Finding my mojo…

Because I haven’t been sleeping terribly well.
Waking early etc.
I have been getting up early and trying to recover a bit of my mojo.
It has taken a while but I have enjoyed tinkering away.
I needed to make some engagement/wedding cards as there is a flood of them happening in the next few months and I like to have cards on hand so I am not stressing at the last minute.

This is just a few of what I have made.
Thought I would share some so you can see what I get up to in my spare time.

I asked Tim today if he would like to see what I had been doing.
So he dutifully said yes and proceeded to eye them all up one by one without too much comment.
Then he saw this one and asked what the straw things were for?
He couldn’t quite get the grasp of
‘That’s art Tim – you know? – balance and technique etc ‘!! 

He did admit that he was impressed at how I could take little bits of paper etc and make something creative out of them.
I had showed him how I used the corrugated card from around my skin care bottles, and chocolate liners etc as backgrounds.
I don’t throw anything away
Even the lovely wrapping paper from Starbucks – now that is just the best for backgrounds
See if you can find where I have used it??

Friday
I was jolted awake at 2am by an earthquake.
Magnitude 5.2
It was a good jolt, but I never felt the 2nd aftershock of magnitude 4.3 at 4am.

Tim & Yura went out to do some mussel work.
Dasha was getting a ride out with our neighbours Matt & Aaron, so I zipped her up the hill at 11:30am to meet them.
It was blowing so hard up there.
We barely had time to say a proper goodbye cuz the wind was just way too strong and we had to run between vehicles.

The mailboat arrived and the afternoon was spent just doing mail and getting dinner etc.
The kids did some school work.
I did some craft work and cooked dinner.

Saturday
Tim & Yura spent the morning cleaning out the septic tank & grey water system.
There has been a problem for a while so hopefully Tim has managed to solve it now.
Jonathan from Malaysia arrived so after he had unpacked he and Jura did some water blasting.

Jura stayed on and cleaned the clearlight on the verandah roof
While Tim & Jonathan went up the hill to cut up the fallen trees.
Unfortunately they are over the bank so it is not worth while retrieving them for firewood.

Noel came around to work on his yacht and brought his daughter Shania to play with the girls.
They played in the Lego and when I reminded them that it was a beautiful day they all scarpered outside for a while.

Nathan cooked dinner.
Mutton chops, potatoes, creamed corn and stir fry veges.

We had a bit of an interesting night.
Without going into it – lets just say there was  battle of wills between a 13 yr old and a 52 year old

Sunday

We woke to a reasonably calm day but the day was forecast to worsen.

Azzan & Shanni got out some mask and craft kits I had bought at Spotlight’s sale.
So they had the table covered in newspaper, glue and collage bits for most of the morning.
Don’t the masks look great

Tim made porridge around them and then Shanni made pancakes.
So breakfast extended from 8am to midday!

We had fellowship and then ate lunch in the mid afternoon!
Azzan has been wanting me to get his electronic alphabet game going.
Some of the letters would not work.
I passed the buck to the two IT guys.
So they pulled it to pieces and discovered that inside two of the main peices were broken.

Unfixable.
So I said to chuck it away!
Azzan swooped on it with glee and proceeded to demolish it screw by screw.
‘Let’s see what inside here?’
‘I’m saving these screws for Daddy.’

The weather has worsened.
It is now pouring with rain and blowing and cold.
A good day to be tucked up inside by the fire – which is where I am going very soon.
It is too darned cold here in my study – brrrrr.

Thursday in the kitchen

On Thursday
I gave Dasha the choice of cooking or gardening.
She chose to cook.
Azzan’s ears pricked up and he asked excitedly if I had gotten some condensed milk in town.
Yes, I did.
So he found his recipe book for the pink mice and he and Dasha made those first.

They are actually very yummy – very sweet – mmmm

Then Dasha made a chocolate pumpkin cake and she and Shanni made chocolate biscuits.

