Ned and Cutie

The fence was finished on Thursday so we now have a fully enclosed section of the garden.

Today we have Ned with us. He’s staying with us for the weekend to see how he gets along. We picked him up this morning at about 9.30am.  He willingly jumped into the back of the car and then immediately over onto the back seat! As we drove home he was happily rolling on his back.  He was a bit unsure when he first came into the house – he’s been living at the kennels for two years so hasn’t spent much time inside.

We walked him around the perimeter of the whole garden so he could see what was there. Unfortunately, when we got down behind the vines there was a dog in our garden from the farm behind us.  This got Ned very excited! The dog went back to his own garden, cleverly negotiating the electric cattle fence to get there.

Ned seems to be very intelligent. He already understands that the big soft cushion in the lounge is his bed and seems to understand when we tell him to go there.  He did have a minor accident up the curtains in the lounge but we’ve put that down to scenting as there were dogs living here not too long ago. He hasn’t done it again... so far.  We’ve been taking him out at regular intervals on the lead in the fenced section so he can get accustomed to where he needs to go to the toilet.

After lunch we were feeling a bit braver so we decided to let him have a run in the fenced area. Armed with treats and a ball we stood at either end and managed to call him back and forth between us.  He certainly loves to run! Unlike the greyhounds we’re used to, Ned seems to run straight into us! He has lots of energy and was very happy to run free. We’re being a bit cautious at the moment as he still seems a bit keen to get through the gaps in the fence and we’re not too sure if he can or not yet.

Last week we had a home check by GAP (Greyhounds as Pets – the only greyhound re-homing centre in NZ). The lady brought one of her greyhounds with her – Gizmo – who was very sweet.  We then had a phone call on Thursday morning from Irene at GAP to say that they thought Cutie would be suitable for us with Ned. She’s four and currently in a foster home in Wellington.  She likes to play so Irene thought she’d get along with Ned as he’s very energetic. It may be a few weeks before she gets to us though as Wellington is at the other end of the island to us and they have to work out the logistics of getting her up here.  It’s about a twelve hour drive from us to Wellington so she may have to have a couple of overnight stays on the way. These are some pictures of her from the GAP website.

Little Blue Tractor?

Today saw the departure of several thousand dollars, but the arrival of an exciting new toy!

For the garden geeks among you, it's an MTD Yardman (LT20-A). It has a 750cc V-Twin engine and it channels its mighty 20HP through an automatic gearbox. It has 10 cutting heights and a simple, two pedal drive system (right-foot accelerator, left-foot brake). There's even a drinks holder (which seems specifically designed to hold beer cans). Oh, and should insomnia strike (and if I feel like sharing my sleeplessness with the neighbours) it has headlights :)

Finally, assuming Norwich City can keep up their fine run of form, I can pretend I bought it in Canaries colours to celebrate their return to the Premiership!

Now, brace yourself for some gratuitously bare legs...

You were warned!

We've moved in

We’ve moved into our new house! Mostly anyway.

Our new furniture was delivered late yesterday afternoon. Everything was fine apart from the oven – we were told it would only need plugging in – no wiring. But when it arrived it needed wiring.  It was too late in the day to call anyone – especially the day before Easter weekend. Luckily, the builder (Eddie) was still at the house finishing off the fence. He volunteered to connect up the oven for us.  He connected the cable to the oven but it didn’t turn on. He then discovered the oven socket hadn’t actually been connected. Eddie connected the socket but the oven still didn’t work!  Next he checked the fuse board and found that the oven fuse had never been connected.  At this point Eddie decided to call his brother who is an actual electrician! Dave arrived and connected the fuse in minutes and the oven worked J By then it was too late to cook though so we had take-away!

So last night we slept in our new house. Our furniture is somewhat minimalist at the moment but we’re managing. We’re using our new dining table as our desk until we get something built in the office.  We only have four plates and dishes so we have to wash up quite frequently. We’ve bought the basics we need until our stuff arrives from the UK next month.

This morning we sorted out the kitchen – putting what little stuff we do have in the appropriate cupboards. We’ve never taken our clothes out of our suitcases since we’ve been here so we will have to do that at some point.

We then went back to the rental house to clean and tidy up. We gave the key back to Julie and Graham and said goodbye – although they said they’ll probably drop by tomorrow to take some grapes.

We’re going to clean the dining room this afternoon – there are some paint splashes that need removing and we’re cleaning every room thoroughly before we put any furniture in.  We might not do too much else today – maybe watch a film later as we have a 50” TV again now J

Driveway down to the house

From the top

The new fence

Where the garage will be built

Through the vines from the bottom of the garden

Under the vine nets

From the vines

A kingfisher sitting on the new fence

New garden furniture

New sofas

New oven and fridge/freezer

More painting

This weekend we’ve been painting again. Last weekend we painted the lounge, kitchen and the two spare bedrooms.  This weekend we painted the other lounge, the hallway between the two spare bedrooms, the bathroom for the two spare bedrooms and the dining room.

