It’s that time of the year again when you reflect on the year. It is so easy to feel like it has gone by so fast and I am definitely guilty of feeling like not a lot happened. I find this post very cathartic. Sure there was a lot of downs but there were huge ups and over all I thinking we did great. So it’s time to appreciate just how far we have come over the last 365 days.

January started with a bang! Rowan and I had an amazing time on the coast with my cousins. It was great to spend some quality time in the first few days of the New Year with Nellie and two of her boys. The hardest part was saying goodbye!

Once we got back into the mainland we got into the swing of things with getting the house frames up. The pond was created in Herbert and we had our 5 year anniversary since we went to Antarctica and celebrated it over zoom with our fellow shipmates.

February, improvements happening at Herbert. It feels like years ago we did this not just earlier this year. Bette is becoming liveable.

Houses get roofs on.

We have some visitors from the north. Nana & Mum come down for a week, we loved having them here. I think it may be time for them to come back for another visit.

March gave us an unforgettable trip to Jackson’s Bay. Swimming with the hector dolphins, wet West Coast weather but plenty of sunshine too. Adventure and relaxing all in one

Bette was finished in time for our visitor from across the ditch. It was great having a space for Rowan’s dad David to stay.

The houses got some cladding. I also got stranded while Rowan head to Australia for a few days to see Bette after her having to fractures in her back ouch! I quite liked the time alone especially the fun day at Macraes Mine.

April, just typical that Jo arrives from Christchurch a couple of days after David leaves. She needs a good clean after evicting those rodent tenants.

Some house progress too!

A quick trip to Auckland to put my grandpas ashes into the earth. It was a great day of celebrating such a special man!

A busy summer with more visitors, Rene & Johanna from Germany.

May, our little houses have become weather tight! We even got to do some very fun Tetris with the insulation. Why waste the off cuts when it can be used on the internal walls on the bathrooms to help with noise pollution.

Rowan was an egg and nearly lost the tip of his finger. I think he just wanted to get some time off work.

June, a quick Jetset to Sydney to see the family.

We came back to a plastered house ready for us to paint. Rowan has skills on the sprayer. The services got connected and the flooring got started.

July was pretty much all work and no play. On the go, a heck of a lot achieved. The house is so close to being finished.

August, we did it. We completed a house! Code compliance signed off and on the market for sale. What a great achievement.

Now a much needed couple of weeks away! Heading to the Wild West.

September, oh our couple of week holiday turns into a couple of months. We forgot we got to go there Whanganui for a glass course and then be in Fiji. I know it is crazy to forget something like that, it’s not that we fully forgot we just lost track of the days and weeks. Luckily we had our passports in Camele and not back in Herbert.

What an amazing experience, if you’re up for something different I can highly recommend glass blowing.

Fiji Baby!

Well Fiji for the weekend. Which we can totally laugh about now but at the time not so much. My Nana decided to get sick which was very rude of her, kick kidding. It did cut the trip short but Fiji will still be there when we are ready to visit again.

October, time to head back south. Lots of visits with family and friends. A bit of sharp shock to come home to the cold including snow! My poor garden and plants are in dire straits, I got to start again with a lot of it. I guess that is what happens when you piss off for two months haha.

November, takes us to Sydney for a couple of weeks. It is great to see the family and just have a change of scenery.

December, the last month. First of all our Christmas/NY plan left when we sold the yacht. We had a plan to head to the sounds. Jim got Rowan to drive the tractor to Herbert. Rowan then used it to mow our field and then Jim’s. Jimmy and I followed on our bikes. Rowan swapped one of his bikes for this near new Royal Enfield Himalaya, which is actually for me to try out. I have only been out of twice but have enjoyed it. Just an adjustment, it is quite different to my little TU. We had an easy breezy Christmas at Silvija and Jim’s. Ate way too much!

After many ideas on what’s our next step we have made the decision to head for the ocean. We will be getting some sails and heading towards the horizon.

Rowan and I would like to wish everyone a great year ahead and we hope the best for you and your whanau! Bring on 2026!

Since I last blogged (yes, I know it has been a month!) we have been getting organised and doing quite a bit of dreaming.

