Tuesday; We had an odd day. It didn’t feel that productive but it was in a lot of ways. Rowan and I left for an hour to help Leona with a retroactive consent. Rowan and I keep lecturing her that she should charge her vendors for all this above and beyond she does. Do you know she mows lawns too! I would hate to think how much time this is taking her. I left Laura in charge, because she has been here since 9am and Cory isn’t here yet when we leave. Lauras not favourite job is cleaning and I am annoyingly needing cleaning. Very mean of me haha. She does a great job of the living room. There is much to do, but she has made a great start on it. Cory made my door latch for the toilet, with Rowan’s creative vision. He also was in the garden and doing odd jobs like grinding out old metal stakes. Early afternoon the Sparkys turned up. We now have a hot water cylinder running. A few lights that don’t light but are in there ready to be hooked up to the switchboard. We planned to head away tomorrow south for a day trip. But the electricians can be here again tomorrow so we may as well get them here. I have this old solid copper necklace I wanted to turn into the pull for the loo. Rowan strengthened it and tied up the leather. It works perfectly in my quirky bathroom. Glen says his job has cancelled for tomorrow so he can work here. Well we run down to the electrical store and buy all the switches and sockets we need. On our way home Rowan is flashed by a cop for going a bit fast in a 70 zone. He wasn’t concentrating it has been a long day and we are heading home in the dark. I am surprised the cop didn’t turn around. We were speeding enough I thought he would. A warning will do.

Wednesday; We get to the house at 8.30am and the boys are already here. We spend the whole day running around. It started with a job we needed to do. Then it changed to solving issues for the sparky. I have these cool leadlight shades I want to use outside. Well they aren’t waterproof and these days you got to be able to hose down light fittings. Which totally makes sense but I am annoyed. With a second trip to Mitre10 we find a solution for one of them and maybe for the other. Glenn makes some recommendations and I say let’s not bother, I will just get a standard batten for the front door. All my vision for the front door has changed (tear), it is okay. I want it all to be easy not hard. We end up getting lots done so I am happy as a pig in mud. We do however need a plug system for our oven. Well that is going to cost a ridiculous sum just because they can. The stupidest thing is we sold that oven a few days ago. It had a lead we could have taken. So really we sold a free oven and got $100 only to pay $150 for a lead for our oven! Stupid! Glen asked me if I really wanted to use one of my lights (brand new one) and that it is very labour intensive. It took me a moment to react and I asked why. He said by the time he shortens all the cords it will take Ruben a long time to do it, the light is for a stairwell. I had to laugh then. I explained how I don’t want it shortened it is a spider light and you hang the bulbs in any direction that pleases you. Please don’t shorten all the cords. Luckily we were here, I would be annoyed if I came back to my light being shortened and needing another one.

We left around 2pm to go pick up some second hand cheap iron. We have gone through most of what we got earlier in the year. Iron appears to be quite expensive at the moment so we thought we better grab it. It is from a poorly run farm, the animals were sad. The poor dogs obviously get physically hit. I wanted to free the two dogs and take them with me.

