Tuesday; I left Rowan to be in Herbert with Chris. I went into work and I got a lot achieved. Jas was really helpful with getting stuff out my way and cleaning ahead of me. I got the second bedroom fully painted, it is now ready for wallpaper. I got a coat on the ceiling in the dining room and I got the first coat of green on the window. It was a wet day. I think the gardens are relieved as we haven’t had any rain for a long time.

Wednesday; Dad, it is not Griffiths Plastering level but I gave it my best haha. The base of the hearth needs repair, I mortar the bricks into place and then fill in all the gaps. Now it is safe to use as an ember shouldn’t be able to get under the tile and set the whole house on fire. Now to wait for it to dry. I got a second coat of green on the window and a first coat on the cupboards and shelves. I was a bit worried with the green but it has grown on me. I wasn’t feeling motivated but decided to tackle the wallpaper in the second bedroom. This vintage gingham wallpaper is so much fun. I don’t have enough to do the whole room so we will have a clash coming!

Thursday; I got the last layer of blue paint in the main bedroom. It looks a bit odd with the maroon walls. It will really change when I get the wallpaper up. We went into Professionals to get some paperwork done and have lunch with Leona. It has been a while since we caught up with her. The wallpaper clash is happening. Vintage 60s florals with vintage 60s gingham. I love it so much. It is such a clash it just weirdly works.

Friday; Today Rowan and I are splitting. He is in Palmerston this morning with Tama and I am at Till St with Jas. Tama is a week early and he came down to drop off the temporary fence. Chris also came back today to do some more work on the wall. It looks so much different now. It isn’t not finished but it is getting there! We have so much more room.

We must have a neighbour out to get us. First they complained we had a fire. Now we have a letter from the council saying our trailer can’t be parked in the same spot for more than 7 days. I would have thought it was obvious that we are building a wall and that is why our boat is on the berm. I am thinking of writing a cool sign up and putting it there for them to read and can’t do anything about. I know our place is looking like mess but it is a work in progress. I am sure if they could complain about our camper being here they would. Rant over

I got stuck in and finished the ceiling in the living room. It took me a moment to get into the swing of things as I couldn’t remember the consistency I made and the technique I used. Note to self, when doing something creative for the first time don’t stop haha. While I juggled that I did coats of paint on the door in the second bedroom. I got that ceiling done and Rowan popped in for tools and for some lunch. Jas is on wood putty filler, it is a full day for her. I then got the last coat of green on the shelves in the dining room. After that I got the last coat of blue on the fireplace. I was wallpapering the door when I realised the time and I better get going. I paid Jas and told her to shut the door behind her. I have an hour massage to get to. After the massage I went home to shower before going out to Herbert. All in all a productive day.

Saturday; A bit of a lazy morning. We don’t have a day off this week so we may as well have a bit more of a relaxed morning. Today’s mission is to get that wallpaper finished in the second bedroom. I have a bit of paint to do first. There is some door frames that I still haven’t got to so I have a bit of filler and paint to do. We get the wallpaper finished as it starts getting dark. Time to go home and do it all again tomorrow.

Sunday; Wallpaper day. Rowan and I have committed to getting this room done today no matter how long it takes us. This wave wallpaper is great. An awesome wallpaper that is very calming and neutral in a way. I love it so much! It is perfect exactly what I envisioned. That room was so dark with its deep purple colour that I didn’t realise how much natural light it has until we made it light and bright. We made a few mistakes but nothing we couldn’t fix and we were all done just before 5pm. It definitely had some fiddly bits but we worked as a team to get it done. Rowan enjoys wallpaper as it is like a puzzle.

Monday; Salmon Monday. First thing you walk into now is a pink tropical surprise in Ōamaru. We had Jas and Cory working today too. Jas was prepping the dining room for wallpaper tomorrow. Cory mowed the lawns and tidied the edges. Man it looks better. He spent the rest of the day painting the fence. Rowan and I got all the wallpaper done in the living room. It had a lot of fiddly bits and it took some planning to make sure it all works. It annoys me the bit we haven’t done but that is because a shelf is going up there. It makes the room look incomplete. I will be much happier when it is up.

Tuesday; I felt slow today. I got the no more gaps done on the ceiling of the living room and anywhere else I needed it. I then got the sander out and did all of that. There was a little bit to do by hand. By the time I did all that is was lunchtime. After lunch I started on the ceiling, I am doing a texture which is taking a lot longer than just painting but it looks pretty good. I got a third of the way through by 3pm. We had our showers and went back to Herbert. The deal was an early start an early finish. We popped next door to say hello to the neighbours and ended up building a bed for Sylvia. Jimmy came home not long after we had finished it. We ended up having dinner with them. I am envious of their lovely fire! Finally light enough to take a photo of the blocks for you.

Wednesday; A full on day, with three people all arriving at the same time. We had Dave, Cory and Jas all at once. Jas is friends with Laura and they are on a cleaning mission for me. I want all the house with clean enough surfaces so I can paint. They got through a lot of my list but of course there is more to do! My plan was to be painting while they did that but it was too hard. I had organising to do and it was more important. Sorting out the tools, taking loads back to Herbert and only keeping here what we now need. I need to access the dining room so I can paint it. Cory tackled the studio with some plywood. It looks much better than it did. He also did a few other jobs but Rowan was on that so I don’t know exactly. By the end of the day I was spent. We ended up with takeaways for dinner and getting back to Camele around 7pm. Let’s do it all again tomorrow! Oh and what a beautiful job Rowan did with replacing the glass in the bedroom door. We couldn’t get an exact match but this glass works perfectly for our quirky home.