After lunch Tim and Jura went out to cut up fallen trees.
It was Dasha’s last day so I suggested she went for a walk.
She walked around the track to Waterfall Bay, up the road to the top and back down our road.
It was incredibly windy but good training for her Wangapeka tramp she is planning.

Shanni & Hali have been spending a lot of time cleaning up their Lego area this week.
When Seb comes home to get all of his things and his room is vacated I have told the girls they can use the floor space in there to spread the Lego out – that way I might get some more space in my school room!!

Nathan & Dasha were up to hi-jinks over dinner dishes.

We have been doing some school work at the kitchen table.
And the children have been doing some piano practice.
Not as much as I would like but at least some is better than nothing.

Azzan asked if we knew what an Australian Haka was like?
No?
So he broke out into a demo –
Haka actions whilst singing/yelling Walzing Matilda!!

Town and after…..

I have just spent the past half an hour writing this entry and I just lost it all
so, due to the fact that I am really tired and my eyes are barely staying open this is going to be very abridged!

The children and I headed to Nelson yesterday morning.
We left before 6am so had a good start on the day.

We got a few things done and then went to Richmond for their first piano lessons with Nick.
Mahalia went first as she was going horse riding straight after.

However, the weather was against her and her lesson had to be canceled.
She was very disappointed but we have rescheduled for next week.

Sasha came to see us there, so we chatted down the back of the hall.
Nice to catch up with her and get the cd of family photos taken in Melbourne.

Azzan was next up – he was very chirpy and enjoyed his lesson.

He told me later that he thought it would be hard but it was easy peasy.

While Shanni had her lesson I zipped down the road to pick up Azzan’s new rabbit.
I hadn’t told him so it was a big surprise.
When he saw it he just giggled and giggled.
So we fitted it’s cage into the truck and headed back to the hall.

Nathan was into his lesson so we sat down the back and waited for him.

I used my invasive telephoto lens to get involved in their lessons

By the time they were all finished they were complaining of hunger.
So we went over to the mall and got sushi for lunch.
Seb met us there and took Nathan with him to suss out the movies.

I took the other 3 and went to the windscreen repair shop.
I swapped the truck for a wee Honda City.
I dropped the kids off at Chipmunks and then zipped around doing some jobs.
Met up with the boys at Briscoes.
Seb was moving into a flat and had just bought a 2nd hand queen sized bed.
He needed bedding for it.
We found everything he needed at Briscoes on sale – he got some really good bargains.

I dropped Nathan at the movies – he saw GI Joe.
Then it was time to have my blood test and take Shanni to the Dr.
She took a throat swab.
We will find out tomorrow if it is viral or bacterial.
She gave us antibiotics to bring home just in case.

I picked up Azzan & Mahalia, got the truck back with a nice new windscreen.
We zipped through the supermarket before meeting Nathan at the video hire shop.

Didn’t leave town till 6:30pm so it was a long day.
We had a wet foggy drive home.
But got back before the worst of it came through.
Not too long afterwards a humdinger of a lightening storm hit.

We woke this morning to no phone.
Some trees had fallen across the lines just up the hill.
It was fixed by mid afternoon.
The day was very very windy with willy-whirls zooming across the bay most of the day.
Quite spectacular.

Tim finished off the rabbit cage and then spent the rest of the day working on the motor bike.

The rabbit spent all morning exploring the living room.
He is a 4 year old mini lop and a bit fiesty as he hasn’t been handled much lately – it took Azzan a wee while to be confident with him.

I did some school work with the children this morning.
Mahalia seems to be coming down with something similar to Shanni.
I managed to convince her to go back to bed for a sleep.

I had my lunch in the sun in my craft corner and dozed off in my chair.
I wanted to go to bed but also wanted to talk to the Telecom technician about the phone lines and by the time he arrived it was too late.
Jura arrived before dinner.
He is also from Czech Rep.
So he and Dasha had a lot of talk about – in English

Dasha & I made a yummy self saucing berry pudding for dinner.
It was delicious.

