Sunrise (with the moon setting over the island)
Black sands at sunrise
Sunset
Last Day Of Winter
Opened the curtains to the balcony this morning to find a clear sky, calm sea, slight pink hue settled over the island and a bright, round moon completing the picture. Last day of winter? Think that day happened earlier in the week.
Four degrees at 6.30 this morning the only sign that it is not yet high summer, We have, to be fair, had the mildest of winters. Polar blasts have been generally been short lived and those wildly-windy and wet spells have been interspersed with long spells of fair weather.
Let me get the soccer out of the way!
3-1 Defeat in the knockout final. A poor performance by our standards and a season ending injury for me. No participation in this weekends league final and a disappointing end to my "competitive" playing days. It is time time to throw my lot in with the social teams in the club. More of a runaround, less committed and more "my age and lack of pace".
That is that! Bring on the cricket season, though this year we get a break of about a month between the two codes, unlike last year with the soccer season going until early October and overlapping with cricket. A month of two day weekends!
May be a good time to arrange that weekend away. Brian and Michelle were keen on my suggestion to do a weekend away somewhere between Auckland and Wellington, Maybe the National Park or lake Taupo in the central North Island.
Been pretty busy in the garage of late. Took two days leave early this week, one reason was to get over the soccer injury, the other because I just needed some time off. Built a TV cabinet / shelf for the downstairs lounge, now that we have moved our living room there from the upstairs "family room". It is a pretty small small space and the furniture we had did not really fit. So a purpose built unit to house the TV, DVD, VCR.
VCR is vital with the world cup coming and the fact that we are on the other side of the globe - games are mostly early hours of the morning.
Also fashioned a rather funky looking coffee table to match the TV unit and have leveraged on of the side tables I had made for the family room until I make up some to match the coffee table. That was Monday and woke up on Tuesday energised enough to tackle the picnic table I have been considering for some time.
Worked a treat, though the wood was "wet" so it needs a week or so of good weather before I can sand and varnish. Built entirely of fence palings. 1.8 meter lengths of rough-sawn pine 150mm wide and 25mm thick. Absolutely stable, solid and comfortable.
Projects that are still in the pipeline are a dresser for our room, a book case for Travis' room and framing a few of Sherrie's art works for around the house. Have also been pottering on the motorcycle and need to service both cars, which is looking like being this Sunday. The big job is going to be changing the automatic gearbox oil on both cars and I doubt the Nissan has ever had a change of auto fluids in it's 200 000km. The oil is very dirty, though the gearbox is quiet and smooth. Speaking of the Nissan, we made our last payment on it this week. Wooo Hoooo!
That's it for today! And it really is a cracker, probably means that the first day of spring will be shite!
Update (4 Sept)
First day of spring was crappy! Second day was glorious, fathers day - more on that in the next blog.
We won the league final on penalties, so the season ends on a bright note!
Sunrise - Paraparaumu
Sunrise - 24 August 2007.
Taken from the balcony toward the west.
Windstill and probably 10 or 11 degrees.
We get this pink hue over the island most mornings
Think it has something to do with the sun breaking over the Tararua ranges behind us in the east. Still pretty though!
Soccer, Soccer and Soccer
The big news of the past week would have to be my soccer sides successes toward the end of the season.
Having secured second spot in the league and the resulting season ending final, we entered into the knock out phase of the season. Four pools of four teams each meant three pool matches, with the top two teams moving to the knock out stages. Winning two, away from home, and one loss at home ensured we were going to do it the hard way, meeting the team that won the league at their home ground in the quarter finals. A two, two draw and penalties was the hard to do it, but through to the semis. That also meant meant we had beaten them in two of our three encounters this season.
Saturday we traveled to Levin and disposed of their first team 5-2 in one of the teams better performances of this season, building on last weeks hard fought win in terrible weather and slippery, muddy conditions.
Conditions were good, a bit of wind, though not the gales of last weekend and a good surface that enabled us to string passes together, carving them up for most of the match.
So, in a repeat of last season, our last two games are the knockout final (which we won last year) and the league final, which is a season ender and will not change the league result. Paekakeriki have won that, but we are looking forward to making it 3 wins out of 4 against them.
Two more Sunday's-into-Monday's of sore bones!
Spent some time on my motorcycle project on Sunday. Have not set time aside to progress the project in months and months and I enjoyed the fiddle yesterday. Have decided to complete everything I can apart from the motor. Should be a good motivator to put some aside and save toward buying a motor to build into the frame. The bike is taking shape pretty much as I had envisaged, the style being old style chafe racer and the colour scheme and silver highlights working well to define and compliment the lines.