Thursday; Rowan is staying at Herbert waiting for Cory to arrive while I go to Till. I have quite a few jobs to do, but when do I not have quite a few jobs to do haha. I have to sand the GIB stopping in the dining room and unfortunately Rowan has all the batteries so my tools are useless. I use a plug in sander and turn the house to dust. Don’t worry I wear a mask. After the house is covered in a fine white dust I move on to my last coat of plaster. Just as I finish the door gets a knock. Oh yay it is Kathleen and her dog Barry. I texted her last night and told her to knock if she is walking past. Now that I am inside I hardly see any of my neighbours. I have been keeping an eye out but haven’t had much luck! It was lovely seeing her and she hasn’t been inside the house so I showed her around. It also has the benefit of not standing out in the cold. A package arrived while we were chatting. Yay I got my custom house number for the fence!

I ended up on the phone to my dad while I wipped up some mortar and to use on the fireplace and realised I made too much. That’s okay I have some holes that need filling outside. I get a bit artistic with some bits lying around. Wabi sabi at a shabby chic level. Wabi sabi is the Japanese art of fixing things that are broken and leaving them looking repaired which in itself makes the object more beautiful. I started filling in gaps in the main bedroom and Cory arrived. I got him onto the jobs we wanted done here. While I continued on in the bedroom. I didn’t get very far and then I had him pulling out any random screws and nails for me. Rowan arrived not long after and then took off to go to Placemakers. Andy from Bunnings wanted to catch up so we he had a bit of a meeting with him. Before we know it Cory is going home and we need to go too. Rowan is making curry for dinner and needs time to get it done.

Friday; Today we have a visitor actually two. Paul from Christchurch is here with his brother Harry from Sydney. Harry came over for the week to celebrate Paul’s birthday. Happy big birthday Paul! They come check out the house and we go out for a lovely breakfast. Jas is here today finishing off some jobs in the house. She gets the last of the cleaning done and then gets on to filling some gaps in the smaller bedroom. I

can’t believe how much different the house looks after today. Rowan and I attack the picket fence. It takes three tries before we actually get the hang of it. The first time we ended up on a slant as I wasn’t holding the spacer in tight enough at the bottom. We got there in the end and it looks great. Yes we are going to paint it white. It is the proverbial white picket fence. It also feels much more private in the backyard and in the two front rooms. I am ecstatic.

Saturday; Gap filling. This is my day, the whole day. Filling in gaps. I think I went through 5 tubes. I will have to count out how many I gave gone through for the whole project. It will be a lot! It does make a huge difference and people who skip this step are silly, it really finishes it off. I want all the no more gaps or at least the majority of it done. I manage to tick off all four rooms.

Sunday; It has been a year since my grandpa passed away. It really doesn’t feel that long ago. Talk about a crazy year. My Nana is doing very well and the family have a small get together. The Māori side of the family would traditionally do an unveiling which it is not. I know they are finding it hard not having the ashes in the ground. Nana plans to have them put in the ground in the summer. They have a little get together at grandpas shed and celebrate his life. Rowan and I got a Behemoth beer a few weeks ago ready to give a cheers.

Today is a day off, sort of. We take 50 posts down to Palmerston this morning and unload them at the blocks. There is 70 metres of fencing we need to get sorted before we start. It was pretty early still as we headed back to Herbert and we made the decision to keep working. I got all of the undercoat done at the house. It took two coats of paint on the ceiling of the dining room. Now everywhere is ready for the first coat of paint. Our intention was a day of pottering at Herbert but alas one day closer to getting it done.

Monday; Yay it is time to get those blocks in place. Chris is here with his daughter Aurora. There is a fair bit to do and the digger makes light work of it. I run off at 9.30am to go to Till. Rowan comes with me to do a couple of errands and rides back on his motorbike. It is a nice enough day for outdoor painting so I get Jas on the picket fence doing an undercoat. I tackle the ceiling in the main bedroom and I get the fireplace first coat on. Talk about seeing blue for me! I am really happy with the colours. When I got back to Herbert around 4pm I got to see the progress they made. It looks way better with the stones in place. It is not cheap to do this but it really makes a difference.

It is Rowan’s grandmas birthday today. Happy Birthday Bette!

Tuesday; Today we have a heat pump coming! Very exciting, it is going to make the interior work very easy. I have washing to catch up on and I have a lot organising to do. Rowan is feeling crap so I leave him to chill in the small room with the heater on. I start making a plan of attack for everything that is left to do. The heat pump installers arrive after lunch. The machine is massive! Thankfully it will just fit where the guy thought it was best. I love the location over the door, you don’t see it as you walk into the house. It isn’t such an eyesore and it heats all the way to the back of the house. Once it was running on full it only took 10min to heat the whole house. Absolute magic! No need for a bathroom heater. Once they had finished up we tried out the shower and went back to Herbert.

Wednesday; Our day got turned upside down, we planned to do some work in Herbert and Cory was coming out. That has now changed to tomorrow. We had a catch up with Leona and did some paperwork. I have set up our meeting for tomorrow and we have a massage in the afternoon. Leona got us sushi for lunch, yum. It has been ages since we have had dinner or lunch with her. The day goes pretty fast and I can’t really remember everything we did. But I do remember getting to try out the bath! It was really good to have a bath, I can’t actually remember the last time I had a bath. I have had a few hot tubs but not a bath in a very long time. It did use all of the hot water haha. So poor Rowan had a second hand bath, lucky for him I didn’t pee in it! lol

Thursday; Wahoo, our second consent has come through. I paid the council, it will take a few days before stamped plans come through. I guess I better show you what we are up to.