 

A day in our bay

I have been waking around 4am for the past week.
Then I lie there thinking of all the things I could get up and do, tossing and turning, and then eventually fall back asleep.
But yesterday morning by 5:30am I decided I would get up.
So I snuck out quietly and made myself a hot grapefruit & honey drink.
While waiting for the jug to boil I cleared away the previous nights dishes.
Then I pottered away in my craft corner for a while.
When I decided to open the curtains at 6:40am this is the scene that greeted me.

10 mins later when I was soaking in the spa the morning was beginning to waken

20 mins later the dawn had broken and the clouds were becoming more visable

By 9am it was daylight, the bay still and calm and mirrorlike.

It was a beautiful day – Jynx & Mo were preening out in their favourite spot.

I love watching the clouds move and form around the hills across the bay – they are always changing and always giving us hints of what is to come.

An hour later Jynx & Mo were still in the same spot – though by now they were sleeping soundly and barely opened an eye to watch me as I approached.
What a life!
Beats me how they can be comfortable there  – the board is only about 4″ wide!

While Tim was preparing breakfast some dolphins came to visit.
Dasha left her porridge and zipped out in the kayak to see them.

She was totally blown away – coming from Czech Rep it was a real treat for her to see them up so close.
Later in the day she saw seals and then Nathan took her down to the woolshed to see the penguins.
What a day she had.
She went off to bed shaking her head in wonder

Tim, Nathan & Dasha went out with Noel to seed a mussel line for an hour or two.
Then after lunch Tim had a nana nap.
Nathan pottered away at the rabbit cage.
Shanni made biscuits – they were rather tasty too.
After dinner I was reading by the fire at 8:30pm and found myself nodding over my book.
So I popped myself into bed.

Today we got into some school work.
Nathan did some maths and then went out to do more to the rabbit cage.
Shanni did her travel journal and sorted photos.
Mahalia raced through her work book and did some reading.
Azzan did he reading and finished his work book.
He was so happy to get his prize!
He was having problems with forming his letters properly and understanding ‘why’ I want him to write them the right way.
So I wrote out the alphabet and tried to show him how letters come in families – breaking them up into the way they are formed.
He must be very visual because as I made each ‘family’ a different colour he clicked and straight away grabbed the pencils from me and proceeded to draw houses and put each family in their own houses.

It was fun and I think he is getting the idea now he can see the reason behind doing it properly.

Tim & Nathan spent most of the afternoon trying to get the rabbit cage finished.
Hopefully it will no be escape proof so the critter will not be cat food!

The kids and I are off to Nelson early tomorrow.
I have a list that is way way too long for just a one day trip
But, we will do what we can and what doesn’t get down can wait till next time!
We are taking Anson’s truck so we can get the windscreen replaced.
I will have a wee curtesy town car to zip around in – nice

We have been home exactly a week!!

Thankfully the weather has begun to warm up a bit.
I have found the past few days so cold that I just couldn’t function properly.
But now it is warming up I am beginning to thaw and get enthusiastic about things again.

We didn’t do a lot on Friday re school work.
Shanni is still in recovery so I am not pushing her.
Nathan is doing some on his own and the other two have done quite a lot of educational play and computer work.
Azzan is really enjoying copying words from books and gets so excited when we can read what he has written.
Shanni has been able to do her aviary work but did delegate her chickens to Mahalia – so she must’ve been sick   – she is usually very possessive about all her birds.

I have been doing a lot of planning and scheming since I got home.
Tim’s 60th birthday is one – am planning a bbq party on the 19th Sept – but haven’t informed him about it yet!! Have been trying to spread the word to all far and wide – if any of you want to come then please let me know

I have now committed myself to going to Nelson most Tuesdays.
I have found a piano teacher so they are all going to take lessons.
Last night I managed to get horse riding lessons for Mahalia – she is going to be over the moon when I tell her
I still have to sort out dance classes for the boys – not too sure if that will fit into the day or not.
Have to wait until this coming week to suss that one.
Am thinking also that swimming could slot in there somewhere as we approach the summer.
I have gotten the older children swimming lessons when they were young but these four have missed out so far.