I know we have been saying we will work out what we are doing next when we reach that point, well that point is not here but we made a decision anyway. We are going to do the liveaboard cruising, oceanic nomadic, salty skin drifting with the winds and currents (whichever is stronger) adventure next. That’s right we are buying a yacht and setting sail. There are some ducks to line before the fruit is ripe however that is just life.

I am dreaming about where we will go, the experiences we will have. I can’t wait for this next adventure and I hope you guys will stick around to experience it with us. I want to have the simplicity of waiting for the winds and the right weather. Learn the complexity of sailing. Have my to do list filled with catching the next meal and keeping up with boat maintenance. I want to get into photography more and take some incredible underwater pics. I miss the simplicity of hiking Aotearoa and the freedom that it had. I am lucky that Rowan has an incredible amount of sailing experience and qualifications, I just get to be the rookie and learn the ropes. It may be time to join scouts to learn my knots, haha.

Starting to change our logo, whatcha think?

Clearing out the muck. Well not muck, but loads of stuff. I have made connections with a couple of shops in town who are happy to grab a few things off our hands. Also been utilising the market place to get rid of a few things. The bigger the item it is the more keen I am to get it gone. One place in particular is wanting loads and loves our collection. They want about 20 banana box lots of goodies. There are a couple of places I can get the boxes for it and I am hoping we can organise that soon. It will be great to have a good clear out. It is a shame to have such cool stuff sitting in the container not being used.

The lady who purchased the house we renovated last year took us to the dispute tribunal for misrepresentation. Which obviously we argued we didn’t do. Anyway cut a long story short, just like we expected and heard through friends the tribunal cuts it down the middle. So we have $19k to pay. The most annoying thing about it all was how long it took.

On the to do list is a few tidy up jobs down in Palmerston. Birds have been getting into Brough St via the vent holes, so once they have left the nest I will do a good tidy up in there. Also all those cluster flies that went there for the winter are all over the place so will sort that out too. I have the last coat of paint to do on the exterior. The container needs to be reorganised. Joanne has asked for us to bring her stuff on our next flight to Sydney. So we will start to bring extra luggage for her. There is definitely a bunch of furniture we don’t really want anymore. So if you’re in need of a shop counter or haberdashery let me know.

We are in Sydney for a couple of weeks visiting Joanne and Bette. Bette is doing pretty well, she is really just living in her bedroom. A nurse comes three days a week to shower her and take her vitals. I did manage to kick her out of her room for a full day to do a deep clean. We ended up talking for hours and Rowan watched TV with her.

On a hot tip from our friend Paul we went to Fairfield Pickers Market. A huge place where we found a bargain or two. I picked up some Pokémon cards sealed in a pack for $10 my plan with them was to give them to my niece and nephew who collect. Later on I discovered their worth and sorry kids but $450 Pokémon cards will need to go on trademe. I will find something else. there were lots of interesting things and it was a lively experience.

Rowan’s childhood friend Tynan has opened his bar, three years in the making. It is doing extremely well and it was plenty of awards already. So if you’re into Whiskey, (he has a large range including vintage collectables) or just love a bloody good cocktail go to Silvers Motel in Enmore. It is a bit of a hidden gem with no signage out the front. We tried four cocktails, once had cacao nibs, another had burnt mandarin, two were sours that had unusual items like marigold flowers and poached quince.

We did quite a few different things this time in Sydney. Joanne and I went to the Opera House and saw Sleeping Beauty Ballet. Joanne has season tickets and I was great fun to come along and see a show. For the many times I have been in Sydney I have never seen a show at the Opera House. The stage, costumes and props were fantastic. Of course the dancing was too. It was great, I really enjoyed it.

All three of us went to see Tim Minchin who started the show with a hilarious song to get us all to turn our phones off. Rowan and I had just been discussing how many people we could see on their phones and how much we rely on them.

Random side note, very interesting article here that Joanne sent me. Scary predictions like students are destined to spend an average 25 years of their waking life their phone eek!

https://jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-of-the-post-literate-society-aa1

Any way back to Tim, he was entertaining, funny and showed off his great skills with a piano. It was a great evening.

The three of us spent a fun morning at the Museum. I didn’t take many photos sorry but loved seeing in the Australian Geographic Photographic Awards with our friend Marley Butler winner of the Astrophotographer category up on the wall. We met Marley and Catherine in Tapawera when we first transitioned from foot to bike. They had just done the same! He took an amazing photo with the Aurora and Western Arthurs in Tasmania.