This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom 73sqm compact home. We are building two of them on two different titles. This has been keeping us rather busy. We are finally ready to break ground. Tama is our builder and he is ready when we are, the timing has worked out perfectly. I can’t believe it has taken 7 months to get here, I thought it would take 3 months at the most haha. What is the rule? Twice as long twice as much? I hope it isn’t twice as much haha. We were going to build one at a time, but our resource consent means we have to go both at once for the earthworks. This whole thing is all new to us, we have learnt a lot already and I am sure we will learn a lot more. I feel like I need a lesson on how a house is built. Tama has been great and I am sure he will keep holding our hands.

Cory has come to Herbert to help out moving some stuff around. Chris our bobcat man is coming to build the retaining wall end of the week. Cory didn’t tell me to after, but he had his birthday this week. Another year older another year wiser. Cory was unloading iron while I organised the plumbing parts and I started making a pile to go to the tip shop and a pile of stuff to go south for building. Like the letterboxes which I now have 7 of them! Rowan helped out quite a bit for someone who is still under the weather. Once we got the stuff shifted that we wanted we convoyed to Till St. There Cory loaded up (hopefully) our last lot of waste to the dump. It is a really nice day, it is beautiful and sunny but man we have been getting some heavy frosts. The camper has had ice inside! Once we were all loaded up we went out to do some returns of items we haven’t used for the plumbing. We have a meeting with Eugene at Mitre10 to go through costs to get a better understanding. Mitre10 have been fantastic with holding our hands. We get the load dumped and grab some pizza for a late lunch/breakfast. It is 2.45pm and Cory is about to head off, so we quickly feed him some pizza before he goes. I give Rowan a beard trim and we have a shower and go back to Herbert. Oh our afternoon massages were cancelled as the lady is sick. Probably for the best as Rowan is still congested. We need a bit of wood to take back to Till from our pile in Herbert. Rowan goes to load up and I get the camper sorted as I had the mattress up to give it some air. Rowan got stuck over the other side of the land. I had just come over to help and use some planks of wood to try get it out when Chris came along with his bobcat and got a chain to yank us out. Thanks neighbour! He told us our Ōamaru blocks are coming on Monday and they will dump them anywhere. So we best be here to make sure the camper doesn’t get blocked in!

Friday; A very productive day. We ran out of gas last night after dinner. This morning we used the last of our camping gas to make a coffee. It was so low we had to use the camping trick of using our hand warmth to boil the water. I have Fred here today and I plan to use every last minute of his time. He has a list a mile long and he manages to tick them all off! I have a lot of trim work to be done which is most important so I can paint and wallpaper. There is the dining room, the exit hallway, kitchen and a little left in the living room. Fred also gets the floor base down in the kitchen. I undo the packs of vinyl and lay them out to come up to temperature. The house has to stay warm for 48 hours after I stick them down. If you don’t they can expand or contract and you get gaps or they push out. We learnt that one the hard way renovating 7 years ago. Cory was also here today and he achieved a lot too. He emptied the garage from the wood and stacked up the furniture from the main bedroom into the garage. Only the carpet remains in the bedroom, which I can easily work around. He then got stuck into pulling out all the nails in the studio ceiling ready for plywood. We grabbed some finished ply on clearance for $40 a sheet because it has some scratches. Rowan and I played helper. I scraped the floor ready for Fred. The kitchen floor is disgusting thick full of food, dirt and dog hair.

Saturday; It is rather nice coming in to a toasty home. We haven’t been living in the house and it is rather cold yet we haven’t had any mice wanting to nest here. My bait has been left untouched. Mission today get this vinyl down. Rowan is feeling like pants still. I get his help as I need it. I get rather frustrated throughout the process but I get it all done! Now to keep the house warm for 2 days so it adheres properly. I will paint the trim and get the silicone on so we can put the oven in place. Oh and doesn’t the kitchen look better without those side panels!

At lunchtime we go a couple blocks over to an open home which is extremely comparable to our place. Unfortunately we can’t afford to build and keep this place like we intended. I have made so many funky decisions that I wouldn’t have done if I knew we were going to sell it. I hope the people love the quirky. We are in the steampunk capital after all!

Sunday; Day off! I need a day of chill before jumping into a full on week. I have a lot I want to achieve and only so much time. I will be really pushing myself. But today, I don’t want to achieve much at all. Have a relaxing day and then dig deep tomorrow. Rowan’s friend Sarah is in town so we end up in Ōamaru late morning. While we are here I may as well get the undercoat on… Mmm that is dry. I may as well get the top coat on….

Okay my day off has turned into a day on. Bugger. At least I can get the silicone on in the morning and the appliances out of the living room!

Monday; Today I got a lot done, it was later than I really wanted to work but at least I got 95% through my list. We started in Leona’s office as I had some stuff to print for Tama. Also it was good to have a catch up with her. We had a meeting with Tama so we can get our ducks in a row to start the foundations. Rowan and I have to build the perimeter fence before we start. We have set a start date for the end of the month. Later on the day we got our stamped plans for the second house. Shit just got real! Haha

I got the wood putty done on the wooden part of the living room. Patched all the small bits for wallpaper. I also got an undercoat on the ceiling in the living room. I also did some of the silicone in the kitchen so we got the appliances out of the living room and into the kitchen where they belong. Rowan worked on the picket fence rails. Working late has sucked when I am an early riser. Tomorrow I am to start early and finish early.

A much needed break away! It was great to see Kelvin & Paula. We ended up hanging in Nelson until Wednesday. Each day we op shopped a little with no pressure. Normally we race through but we got to take our time. Paula had the smart idea that we should turn around the boat so if someone parked up next to it we can still pick it up. After saying out goodbyes we headed off in the afternoon and Rowan got to fossick in the Pelorus River. We left the boat at the bottom of the road and just went up in the camper. The road was worse than usual as there has been logging trucks using it. Rowan has a swim in the river before we left, he was nearly wet from head to toe anyway. Back down river to pick up the boat and we stayed stayed in a layby.