Saturday was  a beautiful sunny day.
We have managed to get washing out on clothes line for a few days now which is wonderful.
Also have been able to have the doors open to let fresh air in – so nice.

Shanni & Dasha have been working away in the vege garden for the past couple of days.
Dasha has done most of it.
Shanni just works as much as her energy levels will allow.
Graham began the spring planting before we got home so Shanni is now all enthusiastic to get more seeds and plants in the ground.

I have delegated Nathan to resurrecting a rabbit cage from several old ones as Azzan has a rabbit arriving soon.
He doesn’t know it yet – big surprise for him

Mahalia cleaned the bathroom.
She is a brilliant wee cleaner – does a great job.
Here she is nearing the end of it – she even washing all the shampoo containers et al !!

I asked Azzan to wash the breakfast dishes.
He normally dries them.
He said he couldn’t wash them cuz Mahalia tells him that he doesn’t do it properly.
That’s the problem with big sisters
So I told him that there was no one around, only him and me and I was sure he could do a brilliant job if he tried.
So I washed a couple of the big pots and got them out of his way, added hot water and detergent to the sink and left him too it.
When I came back ages later he had done them all but there was a LOT of detergent gone from the bottle and the dishes were very very soapy.
He had washed them all by himself and the floor was not flooded – so great progress made!

I made toasties for lunch so everyone took them and their soup out onto the deck as it was so sunny.

Tim has been out fencing and just generaly doing land based farm activities while he can before the mussel harvesting begins again.
Dasha has spent her afternoons kayaking and walking.
I have been trying to get my office under control, taking a while!

We roasted huge garlic potato wedges for dinner and had them with beef casserole and beans.
They were delicious.

Every night since we arrived home the children have loaded the table with candles.
Tonight Mahalia set the table and Azzan found even more candles.
They were arranged with great particularity!!
Which caused a bit of grief when Nathan insisted on moving them around, even ever so slightly.
Azzan is such a perfectionist and was most unhappy at having his decorations moved.

And with the flash – it doesn’t seem quite so romantic does it?
Only trouble with candles is that they drip wax and wax is so fun to play with and get everywhere

Mahalia wanted to make dessert so she and Dasha made cupcakes before dinner.
Then after our main course they iced them.

I was feeling really tired and blobby after dinner so was in bed by 8:30pm.
One by one the kids came in to kiss me good night – a bit of role reversal.
Tim was having a bit of trouble getting them all rounded up and into bed.
They all seemed to be busy

I had dozed off when the phone woke me at 9:30pm.
It was finally the lady from the horse riding school – we had been playing phone tag all day.
She was so helpful and really wanted to work around us seeing as we are travelling so far.
So that was a pleasant note to go back to sleep on.

Well, I landed back running and now I have collapsed.

Monday, I turned my back on the 5 baskets of washing and we got straight into the school room.
We had a good sweep and clean out and then I read them a story I had picked up in Australia.
It’s a children’s picture book called ‘Are we there yet?‘
I was fascinated because even Nathan sat there listening attentively throughout the whole story.
Azzan was disappointed that we hadn’t been to some of the places the children in the book had been to.
As if 6300kms wasn’t far enough to travel in the 6 weeks!
I pointed out that we had to leave some places for next time

Then I began working with each child dragging photos from the 1774 I had taken and the 439 of Shanni’s.
I worked with each of the three youngest on their own over two days – letting them choose which photos they wanted to add to their journals. I cropped and altered the picture sizes to fit onto A4 photo paper – pringted them and then they cut them out and added them to their journals.
It is actually very, very time consuming and a major job for me amd after a while I was getting pretty sick of sitting in front of the computer.
I thought Nathan would be able to do his alone as he is quite computer savvy.
But when I caught up with him a few hours later I was rather dismayed to see how he had gone about it.
I was trying to be systematic and organise the photos chronologically – whereas he had just grabbed a few from anywhere that appealed to him and that was it
So I showed him what I was wanting in the hopes he would be a bit more productive with his time.

