loads of stuff!

Been doing a lot of stuff recently. As I've said before, we're still having gorgeous weather, so we've been making the most of that by going out on the boat and doing a huge amount of diving. Sharing a boat with Si and Ali really is the best thing!

We've been doing really long dives, about an hour each time because the visibility is just so good right now. We've also got another trip to the Poor Knights arranged for next weekend. Very excited about that.

Just leaving the marina - yep, another crappy day in the Bay of Islands!

Ali getting kitted up for the dive. Lloyd being boat man.

And we're in! it's like a fish tank!

Surrounded by fish!

 After diving, find a nice sheltered spot for lunch - home grown egg mayo buns with a bit of rocket.

Last weekend we hired a log splitter and spent the whole of Sunday splitting wood. Si and Ali came over and between the four of us we split enough wood to fill 5 trailers and then filled up their ute. We've all got enough wood for perhaps 2 winters now, and it was such good fun. We had lots of tea stops and a lovely long lunch.

Excuse the terrible photos!

In the tractor shed - this gives no idea of the huge amount of wood we've got hanging around!

One trailer load down - 4 more to go!

You really can't tell how big or full the woodshed is from the photo, but take my word for it - it's stuffed! And it smells amazing.

After all our hard work we had a take away curry. There's a curry/pizza place opened in Kaikohe - well it's been there a while now - called Smokin' Hot, and it is AMAZING. The curries are authentic and the best we've had in NZ, and how lucky it's opened in Kaikohe!

What else...I'm still going to pottery. Was there yesterday and cleaned up some wee bits and bobs I made last week to get them ready for firing. 

There's another egg dish - this time I measured out the spaces between the holes so all the eggs should fit in nicely. A few wee hearts and another bowl.  I also glazed one of the ready made bowls Sandrine has there. It's the old fashioned Mason and Cash pudding bowl shape, so I'm really excited about that. 

Autumn is well and truly here. Lots of the trees are bare already. I do love this time of year, especially when the weather is still so lovely. 

 Here's Lloyd and 2 of the dogs, doing their favourite thing. ( Bob was with me taking photos! )

Kopi doing her favourite thing - which is nothing. 

We celebrated Simon's birthday. We went over to theirs and had a lovely dinner. I made a lemon meringue roulade as a cake. it was ok! This was supposed to have he cake in it too!

and finally... I am getting old! After years of feeling rather smug, as all my friends succumbed to reading glasses, my time has finally come. I was trying to go for the nerdy, brainy look! Failed miserably!! But man, it's nice to be able to read!

Cyclone Lusi

I love a good storm. I don't want it to hurt anyone or cause damage, but I love listening to the wind and rain, love the wildness of it all. So when we were told that Cyclone Lusi was heading our way I took all the usual precautions - went all round the place making sure nothing could blow away, moving various bits of outside and deck furniture. Stocking up on water in case of a power cut etc. Then waited... and waited... and waited!

I know! New Zealand is a tiny country, and where we live is very narrow so it's difficult for the forecasters to really be sure of exactly what will happen, but at our place all we had were some gusty winds and rain. Not even torrential rain.

But as you can see, it was expected to be huge! We are right near the top of the North Island at the bottom of the very narrow bit ( more or less!)

So, against all warnings, I went off in the jeep with my trusty camera and searched out anything I could find that was storm related! I drove over to the coast, to Paihia, and oh wow, poor old Paihia was getting the brunt of it all. It was high tide and the sea was going crazy.

This is the road along the front. Usually Paihia is lovely and calm, I swim here a lot. There is no sea wall or anything like that, cos there really hasn't been a need for one!
However it seems like half the beach was washed onto the road. It was worse further along.

The usual flat waters round the beach, the boat area and the beach cafe.

More beach on the road further along the front. There were numerous fire engines here pumping out water from various places.

This wee dinghy broke its mooring right in front of me. It started bobbing along in the sea.

Very difficult to show the scale of these waves, but take my word for it, they were huge!

As far as I know, this yacht survived! It was well tied on!

And today it's al over. Rain has stopped and the sun is trying to come out.

Usually Paihia looks like this..

Mum's Here!

Last weekend mum arrived! Lloyd and I picked her up from Auckland then headed straight to Waiheke Island for a 2 night break. Mum had never been before so we thought it would be a nice treat.

Lloyd managed to get a wee sneaky pic of mum arriving! I think it would be fair to say we were happy to see eachother!

We visited our friend Rhona, this is her dog, Baxter.

Mum and Lloyd had to sample the local wine - it would be rude not to!

Outside Man o' War Winery

A 'selfie' taken by Lloyd - Mwahahaha!

Then it was my birthday - which was really lovely. I made myself some cakes! Well, I ate one and mum and Lloyd had one each too.

Big Yum!

Since arriving home we've been doing stuff every day. Today we went out with Nick and Sara on their boat and met up with Simon and Ali who were out on Roxi. Here we all are - having a rather lovely time.

Lots of lovely things and one bad thing...

First the good things!

