We are coming into bad weather. Maybe we should be staying north! There has been ferry cancellations but the forecast looks good on the day we get aboard. Our north island trip is coming to an end. The timing isn’t good to see the few people we thought we could catch up with, both are busy. It is a nice drive over the Rimutaka hills and into Tararua ranges. I feel there is still lots we could see and have missed while on our trip. Which I quite like as I feel a pull to go do it again.

In Wellington we waste the day op shopping and finding some plants at Bunnings. We end up at two different Bunnings looking for Oak Leaved Papaya. They can withstand the cold and I like the idea of some more niche fruits rather than the same old. The ferry is an evening crossing getting us in at midnight. It runs a little late, not that it worries us. Rowan and I were tempted to upgrade to the big room where no children are allowed. They have a large buffet I think similar to koru lounge. We decided to go to the supermarket and get food to make a picky plate. When we landed it was a quick drive out to Waikawa Bay to sleep. It was incredibly busy. I think people just waiting for the ferry as there has been back log.

The next day it was really quiet at the site so it must have been ferry goers. I really enjoyed the morning sitting around drinking coffee and reading my book. It was really nice not having the pressure to go somewhere. We had dinner with Kate & James. Kates grandpa (99) and mother are over from the UK visiting. They went to Australia first to see family now in NZ. Dinner was great, we parked up down by a river out of Blenheim for the night.

On the road for all of 5min and wack! There is a good stone chip and crack. We have had a lot of stones this trip, this is one to do damage. Our morning was spent at Pelorus River. There were heaps of Te Araroa walkers going past. Rowan hopped into the river for a fossick. We got to Nelson in the afternoon and found a repair place. I was worried it couldn’t be fixed but it can, phew! Booked in for tomorrow morning. We had a lovely dinner with Paula, Kelvin and the girls. The girls were happy to see us. I was a bit surprised by Millie (the oldest), last time she was very teenager and was nonchalant.

The following day Kelvin, Rowan and I went op shopping. Lucy the youngest came along for the ride. We ended up going to Motueka too. When we got back we picked up Camele all fixed. Rowan and I got a sneaky croc monsieur. Oh that posh patisserie is a must in Nelson. In the afternoon we packed the trailer full of items we both wished we would never see again. Most of them Laura should be able to sell.

On the road again, heading to Christchurch. We will stay with Rick and Liz a couple of days before heading to base. I booked us in to see our doctors on Monday morning.

Early Sunday morning we had a zoom with a bunch of people from our Antarctica trip. Who can believe it has been 5 years! Talk about time flies.

We thought we may take off after our doctors but decided to stick around and help out Liz and Rick. There oven blew two elements on Christmas Day. How’s that for bad timing! Rowan hunted down some electrical shops and replaced them. Now the oven is in perfect working order again. This also meant we could do the Monday night quiz. Which was great fun, even when it was abysmal and we nearly came last.

New Year’s Eve, what a fun night. We stayed at the marae most of the night, Rowan and I went to join a few others at the local raza (RSA), Rowan promised the kids he would be back before midnight to do the countdown with them. So we set an alarm and was gone for about 45min. We told the others we were heading back to do the countdown with the kids and they showed up just before midnight too! Karstan was so happy/amazed that we came back that he cried (so cute). I went to bed at 2am and Rowan was 5am!

A New Year, I woke up bleary and very tired. I don’t cope well without sleep. Unfortunately for me my 6am body clock told me to get out of bed. I was the only one up haha. It took a good hour or more before I saw signs of any life at the marae. Which suited me fine as I poured caffeine into my system to make me feel human again. I gave Rowan 5 hours sleep before I tried to get him up. Today we are on the move so we have the marae to clean before we go. We get the place looking great by about 1pm. Many hands make light work. I packed us up to go while trying to get Rowan up. I ended up having a shower which made me feel a thousand times more alive. I didn’t drink as much as the others last night but definitely more than I normally would.