It is going to take a while but I want to keep a bit of momentum going so they will get their journals finished – I know what it is like to have things hanging – it gets very tedious and boring.

Tuesday morning we woke to this view.
Can’t say I saw anything to better it while away!

I am so enjoying being home and having my spa to soak in during the waking and closing of each day

I managed to fold all the washing and get it put away.
Shanni helped me but wasn’t too keen on the idea.
I was insisting on it all being folded properly & orderly and not in the haphazard fashion that was happening.
The other 3 were being designated other jobs to help clean floors and benches etc.
Funnily enough the more I get annoyed with Shanni the busier and more eager to please Mahalia gets
Shanni is normally really great – I should’ve realised that something was amiss.

Tim has been pottering about getting back into things again.
The wood stove was in pieces all over the kitchen – he has thankfully tidied that all up and it is now awaiting for Graham’s return to help fix it.
He and Nathan are hell bent on decimating some pigs which are digging up the back paddocks.
So they had to sight in the rifle yesterday.
Right outside my window on the deck of all places!

They have been out each evening now and have seen the pigs but have not been succesful yet.
The wind was blowing the wrong direction first – they are going to try again tonight.

Tuesday I was expecting a wwofer to arrive.
We have been communicating by email for a few weeks now.
He was hitch-hiking in after getting a ride to French Pass on Monday.
Later in the arvo there was a knock on the door and a young lady was standing on the doorstep saying ‘I’m Dasha’!
I said -‘I thought you were a guy’!!!
She also had been mistaken about me too – didn’t know my name and thought I was a guy.
So we had a good laugh
I was so greatful that ‘he’ had turned out to be ‘she’ – I have plenty for her to do around here!

Azzan had been wanting to watch ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ all day, and I had been putting him off cuz I wanted to watch it with him. I only saw a wee bit off it last time.
So we all watched it while waiting for the pig hunters to return.
It is rated PG because it is supposed to be scary.
But as Azzan said – ‘It is too silly and unreal for it to be scary‘!
And now I have seen it and laughed my way through it – I have to agree!!

I woke Wednesday morning after a very sleep disturbed night, feeling very yuck.
My head and body were aching.
I wallowed in the spa pool – it was nice in there but I still wasn’t feeling any better after that or a shower.
Shanni was not at all well either.
She tried to do some school work but was flagging fast.
She was very pale, with a sore throat and feeling cold.
So I popped her into bed mid-morning for a sleep.
I gave up on school and made kiwifruit, apple & chocolate chip muffins with Azzan.
They were delicious.
Had some and then I took myself off to bed for a nana nap.

Then when I woke up Azzan was not feeling very bright either.
He took himself off to my bed and slept for ages.

Dasha is from Czech Reb and is very bright and chatty and helpful.
She cleaned the Cotttage for me and then helped with dinner prep etc.

Today she has been busy cleaning around here – lots of sweeping and de-spider webbing etc.
I am so glad to have her here to help get the place feeling clean and happy again.

I have really been struggling to keep warm over the past few days – we have had a southerly blow through and the fire just has not been keeping the living area warm enough for me.
I was sitting right in front of the fire last night with Azzan.
He asked me – ‘Is there more people in the world than atoms?’
I told him that we were all made up of atoms so there was heaps more atoms than people.
He replied ‘That’s right, it is all just matter isn’t it?’
I asked how did he know about matter and atoms?
He said ‘Because I’m clever.‘
No flies on that boy eh??

Today we actually did some other school work.
Reading and math etc.
The kids really responded positively to doing it which was good.
I did a few more photos with some of them too.
I have been working away at clearing the backlog of mail and emails all week.
I think I am making progress – although my study is still looking like a bombshell has hit it.