On Thursday we headed to Blenheim to pick up the WOF sticker for the trailer and grab some stuff from the supermarket before heading to Picton to see Kate & James. On Matariki we took the boat out for a spin. Amazingly it was easy to launch with Camele. There were some guys on the dock taking a video, I think they were rather disappointed when our home didn’t end up in the ocean. Before we got it in the boat Conner was playing on the edge of the water, then he just ran for it and ended up right in the water. Luckily I was on my way to him from paying the dock fees. I hesitated a little because I wasn’t expecting it. I fished him out, he got more of a fright and of course some cold tasty sea water. It was really funny to watch. Once dry he calmed down and on the boat he swiftly fell asleep with all the rocking. We got the sails up but I was too busy steering to take a photo. We had heaps of Dolphins around which made fishing near impossible. It was still a great time and everything runs pretty smooth with the boat.

On Saturday Kate and I left the boys. Rowan was in charge of Conner for the afternoon while we got our nails done and did some shopping. James had soccer at midday, so Rowan put Conner to bed. Sunday we headed back to Ōamaru but didn’t make it all the way. It is a long drive and we had plenty of stops along the way. Rowan picked up a Nintendo Switch, which is perfect for someone with no TV. We don’t plan on getting a TV as I prefer to read a book. We ended up staying at the Lagoon about an hour north of Ōamaru. In the morning Rowan woke up sick. I think it is from Conner who just started getting a runny nose. Today we have nothing major planned. Get back, unload and relax. Once mostly unpacked I put Rowan to bed and I ended up doing some emails, paperwork and organising a few things. The rest of the day I read my book!

Feeling a lot more refreshed. It is never a good time to go away so we just had to make some time. We ended up hanging in Nelson for a few days. Each day we did some op shopping but there was no rush which made it really enjoyable. It was great to catch up with Paula & Kelvin. Lucy didn’t want us to go, but I can’t remember a time when she hasn’t haha. I am sure one day she won’t think we are cool anymore.

On Wednesday lunchtime we headed off and ended up the Pelorus River. We ditched the boat to make it easier, I am glad we did as the road has had some forestry trucks on it and is worse for wear. Rowan enjoyed fossicking. I ended up back in the camper with my book and a cuppa. When it got dark we picked the boat back up and found a spot to sleep. Even harder with a boat, we stayed on the side of the road. Thursday morning we headed into Blenheim to get the WOF for the trailer. The guy fixed the bearing and it just needed signing off. We then headed into Picton to see Kate & James, where we stayed until Sunday. On Matariki we took the boat out for a run. James was great help, Rowan said he would happily sail with him anytime. I think everyone thought we were nuts with a camper. This one guy filmed the whole thing, I told him if it fails you can’t put it on YouTube haha. Camele barely got wet feet, it was easier than we feared. Our plan was to ask someone to help us if the camper couldn’t launch it. But it was rather simple. The boys were sorting out the boat on the dock and getting set up. Wee Conner was playing at the waters edge. I was on my way back from paying to launch the boat when Conner decided to run into the water. I think the angle of the ramp made him go further than he expected and he just face planted into the cold water. I felt like it took me a moment to react as I wasn’t expecting it but I was much closer than Kate who was on the dock watching. I scooped him up. He was fine he just got a rather big shock and a bit of sea water. Once we got some fresh clothes on he was fine. He ended up falling asleep for most of the trip. I ended up doing most of the steering. The boys got the pretty white things up for a bit. We attempted to fish but there were so many dolphins. I blame them for scaring the fish. It was a really nice day, everything works as it should and Rowan wants to edit a few things but nothing too drastic.

On Saturday Kate and I went to Blenheim to do the shopping and get our nails done. I haven’t had a pedicure in a long time. Rowan had Conner when James went off to play soccer. It was only an hour before nap time but Rowan had to put him down. It all went smoothly as he was fast asleep when we got back. Sunday morning we decided we would see how we go. We were not sure if we would make it all the way. When we reached Christchurch we decided to keep going. Rowan has a Nintendo Switch he wants to buy from a guy in Timaru so we go check that out and then get dinner. Rowan ends up buying the switch, it is a way for him to be able to play games without a tv. We are not far from home but we decide to stay at the Lagoon near Makikhi. Which just gives us a lot more relaxed. Rowan was over driving and we have a lot of stuff in here and I would rather unload in the morning rather than tonight. Monday morning we make our way into Ōamaru. Rowan has woken up feeling sick, Conner had a runny nose so I am sure it is from him. We grab some breakfast and go to Herbert. We unload the car, I leave Rowan to relax and I get a few other bits sorted. I have a butload of paperwork which I will get done tomorrow but I wanted to get some of it out of the way. The rest of the wet yucky day was spent drinking lots of tea and reading. Rowan of course played his new games.

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.

Tuesday; Smashed it out today! I got two coats of enamel on the ceiling, walls around shower and skirting. I got two coats on the windows and the last coat on the weatherboards. I got one coat of Rawene on the wall for the sink. I am ready for wallpaper! Eeee. Cory unclogged the storm water pipes. Turns out one was broken from a tree root which is now all fixed. He has started the garden edging down the path. It will be tiered which will look a million times better. Rowan was on paperwork but he also did a few small jobs for me when he could.