Rowan and I went down the road in Aussie terms but a bloody long way in NZ terms. We set off on a roadie to Coffs Harbour 6ish hours north. We did it in a day with an early start. I baked a cake and we headed to Dean (Rowans school friend) he just had is 40th Birthday and we couldn’t make it to the party however we made it the next day. It was a surpise and it was great to see him and his family. We also did a quick drop in on his Aunty and Uncle while there too. Unfortunately we couldn’t meet up with Heather and Katie on our way back in Dungog. Next time! Quite a long day, we started at 4am, left Coffs at 3pm and got back at 9pm.

Rowan’s cousin Justin has joined the Navy and is posted out in Mosman while he trains to be a diver. We got a chance to hang out a couple of times and we had a good snorkel out at La Perouse. We saw a lot of different fish and Rowan mistook a catfish for a sand shark. It promptly put a spine in him while he tried to get it out of its hiding spot. Silly sausage!

We went out for lunch at Maroubra right on the beach and our waiter Steven is an Ōamaruvian. He went to Waitaki Boys and said he has been here for 15 years and has only met one other since being here haha. He says Hi to our neighbour who we call Mr Organ, his name is Ron and he tunes and repairs organs. What a small world!

Our flight home is a late one with an arrival of 1.30am. It is making me tired thinking about it. I hope our motorbike helmets haven’t been stolen.

Kia ora whanau, sorry I have been MIA for over a month. I am uninspired to write to you about the mundanity of life. No one cares about us mowing lawns haha.

Let’s fill in the gaps a little… First of all my Nan is doing really well, they are even letting her drive again. The Mrs Independent woman that she is. We are all glad to see her bounce back like nothing happened. Rowan and I had fun traveling home, visiting serval people along the way. We did get to do fishing with my cousin and her boys. Had a week with my mum in Papamoa. A night with my little sister and her family. Another stop in Picton to see the Oliver’s. A longer stop in Nelson to see Kelvin and Co. Before ending up in Christchurch catching up with friends.

Firstly we stayed with the wonderful Rick & Liz, we had a charity quiz event. It was rather good, maybe I am bias as we came second! I got a petrol voucher out of the raffle and Liz ended up with some prizes too. On our walk with Nellie we went to a part of Bottle Lake Forest I haven’t been before. It is an old dump that has been turned into park. Well the views up there are spectacular. You can see the city, Port Hills and all along the ocean.

While in Christchurch we caught up with cousin Leeana and her husband Mayank. We haven’t seen them since new years at the marae in Tikitiki. I think we need to repeat this at some point, Rowan still talks about it. We also got to catch up with Paul & Jo, we stayed with them two nights. Rowan and Jo had some fun debating politics. For me it was like watching a tennis match. Paul showed us how his fantastic hidden gem of a shop is. Shout out to Flipside in Christchurch, if you want a record, or you just want to look at cool stuff check it out! A little background, we met Jo & Paul back in 2017 at a garage sale we put on. I had it up on Facebook and I got a random message from this guy Paul telling me he is coming to take a look and what kind of coffee I like. So I cheekily gave our coffee order and didn’t give it another thought. A few days later Jo & Paul turn up with coffee and donuts to our garage sale. We became friends and the rest is history. It was great to have a good catch up with them.

We found a gap in the crazy windy weather and made it down to Herbert in Camele. Camele was not terrible in the wind but I was very glad to not be in it as the day before and the day after were really bad. We did get snow here which was pretty amazing even though it was slushy more than fluffy. The last week has been pretty busy with getting ducks in rows. The garden needs attention, but I promised not to talk about mowing. The house has yet to sell, from everything we are hearing it has just gotten really quiet out there.

We did take a few nights away and came back on Saturday, we just went to Dunedin then inland through Waipori Falls and central and back. Didn’t take any photos sorry!

My generous mother has shouted all of us four girls and their families for a week in Fiji. That’s 8 adults and 5 kids. We are all really excited and it is great to have a week away together.