I have to hop off here now cuz Shanni wants to check her emails.
It is a bit hard at the mo with only one computer.
Tim & I do not like this computer being used by others as it has all our business stuff on it and I am sunk without it.
So I am on the lookout for a replacement one for the living room or a new one for me – which will it be I wonder??

I know what I would like – says she as she dreams on……….

.

It took a few days but we are now finally home :-)

I got a wof for the Safari and Shanni had her physio appointment on Friday morning.
Then it was – ‘Can we please go pick up Poppi now Mum?’
She had been so patient and waited for all those hours since we had arrived in Nelson the night before.
So I took her up to the Winnington’s and she and Poppi were joyfully reunited.

Poppi had been extremely well looked after and there was a lot of exclamation as to how wonderful he looked and how long his tail feathers had grown etc.
His wings had grown quite a bit so I left Shanni & Azzan there to wait for Grace to return home so she could clip them before we left.

I went off to do some grocery shopping.
Ended up a bit random really as I didnt know exactly what I was needing.
So got some basics and then met up with Estelle for a late lunch at Morrison St Cafe.
It was good to sit awhile and have a catch up chat with her – both of us have such busy lives these days that we barely touch base.

I finally got back to pick up the children.
We went down town on the way to get sushi for their dinner and to get my last frappacino of the trip.

I had also bought some new cd’s from Manna bookshop – they were great – Robin Marks – Year of Grace, Phillips, Craig & Dean Greatest Hits and two called ‘Heart of Worship Africa’. By the time we got home they had definitely all been added to our favourites list.

Graham had organised a new cd/radio for me while we were away which was fantastic – the old one had never worked so we had to use ipod speakers etc. So thanks to Graham we now have music to drive to

Mind you,  Shanni chatted all the way so we had to keep altering the volume!!

She was so funny.
At one point she was talking about birds – does she ever talk about anything else??
She was telling me all about birds, esp parrots and things that she had learnt from having Poppi etc.
She then commented that ‘It is so much easier to learn about animals when you have one.’
and a few seconds later she remarked ‘I wonder what it would be like to study elephants’!!

She also commented that she really enjoyed her holiday in Australia.
She was one who didn’t want to go, so this was quite an admission.

We got home around 8pm.
Shanni & I unloaded the Safari all by ourselves.
Tim was having a very long phone conversation and Nathan cheerfully appeared just as we had finished – helpful lad.

Graham had left the mail in numbered piles along my desk so after I had the children sorted I began the task of opening it all.
I think it was after midnight before I managed to download all my emails – had to keep going in to my web mail and moving large files to a new folder to allow the other stuff through and then I moved them all back again and left the internet running all night.
Back to dial up – Lovely – NOT!

Saturday morning I dallied about.
Didn’t get dressed or showered.
Just cruised around in my dressing gown.
Got the unpacking started.
Made a start on all the washing.
I got Nathan to clean out the spa and refill it.
Graham popped around so chatted with him and Tim.
They had installed the new hot water cylinder on Friday and there were still tool and bits everywhere.
Also the wood stove is in pieces as the wetback needs fixing/replacing.
Graham is going to tackle it again when he returns from town – whenever that may be!
Tim & Nathan had cooked up a mutton roast and the kitchen still smelt of greasy mutton, which I just couldn’t handle.
So the house was in a general mess and I just couldn’t really face much.

Then at 1:45pm I was sorta thinking that maybe I should have a shower.
I popped into the study jusin time to hear my cell phone alarm go off.
I checked it and to my horror realised that Rossi’s 60th b’day party was on and I had forgotten it.
I actually had not forgotten the b’day – I had just forgotten what day it was – duh!
I had told them we would come so felt bad about not going.
So I zoomed into the shower, grabbed kids and fast food and was out the door 40mins later, yelling upstairs to Nathan to tell Dad that I had gone and I had 3 kids with me.
It was raining really hard but the road surface was good.