Thursday; Wow, what a day! Rowan and I have massages booked today, I am at 11am, he is at 12pm. Cory said he will be here later today. We have a few things to grab from Mitre10 and they have a bbq on today in the tradie area and prizes for their birthday celebration. I need lawn seed, vinyl planks and a metal plug for our kitchen sink. When we pay we spin the wheel, two free beanies, well it was one but they gave us two which was very kind of them. A fried egg sandwich and we are off to the house. Dave is here to set up but he has to go to Timaru and will be back this afternoon. I have three jobs on my list, seal the toilet wallpaper, paint the toilet door and tidy the house. It is out of control and very overwhelming. I start with the mess left from the electricians then the toilet. I clear out the back courtyard and remove the leaves and rubbish. Rowan and I move the bath into place for Dave. Rowan has a few jobs on his list too. He drops me at the massage place and rushes back to meet Cory. The lady gets into all my sore bits and I walk away feeling very tender. As we swap Rowan tells me Cory hasn’t shown up yet. When I get home I see Cory has just arrived. He said he can’t work today he has too much on. No worries. We are away next week so it will be the following week. I crack on with cleaning the muddy path around the side of the house. I want to be able to walk around without slipping over. Before I know it, I am back in the car to get Rowan. Rowan starts on the list of jobs we had for Cory today. He moves the pittosporum from the front of the house to the back and trims the top posts for the side garden. I seal the wallpaper and do some more tidying. In an hour Rowan and I move the pickets and clear the front of the house. We then move all the green waste to the garage and put some grass seed down. I painted the toilet door and got the house cleaner and tidy. I want to come back and not feel overwhelmed. We leave around 4pm having completed all of our jobs. Dave is doing a great job, he has got the shower in and started with our copper shower head.

Friday; The first day of our break. We have a few jobs to do, first one is pack all the stuff we want for the boat. Well not just a boat a trailer sailer. Rowan found a cheap small yacht for us up in Blenheim. When I closed the container the other night I somehow used the padlock that doesn’t lock and is just there for looks instead of the one we usually use. Well I got it to lock didn’t I, Rowan had to grind it off so we could get into our gear and pack it all. We dropped UM off for a warrant and headed into town. We had a quick hello with Dave the plumber and Tama our builder came to see us. We needed the low down on what to do next as we now have building consent (still waiting for the second one). We dropped in to say bye to Leona and discuss a few last minute things and headed off North. We op shopped along the way and got to Christchurch about 6pm. We didn’t stop until we got a bit further and stayed on the banks of the Waipara River.

Saturday; A stunning drive to Blenheim. We reached Kaikōura around 9am and the sunrise was fantastic. There is snow on the mountains, our favourite time of year. We op shopped around Blenheim and parked up waiting for the boat man. While we waited we cooked dinner. I chopped, Rowan stirred. Tonight we have dinner with James and Kate and we said we would cook as last time they cooked for us. A cottage pie is on the menu, we have no large dish here in the camper so we looked in every op shop until we found one in the last shop, SPCA charity shop. Rowan decided a very kiwi dessert of ambrosia. By the time we got the boat and chatted to Arthur the young guy, who I think is Catalonian but we didn’t ask, it was 5pm. We got to Picton and finished up our dinner and made dessert. Kate and James had never had it before, so I am glad we could introduce them to a local dessert. James is a bit stressed with the interislander ship being stranded in his domain. He is the 2IC Harbour Master and they are to solve issues like this quickly. Sounds like it was complete steering loss after trying to take the boat out of autopilot. Kate is well, she has been working with Nelson and Blenheim hospital for her speech therapy. Little Conner was having a ball of a time with Rowan using him as a jungle gym.

Sunday; A wet day in the sounds. Queen charlotte Drive is still great even in this drizzle. We took our time getting to Nelson, made lots of stops. Rowan had a fossick in the Pelorus I stayed warm and dry. We had a late lunch at a pub in the Rai Valley. We have never stopped there for food before, it was a really good meal. I promised the kids I would sort dessert so we went to the supermarket when we arrived in Nelson. I was going to get ice cream and one of those mud cakes but ended up trying the biscoff one that they had next to it. It was a hit! It is really nice to see Paula & Kelvin. We missed Paula and Millie last time. We will spend a few days here before heading back to Picton.

Monday; Op Shopping! It was a relaxed day, no real rush or need to be anywhere. We went out to Motueka to the op shops and got back late afternoon. I found some tiles for the hearth in the dining room, $1.50 each. We really didn’t buy much or find anything amazing but it was a nice day out. When we got back Rowan went for a swim with Paula down at the beach. She has been swimming throughout winter. We had a pretty chill evening. Exactly what we have needed. If anything we should have a day of reading our books. Than I will feel even more relaxed.