An early start for an early flight. We arrive in Nadi, Fiji at 11am. It takes a while to get bags, car all sorted and we go off to get some lunch. it wasn’t great but I think we are grateful that we are fed especially all the kids.

We go off and do a food shop before heading to our Airbnb. It is a whole house with a pool, close to a mangrove estuary in Nadi. The house easily fits us all in. There is even two kitchens, which we only utilise one of but it is handy having an extra fridge and lots of plates and cups.

The kids are straight into the pool. I join in too and it is rather busy keeping an eye on them all. I am pleased with the temperature it isn’t too hot. Sitting at 29 degrees and dropping to 20 at night.

The next morning we get an addition to our group. Keelans (Sarah’s husband) father arrives from America. It is a good surprise for the two kids. He is with us for the week.

A few of us head off to the local markets to get some fresh goodies. Rowan wants to cook a meal with all the stuff you can’t get back in NZ. The markets are huge and we spend hours getting lots of goodies. We end up splitting up so there is a lot of double ups but I am sure we will make our way through it. We got some more exotic fruits like soursop and star fruit. The pineapples are unreal, extremely sweet and tasty. It puts our fruit back home to shame. Rowan grabs enough food for us all for the next two days as a lot of things are closed on a Sunday.

We actually ended up going to the market twice today. I tried to capture the fruit bats, but they were flying too fast for me. There are heaps of cane toads about. The kids are loving seeing all the frogs and bats. We are keeping on top of the bug spray as there has been an increase of dengue and malaria in NZ from people coming back from the islands.

I noticed smoke earlier and assumed someone was having a fire and thought nothing of it. About half an hour later the Airbnb hosts came by to replace a gas cylinder and I went upstairs and I could see the flames from the balcony. I got everyone to come up and take a look. Rowan switched into gear and got us all to grab our passports just in case we need to evacuate. The fire is a bit close to comfort. Rowan and I end up going for a walk to see what is happening. The fire truck is here but they do not appear to be concerned at all. They are just keeping an eye on it and will only put it out if they need to. It is sugar cane fields that are on fire. It is normal practice to set them alight before harvesting. But unlike Australia where there are fire breaks there is no such thing here. We were all relieved when we saw the fire going in a different direction.

Lazy Sunday. No real plans today, we just hang around the accomodation. Kids are living in the pool. Rowan, Keelan, Fletcher, Lucian and I go out to try fishing. We end up under a bridge near a gated community a short walk away. We are there an hour when security shows up and tells us we are not allowed to fish here. In that time Keelan catches a large Barramundi. They tell us where we can go fishing, so we head that way. It wasn’t an issue at all, they were apologetic and so were we. We ended up fishing with a couple of local kids who we taught how to use a fishing rod. I think they thought we were a bit silly as Lucian got his lure stuck on a boat and they went swimming to unhook it for him.

Our evening changes from easy going happy times to worry. Nana is in the north shore hospital having tests done and mum gets a phone call to say she needs an operation now. There wasn’t really a choice, one was palliative care for a few days or the surgery. Yes the surgery does come with risks especially being 94. It is a huge shock and it was rather nice that us girls were all together when hearing about it. Trying to get our heads around it was impossible when just a few days ago she looked great. The surgeon waited while Nana made a quick decision to go ahead. They operated on her bowl as there was an intrusion that needed to be removed and there was uncertainty that could only be known once they had opened her up. Luckily it was a quick 30min operation that went very well and was better than what was feared. Mum decided she wanted to go home and be there, Rowan and I decided to go back too. I wanted to be there to support mum as well as Nana. My aunties have husbands while my mum doesn’t have that support.

We left the rest of the family to carry on with their holiday while we jumped on a plane Monday morning. We arrived in the hospital midday to see her bright eyed, no bushy tail yet. I couldn’t help but worry this is exactly what happened to grandpa, he came out good, got pneumonia and passed away. Wanting the nurses and doctors to keep a good eye on her and they did. They really kept a look out for infections and a close look on her lungs as she still had build up from pneumonia and already been on two lots of antibiotics for it.

Like taking a pet to the vet, Nana bounced back in true fashion and was out of the hospital after just four days. What a rock star! There is a bit more recovery to go and my mum and her sisters are putting things in place to make sure she is looked after.