Wednesday; Wallpaper is well underway. I was hoping to get it done in one day but realistically it is more fiddly than that. I was worried about the vintage wallpaper being hard to hang in the bathroom but it has gone relatively smoothly. I picked that up for $2 at a Swapmeet. The kitchen wallpaper is from the local dump and three rolls cost me $10. It is much thicker and very easy to hang. It is very plain, actually this will be the plainest room in the house. I am looking forward to finishing it all off tomorrow. Cory continued the side garden, I expect he will have it finished tomorrow. Rowan was in and out of the council as consents got put on hold because of location of the driveway. I am glad he is on it and I don’t have to think about any of that right now. Laura came to help out. She has introduced me to a friend Jas who can help out with whatever I need. Laura got some cleaning jobs done that I have been avoiding. She also sanded some bits for me for the kitchen and then I let her do the seal and peel removal because I promised her that I would. It is a very satisfying job! We left Ōamaru around 4pm. Starting in the dark and finishing near dark.

Thursday; Long, long day. I started with the kitchen wallpaper, I got most of it done but really wanted the bathroom finished as it is ideal to get the floor done before Monday. It was pretty complicated in the corner you can see in the first photo. I got Rowan to help with one part as it was a struggle with the two electrical points. Around 2pm we went to mitre10 for a bag of lime. I cleared the floor and then gave it a clean. Man it is disgusting. Hasn’t been cleaned in years. I should have taken Rowan’s advice to water blast it when we first got the place. When we went to Morocco 5 years ago to the famous blue Chefchaouen town I was in awe. Such an incredible finish on these concrete buildings. I found out it was lime and blue pigments mixed with water. Then I discovered how people use it as a whitewash on bricks and all sorts of applications, with lower maintenance compared to paint. I have wanted to do a lime wash project for years. Finally I get to do it! I mixed water into the hydrated lime and made a paste similar to the consistency of paint. I then slapped it on with a brush with no rhyme or reason. By the time I finished the bathroom it was getting pretty dark. I did the toilet in the dark finally finishing at 5.30pm. A trip to mitre10 for some sealer so I can seal the wash once I am happy. I may need another coat. We have a dinner date with Kathleen and John. Kathleen walks her puppy Barry past our house most days. If I see them I always stop for pats and a chat. Kathleen invited us to dinner at her place. It was a great meal and awesome company. They live in this incredible Ōamaru stone home on Wansbeck. 170m from us. The rimu details, the ceiling heights, the grandness of the home is spectacular. I really wanted to take photos, which I may ask one day but won’t share them out of respect. Funnily enough Kathleen lived in Matakatia, in Whangaparāoa for years. What a small world! A late night for us, 11.30pm finally in bed with my brain started telling me what I forgot to do at Till St. Doh.

Friday; Eeek, there is staining coming through the lime wash. Not overly surprising since it was disgusting. I used some stain blocker Zinnser to quickly patch any stains coming through. I also did a quick paint job in the toilet getting it ready for wallpaper. Then we headed to Leona’s office to do some paperwork. When we got back I did a second coat of Lime. I think that should do it. Hopefully I can seal it tomorrow. Rowan and I started putting the kitchen in place. We are curious to see what needs to move and how it will all work. The drainage will move a bit and the kitchen taps a bit over. It is doable to have it as a gully kitchen. A tight fit but it is an improvement on what it was before. We visited Fred on the way home and begged for another days work. It will be good to get him to help put in the kitchen.

Saturday; Book wallpaper. There were children books that were falling apart in the free pile at the dump. So I saved them so I can wallpaper the toilet with them. This toilet is like an outhouse, I am leaning into that and giving you something to read and look at when you use the loo! I got two layers of sealer on the floor. Rowan rejigged the living room and we now have lots of space! I am looking forward to the plumber coming on Monday. An early finish for the day. No day off this week so I went home and did 2 hours of paperwork! What fun haha

Sunday; We sold our free oven that we ended up not using. It was $1 on trademe and we had to go to Dunedin to pick it up. We sold it for $100 which sounds like a great mark up but it would have paid us back for our fuel. The guy works at Ōhau Lodge and it is going to the staff quarters. I loved our stay there on the alps to ocean. Since we had him picking up the oven it made sense to be at work. I finished wallpapering the toilet with the kids books. I will seal it so you can easily wipe it down if necessary. Rowan pointed out if someone is sick in there you need to be able to wipe the walls. Good point Rowan! I put another coat of white on the kitchen cabinet and call it a day. We get home around 4pm and Rowan builds a platform for the shower. Much nicer than being on the stainless steel.

Monday; I am working in the dark. There is much to do, I have clean up to do to prepare for Dave the plumber. Dave gets in at 8am, it is light enough I am no longer carrying a torch around. I aim to stay out of the way. My project for the day is the sideboard which was left here. It had a lot of rat nests and the dog had chewed it along with the mice. I got rid of the grossness long ago but now it is time to tidy it up for use. I sanded it down, it is all solid wood, no MDF or chipboard. I painted a few bits with charcoal grey paint and oiled the rest. It is very rustic but I feel it works. I love what Dave has done with the plumbing, it looks awesome, especially the quirky indoor plumbing. The shower is yet to be installed later in the week. Cory finished the wall off today, the weather is making it quite muddy. Doesn’t look like it will ease for a while so we will carry on. Rowan installed the kitchen in between his running around. In the afternoon we cleared out as much as we could easily do in the living room. Which is the next place to attack with wallpaper and paint!

Tuesday; Calming the colours down in the studio. I am not sure exactly what to do with the main door. I haven’t decided yet. There is a little touch ups to do and I will sand the door then make a decision. We may line the roof in there but that is another days problem. Most likely when we have finished the rest of the house. Cory is putting up GIB in the dining room today. I help get the full sheet up and then leave the rest to him. I sand down the bathroom. Once the trim is in place we can paint. Fred came around to say he can help just tell him when. I said well the sooner the better. So he is coming Friday. It also means if he needs to he can finish a job off on Saturday.