When we arrived an hour or so later we found they had been working on their road.
It was quite worked up and the rain was very heavy.
However I never had any slipping or sliding so all was cool.
The kids had a good time socialisng.
Poppi was a hit – party animal that he is!!
Azzan found a streamer of flowers and struck a pose with the birthday girl.
It was a 60’s theme and a lot of folk were dressed in 60’s clothes and costumes.
It was fun.

We left at 6pm as I didn’t want to be too late home.
Met a car coming down the hill.
The road is very narrow, so the car backed up about 100m so I could squeeze past.
It was very very foggy all the way home.

The kids were not very hungry so we popped them straight into bed.
I ended up having a l-o-n-g talk on the phone to Joy.
I had rung to see if I could get my sewing desk back which I lent to her a million years ago cuz Azzan is wanting one for an art table and it is just the perfect size for him.
She wanted to hear all about our holiday so an hour or so later………..

Today was wet.
We have had a wonderful lot of rain.
Tim is pleased

I hopped in the spa – first spa in 7 weeks.
I took my book and lay back and read for ages.
It was delicious.

Graham headed off to town this morning as he has physio, dr and dentist appointments.
Tim went up the hill to help him load his trailer.
I got more unpacking and washing done.
Thank God for my dryer.
I now just have about 6 baskets of dry washing to fold and put away – tomorrow methinks!

Just a general chill day really.
The girls have been playing hard out in Sylvania.
Azzan has been making pot pouri – he found one of his craft books and decided to use our newly blossoming spring bulbs – I have suggested some alternatives

Can’t seem to get too enthusiastic about kitchen duties yet.
So tonight I have chucked rice in the rice cooker – will figure out later what else to have with it.

My body has become so accustomed to waking in a different bed nearly every day for the past 6-7 weeks.
The last two mornings I have woken in my own bed but for a few moments have been quite disoriented and dont know where I am.
Weird!

The children are now watching ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ so I am going to go join them cuz I never got to see the end on the plane – we landed too soon!

Flying home

13/8

I was up at 6am.
Tim decided that if we weren’t having breakfast at the hotel we could let the children sleep an extra half hour.
So I ran myself a bath and wallowed for a while.
I had been hanging out to have a soak for weeks but it is something you do not do in Australia because everywhere has water restrictions.
But I figured I needed one.
It was just lovely.

Then we woke them one at a time and got them all up and ready.
Tim and one last bible reading time with the wee ones while we waited to take the bags to the main door.

Then it was all go.
We loaded into the shuttle van.
He left just before 7:30am.
We had to be at check in by 7:45am.

It was like a cattle herding there.
We queued up for ages and then all our major luggage was taken and we had to lug the rest of it.
Tim was all for hanging around a while and drinking all his bottles of water at his leisure but I hurried him along and said we had to go.
Thankfully we did.
Once we got through the security door the cattle herding was worse. The queue was miles long.
We moved along at a snails pace, the kids were getting really weatry of it all and the heavy back packs they all had to carry.
Finally we were through customs and then through security and we only had 30 mins before boarding.
Sp much for some leisurely time to duty free shop.
I quickly bought a couple of things and then we ordered some food to take away.
Not realising that they would fiddle faddle with it and it wouldn’t be ready immediately.
Tim was still waiting for it when they were calling us to board.

With the children we got to board fairly quickly and we were all down the back end of the plane so we had room to spread out a bit.
Tim ended up with a whole three seat row to stretch out in.
I watched ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ with Azzan & Shanni.
Didn’t get to finish it though which was a pain as I was quite getting into it!!

Azzan was very taken with watching the clouds and the mountains as we came into land so he bumped Mahalia out of her window seat..

As we were disembarking the hostess asked Azzan if he would like to see the cockpit.
Of course he would
So the others went ahead and we followed.

We cuaght up at customs, went through there fairly quickly and then at bio security we had to unpack all of Nathan’s stuff to get Tim’s two pairs of boots out.
They had to clean one pair.
Then they asked if there was anything else so we told them about Nathan’s cuttlefish.
It was checked and found to be okay.
They let us through with all the other food – including some birthday cake.