A great weekend passed, a challenging week ahead and the prospect of trophy on Saturday.
Life are good . . . .
Update
Monday morning, clear skies, winter sunshine and a crisp southerly breeze. Long, lazy rollers in a calm bay!
What a change from Saturday's gales, rain and misery.
Sunday wasn't bad either and I was stripped to a t-shirt by 11.30 and only went in search of a sleeve after 4. Spent some time replacing the steering rack boot on the Nissan yesterday. The car failed it's warrant of fitness and needed a little rust spot repaired (by a panel beater) and the boot replaced. Unfortunately spotted an oil leak while I was under the car and am surprised it was not listed by the inspector along with the two repairs requested.
So to save myself another trip I will get into the underside with a spray gun one evening this week, clean up the dirt and figure out where this leak is coming from. If I am lucky it will be a gasket, but knowing Murphy, it will be an oil seal and probably one that requires a whole bunch of stripping stuff out to get at it. This will naturally be preceded with the usual realisation that I do not have the correct tools for the job, necessitating additional cost, frustration and a tool that will be once before being resigned to producing rust in the tool box.
Shouldn't complain, the car has passed the 200 000km mark and still runs a treat. Doesn't use oil or water, is gentle on fuel and I would be confident to take it of the garage today and do a "Cape Town to JHB trip"
Cricket club AGM yesterday afternoon and it was good to spend a little time with the lads, after a few months away from the game and the club. Same old bunch and the club appears to be in a reasonable position, both financially and in terms of player numbers. The club have decided that there are enough good young players to warrant entering a second "competitive" team this season, to support the first eleven. Unfortunately it means the club need some older heads to balance the team and I have been asked to consider throwing my hat in.
While the level of cricket is not out of my league and I am able to contribute, the thought of 50 over games every Saturday is a concern.
The plus though, is that I would play a lot of cricket with Travis this season, a problem I had to deal with last season and which was highlighted during the soccer season, with him playing competitive sport, I seldom got to see him play.
I will wait to see how pre-season goes before deciding which peg to hang my hat on.
Desiree's new patient, Hugh, is providing Des so many rewards . . . but that is for the next blog. A truly remarkable story, this kid!
Significant Weekend
Another weekend come and gone. Another event filled weekend.
Sherrie's ball was a great success and she looked a picture. Preparations began at 16:30 with Lewen arriving to do her hair. A few panicky moments wondering whether the styling would turn out OK, whether the "frizz" would be "un-frizzed" and whether it could all be finished in time.
She looked fantastic!
Into the car and off to the venue. As we arrived we noted that the ball goers were Being dropped off at the entrance, celebrity red carpet style; and that about 50 parents and gossip mongers had lined the entrance to the venue to ogle the lovely young ladies.
Sherrie's ball was a great success and she looked a picture. Preparations began at 16:30 with Lewen arriving to do her hair. A few panicky moments wondering whether the styling would turn out OK, whether the "frizz" would be "un-frizzed" and whether it could all be finished in time.
She looked fantastic!
Into the car and off to the venue. As we arrived we noted that the ball goers were Being dropped off at the entrance, celebrity red carpet style; and that about 50 parents and gossip mongers had lined the entrance to the venue to ogle the lovely young ladies.
Cars pulled up under the building's overhang and the ball goers emerged to "oohs and aahs" and the flashes of cameras.
A nice touch, though nerve racking for Sherrie. Took her all of a few seconds to transition the 20 metres from the the car to the building. The official photographer snapped quickly, the result of which should be interesting.
That was that! All the preparation was now out of sight and we could only wonder what the venue was like and whether she would enjoy the occasion? I drove off feeling dissatisfied at not being more a part of this; and a little unnerved knowing that there would be more and more occasions in which I would not participate as she moves into adulthood.
(pics to follow)
More realisations this weekend! My soccer days are over, or at least my more committed and competitive soccer days. I hold on to the hope that a less combative environment may provide another season or three, but the recovery time is too long and Sundays / Mondays are too uncomfortable. The lower back pain is now a factor after every game. We have three games left in the season and I will be opting to warm the bench as much as possible for the remainder of the season. Summer is approaching and I will need to give some thought to whether I play cricket, another of my favorites which causes me much discomfort. I may simply return to the golf course and satisfy my hunger for challenge on the lovely courses we have around the region.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On a different note; I need to sing the praises of Mark Shuttleworth. His commitment to open source software, that is user friendly and an alternative to Microsoft, has resulted in Ubuntu. User friendly and full functioned. Installs out of the box and works a treat. I now run Ubuntu on all my home PC's and, believe this, not one rebuild, not one virus, not one system crash!