Wednesday; After sneaking into Leona’s office early this morning we put her new stickers up on the exterior. The council wants traffic management and cones and all this red tape for $1k for a 5min job. So Rowan and I did it without being in anyone’s way really early. We also don’t charge that amount. We charged Leona one hug each. We got some paperwork done then headed to Mitre10 and Placemakers. At Till St I did some small jobs while waiting for Cory to finish the GIB. When he was done I taped it all up and got a coat of plaster on. Rowan and I popped out to the tip shop. On the way back we visited Fred at his latest job. Sam and Luke are doing a fully renovation to this beautiful original home on Wye St. It is a lot of work. In the 70s it had a lot of changes and they are modernising but trying to keep as many of the bits of character left in show. Can’t wait to see it done. It already looks incredible. The skylight was a bit messy looking in the kitchen with lots of different wood types. So I painted it a charcoal colour and it looks a lot nicer.

Thursday; Rowan and I head to Temuka today to pick up some gates we said we would pick up over a month ago. On the way up we stop at Bunnings for a chat with the trade team and a look around for stock comparisons. Once we have picked up the gates we op shop all the way back. We end up with a rather good haul of jewellery. We got a lot of gold off the hospice. Paying under spot price for a necklace and some cufflinks. Gold has become really valuable lately. We did a stop by in Waimate for lunch and the two small shops there before getting back to Ōamaru around 3pm. Cory worked for part of the day doing some outdoor jobs. By the time we got back to Herbert I was pretty tired. Tomorrow we have Tony coming to help. Can’t wait! I will be in for a busy weekend!

Friday; I dropped the ball. I have no real excuse I just woke up and forgot that I was supposed to be getting shit done today. By the time Rowan pointed it out it was too late. We came into town and went straight to mitre10. It took a lot longer than it should have. From there we raced home and I got the place organised for Fred. Fred arrives just as Rowan is off to get some trim for the house. Poor Rowan spent his day running around being the errand boy while attempting to get paperwork done. Our building consent is underway and he had roading forms and all sorts to fill out. I wanted to stay out of Freds way so I got onto the garden Cory made a good start on. I redid the stones while I was at it. By the time Cory arrived for work I had almost finished. Cory flattened out the top for me then cleared around the Sycamore tree. I let him decide what shape to line the bricks and we ended up with a row boat. It fits in perfectly with the port holes. Fred does a great job of all the trim in the bathroom and kitchen. A bit of no more gaps and I can paint to my heart’s content. I got the wallpaper sample on the wall to help me choose paint for the bathroom. I have booked Dave in for the following week so that gives me the week to get it all done! I did a bit of mortar to the floor before leaving for the day.

Saturday; We had an appointment in Palmerston to see a shipping container. We need storage for the building site. In my infinite wisdom I said to Rowan let’s go to Alexandra to pick up those tools. We headed off around 6.30am and had our container meeting by torch light. It is perfect for us we will take it. From there it wasn’t so dark which made riding easier, we are taking the pigroot. We had to stop a few times to warm up. No ice until we got closer to Ranfurly. Absolutely swamped in fog and I had no idea what to do. By the time Rowan came up next to me and told me to wipe my visor I had my visor half open for a while trying to see. We went quite slow as I couldn’t see more than a few metres ahead. I got to a point where I just couldn’t see and I couldn’t find a safe spot to stop. I started panicking and I slowed right down and indicated. Rowan didn’t get the message that I wanted to stop and couldn’t. Eventually I got so upset I just stopped I had no choice it was bloody dangerous. Rowan calmed me down and got me to go a 50m to a safer spot. It didn’t take me long to calm down and Rowan pointed out the visibility isn’t that bad. Well it is when your glasses and visor are totally wet! I am covered in ice that is how cold it is. Back on the bikes I make it into Ranfurly. We stop in hopes it clears up a bit before continuing. A coffee to warm up doesn’t quite do it but I just want to get there at this point. Not long out of Ranfurly and it is blue skies. We hit more fog but I can see further so it isn’t too bad. We don’t get out of the fog until we reach Alex. Man I hope we don’t have that on the way back. We pick up some tools from a guy moving to Australia and we get this neat $15 antique chair. I think people are entertained by Rowan’s load! Only one op shop it open which is disappointing. May as well race to the pub. We hit the wall of fog again and it slows me right down. Our timing is not great and we want to make it to Waipiata Pub before the kitchen closes. We refuel in Ranfurly and make it just in time. The food is fantastic I can see how this middle of nowhere pub survives. The rest of the ride is fantastic, warm and sunny until right at the end as the day is ending. A long day on the bikes. We got home around 4.30pm. We have a mattress being dropped off at 6pm. We have upgraded our sleeping quarters.

Sunday; A lazy Sunday morning. It is foggy and motivation is low. I have a case of the grumpys and I am being unreasonable no idea why. Maybe it is my period maybe it is lack of food. I perk up and try to be nice to Rowan. Which is actually quite hard when I am in one of those moods. When we get to Till Rowan leaves me to it and runs around doing errands. I get out the no more gaps and start going everywhere in the bathroom with it. For a newly lined room it has more gaps than most but as Fred says you can expect that as nothing is straight or plumb. We are there about two hours before heading back to Herbert. It is 12.30pm by the time we get back and we light the bonfire. It is now open season but we also let the fireys know that we are lighting. Perfect drizzle weather with no wind. It goes off without a hitch. We do some tidying up while keeping an eye on it. It doesn’t take long to burn down to a much smaller pile. By the time we go to bed there is only a few small flames.

