Ocean Rafting

When diving ahead of the boat to try and set up a float-less mooring (I was advised not to use a float as it would be lucky to live there a week before taking up alternative accommodation in some random fisherman’s boat), I also found an old raft and needing a better way of getting to the boat than swimming decided to refloat and repair it. The cunning plan was to tie drums to it and fill them with air from dive compressor.

After getting it to the house, removing the old drums, grinding off the crap, a spot of strengthen, a lick of paint and putting in some plastic drums (traded for the construction of a BBQ), wa-la! no more dog paddling around brown floaties and recycled disposable nappies.

Amanda in the mean time was hard at work flying to Goroka to sample local coffee in the sipping room and buy locally made handbags. To her horror it turns out one of these was made from a cute little fluffy possum called a Cuss Cuss. There was also the trips to Bougainville to see if that’s really where the Bogans came from. It’s possible. Probably she slipped in some accounting alone the way.

 Hard at work back in Madang I was left to my own devices volunteering at the fishing club to help put in mooring lines without floats and anywhere else that contained the word fishing.

With Amanda needing a work permit and me wanting a stamp in my passport advertising my official status as not "not permitted to work" we booked our tickets to NZ as the formalities have to be completed once you are outside the country. The plan was to meet Amanda in Port Moresby and carry on together however the plan all fell apart when the only stamp I got was "not permitted to leave" not that I could anyway, they took my passport. Apparently there was a mix up in the paperwork (customs fault) and according to the computer I had stayed to long. And so I now can't leave? Only in PNG. Anyway all was not lost; I got to go back to Madang to ensure Andrew was keeping up with his studies.

5 days later it was all sorted and I moved on my next project, the repair and repainting of a rental property in Nelson. It’s good to be home.

A Tale Of Survival

Our last weekend in NZ was spent with friends at Lake Rotoroa. Brad's grandmother has a gorgeous, comfy bach in one of the most beautiful locations in the Nelson lakes district.




Night One:

After a few drinks a mid night walk sounded like a good idea, resulting in Megan falling into the bushes, and Jane breaking her camera after falling into a puddle and finding it difficult to get up unassisted. Maybe not such a good idea after all.....



While we were soundly sleeping Brad and Deano were pulling wheelies in the off-roader on the grass of the guest house down the road. Word is that Russell Crowe stayed in this guest house. In the morning I found big tracks across the grass right next to the "No Parking on the Grass" sign. Ooops.

The other mystery of the evening was how the white CO2 powder came to be all over the lounge and kitchen? A clue as to the source was the empty fire extinguisher..
Day 2:
The morning started out with adventure - carving up the garden in the off-roader. Things got a little bit out of hand when Brad rolled the buggy with Amanda in the passenger seat. They then got totally out of hand when Simon crashed the buggy airborne into the side of a tree. That was the end of buggying for this trip!









Lets go boating was the cry. Volunteers were everywhere. "I will make the lunch", "I will pack the esky" that would be Amanda, so we embarked into the rain with everything but a map.



We had reason to believe a hut existed at the other end of the lake so off we went flat out not a care in the world. No one gave fuel a second thought.


After trawling the lake shore we came across a wharf.









After reading the sign "Hut that way, 20 min's no bridge" we set out taking turns carrying the chilly bin confident we could tackle any river crossing.








Retrospectively we should perhaps have taken more notice of the signs.











Finally we came to the river. The water was just above freezing and the current swift. A lot of thought was required over a few beers as to the best approach. The end result was obvious. Send the two youngest and see how they fared before committing ourselves.


















No way are we doing that was our next thought. Megan had her shoes swept away, almost following them herself. They arrived back on our shore after hurling abuse from the far bank, cold and unhappy. A whip around was done to provide Megan with warm, dry clothes, a picture was taken and we headed back. By the way that is a camera under my jacket.

The trip back to the boat was a little easier as the load was changing from full bottles to empty ones.
We all piled into the boat and started home. To break the trip up Brad crimped the fuel hose to pretend we were out of fuel for a laugh about 10 min's before we actually ran out of Fuel 3/4 of the way back. That provided a good opportunity for lunch and a run for the wee outboard.



Brad safely steered us home at a clipping 3 knots for warm cloths and a date with Captain Morgan. A few drinks finished off a most memorable weekend.








Over and out.....

Road Tripping - Farewell NZ

July and August was spent travelling around NZ. We thought it would be the last trip over for a while so we combined visiting family and friends with Simon getting to drive the "'Tang".

First stop was Pohara for one or two fresh scallops (see earlier blog post)

Then we braved the Cook Straight crossing in the Mustang stopping at Simon's childhood haunts on the way to Rotorua. This is taken at the Tongariro River swing bridge where Simon played as a kid.