Best of all is that our main home PC is a simple Pentium 3, 450MHz machine with only 256MB of RAM and runs like a dream. When I consider that I explore the internet a lot and have 3 teenage children, the fact I have not yet had any virus issues is amazing. It was a constant battle when we were running Microsoft XP with the added expense of all the anti virus and firewall applications and the frustrating effect it had on performance. My laptop, though a little challenged with limited memory, does a solid job of providing me mobile computing and I get in excess of 3 hours battery life on a machine that was made around the 2000 or 2001 mark! The other plus of course is that being able to effectively use older equipment means I am able to buy well specced PC's (P3, 800MHz, 256MB memory and 20 - 40 GB Hard drive) for $30 and recently purchased 2 x used 17 inch monitors for the princely sum of $20.
Next on the list is a wireless router so that the PC's in the children's rooms will be effective tools and I am considering having a bash at setting up an Ubuntu Server / Firewall / Gateway machine. Keeps me out of trouble!
and what of New Zealand?
We continue to be completely satisfied with our new lives! The kids are blossoming and I notice that Sherrie is very aware of the opportunities presented. She is hell bent on her architecture / design career and will, I expect, be the first Vatble with a degree, even though he father has ambitions . . .
Winter has been really mild and there is a sense that spring is almost upon us! We have 2 days of wind and crappy wet stuff followed by 5 to 10 days of a summer'y kind of winter. T-shirt days, when family's walk on the beach in slip-slops and children almost think of a dip in the gentle ocean. When we consider entertaining on the veranda; cheese, biscuits, good wine and good friends.
Lastly, as we approach Wellington, my furniture building has been a success. A desk and a book-case-come-dresser for Meghan, Multi-function desk-come-drawing board for Sherrie, an entrance hall table and umbrella box, and a quick knock-up coffee and side tables. Next on the list is a Desk for Travis and a picnic table for downstairs. Will post a pic when the painting is finally done! Love building the stuff, hate painting them! Maybe should get the kids involved in finishing their furniture?!
Till the next blog . . . .
Update Continued
So what of the rest of us?!
Des continues to make an impression and is now (already) the longest serving care giver of the current crop. She does have staying power! Added to this is her venture into the care of tetraplegics. She is stimulated, challenged and derives personal satisfaction from her efforts. She has received extensive on the job training and is now able to disperse her duties unsupervised, though most sessions are in conjunction with a nurse.
She hopes to travel to Christchurch soon to undergo patient specific training at the specialist clinic, before returning with her new patient, a 16 year boy from Waikanae who broke his neck in a swimming accident off Raumati beach.
She is still enjoying her soccer, though the team really need a win with only one so far this season. A generally good bunch of ladies and Des has built some solid friendships.
Des was rejuvenated with the visit of her sister and I was surprised at how well she coped with Popsy's departure.
As for Meghan?
Well she has been the quiet one (as per usual) with not much to report. She brought home a fantastic mid-year report and is forming a close friendship with a girl in her class, who hails from Holland! She goes through spurts of writing, though the output has not been revealed for public consumption, yet! She has promised to finalise and publish. I for one can't wait.
Des and I are eager to ensure she gets back to her horses. We were forced to terminate our lease agreement on Melba, the old hag just getting too old and us not trusting the owners should the four legged loper turn for the worse!
We aim to see out the winter first and then make a decision on whether to buy or lease again. We are in good standing with the owner of the Pony Club and thus have someone from we can elicit advice.
Travis?
Sport, sport and more sport! He has had a meteoric rise up the soccer ladder and was selected for Kapiti Coast United's first team after only three games in the reserve side. He scored 7 goals in two games for the clubs 3rd team, then 6 goals in 3 games for the 2nd team, including hatrick. He has started every game and generally plays tyhe full 90 minutes. Of note is that the clubs first team play in the top flight of club football in Wellington, so making his debut the week before he turned 15 was special. He has only scored 1 goal with one game to go for the firsts in something like 7 or 8 games, but has been a great asset to the team and named man of the match on 3 occasions. I expect he will make a representative side this year and the best news of all is that the club, having won promotion to the top flight last season (for the first time in the clubs rather long history) have managed to stay up, finishing mid-table, so Trav will be able to grow his game again next year with continued exposure in the top flight.
So with the re-cap out of the way and the evening train arriving at Paraparaumu, time to log-off and pack-up! Hopefully the coming blogs will be less historic and more detailed . . . .
Our new car
We traded our trusty Camry in last week. We bought her soon after arriving in Wellington and with only four payments left, 200 000 on the clock and a few hefty repair bills on the horizon, she was a gonner!