Mums cousin Clinton took us out on his beautiful yacht for a few hours on Friday. We all had a great time and I think Clinton loved having an excuse not to go to work.

On Saturday morning we had a catch up with the rest of the Fiji crew to hear about the rest of the trip. I avoided looking at all the photos the last few days as it was hard not to be there. But I am really happy they had a great trip and I don’t regret coming back with mum.

Nana has been at my aunty’s house in Okura for a few nights while all the extended out of town family is in her home. With 7 kids, including three babies and 6 adults it wasn’t a full house but it is a lot when you’re in recovery.

We have been taking a few kids on our early morning walks.

I had a chance to see my bestie Sarah and her two kids at her place. It was great to see her, the kind of friend where it could be days or years since you caught up and it doesn’t matter.

Rowan and I also had a chance to catch up with his cousin Lynne who is out in Stillwater. We ended up having a great dinner and staying the night.

Sunday, Nana is on her way home and we head out of Auckland to spend some more time with family in Cambridge. The boys want Rowan to take them fishing!

This entry covers a longer period as a lot of it is rather boring. Here goes.

We stayed out at the Pelorus River for a night. The river was stunning as always.

We had two nights in Picton before getting on the ferry. We hung out with Kate, James, James mum, Connor and their new bubba Bowen. Great to catch up and meet their new family member.

We got onto a night ferry that arrived in Wellington at 1am. Then we found a place to park up by the water. We didn’t get up until 2pm the next day. Hit by a freight train. Rowan and I are incredibly sick, so sick we cannot move or do much. We end up ordering uber eats for food and a load of stuff from the pharmacy. Not a cheap way to get medicine but necessary. We spend the next three and a half days sleeping not awake for long at all. I am not sure if it is Covid but it is nasty. On Tuesday we are well on the mend. We make it up to the top of the Akatawara hill and stay the night up there. The following day we made it to Mt Lees where we stayed when we were doing the Te Araroa. The daffodils were amazing. Then the day after we made it to Whanganui where we stayed with Shane and Lisa.

We ended staying with Shane and Lisa until Monday morning. Rowan and I booked months ago a glass blowing course that we thought we would most likely be able to make it as it is a week before the Fiji trip.

The experience was great, by the end of the day we were both well worn out! With one tutor (Tash) and two other ladies we started with a clear glass paperweight. I volunteered to go first and had a lot of fun playing with the tools and stabbing my glass to create bubbles. Rowan was last in the group and planned out a pattern he wanted to create rather than random bubbles like the rest of us.

Our second item we made was a paperweight with clear glass but adding coloured glass to form a pattern. I attempted a daisy and Rowan attempted to make a planet. Mine didn’t come out how I thought it may but I still really liked it. Rowan’s planet was to have a ring. It came out a bit lopsided. He did dunk his into water to crack it and added glass powder to fill the cracks.

The second and final items were a glass blown vessel of your choice. We went last and the other two ladies left after the finished. I went first trying to create a large glass that could be a tumbler or a vase. I added glass specks to create a colourful polka dot effect and then added a clear glass coat on top before enlarging it to the size I wanted. Then I pressed my fingers in to create two dimples. It looked amazing and I was so happy. We got it off the punt and it smashed. I think the glass just got too cold. We tried to save it, but it just got worse. I got two broken pieces into the annealer. I was a bit gutted but to be honest it is part of it and it’s quite cool just to have the experience. Rowan’s final piece turned out well. He did a green and glass interior to his tumbler and then a white glass cracked effect. Rhys (another tutor and artist) said that is only the third time he has ever been able to create that effect and for it to come out whole. Which is amazing. The course was supposed to finish at 4pm we didn’t get done until 5.30pm.

Sunday morning we came back into the glass shop to pick up our pieces. They got slowly cooled over night in the annealer.

Monday we head north to Cambridge and op shop along the way. We stay two nights and have a quick catch up with my cousins.

Off to Whangaparāoa for a couple of nights to see my Nan. We fly out for Fiji tomorrow.

Off we go! We don’t leave until way after midday and get as far as Macraes. When we reach the main mine we smell an awful brake kind of smell. At first we thought it was coming from the mine but soon discovered it is us! We call AA and Ray from Palmerston Garage recognises us straight away and says “you’ve gone from blowing up Hilux’s to Mitsubishis.”

