January 13th 2020: Edu-chicken wishes you a happy New Year

'Been there, done that'. Actually, it was the 9th time I walked the Pinnacles track. The Wairarapa is just a nice region to visit for a day from Kapiti. So when we had Noor and Livia over we decided to enjoy the nice weather by having a look at the Pinnacles and the seal colony in Cape Palliser.

Because it was holiday season we had to wait 15 minutes to take this picture. A group of Chinese tourists was making pictures of every possible combination of friends and every possible angle. Only after Livia refused to be in a picture with lady dressed in bright pink and yellow (probably to scare the snakes of) they realised we wanted to make a picture as well. Click, click, done and on our ways again. Behind us several of the Chinese group discovered a few not previously photographed square cm of rock and eagerly started clicking away again.

They moved the track a bit, but having been there so often, we just followed the stream in order to cool of a bit.

Around New Year there are always a lot of young seals at Cape Palliser. Just lovely to watch. So we brought our picnic and settled down like pensioners...... Until the wind blew Noors food in my face. Time to grab the camera and look for some photogenic seal pups.

Just a selection of the many cuties lying around. Don't worry, these were taken with a 55-250 lens.

'What are you waking me up for?'

Beach side resort.

A mum with 5 pups, wow.

We told the girls to be aware of sleeping seals in the shrubbery. They kept their distance!

Noor is studying to do a entry test for the Medical university in the Netherlands, so I gave something to practise with. A medical puzzle.

Our New Years party always starts with Rutgers 'oliebollen'. He is a true 'oliebollen' chef. Already famous all over the North island for his creations. It did not last long before his stall was crowded with hungry people. For the Kiwi's, an 'oliebol' is a deep-fried raisin bun topped with powdered sugar. Normally eaten once a year on New Years eve in the Netherlands, preferably in the snow!

A well deserved break from the all preparations.

With around 35 guests and stunning weather it was just a perfect night.

A small selection of the amazing food people brought in, from hare-pie to Maroccan meatballs and from a delicious deer-dish to amazing eclairs. Not surprisingly had quite a bit of food left over and enjoyed that over the next days.

Our good old rusty fire pit is still working well.

Even organised a nice sunset again.

Yum, yum, the last oliebollen have been confiscated by the youngsters.

And when 'Paradise by the dashboard light" is on, the ladies can't sit still anymore and just have to dance! Alcohol has got nothing to do with this.

And then it is time for fireworks. A very special one this time as this was a box of fireworks left here by our amazing friend Ruben, who unfortunately passed away in October. So we took the time to commemorate Ruben and to think of Sabien and her children who now live in the Netherlands.

The next day some die-hards presented themselves at breakfast. By that time the group had been reduced to about 10.

And when it was time for the traditional New Years dive only a few real heroes were left. Granted, the weather had turned into a colder breeze and the sun had taken a holiday.

Brrrrrr

And how proud we are, next year in Scheveningen with the famous Unox beanie on.

Nienke and Livia had decided to go to 'Alice in Wonderland' in the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, but because they had not seen the movie yet I got them to see 'Alice in Wonderland' in 3D. I remembered our 10 year old TV had this feature and I could even locate the 3D glasses to go with it.

Livia and Nienke working on some Oamaru stone creations.

Yes, you are not mistaken. A nice sweater and the fire is on. Where has the summer gone?

Ah, there it is. Our private walkway to the beach. The agaphantus is starting to blossom.

Although many people living on the coast are worried about the effects of climate chance our beach is still growing. May have to build a jetty so we can launch here.

And probably picture no. 2659 of a sunset from our house, but every time it's beautiful again.

Had a few very windy nights and that always means a few macrocarpa trees will lose some limbs.

Opportunity for me to get my toys out again and have some fun. Too much firewood now, I may have to build a new shed. A famous saying here in NZ, 'a man never has enough sheds'.

With Noor now gone to Bali playing Mah Yong in the evening had changed a bit. With 3 it's not as much fun as with 4. We really need to find some Kiwi's who can play this. By the way, this combination is ugly. My poor grandparents (I inherited this beautiful ivory/bamboo set) would be horrified.

We caught another ferret. Not so strange they are around, as there are heaps of rabbits everywhere. If only we could come to an agreement with these creatures; stay of the chickens, our pet rabbits, the quails, fantails, silver eyes and pheasants ...... He would not and now he is sleeping on the wrong side of the grass.

So if you want to be a self respected painter you have to own a scaffolding. So I bought one. A nice aluminium one as all steel rusts beach side and steel is so much heavier. I need it to paint our own house. Nienke and I have dug our trenches and negotiations about the colours have started. We'll keep you informed.

Summer means fruit salad to me, lots of it. This batch was made for Liesbeth and Guy who came to visit with her parents. Great evening again and again way to much food. The next morning our chickens asked why they could not get some desert wine with their tiramisu.

'Ouderwets gezellig' (not possible to translate).

Talking about chickens. Meet edu-chicken. She is the sole survivor of our old batch. Our five new hyliners (for the Dutchies: Barnevelders) were pretty stupid. Almost never tried any food scraps we gave them. A real 'wat de boer niet kent dat vret-ie niet' (what the farmer doesn't recognise, he won't eat) mentality. They had not produced eggs either. So we introduced the old hen to the new ones. A very brief struggle to establish the pecking order was all it took. Now edu-chicken has taught them to lay eggs, split and eat the many apples on the ground and eat our scraps. Wonder women.

Meanwhile on the other side the young Bantam chickens are growing. One of the 'chickens' appears to be a walking alarm clock, also know locally as a rooster. Nienke has heard it crowing twice now and immediately issued a fatwa It looks like the rooster is doomed.
OK, that's it for now. Summer goes hand in hand with music, and we have several concerts coming up, WOMAD, Queen in Wellington and the Jordan Luck band (from the in NZ world famous band the Exponents with Why does love do that to me). We'll therefore end with some music. It's a song from the Canadian band the Eastpointers. Their new CD has just arrived from Australia (ordered it a month ago). It's one of Nienkes favourites.