In comes a 1998 Mitsubishi Chariot Grandis. White, 6 seater people mover powered by a 2.4L petrol motor coupled to a 4 speed automatic / tiptronic gearbox.
Standard niceties are ABS braking, climate control, power steering, airbags and a lovely smooth, quiet ride.
Couple of pics to put it in perspective and she cost $11 000 with 95 000km on the clock
In comes a 1998 Mitsubishi Chariot Grandis. White, 6 seater people mover powered by a 2.4L petrol motor coupled to a 4 speed automatic / tiptronic gearbox.
Standard niceties are ABS braking, climate control, power steering, airbags and a lovely smooth, quiet ride.
Couple of pics to put it in perspective and she cost $11 000 with 95 000km on the clock
We live! Promise!
3 Months, at least. Since my last update.
Much has been filling our lives so I will focus on the interesting bits rather than posting a novel.
Desiree's sister Popsy came to visit, arriving early June and traveled back to Johannesburg on the 23rd July. A great time had by all and my prediction of improved weather arriving with her departure was spot on. A slight wobble at the airport, on her departure, with the airline insisting that a limit of 22kg checked luggage would be enforced and that a charge of $60 per kg would apply. Steep and considering her baggage tipped the scales at 48kg, it was a quick repack before checking in, again. The weather did not treat her too badly, though we had a few southerly polar blasts during her visit and a decent sprinkling of snow on the ranges. Did not stop Des and her Sis popping out for breakfast in the slippers though!
Soon after Popsy arrived we received news that my sister and family were on their way to NZ. They arrived in Auckland and after a few days in the “big smoke” and an interview later, boarded the train for Wellington. She now has a two year work permit and is styling hair in Waikanae, a few kilometers north of our home. Trevor, her hubby, is job hunting and his work permit is about to be issued. The kids are school bound and they appear to be settling in.
Meant the house was jammed for about a month, with 5 adults, 3 teenagers and 2 tots. For someone who values his space and privacy, I had to take a few deep breaths during this time and on occasion simply just disappear!
Oh, my cousin Michelle and her two children visited from Auckland during this time as well. They had arranged to visit during the last week of the school holidays and had booked and paid there airfares well before we knew our home would be littered with bodies. I was ready to put her up in the local motel, but she made arrangements with family friends and spent only her last night with us. We shipped Sherrie to her friend to overnight to create sleeping space.
Work has been rewarding of late and I am proud to have been instrumental in Starfish winning significant business at Telecom - outsourcing the Quality Assurance work I do on a fixed fee, fixed term basis. This is the first annuity business the company have signed and is strategic in nature. I hope this will ensure I am in a position to move on and take on a new challenge at the end of this year. I suspect I will be linked to this contract for at least the medium term, though in a contract management role from next year. Hold thumbs!
Sherrie's hard work is paying off. She was invited to a significant arts and design workshop in Wanganui about 2 months ago and is this weekend attending (by invitation) a two day workshop at Victoria University Design School (Wellington) this weekend. She also has her senior’s Ball this Saturday, so a busy weekend. She participated in a music and dance production with Kapiti College who “competed” in the annual Stage Challenge series. A couple of awards, an enjoyable evening! In between all this, she has found time to provide services to some of Home Comfort's clients (the company Des works for). She was helping a ninety year old lady recovering from a broken arm on weekends though her main focus was helping a family with 5 children aged between 4 and 14. She was tasked with keeping them occupied and stimulated. So helped with homework, took walks, played games, painted and drew and colored, took them swimming etc She is SO on her way and I believe she will be flying the coop in 18 months time flat in Wellington and attend Victoria University. Better start preparing Des! lol
The train arrives at Wellington, so my first update on my new laptop (been without one for most of this year – hence the lack of communication) done!
In the next Issue:Meghan, Des and Travis
Holiday Lifestyle
Our move is complete!
Our first home in New Zealand has been returned to to it's owners, in good nick, and we now have a new landlord. We are now permantly on holiday and loving every minute of it. Close to the college, the pony club, the soccer club and on the beach!
Time to brag, just a little:
Google earth picture of the Wellington region with our home indicated with the yellow place marker. Town to Kapiti is 50km.
Kapiti (aka The Nature Coast) and our Island
Closeup of our home
Front view. The house has 4 bedrooms, study, lounge, family room (upstairs leading onto the balcony) 1 full bathroom with bath tub and 2 shower & toilet bathrooms. Plenty of packing space, so expect Desiree to be hoarding, laundry and double garage.
