday. I am not sure I am confident enough to be in the traffic. But nothing like getting thrown into the deep end. It is an 8 hour course but is only $20 because ACC subsidies. Makes sense, safer riders less accidents.

Friday; My first long ride into Ōamaru, it went really well. I stayed pretty calm the whole time, when we got to Kakanui the sunrise on the waves was incredible. I slowed right down so I could appreciate it. Rowan was riding in my old bike as the guy was coming back to pick it up. I am a bit sad that it is gone, it was a good wee bike. He made it home 8 hours later, I am glad he didn’t pick it up the other night. At Till we have another beautiful day for painting. I nearly get a full coat of the Te Aroha green on. Most importantly I get paint on the south side and it happily dries. Cory helps paint the high bits on the south side. He is a lot slower painter than me, but he does a good job so I don’t care.

Saturday; We woke up early hoping to get some paint on before our training. The dew was heavy so we knew there was no way we could. Weather was absolutely stunning to paint. On the way in I struggled to keep my visor down, so my face froze. It is an icy morning. I am nervous for our training today, I hope I can keep up with everyone. I get us Subway, while Rowan goes to give his tyres more air. A quick breakfast and we are sitting down ready for some theory. Trevor (same guy for my basic handlers test) runs us through a few things like where to sit on the road so we can see clearly and where it is safe to sit behind a car etc. This goes on for a few hours, now time for practical. Laura has come on the training too, so we only have three strangers I haven’t met before. It is an even class 3 girls, 3 boys. Laura’s bike is having a battery issue. I call AA and pretend I am borrowing her bike for the training and get it started. She heads off to Vinnie at Colin Clyne so he can get her a new battery. We take off to the car park I did my test in. We ride in a line so we all get a chance to be upfront and watched by Trevor. When we get to the car park he shows us a really interesting technique to keep our bikes really steady at low speeds. It is one Rowan and I are going to practice a lot. After that we ride out to Enfield to have lunch. From there we head out into the wopwops further. I am now behind Trevor and it will be my turn next. They have to slow down because I get us far behind them. I am a bit slower as I haven’t done much high speed riding. Now it is my turn in front, I am wanting to brake before the corners and he keeps telling me not to, Rowan pipes up and explains I haven’t done any riding like this. Trevor coaches me through and gets me riding faster around the corners. I definitely need to practice this more. He also tries to get me to do 100km I do 100km on my clock which he says is 92km on his haha. Rowan passes through with flying colours, but that is to be expected. When we head back towards Ōamaru I am getting cold and tired, I have had enough for the day. We have a bit more around town time and do some u turn work and parking. It is now time to say goodbye. We get a little gift each which is cool. The thought of having to ride to Herbert annoys me. Rowan and I head off to the supermarket to get some dinner and then head back. I must say riding in the dark isn’t much fun, but we make it back. Have our showers eat dinner and I am asleep in no time!

Sunday; Rowan and I ride into town, the plan is to get some paint on. I put the washing on and we sit down for a coffee. I waffle trying to decide if it will dry or not. In the end I am really unsure so it is best to not paint. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit yuck so I will do any prep touch ups necessary. Rowan and I have been struggling mentally. We had a good chat and we are changing our approach. I am in charge of Till he is in charge of Palmerston. This means I can focus on the renovations and not be distracted and same with Rowan. Moving forward I think this will make our lives much easier. After the washing is on the line we head to the supermarket to get supplies for dinner. We ride back all the way along the coast and then up the Waianakarua River. When we get back we charge up Camele, do a tidy around Herbert and I knuckle down and do a few hours of paperwork. Really looking forward to getting the exterior paint done and taking a real day off! Picture of Rowan grabbing my plants from behind the kitchen so they can be watered 😂

Monday; We pull up and there are three shiny electricians waiting for us. Yay today they get stuck in. It is bloody freezing today, I am surprised I didn’t freeze off my bike. I attempt to do some exterior prep. I am limited with no power. Rowan heads off to Leona’s todo paperwork and I am out in the elements with jealousy. I get all I can realistically do without getting in the way. I send a smoke signal for hot food. We end up having pizza with Leona for lunch. Today they said it may rain, it didn’t but it was so cold it would have struggled to dry. Rowan and I decide to take an early day and we head back to Herbert. I ride home doing 60km, the wind is so strong I can’t safely go any faster. All the pre wire will be completed and we will have one live outlet to work with.