Turns out the brake drum wasn’t put in correctly with the spring at our mechanics in chch. It took until we went through some good bumps for the spring to come off causing the brake to come on. By the time we were all fixed up it was getting dark. So we headed down the road to find a spot to camp and turned around back to Macraes village to have dinner at the pub. We were the only patrons who were not from the mine.

Heading inland towards the Lake District. I try to find us an alternative route that bypasses Ranfurly and takes us a new way. We get nearly all the way to discover we can’t get through. So an hour back in the direction we came to go through Ranfurly. We get through to Wānaka obviously op shopping along the way. In Wānaka we refuel and get a few groceries before heading to further west. We get past the Neck at Lake Hāwera – Lake Wānaka when the brake problem happens again. We try to fix it ourselves but end up calling AA again. A nice guy comes out to help and Rowan says it is definitely put on correctly and we shouldn’t have any more issues. However we do need to get new brake shoes again. In the end we make it to near the Haast Pass and park up for the evening.

A wicked storm last night brings on a great day. Lots of exploring along the way meant we didn’t get that far but that is all part of the fun. Patches of rain came and went. We got about 30min south of Fox Glacier and stopped by a river for the night.

No photos of Fox or Franz, weather was pretty pants so you couldn’t see much. The rain was relentless and it didn’t stop all day. Near Harihari you cross the Wanganui River and turn left. Head up as far as you dare in your car, get out and walk a good 20min or so, get into the river and you will find steam. Which is some awesome natural hot pools. Well worth the slog to get there. A great temperature! I have wanted to do this for ages and here we are ticking it off the list. Definitely will be doing this again!

The usual spot I know I can stay just out of Hokitika is not allowed anymore. I find a walk inland and we hope to find a spot we can stay. It is Tunnel Terrace Walk. It is too dark to do it tonight but we will tomorrow morning.

The old mine walk was really nice. We both got soaked through. After a morning at Serpentine Beach we headed to Blackball for lunch. Unfortunately we could not continue on to Reefton as the road is closed. Instead we ended up going all the way to Mohikinui for an early dinner and came up to Denniston Plateau to sleep. It has been on the list for a while and it is a fantastic spot. Very glad we came up.

Not going far today, just to Nelson. It was a wild night up on the plateau, I think we got the full experience. Taking our time we landed in Nelson in the afternoon.

We got the last bits of exterior complete. It was done over three days.

On Thursday we had two helpers from Skevingtons. I did a lot of raking and got numb arms on the compactor. Rowan got to do all the wheelbarrow loads. All the paths and driveway look great. We put heaps of soil in and then seeded it for grass.

Friday, one small job left. A screen and planter to help soften the utilities. It really finishes the place off. We meet Anna a property manager down at the house to do a rental appraisal.

Screen for the utilities.

The rest of the week is a blur! We get a bunch of jobs done in order to get away. Here is a photo of Rowan on the roof installing another solar panel! Monkey man!

Code compliance got stopped as there was two pieces of information missing. We quickly resolved that and now it’s back in their court.

Paint touch ups – tick

Rowan put in all the posts for the fences while I spent the time inside doing touch up paint and cleaning. It is great having the inside complete.

Fences – tick!

Rowan and I got the west and south fences in today. It took some mahi but we are very happy with the results. We couldn’t find our for sale sign, Rowan had tied it to the hot water cylinder. You get some strong winds down here at times and it went into the creek. At least it was pretty easy to get. I

may have moaned about this before but I am doing it again. That silly letterbox is a $400 letterbox. For a bit of sheet metal that is made in a factory. Insane! This sort of bullshit is why it costs so much to build. Of course we paid $30 on clearance at Placemakers. It probably cost the company $2 to make in China.

In the weekend we didn’t have any down time. We helped plant 400 trees at Jimmys place. The views are spectacular!

On Sunday we had a long but fun day on a motorbike training course. I really enjoyed the day, it was in Dunedin. A bit of a hike! We went right through the back of Dunedin all the way around to Palmerston. Some of the roads had heaps of grit on them and were quite treacherous. We took our time going through those parts. Rowan and I headed north from Palmerston rather than going all the way back to Dunedin then coming back. There were two others on the course, a very small group. It was a real benefit as I learnt so much more. Absolutely shattered when we got back.