It is spacious and very comfortable with piped in gas for all heating (hot water, fireplace and cooking) and everything "just works"
The house is about 50 meters form the bus stop and the trip to the station takes about 10 minutes, with a bus every 20 minutes during the morning and evening peak times. Bus deaprtures / arrivals are aligned to the train timetable which works particularly well, not having to stand around waiting, for either a bus or a train (appreciated during the wetter and colder months)
View from the upstairs balcony, though I will have to take a couple of pics and post a few more decent ones. We have a spectacular view of the Island as well as the coast, both south toward Paekakiriki and Pukerua Bay and north along the Paraparaumu beach front. The South Island is aslo visible in the distance and is often clearly silhouetted in the sunsets.
View from the upstairs balcony, though I will have to take a couple of pics and post a few more decent ones. We have a spectacular view of the Island as well as the coast, both south toward Paekakiriki and Pukerua Bay and north along the Paraparaumu beach front. The South Island is aslo visible in the distance and is often clearly silhouetted in the sunsets.
We pinch ourselves daily as a reminder of how fortunate we were to find this home.......
NEWs from ZEALAND
It has been ages and the task of updating all the news since before Christmas is just too daunting!
So here are a few of the highlights of the past two months:
The folks arrived for their 2 month NZ fact finding mission in early December. They travelled the length and breadth of the North Island and apart from the miserable, wintry weather, were well pleased with what they found. Needless to say summer arrived a week after they departed Wellington and we have enjoyed week upon week of "shorts-and-sandals" weather. (Thanks Murphy)
So Christmas was spent quietly at 16 St James with a spread, good wine and good prezzies. We departed early on boxing day to experience the thrills and spills of motorcycle racing in the streets of Wanganui. Loud, fast and exciting! This was the first time the folks had been to any form of motorcycle racing and I got the impression they thoroughly enjoyed it. Ally did however manage to get a little sleep on the grassed-verged pavement halfway down the main straight (how you will have to ask her)
So here are a few of the highlights of the past two months:
The folks arrived for their 2 month NZ fact finding mission in early December. They travelled the length and breadth of the North Island and apart from the miserable, wintry weather, were well pleased with what they found. Needless to say summer arrived a week after they departed Wellington and we have enjoyed week upon week of "shorts-and-sandals" weather. (Thanks Murphy)
So Christmas was spent quietly at 16 St James with a spread, good wine and good prezzies. We departed early on boxing day to experience the thrills and spills of motorcycle racing in the streets of Wanganui. Loud, fast and exciting! This was the first time the folks had been to any form of motorcycle racing and I got the impression they thoroughly enjoyed it. Ally did however manage to get a little sleep on the grassed-verged pavement halfway down the main straight (how you will have to ask her)
Wanganui Street Racing
Sherrie, Meghan and Travis opted for bungy jumping as their holiday special treat. This did not sit well with Desiree, but she was out voted and the kids took the plung at Taupo Bungy Jump.
Surprisingly all 3 did not hesitate and "swallow-dived" rather gracefully from the platform. Meghan did let out an involantary yelp about halfway down.
All the screaming and panic however came from Des who was planted securely on terra firma....... allright, I admit my heart was racing a little!
The folks spent a little time in the Martinborough wine lands (North of Wellington) after Des and I had returned to our respective salt mines in January.
The, sadly the time came to say an emotional goodbye as the folks made their way north to Auckland, with enough time for a brief tour of the Northern areas of the North Island, before boarding the plane for Bangkok and on to Johannesburg.
As for us almost-kiwis, we continue to feel well settled and satisfied with our lives here.
The kids all earned such encouraging reports and Meghan started college (high school) this year. She has matured noticeably in the lead up to this milestone and is already making her mark, signing up for additional speech and drama and is this week auditioning for the lead in this years stage production.
Travis was awarded the Kapiti College Sportsman of the Year trophy. I noted with interest that among the acknowledgements on the accompanying certificate was netball! He is making good progress with his cricket and has earned a starting spot in the Kapiti Old Boys Cricket Club 1st team. This is seniors cricket and while he is still coming to terms with the quality of player in this league, he competes fiercely and is being encouraged and mentored by his team mates. The club value him greatly, an experience that will stand him in good stead.
Sherrie experienced some romance through December and January, but has since called it off. Poor fellow! She is still focused on her architecture-centric career and has opted for two art based subjects this year. A tall order and a decision which will require some dedication and hard work to deliver the portfolios and assignments required for the year. Given her self-discipline and work ethic, I doubt this will be a problem.
As for Des and I, we are so busy supporting these kids that we have not taken any time to do something for ourselves in months. Guess I should just book some theatre tickets, restaurant and a room in town; the world will not come to a stand still!
Till next time......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)