We bought a boat! We wet halves with Si and Ali. It's an old malborough hull nippy wee thing. Their neighbour was selling it, so we got rather a bargain. It's been amazing. We only got it a couple of weeks ago, but have already been out diving like crazy people. It's just great for the 4 of us to have the freedom to go out and dive whenever we want. 

And yes, it is called Le Coq. Already this has generated hours of endless amusement!

So to look the part I made myself a striped top to wear :) cos I pretty much know nothing about boats! However, I did manage to get the anchor up, well my friend Darlene, and I together, got the anchor up and drove it over to the guys who surfaced from a dive a wee bit away. That was an achievement!

My stripey top!

We've also had friends Darlene and Chris staying, who are over on holiday. I went to school with Darlene, so we've known eachother for more years than I care to admit! We had an absolutely brilliant time with them, packing in as much as we could. We went down to the Poor Knights Islands for a days diving with Yukon Dive ( who are absolutely brilliant) and did 2 of the best dives I have ever done ( and I've done a LOT!)  Si and Ali came too and it was amazing.

Me going through an underwater crack.

 A Moray Eel

Simon pointing something out

Teeny, tiny nudibranchs. These are one of my favourite underwater thing to find. They are very, very small.

And as if that wasn't enough, the following day we went out on Le Coq, Si drove, Darlene and I actually didn't dive, but just chatted all day on the boat while Chris and Si went for a scallop dive. Then they went for a wee snorkel at Black Rocks and picked some mussels. We had scallops and mussels for a starter that night!

We knew that the forecast was for heavy rain on Chris and Darlene's last day so we made the most of the three days of sun. We went for a drive over to the Hokianga. Which is always stunning.

Land surfing?

Happy to be here!

So we have been very busy, and thank goodness ( and thank goodness for good friends keeping our spirits up) because Bob has been ill. He had our own amazing vets a little stumped so we rushed down to Auckland to see some specialists down there. He's had every test known to man and xrays and ultrasounds. After a lot of results they think he has/had a kidney infection. His last urine test was all clear so this is great news, but this morning his temperature was up again. He seems on the mend though, but I really don't know. It is incredibly stressful for us. Not having any children, we lavish all our love on our dogs. They are our family, so when one of them is ill it's awful, and awful not knowing exactly what to do. I'll keep you posted.

Happy (Belated) New Year

and what else have we been up to?

well, Northland is basking in truly gorgeous summer weather, it's hot, it's sunny, and Lloyd and I are brown as berries.

We've also been really busy making the most of it all.

Hogmany was wonderful. We went to the beach at R&V's and there was a small crowd of the usual suspects. A lovely mix of adults and children ( most of whom are really young adults now!)
The late afternoon started with biscuiting on the water - in case anyone's not sure what this is, you get towed behind a boat (at speed) while lying perched on top of a smallish blow up thingy! Best fun ever!! Especially when you get flung off. Which I did.

Then a game of cricket, lovely food, some fireworks and a Happy New year all round.

As a non drinker it would be fair to say, I feel a wee bit smug on New Years day cos I feel great!!! 

Next on the agenda....a trip over to the Hokianga, to the sand dunes at Omapere/Opononi. We've been over here loads of times, D&P have a bach here so it would be fair to say we visit them quite a lot! However, we've never been over to the dunes, just viewed them from the other side. This time Danny took us all over in his Takacat. The dunes are HUGE from this side! Supposedly some get up to 300m - you can't tell the sheer scale of them from photos.

Lloyd having a wee snooze after his swim. The water might look lovely and calm, but there was quite a strong current. If you swam against it you just stayed in the same place! But not so strong that it washed you off your feet. Brilliant fun!

 Wilson has the right idea - she made a wee home for herself in the shade, under the boat!

After our strenuous day (!) we headed to the Copthorn at Omapere, where we devoured some curly fries!!! Not a bad view to gaze on while we were chowing down.

Then we had a day of rest...which means we got some stuff done in the garden - mowing, weeding, checking the water situation - not much rain up here.

But by yesterday we were on the go again!
The Tall Ships race was on in the bay and Si and Ali took us out on Roxi. I can't really put into words what an absolute treat this was! The day was stunning, and being on a yacht we were right in the thick of it. We'd never have seen the race like this from land.
It was stunning!

it was the best day. Probably one of the best days I've ever had! I really do have to pinch myself often.

I also have a huge thank you!
Without the lovely Bella and Craig, who are staying at The Acorn just now, we wouldn't have been able to have these 2, long, days out; because we would have had to be back for our dogs. But they have looked after them for us, let them out for wees, taken them down to the Acorn to play with their own dogs, Mollie and Luna and generally been totally brilliant! We cant thank them enough.
We collected up some garden bits and bobs and a wee bottle of Lloyds newest chili sauce to say thank you.

Bella emailed me a couple of pics - I think it would be fair to say our dogs didn't miss us one bit! And I think Luna and Mollie may have enjoyed their company!

Brodie certainly enjoyed theirs!!

So, all that remains to be said is, happy 2014 everyone. May it bring you happiness and a good time!!