When we hit the road to head south we had my cousin Nellie and two of her boys, Zakaiah and Karstan following us. We reach Tokomaru Bay and have lunch at the pub. We continued on to Anaura Bay to camp. After we set up and settled in, we left Rowan to nap while we hit the beach. It was a nice walk and a great way to end the day.

Nellie and I decided an early sunrise start was a must. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to get a great display, Rowan and Karstan got up too. Kaiah was fast asleep.

We packed up and continued on our tiki tour. I cooked us breakfast when we reached Kaiaua Bay. Heaps of freedom campers here. We are coming to find the area really does well for both self contained and non self contained travellers. There are heaps of families with tents. It is nice to see the council allowing this where a lot of areas ban it.

We made it to Mahia and decided to stay there for the night. The boys played on the beach all afternoon/evening until it was too dark. I tried to see if there was an Aurora able to be captured. I didn’t stay up all night just checked whenever I woke up and thought about it. I didn’t see any glow at all.

Our journey continues and we make it to Lake Tutira. We get there fairly early which is great as the boys can run around and us adults can relax. The weather is a bit on and off today with a few sprinkles but it is mostly fine. Back in Waitaki the weather has been bad. At least my plants will survive.

There was a sassy swan that stayed around us all night in hope of us feeding it. I ended up giving it some oats as I didn’t want the kids to give it bread. The lake is really peaceful. No motor boats allowed, but you can kayak and fish.

Rowan is getting the flu I hope I can miss it.

At this point of our trip we are saying goodbye to Nellie and the boys. But it turns out she will come one more day. The funny thing is she is going further south but because she is coming further west it is actually making her journey home a lot quicker than if she went from Tikitiki.

We end up op shopping in Napier which the kids love. We take a scenic drive to Kairakau Beach where we stay the night. One last night and then Rowan and I are on our way to Wellington.

We say our goodbyes and have big hugs. It was great to travel with Nellie and the boys. Very easy going travel companions.

Rowan and I get to the longest place name in the world. On the back roads it feels like the North Island has forgotten about this area. There only is farms and forestry. Even small towns with a pub are few. We go for a short steep walk to Waihi Falls which is in the middle of nowhere. We thought we may stay the night there but it really isn’t a great spot. We end up driving further until we find a good track off road to park for the night.

Let’s wrap up 2024 with some highlights! Thanks for coming along on the journey.

January

Straight into renovation mode. Rowan’s unimpressed face says it all!

End of the month progress

February

Two sets of Scottish visitors! some progress with Herbert and Till Street!

Katie’s birthday!

March

Some progress with our renovation.

No time to go away far but we took the time to do a few local tiki tours

April

Finally some paint on the exterior

Rowan’s Birthday, I didn’t really take any photos because I am useless. But he had a great day at a Swapmeet.

May

I upgraded my motorbike as the small 50cc as you are not allowed to do your restricted on such a low powered bike. The house it looking cute with extra details coming out with the paint.

Broken down ute, now we get an old Toyota as a spare car

I think this is my absolute top highlight of the year! The most incredible light display! Aurora Australis at its best!

A couple of outings!

June

A few trips, a new boat!

House progress!

July

We lived and breathed the renovation this month. Head down bums up. But look at what we achieved

We also squeezed in a new wall for Herbert and some storage for Palmerston. Finally we have stamped plans from council to start building.

August

Work has begun on the sections in Palmerston

Wow we completed the house! Let’s stage it for sale.

A quick trip to Australia to put Rowan’s Grandad & Uncle in the family plot. Then a celebration for my sister’s 40th in Auckland.

September

Birthday breakfast, Happy Birthday Clare

Wahoo the house is sold! A quick sale.

October

Weather delays and we finally get back onto the foundation work

Huge flood

May as well holiday while we wait to dry out again. Another good Aurora!

Back at it, let’s get the footings framed up.

Another getaway while we wait. With an awesome snowy drive home.

November

A lot of progress on our foundations. We have had delay after delay. Now to get it all completed before Christmas.

Hot tub, Bedford truck, my restricted license

December

Last little push before finishing for the year!