Monday; A busy day! We get into town early and do some paperwork and errands. At mitre10 we get some pickets for the fence. They are on special because they have been sitting there so long. It takes me a while to get enough as I am being fussy and not taking any damaged ones or ones with large knots. At $4.30 a picket I am going to be fussy. At the house I crack on with undercoat on the bathroom. Rowan picks up more wood from Placemakers and runs errands. I get one coat on the weatherboard too. I can now see where more gaps and imperfections need to be fixed. So that is next on my list. I spend a full 6 hours painting and prepping. I get my final coat of paint on the ceiling in the kitchen. By the time 4pm rolls around I am exhausted.

Tuesday; Tea and Tears, I start the day by telling the girls we are buying an UM car and how much of a sign that is. I am already feeling a bit emotional and then Sarah gets me going with one of her messages. I end up crying so much I wake up Rowan and he comforts me lol. The weather here today turns foul. It is cold, wet and miserable! I threaten Cory with outdoor jobs. Lucky for him I want this GIB done. I get another coat of pigmented sealer on the kitchen and it is still bleeding through. Hmph! I really am unsure about painting it such a bright white like the cupboards. I may need something more subtle, I have leftover exterior paint. I also find some resene paint I was gifted that is quite beige. I mixed it up and put some on cardboard to see the colour. It looks good with the kitchen cabinets. I think we have a winner.

Wednesday; I walk up the garage to pick Noodly up. I say thanks to Mel and I take her back down the road. Rowan is taking in his motorbike so I head off in the hilux. I don’t get far down the road before the noise starts again. I stop and wait for Rowan to catch up. I make him sit in the car and listen. I decide to head back to Mel to check. His face is grim. Ah fuck, she is rooted. A bearing in the bottom of the engine block will be causing that noise. Well bugger. (Actually Nan I swore like a sailor). So I limped her back home and got on the motorbike to get into town. I text Liz and tell her, I need to pick the car up sooner rather than later. Well that puts a funk in our day. Poor Noodly, we absolutely thrashed you. The large heavy loads over the entire South Island. For now we will make no decisions we will just put her out for pasture and decide if we want to rebuild her engine. Mel said one of the big contributors would have been parking it up for a long time and not turning over the engine regularly, as well as our heavy hauling. We are attempting to put it out of the priority queue for now. At Till St I got some outdoor painting done and that is about all I remember doing. Oh I did get some Zinnser oil based stain blocker, I needed to bring out the big guns to stop the staining on the ceiling of the kitchen. The pigmented sealer wasn’t cutting the mustard, I did four layers before I gave up. Cory finished the GIB in the bathroom, I will get him to plaster it tomorrow! I got a layer of oil on my kitchen doors and got a second coat of paint on the garage doors.

Thursday; An early start. We make our way to Vanessa’s Cafe in the dark and have a spot of breakfast before continuing to Palmerston. Rowan is going to go back on his bike. I am driving the Corolla. We have a good cuppa with Liz, before we know it it is time to leave. The car is smooth as, the gearbox feels tight with no room for error. I think I am so used to the hilux that this feels like a modern spaceship. At Herbert we drop the motorbike off and jump into the car. We make it just in time to see our workers starting haha. Today we have Laura and Cory. Cory is on GIB until the job is done. Rowan realises that Cory hasn’t let the ceiling lights cables out of the GIB. Luckily our electricians weren’t born yesterday. They had a map with where each fitting should be with measurements. Laura is in the garden spreading the hay and doing a clean up. I only get the ceiling in the kitchen painted today and some no more gaps. As I started painting I freaked out a little, it looks super dark against the pure white of the undercoat. I trust I have chosen well and carry on. Once it started drying it started to look quite nice. Rowan and I had a lot of errands to do so we are in and out most of the day.

Friday; Laura and I smash out the paint. A high of 19 degrees today. Talk about saying goodbye to Autumn with a warm day. I got skinny pinny Laura on the roofs. The paint is just leftover paint from several tins of paint. Silly me thought there would be plenty and started painting the eastern wall. Well Laura nearly runs out. I add some water and stir more vigorously to get it to finish the roof. The colour goes darker. What I think has happened is there was some thicker paint bits I pulverised with the water and stirring which made the colour darker. The studio roof looks more like a patchwork quilt haha. It is still much better than nothing. I was planning on doing nothing with this shed. But giving it a quick tidy just helps preserve it until something more permanent is done. Laura really starts running out of paint. So I jump in the car to Mitre10 with my paint tray with dried paint on it. As it is a super mix I will just find a similar colour. I end up with 4L for $70, man paint is more expensive than I remember. I got some funny looks going in with my paint tray. The colour is actually a bit brighter than the last. Gee I hope our neighbours like green! We got a lot done, tomorrow I will attempt to finish the main part. Rowan did some gutters at the back of the house which is really helpful as I find the back veranda gets very wet without it!

Saturday; Smashing it out on my own. First day of winter and we are going to reach 21 degrees. Rowan and I get breakie at McDonald’s and I get chatting to a Māori family on a road trip. They are surprised by the weather and I joked and told them it is the South Island secret that we actually get better weather than the North. I get the rest of the main paint done and start fiddling with the rest. I take it a bit far with a blue colour and quickly paint over it with the bright green. I get over it by lunchtime and my hands ache. Time to give up and enjoy the warm day! Yes the green is really that green! I haven’t put a filter on the pictures.