We took some before and after photos of the dining room as it’s the only room where the colour is different enough to see a change!  It looks like we’ve painted it white but the colour is actually a light version of a paint called “Sugared Grapes”. It’s a light purple/grey colour.

We started painting at about 11am today after walking the dogs. It’s been really sunny today and the dining room is more like a conservatory as it has one completely glass wall.  It was like painting in a greenhouse! The paint was drying quicker than we could put it on the walls. We couldn’t even open the doors as we’d had to mask them with tape.

We did a second coat this afternoon but because the dining room was so dark before we need to do a third coat tomorrow. Neither of us can really face it but it has to be done!  The furniture is coming on Thursday so we want to finish most of the house by then.

The builders have been at the house over the last week. They have fixed the cladding on the front of the house and added some drainage at the back. They are back next week to build a fence so we can get some dogs.

While we were painting yesterday the real estate agent that sold us the house dropped in and brought us a bucket full of cleaning stuff and a cool-bag with wine, kumara chips and aubergine ketchup!

We also had a visit from Bruce (the man who owns the vineyard across the road from us and who has been looking after the vines on our property). The harvest is almost over for this year so he is going to show us what we need to do for next year. He told us there were lots of strange people living on our road and that they all had nicknames! We’re looking forward to meeting them J

Painting

Nothing very exciting to say today. We spent the whole day painting! Last night we went to the house and cleaned the kitchen/lounge walls and ceiling with sugar soap.

We filled all the holes in walls too. So today we painted the kitchen and lounge. It took us ages to tape around all the doors, windows, light switches and sockets.

We then covered the whole room in plastic sheets – it looked like a scene from Dexter!

We had quite a good system of painting. James rollered the ceiling while I painted the walls with a paint pad. We finished the first coat at 1.30pm so went back to the rented house for some lunch while it dried.

We then did the second coat. The colour is a couple of shades lighter than the previous colour. As paint is very expensive James warned me that whatever colour I chose would be the one we had!

Luckily it’s quite neutral. It looks good after the second coat – nice and clean and a bit brighter.

Tomorrow we’re aiming to paint the two spare bedrooms but we’ll start a bit later as we have to walk the dogs first.

Kerikeri Basin

This afternoon we went to the Kerikeri basin. We walked along the river track which leads to Rainbow Falls. We walked from Rainbow Falls to the basin in the first week we arrived.

We didn’t walk very far along the river track this time. We came back and crossed the river over the bridge which leads to Kemp House and the Stone Store.

Kemp House is the oldest building in New Zealand. It was built by Maori sawyers and missionary carpenters from the London-based Church Missionary Society in 1820-21. It is the sole survivor of the Musket Wars of the 1820's.

Next to Kemp House is the Stone Store which is New Zealand’s oldest stone building. The Stone Store was built to hold mission supplies and wheat from the mission farm at Te Waimate, but the building was mainly leased as a kauri gum trading store. It was built by an Australian convict. Today it is still run as a store selling local crafts.

We walked up the hill from the Stone Store to St. James Church. In the graveyard there were headstones for many of the Kemp family. The church was opened in December 1878, at a cost of £235. We went inside and there were stained glass windows at either end of the small church.

Wairere Boulders

We get the keys to our new house next week, on the 6^th, so this week we’ve been looking at paint as we thought we’d paint all the rooms before we move in. Paint is REALLY expensive here – about £80 for 10 litres. There is a store called Bunnings Warehouse, which is a bit like B & Q in the UK, so we thought we’d see if they had any paint that wasn’t quite so expensive. We don’t have one in Kerikeri so today we drove to Kaikohe which is about 30km away. They are the nearest town to us that has a Bunnings. We picked up some paint colour charts and they had some paint that was slightly cheaper – only £70 for 10 litres!

It was such a nice day that we decided to drive on to a place we’d seen advertised in the local library – Wairere Boulders. This is basically a valley full of enormous boulders. A Swiss couple bought the valley almost 30 years ago and have turned the boulders into a tourist attraction.

When we arrived we met one of the owners, Felix, who told us the story of the boulders and also how the local community had installed its own broadband! He also told us he was an engineering professor who left Switzerland 30 years ago to have a change of lifestyle by living in NZ.

We then started the walk through the boulder valley. It was a 2 hour walk to see everything. There were massive boulders that seemed to be held up by very little. Some we had to squeeze through or under to follow the path. The boulder trail was a loop but there were a couple of paths off the loop which we took. One was to the bush pool where we saw some local goats clambering over the boulders. The other was to a platform that overlooked a large section of the boulders. It was hot work to get to the platform as it was all uphill and it’s been a really warm day but it was worth it when we saw the view from the top.

After we left the boulders we drove on to Kaitaia, which is further north, and then back east along the coast road through Doubtless Bay and Coopers Beach. We stopped for a drink in a harbour side cafe at Mangonui.

We arrived home just in time for dinner and a rest – but we do get an extra hour of sleep as our clocks go back tonight - we'll then be only 11 hours ahead of the UK.