Holiday time

Christmas Eve is here. We wake up in beautiful Whangaparāoa with lots of family around us. Unfortunately Nana has a stomach bug and is not doing well. We all plan to get out of her hair so she can rest. Rowan and I were going to take Ellery back to Emma in the city but my mom ended up doing it. Instead we went to the op shops, got some last minute groceries and some gas for the camper. We had a nice afternoon at Runamuck with the kids running around. They have built a garage there now which is great if you can’t be bothered putting up a tent. There is now a flushing toilet and solar power. It sure is a change, I am not sure I like the modern amenities, I quite enjoyed the rustic camping. A nice campfire finishes off the day.

Christmas Day – woke up to my sister Sarah and her family all awake for Christmas Day. My cousins and kids were still sleeping. We had a laid back morning, more family arrived from 11am.

Rowan and I had Franzi & Nicholas from Germany come for lunch. We met Franzi on our Antarctica trip. It was great to see her and meet her partner. It is coming up five years since we did that trip.

Also I invented my bestie Sarah & her family. Silly me I should have got a photo!

It was great to see the extended family. It went really fast and I feel like I didn’t get to see everyone but there was quite a few people, not exactly shocking.

Boxing Day

Nana is still under the weather. We hang around until lunch time and then make our way to Papamoa. I wish we had been able to come up that week earlier and had more time with the family. I got to spend all of a few hours with my dad. Mum said we can stay at her place in Papamoa so we end up staying two nights. When going over the Kaimai Range it is a must to fill up your water bottles with the lovely spring water!

We get a chance to clean and organise the chaos of our home. We have been a bit lazy with putting things away properly. Rowan and I decide to treat ourselves to a fancy lunch at Lantern. The food was really nice. Not as good as a Michelin place however pretty good for Papamoa.

Rowan and I start to head South East, we are on our way to Tikitiki for a christening. We take our time stopping often along the way. I get a text message just out of Whakatāne, “hey we are behind you!” My aunty Deb & uncle Sam are behind us, with my cousin Tiana and her son Samson. We pull over when we can and have a chat. They recommend fuelling up and getting food here or Optiki. We end up doing both in Opitiki and running into them again.

A stunning part of New Zealand here on the East. It has been a very long time since I have been out to Tikitiki. We arrive and discover which of the many Marae the family is staying. With a very warm welcome we settle in. There are a lot of faces and people I have not seen in a long time. It is really lovely to see everyone again or for the first time.

The Marae is well equipped for smaller groups. It has everything you need to feed 50 to 100 people.

A wonderful day here in Tikitiki. We are here to christen three of my cousins kids. All three girls were christened in this spectacular church and now their kids are here with the same minister. We watched a video of the girls last night and it was great to see my Nana & Grandpa so young.

Tikitiki church is from the 1920s and is considered to be the most beautiful Māori churches in New Zealand. The stained glass and the carvings. It is ornate and incredibly involute throughout. if you ever are out this way definitely go check it out. It is open to the public.

Nellie (cousin) has asked me to be godmother to her two boys. I accept and have paperwork to sign once the ceremony is complete.

After the ceremony we have kai (food) and celebrate with a song. Then we head down to the awa (river) to cool off. With unknown weather on the horizon we make the most of the clear evening and take marshmallows down to the beach.

The next day we take three cars full out to Lottins Point. A really stunning area with plenty of kai moana. Rowan gets straight in and finds a few kina which a few people enjoy. Tipuna (cousins, cousin) finds that he is recognised from some old primary school friends. Tipuna, Aroha & Te Moana have lived most of their lives in Switzerland. Crack up that they recognised him after 20 years. They say he looks exactly the same but shorter hair. They give us a big bag of kinas and we help them get their boat out of the water. We end up heading back part way to Te Araroa for some lunch. We end up bumping into a lot more of the family also getting some lunch.

From there we end up separating, our car goes out to the lighthouse at East Cape. The most eastern part of NZ. Unfortunately it is closed so we can’t walk out to see it properly. We all jump in for a swim at the Awatere river on the way back.