I painfully had to wait every morning while Simon washed the car before our departure - he even made his mum give up her garage spot - (mind you it was in the Mamakau's! - Si)

We had a lovely night out in Rotorua with Simon's family.

Next stop was Waiuku to see Jim, Giselle and Oliver. It was great to see them settled into their own home and be enjoying more time off work!
After a few wines, we all though it was a great idea for the strangers, I mean visitors, to take the role of undercover operatives and case the competitions bar. Giselle I meant to tell you I still have the competions drink price list in my purse!



Next stop was Auckland to visit Dave, Louise, Rebecca and Troy. We caught the ferry into Auckland for the day and the weather lived up to it's reputation.


As always the Megsons made us feel at home and we pigged out and watched movies one rainy afternoon.

From Auckland we drove back to Nelson, nearly missing the Ferry - note for New Zealanders wises online map appears to have an interesting and innacurate way of working out travel times. It wasn't a complete disaster though as we did get to see some wonderful countryside and falling snow on the route via Wanginui. Mind you I'll never live it down...

The holiday would not be complete without a spot of painting - and as the Mustang man cave has not yet cost enough time and money my efforts (grudginly) were steered in that direction. The end result was nice though.

We spent a few evenings with friends as always at the Bishopdale Brewing Company with a fiery brew or two...

The grand finale of the holiday was a trip to Brad's grandmothers bach at Lake Rotoroa....

PS - our last day we found out we had won a tender and are now due to be the proud owners of a block of 4 units - looks like we'll be back in NZ in 45 days!

A scallop or two at Pohara

On our recent trip to NZ we were treated to an indulgent weekend at Pohara, Golden Bay a few hours drive out of Nelson.

The weekend was kicked off with a good NZ white,

perfectly complimented with one or two scallops fresh from the sea

We enjoyed some intelligent conversation over dinner

Followed by some quiet music, singing and ACC approved dancing

The next morning Shirley gave us an exhilarating display of her well honed 4 wheel driving skills for a view over farewell spit. Norm and Grizz opted out of the 4WD experience and decided to test their lungs over a bike race to the bottom.

Unfortunately the buggy missed out on this trip due to an earlier work out... a sand bogging which resulted in Norm getting boot bogged trying to rescue Megan and Amanda

What a great weekend - thanks to all! We headed back to Nelson full of scallops and relaxed ready for our trip North in the Mustang.

Painting B @ Brunner

After arriving back from Thailand we spent 4 days in Sydney before leaving to Nelson NZ to paint the Brunner Street house. After previously staying there 6 months ago we came prepared this time with a sail bag full of bedding.

We got a relocation hire car in Christchurch ($25 a day) and headed up the coast only stopping in emergency situations.

We arrived around in nelson around 9pm and headed straight to the Bishopdale brewing company to sort out the duty free alcohol.

After drinking the 12 year old Canadian Club in 3 rounds the night started to go down hill. The drinks got strong enough to make you hair stand on end.

Needless to say the next day was one filled with pain and suffering. Luckily that day was planned for buying paint, curtains etc and getting organised for the coming 9 days.
Saturday after a good nights sleep was a day filled with ceiling painting and window frame preparation. Amanda's parents turned up around lunch and like everyone who stuck there head in the door was given a brush.

As the next day was Megan's birthday and Lindsay was coming we thought it would be a good idea to take the Mustang for a spin a do a little fishing at the Salmon farm in Takaka.

After admiring the custom made centre console by Brad and Griz we hit the road.

We took Derek and Janet (Amanda's parents) with us to increase our chances of hauling in a whoppa.

Amanda caught the first Salmon followed by me slaying the next 2. After 1 packet of fish food Janet made her first kill.

4 bags of fish food later we thought we were going to have to hire a tent and stay the night as Derek still hadn't had any luck. Finally it was all worth waiting for, a baby Salmon was landed. Apparently the smallest are the best, much sweeter or something like that.

Back to Nelson for Megan's birthday we went, dragging off everything on the road

Brad kindly offered to do Megan's makeup for the prestigious occasion.

And then it was time to get serious with the painting thing. I soon discovered that a plentiful supply of beer and barbecue lunch assisted with motivation levels and maintaining a interested work force.

We had to get a digger in to remove old concrete and top soil for the new garage site. Unfortunately there was a little more topsoil there than we expected.

7 Days latter and the B team lead by Amanda had completed the inside.
My A team also came through with the goods and the job was finished on schedule.
Thanks to everyone who chipped in and gave us a hand. We could not have done what we did without your help.
Over and out