Sunday; A day off! We have plans to meet Mish, a friend of a friend of a friend who wants to sell her villa in Palmerston. We know her sister through the grapevine and she told her we would be perfect to fix up the place. She has had it for over 20 years (along with other places) and she has never had the time to do it up like she has always wanted. She doesn’t need the money she just wants someone who will bring it back to its former glory. We came down a few months ago and looked from the outside. We have been chatting for quite some time now. Today we finally get to see inside it. We started our day nice and slow and headed out to Palmerston at lunchtime. We went to both dumps. Hampden and Palmerston. The Palmerston one was a great treasure for us, I got a nice ornate mirror that I hope fits the bathroom. We also got some mid century shelves the same as I have had before and installed at my mums place in Papamoa. They were $2 each. From there we had lunch at a local cafe and then to meet Mish. The house is better on the inside than the outside. It will need a lot of work, the question is do we want to do the work? We are there until late afternoon. If we are to take it on it needs a plumber, electrician and builder straight away and $50k straight into it! We cleared out Noodly this morning and put her out to pasture! So sad! It will be good to get some storage in Palmerston. Then we can have a lot of building materials gone!

Monday; Laura comes in for a few hours later in the day. I get painting the outside shed and then move onto plaster inside the bathroom. It takes me 2 hours to sand, cut bigger holes for outlets and do another layer of plaster. Thanks to a magic trowel it means minimal sanding and a much better finish. I am sure the old way is doable with years of practice but ain’t nobody got time for that! Didn’t get a lot done but I am happy to just get a few done. I have asked Fred to come back and do a days work for me. Then I can have the bathroom and kitchen painted and wallpapered next week.

Tuesday; Rainy and yuck today. Inside jobs kind of day. Rowan and I get Cory into the GIB. It is starting to look like a real room. Once he is done in the kitchen I sand the ceiling ready for pigmented sealer. It looks like it will need a few coats to seal the ceiling properly before I use an enamel paint. I am avoiding filling in cracks and nail holes. I want it to be its authentic self, just cleaned up with paint. I got paint on the front lead light door but not on the attached door as it is too wet. I need a good day or two with my paintbrush outside. Hoping for better weather at the end of the week.

Wednesday; Rowan planned on following me in later morning but ended up next door helping Jim cutting down trees and getting it all sorted. They had a big digger there moving a large area of dirt and getting down willow trees. Meanwhile I attempted to kintsugi the broken soap dish for our pedestal basin. Cory removed the stumps out the front and does a site clean. Then up on the roof of the garage with some flextape filling in any holes. I get a second pigmented sealer on the kitchen (I will need more). I start the dirty job of the built in kitchen cupboards and discover more rats nests. My mask has gotten a work out today!

Thursday; I started Cory in the garden, but he was a bit slow. Rowan told him to stop and move inside. I was a bit oblivious because I was too busy sanding the kitchen doors and drawers. I think I may need to learn embroidery so I can cleverly fix the holes in the old metal mesh. Mmm I will consult Pinterest. I got the paint out of course. It was sunny enough that I dared to paint the back door. It dried, phew. I just want to get moving so I have one room complete. Well ideally kitchen and bathroom.

Friday; I headed off early. Well dear me, my ute is making an awful noise. I pull over asap and call AA. It smells too, not a good sign. While I wait for AA I pay some bills. The guy is really nice. He gets some more oil with me from Herbert as it is very low. We limp it back to Herbert to take it to the local garage. I really didn’t want to turn it on again incase I stuffed it. The oil was low but we have accidentally let the oil light come on before so I am not sure if it is that. Hopefully it is an easy fix. Rowan and I ended up riding in together. Looks like I have no choice but to use my motorbike as transport. I have been feeling anxious about frosty mornings and wet roads. Oh well, will need my big girl panties. At Till Street, we finally get there at 10am. More GIB on the agenda today, but most importantly we got our first coat of stopping on the kitchen. Yay two more to go! I was useless today. I mean I got a lot of paperwork jobs done but I struggled to work on the house. The cold was uninspiring. I did get some small things done, paint, filler, mortar. I certainly didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Saturday; I leave Rowan to do his Herbert jobs and I ride in on the bike. I have a million things I want to achieve, it is great weather and I want to make the most of it. Must be a Saturday thing but I had lots of visitors! Neighbours swinging by for a chat. Jerry came by to take a look. Laura came too, she will come do some work with me next week. I found the day pretty good. I did run out of steam. I am looking forward to getting a few tasks ticked off my list next week!

Sunday; At midnight we gave up and came back down to Herbert. The wind was at the point Rowan thought we may blow over. I read my book for a few hours before I got back to sleep. The wind was roaring but we are quite sheltered on our block. Rowan convinced me to ride in the wind. We headed to the dump shop in Hampden. It was a horrific wind and I struggled to stay where I wanted to be on the road. Rowan pointed out how I should try and control the bike which helped on the way back. Not lasting long in Herbert before hoping back on our bikes to go into Ōamaru. We had a late lunch and did our errands. It was a nice lazy day.

Monday; Another day off. We ride into Palmerston to see a friend Lauren who we haven’t seen in 7 years. She moved to Scotland and is staying at mutual friend Liz’s place. We ended up there all day catching up. Looks like I have taken inspiration from Liz’s kitchen for Till St. Liz has an old red Toyota Corolla UM702 she is selling. It must be a sign. Anyone who knows my late grandpa knows his favourite vehicle was his Toyota Camry UM551. Our ute is in unknown condition and this will be a cheap back up car for us. Especially since we are doing a lot of things separately at the moment. Now Camele is set up with water we hardly need to move her. On our cold windy ride back we stop at the mechanics and ask how Noodly is. Apparently absolutely fine haha. A few filter changes and a service not missing a beat! We will pick it up tomorrow once they install the new air filter. Great news indeed. There is a reason old hilux utes go up in value. They are hard to kill.