After a wild night of heavy rain and rocking wind I woke up feeling pretty good. Today we have no plans other than to catch up with Lisa and Shane. The accidental trail angels we met in February 2023. Lisa pulled her car over and told us to grab a coffee at her place. We were soaked to the bones. I remember feeling extremely uncomfortable in her dining room, smelling like wet dirty hippies. But she was so caring and made us feel very welcome in her whare. So welcome we stayed for a week haha.

They are extremely busy today. Rowan and I op shopped and just mooched around town until dinner time when we met at a local Chinese/Japanese place. It was like we had seen each other yesterday. We had a great catch up and ended up following them home in our camper. Stayed up to 1am talking about the Hikoi and what they as Māori people would like to see. It was great to hear from their experiences and perspective. Like Lisa’s Great, great grandfather gifted some land to the crown to build a school and part of their negotiations with her iwi means that land is supposed to be returned once it is no longer needed. The school has long gone and the land has never been returned to the tribe. Simple ideas like a Rāhui being enforceable. These can be put in place if the seafood has been over fished or there is a missing body in that area and they don’t want people eating fish that may be eating a body. I could go on and on but I won’t. It was very interesting to say the least. Unfortunately there is a lot of media out there making out that they want all the land back and some extreme requests. Lisa points out there are some who feel that way but 95% just want more say in what happens to certain areas of land and more consultation with local iwis.

I woke up feeling pretty good. The 1am bedtime will probably hit me tomorrow. Today we hang out with Shane and Lisa, they have one granddaughter over and we make t-shirts and hats together. Shane runs a printing business and has a lot of orders to get out. Wisey helps me plaster in the bathroom, we will make her an apprentice in no time. She also talks me into a moko kauae temporary tattoo. I tell her it is cultural appropriation and I will only put it on if it is easy to come off and I am not leaving the house with it on. She thought I was being strange haha. I do have a photo but I won’t post it as I don’t want to offend anyone.

Thursday, we are heading north. But first to finish the job. Unfortunately the weather is wet and made it near impossible to dry the plaster. I hang around trying to get it to dry. Rowan and I make the decision to do another layer of plaster and potentially come out on our way south to finish the job. Lisa assures me she can sand and paint it.

We head north west and the weather is not great for sight seeing. We decide to head to see the cuzys as we won’t see them all Christmas Day. We still take our time and see what we can along the way. The weather clears on the northern side of Mt Taranaki. We don’t get to Cambridge until after 7pm.

It is great catching up with all the family. I finally get to meet Kiwa, who is absolutely adorable. Two of the cousins are pregnant and due next year. Anita (Kiwas mum) is having twins, our first set in the family.

Saturday morning we head to Sandringham to Emma & Paul’s place. My niece Ellery is a big 5, we are having a low key morning tea as she had a big party with kids a week ago. Rowan and I stay on to help with the renovations. Mum goes to Nanas place with all the kids in tow. Keelan my brother in law is here helping too. He started a business, doing handyman jobs. Emma and Paul have a large to do list and it feels good to get a few jobs off the list. I help paint and do some organising in the kitchen. Rowan helps with some outside stairs and an attic staircase. We end up staying there until Monday morning before heading north to Whangaparāoa. The house is full and it’s times like this we all appreciate there being four toilets in the house. Thanks Nan for having such a well planned home.

We arrived on site and Murray was already there. Rowan tried to say hi, he refused and didn’t reply. Oh great what an awesome day we have shared of us. I had decided this is not my problem and I am not getting involved. I got him a spade when he asked but I stayed well away. I did some tax receipts in the car and just avoided the area. Rowan helped when asked said he said all of 10 sentences to him all morning. There was a lot of anger and swearing going on. I had no sympathy, he can only be angry at himself. It is not like it failed by a small margin, there needs to be 100mm all over for the concrete. The worst part was only 65mm, which would mean the plastic bar chairs that hold the mesh in the middle of the concrete would be above and sticking out.