Monday was a day off, I need some recovery and with bad weather it is a great excuse. We really have had minimal rain this winter. Very lucky indeed.

We are still having some frosty cold mornings. But it has some advantages like the weeds and grass are dormant. We also got a fantastic moon halo on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, today is our final inspection. Fingers and toes are crossed that it goes without a hitch. Dave arrives to get that toilet fixed. After closer inspection there is either a manufacturing flaw or maybe it’s a fine crack in the cistern. Either way it can’t be used. Luckily we have an extra two toilets for the other house so we just steal one of those. I will worry about warranty issues later. Our council man arrives and everything is easily ticked off the list. I just need a little paperwork and then I can apply for code compliance certification. Feels great to have the council part done.

I got a layer of stain on the deck, I put an additive in that makes it non slip.

Last coat on the deck! We won’t be staging the house AI will do that for us. Here are a few fun ones I have played with.

A digger came to site to bore our holes for the fence posts. About 60 holes in total.

Saturday we had a pj day. It was wonderful, I feel like I need another day off, but we got one at least.

On Sunday we went up to Jim’s farm for lunch and got a load of wood for next week winter. It has already had a year of drying so it will be perfect next winter.

On Monday we went down to site to do some tidying so I can update photos. I have a few hours of touch up paint to do and Rowan has a bunch of fencing. I really want the driveway completed so it looks more tidy outside. It also means I then can put a screen up to hide the utilities area.

We found our awesome green basin from Till St at the local tip shop, almost bought it back, almost haha.

Herbert has an egg processing place for quite a few farms. We got the smaller tray for $5 and the larger tray for $12. They are yesterday’s eggs and last up to 5 weeks so we have a lot of eggs to get through haha. You’re not allowed to take photos in the processing area and I can see why. There must be 7 different companies they carton up eggs for. Bowalley, Pams free range, sure as, new day etc. Bowalley is their own brand and the farm is in Herbert. I think there are 6 farms in total in the area so not a small operation. The lady who helped us told us if you need to buy eggs in the South Island always buy Pams. All of Pams eggs for the south come from them and they are generally the cheapest to buy in the supermarket. So folks buy the cheapest free range eggs you can get your hands on, because all you’re paying extra for is marketing and branding!

This didn’t come as a surprise as Rowan and I had noticed these sort of discrepancies with other products. Like the fresh pasta, you read the back and there is the exact same ingredients the same weight even the same packaging minus the pretty labels. I also know if you buy Pams Camembert and Pams Smokey cheese it is actually Whitestone cheese.

Kitchen saga continues, the response we got from Placemakers and Peter Hay was abysmal. Pull apart the broken pantry or get your builder to drill more holes. We went and checked the broken pantry which has 3 holes for adjustment and our kitchen only has two that are not matching up. So we cannot replace one side to fix the issue. We asked if they were going to pay for our builder to come to site to drill some holes because we don’t need a builder on site anymore.

Electrical is done! Glenn has to come back and do a little bit of work as one switch needs to be a 4 gang and he only had 3 gang switches in him. But he says that he will take his hot rod for a drive and come do it for free. What a gem! It is really nice having the lights and a heatpump. I played unskilled apprentice and made decisions, held things, grabbed things all that fun stuff.

Lance is here to put down the underlay all ready for Monday. The yellow underlay is definitely reflecting off the walls haha.

We have Johanna stay with us Friday night on her way up north. She is going back to Russel to work, her working part of her visa runs out in October.

On Saturday we had a real day off. Haven’t had one in a long time. Leona took a couple through our house. They appear to like it, so we shall see.

Vaughan was called from Placemakers to fix our kitchen issue and offered a few extra hours at our cost if we wanted it. Yes please! After fixing the pantry he cut the hole for the hob and holes for appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine. We finished off the morning with finishing the rear fence. We kept it open for ease going to the container and getting onto the site.

Happy Monday, Lance is here to finish the flooring. The house looks complete now it has the carpet. It really removes the building site feel.

I noticed some moisture outside on the blocks coming from the ensuite. We work out it’s that toilet again giving us grief. We remove the water and Dave will be down Wednesday to fix it.