Alvin was waiting for us.
The plane had been delayed and we took ages to get through so he was running late for work.
We had so much stuff I didn’t think it would all fit in.
But Tim was determined it would and it did.
Mind you, you couldn’t see ano of us beneath it all!

We dropped Alvin off at the hospital where he was on guard duty. Then made our way to John & Lyn’s at Burnside to pick up Tim’s Safarai.
We had to wait there till 5:30pm for a hot water cylinder to be delivered.
I took the opportunity to zip over to Riccarton and get a frappacino.
Hadn’t had one Starbucks in Australia so I was hanging out for it.
Man it was good

By this time it was 6pm.
It was late and cold and we were all very tired.
So we drove to Loburn and spent the night with Brianna’s other family.
Thanks Nicky & Dave for putting us up again.

Today we have driven up the coast.
Stopped off in Blenheim to see Granny and give her a peice of the birthday cake.
I broke my glasses before we left Loburn so had to visit my optomotrist to order a new pair.
Then Tim, Nate & hali headed off to get the trailer and go home.
I drove to Nelson with Shanni & Assa.
We popped into Ruth’s to give her a piece of b’day cake too.

Got to Nelson in the rain.
Bought Chinese takeaways, ate them at John & Sally’s new house while we caught up with their news.
Then came back to the motel to spend the night.

Tomorrow we have to get the Safari warranted, Shanni to the physio to get her tailbone checked out, pick up Poppi from the Winnington’s and stock up the pantry as it is totally bare.
Then it is home sweet home

I am now totally blogged out

Good night from Kiwiland

Jesika’s 30th birthday & our last day in Australia

11/8

Tuesday was Jesika’s 30th birthday.

We were moving out of our cabin so I was up early and got several loads of washing done so I could leave clean linen for Jesika. We got to her place soon after 10am.
Unloaded all the stuff we were leaving behind.
Cat & Seb arrived and they took a lot of the food as they were heading of camping with Sasha.

We then all piled in to the cars and drove to Warrandyte.
It is one of Jesika’s favourite paces when she needs to get out of the city.
There is a lovely walk along the river.
We headed off to walk but the rain came in.
So we made a hurried trip up the hill to the cafe and had lunch while we waited for the rain to blow over.
As usual we arrived enmasse  and in good voice and humour and within moments 2 tables vacated.
I commented to the waitress that we are pretty good at emptying restaurants!!
She assured me that they had finished and it wasn’t our wonderful company that had driven them away

So we moved tables and got ourselves comfortable and placed our orders.
The food was wonderful.

Seb & Jesika shared this delectable cake.

Happy Happy Birthday Jesika

Then after we had filled our tummies Cat was anxious to head off on their adventures.
So Jesika gave them last minute directions on how to get to their destination.
They had about 4 hours of driving to get there.

Seb was wearing the hoodie I bought for him in Brisbane.
I was rapt as it was just the perfect size for him and the sleeves are plenty long enough

After Cat, Sasha & Seb left we all headed off on our walk along the river.
I had to go back for something so when I finally caught up they were way along the bank waiting for Nathan.

It was a beautiful spot – I can see why Jesika loves going there.

We dropped the kids off at the Stolk’s for a final play and time to say goodbye.
We went back to Jesika’s.
Tim & Nathan cleaned the car and repacked the bags.
I did some interneting and Herbie & Jesika went for a bike ride.
When they got back at 4pm we got instructions on how to get to the airport.
Jesika rode her bike ahead of us so she could say goodbye to the kids.
We picked them up after saying goodbye to Marion and headed off to the airport.

I stopped to buy some food and fuel.
Dropped the rental car off.
Had to lug ALL our gear over to the airport to wait for the shuttle bus.
It took us to our hotel.
We had a lovely dinner there.
It was realy funny.
The little ones haven’t exerienced 5 star dining before so were very fascinated by the cloth napkins etc.
They managed to keep their manners fairly tidy for once.

We were all in the one room so we were all tucked into bed well before 10pm.