He left in a huff, mumbling bye. Raced off with his van rear open. Rowan and I were surprised nothing fell out. The site was left a mess, none of the bar chairs were put back in and all the dirt on the edges would mean this will surely fail tomorrow’s inspection.

Rowan and I left Palmerston and headed for Herbert, we went into town and waited for Tama to get home so we could chat with him about moving forward from here. After our talk Murray is not to be the lead builder on site, Tama will send us one of the other guys in the new year. Murray is allowed to work on site but he is just to be assisting and not in charge. We don’t hold anything against him, I just don’t need someone who has cost us more money than necessary and not been guiding us in the right direction. He has had a “not my job, not my problem.” Attitude and this has caused more work and more money from us and other tradies.

Wednesday morning, Rowan and I go down early to clean up Murray’s mess. I am not happy about it, he shouldn’t have left yesterday until it was all done. The inspector comes at 10am and it is one who is a bit tougher, Gordon. Tama comes to help out and make sure it passes. There is concrete trucks (3), the pump guy Willy and the concrete placers all on hold until it is signed off. It took me a good hour to remove all the dirt around the ring of the foundation. It must be done in order to get the next load of concrete to stick.

We get signed off just as the concrete teams arrive and 20min later the first concrete truck is here. It all goes pretty smoothly after that. All these guys know what they are doing and they get the job done well. The concrete placers have to wait for the concrete to set hard enough to stand on and then they can use these hover machines to tighten it all up. We go as the start the first one. I want to be all organised so after we finish our job in the morning we can leave.

We are back to cut the concrete to avoid cracks in the slab. There are is four cuts to make, two on each house. Unfortunately the water isn’t working as our hose has an attachment with a release valve. we make a lot of noise and a lot of dust for an early hour of the morning. We get out of Palmerston after 9am. By the time we change vehicles, do our last minute errands, we leave Ōamaru near lunchtime.

It is dry the further north we go. They haven’t been getting the regular rain that we have been. There was a fire taking over a whole farm north or Dunsandel. They had to close the highway for a while but when we went through they were working on it further back from the road.

We made it to the Conway River just south of Kaikōura.

Off to Blenheim to meet Kate. We have a quick hello, and leave her to do her errands. We will meet back at her place in Picton later.

Rowan and I have a sniff around the op shops and get food for dinner tonight. It is prefect bbq weather. Trying to stay cool is the hardest part. I am living in dresses now to try stay cool.

It was a very chill weekend. We really didn’t do much, which is exactly what we needed to start our holiday. I helped out and fixed a damaged wall. It took a couple of layers of plaster and trying my best to match the colour. I think it was pretty bang on however the paint is older so matching it is never going to be perfect. We had a good catch up with Kate & James. had a swim to cool off. It is really warm at the moment. I hope my plants survive while we are away.

North Island here we come. We didn’t really think about how long the ferry takes and was pretty hungry when we arrived around lunchtime. Rowan and I spent the rest of the day attempting to get the camper a wheel alignment and see if our tyres are okay. They are quite bald on the inside at the front. Apparently towing heavy loads can make that happen. By the time we get to Whanganui, it is nearly 5pm and we rush around without any luck. It is hard to find a place because of the camper body makes it hard for the machines to attach to the wheels. We end up at Castlecliff in a freedom camping area for the night. It starts to bucket down, the rain is incredibly heavy. Last picture is my Christmas decoration from our neighbours Jim & Silvija. Isn’t it awesome!

This weeks mission is to get the slab ready to be poured. There is sand to level everything perfectly, this is called blinding. Then the polythene (black plastic) for a moisture barrier. Next polystyrene for insulation. Then metal mesh to be tied all together. Finally bar chairs (plastic props) to hold the mesh up at the right level for strength. The day is horrifically warm 32 degrees with a hot norwester wind. Rowan and I are really suffering. There is not enough sand so we head out to Skevingtons and they have a yard we can grab some from. Three trailer loads done by shovel and wheelbarrow we are spent! One day was not enough time to do both so Murray will be back tomorrow to finish the job off.

We get it all done and end up being able to finish early. The day is not as hot but at 26 and very windy we struggled to keep all the polystyrene from flying away. It just made the job a lot harder but we got it done!

On Friday we spent the day getting jobs done around Herbert. We are aiming to head away on Monday after the council inspection. Rowan built a cage for the trailer using IBC container cages he got for free. Chris came over in the afternoon and dug out the area for the Bedford to sit in and he positioned our rocks. We gave him some beer and cookies and I later get a text to say that is payment. I am chuffed! I think we have spent more than $50k with him this year.

We spent the weekend getting organised to head north. We took a little interlude to the famous Fishwife where you can get half a cray and chips for $33.

Inspection day! We plan to head off as soon as we can. We make sure we are ready to go. Tony comes to do the inspection and he can’t pass it. The levels have been done too high on one of the houses. Which means the metal mesh would sit above the concrete. Once he pointed it out I could see how obvious it is. The other site passed just fine.

Now to have a conversation with Tama. We expressed our displeasure. Tony said it has been years since he didn’t pass one of these and Murray should have seen the issue. I am really pissed off. This just puts the whole thing out of sorts. Tama says he will send Murray tomorrow to fix it and we won’t be paying. That just means Tama will be paying for his stuff up.

Rowan and I decide to stay so we can be there tomorrow. Luckily we booked flexible ferry tickets!

On Tuesday we stopped a bit earlier so Chris and I could go up to the lime quarry in Dunback. We ended up getting two large rocks that weighted over 2 ton each. These are going out the front of Herbert. Chris unloaded them as carefully as he could. Because rocks this size could easily tip the truck. They now sit out front waiting for us to place them one day.

Dean came out on Thursday to test the compaction of the backfill. All my hard work of being on a compactor for four days has paid off. All well above what we needed them to be. One was even over 100%, I was chuffed when the first reading came back at 98.8%.

On Friday Dave came to lay his pipe work. We encounter a problem, we were supposed to fill a block of sand before pouring the blocks with cement. Rowan and I rush off to Ōamaru to pick up a tool from the hire shop to be able to get through, we also pick up Jim’s generator. Luckily Rowan thinks to call the sparky and same issue, Dave is kind enough to drill two extra holes and lay a pipe for the sparky later. This is a job that shouldn’t have been needed. Unfortunately we have no clue so we didn’t realise. Our builder should have told us. We quickly realise if it is not his problem he doesn’t care. Which sucks for us as it causes more time and money for us with other contractors.

After a hot long day we went for a swim to cool off on the way home. I say we, Rowan got in I paddled my feet.

Saturday is here and I have been keeping this truck out of the blog. Not really intentionally just forgot to write about it. We picked up this Bedford for $500, believe it or not it actually drives. Rowan considered driving it out to Herbert, but we ended up getting Skevingtons to pick it up for us. The dumped it at the hall a few days ago and we put a note up. Well today is the day we move it onto our land. It has no gas tank just a Jerry can taped under the hood. It takes a while to get started, which is strange as we had it going easily before. Looks like it just locked up in a funny way. Mike our neighbour from Till St turns up and lends a hand. I go to the top of the road to stop any traffic wanting to turn in. Rowan miraculously drives the old truck all the way into place. I did video it but it’s rather long!

An early morning of up and go! We head to Jim’s farm to get some firewood. A fantastic road sign in Maheno which gave us a laugh. After loading up Jim got us some large wood rings to use as chopping blocks. Do you like Rowan’s bucket ride? Rowan and I had breakfast at the Riverstone Kitchen, a place we have been meaning to try for a very long time. I can see why it is popular. We will need to try a sweet treat next time. The meals were too big to fit in anything else.

Cory is here today, he is helping load the firewood and trim up some more trees. Rowan puts more stakes in for the fruit trees and I faux bake. I don’t have an oven but at New World the bakery area makes these delicious cookies that taste like they are homemade rather than store bought. I made some royal icing and decorated them. It took me longer than I thought it would a good 2.5 hours later I was finally done. I couldn’t find the twine to wrap them up so I used orange builders string haha

Wahoo, I got my restricted! I have been riding as much as I can to get my confidence and skills up. Trevor couldn’t fit me in prior to Christmas so I went to Dunedin for my test. The lovely Debbie gave me an hour lesson and she taught me some new skills. I then did my test, I was super nervous and wasn’t sure if I passed when I finished. I had a complex intersection just before a rail crossing and my head was bobbing around doing all my checks. I was so focused on that when I got to the other side of the tracks I was only going 50km and didn’t see the 80km signs. Debbie had to tell me to go faster haha. I also lost her once which is a no no. She also got me to do this complicated intersection which is uphill with a very sharp turn. You have to check your mirrors and your blind spot. Then turn without getting on the white lines, no cutting corners here! Somehow I managed it!

I was so knackered by the time we got back to Herbert I didn’t really have it in me to do much else. Photos below of practice rides with Rowan

Thursday, we are heading to Christchurch. We are waiting for concrete to cure and I have been missing Liz and Rick. Every time we go up there is a million things to do, this time we just get to hang out. I have also been worrying that we won’t get a chance to see them pre Christmas as it is all play by ear we may be gunning it to the ferry in Picton.

With Noodly out of action we take Camele. She is due a warrant which I totally forgot about so it made sense to book it in if we can. Lucky for us they have time with such short notice.

Rowan churns some raw cream from our milk supplier and makes some beautiful compound butter. He slow cooked garlic at Jimmys for 3 weeks and made a beautiful butter. First time making butter and it really needs to be the right temperature before it will churn. Rowan watched Liz open her hives. He only got one sting! Liz and I went to see Wicked at the movies. It was really good. I haven’t seen a movie since I last went with Liz.

We got a quick chance to catch up with Paul, who has set up his warehouse as a shop. Man the awesome stock he has in there. A lot from Australia. If you’re into records he is the man to see! Can’t wait to see it open.

Same day we also got to have a quick lunch with Michael. His garden is looking good. Lots of vegetables growing.

Rowan and I found some new residents in the house truck. We put some bait down so hopefully when it comes from Christchurch we don’t have new tenants.

Monday and straight to work. This week is focusing on back filling with AP and compacting it ready for the slab. The black plastic is a moisture barrier. I videoed Chris coming into the house it was pretty impressive! I will put it on here. Not sure if it will work! We didn’t quite get the first pad completed.

Mark got all the blocks finished really fast. Rowan and I cleaned up the sites and loaded in all the broken blocks and any spare ones that were not used. We took them into town to return them to Mitre10. Back in Herbert we went to Chris and Ferne’s place to learn all the feeding rituals of the animals. They are going away and asked us to house sit and pet mind. Chris let us borrow his concrete vibrator for the blocks. Last photo is of Rowan taking it on his motorbike haha.

Oh and there place is an awesome earth home that Chris almost built all on his own. He did a fantastic job. It has some really cool quirky features. Of course he dug out the hillside.

Ready for block fill! It all goes very smoothly and easily. Block fill is easy when you have paid for a pump to get it in the right place. We get it all done really easily. Rowan and I fill the trailer up with the last load of wood to take back to Tama. I also go spray all the broom and fence lines. I didn’t go near the neighbour as she has lots of plants in the fence line and last thing I need it to kill them!

On our way to Herbert we hear a hissing, quickly realising that it is the truck. We stop and a hose has come off. I think we stopped fast enough not to cook the engine but I am unsure. I end up calling AA while Rowan is under the hood. Now to wait. Luckily the tow guy is happy to attach our trailer to his tow bar and takes us to Herbert garage. I go get UM who hasn’t been run in months. She comes to life with ease! Back up car in place and now ordered a hose kit from Australia the Noodly is out of a job for a while.

We fill the rest of the week with small jobs and get a chance to go see the Victorian festival. Awesome seeing all the dressed up