February 4th 2020: Don't stop me now.

Excited for tomorrow. We'll be going to Queen, performing in Wellington. Because of that the music this week will of course be a clip of Queen with Adam Lambert.

Bad weather. It's always like that in January and Kiwi's keep forgetting. Every year they ask themselves why summer is so bad, even prompting a local to ask on our Community facebook page: "Can someone who believes in God ask him where the heck our summer is?" It won't be long before the discussion about moving the summer holiday forward will pop up again. Like I said, every year it's the same, but then again, they don't like change so maybe they like complaining?

Nevertheless, we usually have four seasons in one day, and beautiful sunsets will come by more then often.

Wellington day (the days the first settler ship arrived in Wellington in 1840) was conveniently on a Monday this year, so we had a long weekend. We decided to join our friends Marya and Roger at Lake Taupo. This is Mount Tauhara on the other side of the lake, locals say it looks like a sleeping lady. I guess through a bottle everything looks different.

In the morning a quail family came begging for food, which Marya provided plenty.

And the water looked lovely.

Even better on the water. Unfortunately I was not allowed to fish as I did not have a license. A local Iwi is trying to protect the trout population and sets the rules for fishing. It's almost like the Netherlands.....

Hot, hot,hot, so Nienke took a plunge to cool of. Lake Taupo is quite cold, especially further from the shore line where it's about 186 m. deep. For those who can't remember, Lake Taupo is actually a caldera with a surface of 616 square km. The Taupo volcano erupted around 200 AD and was so violent that the effects were noticed by the Romans and Chinese. Pretty brave lady ay?

Found a nice spot with a waterfall and some hot pools, steam hanging above the lake.

Our friends have a couple of these jet skies, you know, those things that annoy you when you are trying to have a nap or want to read a book. I guess it makes them feel young again. Not my cup of tea though. My wife, being 5 years younger than me was quite attracted to these race machines.

After a few instructions Nienke is addicted too!

Playing on the water is nice, but you have to bring in the boat again afterwards. Bit of a hassle.

Nienke has been paddle boarding as well. I have to say, she is standing up pretty straight ay?

Nice to see Nienke relaxed. She's been working full on at the Council and a weekend break like this is just the right recipe for work stress.

Meanwhile in Te Horo Beach, our house sitters have been creating beach art. They were only with the four of them, but after receiving lots of positive reactions they will soon return for a new session.

Looked even better with the sun set behind it.

The problem with hay making is that there are only a few hay makers left doing smaller jobs like life style properties.. You've all seen the big round bales in green plastic lying around in huge paddocks. That kind of machinery is not fit for our small farm and even if it was, the owners would not be interested in our small enterprise. So we are dependent on a few hay makers with somewhat dated machinery. Trying to get hold of them is one thing, getting them to your property is a whole different story. They've got so much work and the weather is important too, that you just have to be happy if they come at all, and getting a date is a bonus. Anyway, I happened to be home when they finally came and had to bring in 172 bales on my own (well, Nienke helped me with the last 20 or so when she came back from work early).

Even our own paddocks produced a nice amount of bales this year. The photo above is from the road side.

Stanley, the 65 year old Massey Ferguson 35 and my trusty partner was still running very smoothly.

Soon both hays sheds were completely chokka. Likely enough food for our cows. We are going to get 2 new calves soon. The male Friesian/Hereforder cross we have at the moment is going to be chopped up as he is showing unwanted signs of testosteron overload. Besides, 3 is more than enough, the grass is not growing very fast in summer so we may have to give them some hay on the side. Our neighbour lost one cow. She, being quite hungry, breached the fence and went out looting in the neighbourhood. Probably ate a few things she should not have as she died on his driveway.

Probably one of the last fires for now. With everything turning dry as, fires are not allowed anymore. With the Australian bush fires in mind I think more people than ever will keep to the rules this year.

Funny pic of one of the chicks hiding under mum's feathers.

Maartje came over with 2 of her sisters from the Netherlands. She even offered to cook for us and helped cleaning up. Ideal guests! Nice evening too! Tomorrow again?

The fight against rabbits is ongoing. This is just to show you how big the holes are. A big entrance and then 3 channels going in different directions. Like a commune. This one was even small compared to the ones on my neighbours property, you can easily crawl into some of them. I may have to catch a ferret, domesticate it and teach it to hunt rabbits.

I am preparing the build of a new fence here for all our young chickens. The Kune Kune's  showed very briefly some interest in my activities, but soon showed concentration problems and went for an after breakfast nap.

That's what you get when you are  that lazy, fenced in completely.

And then suddenly we had an amazing day again. It being a Friday we logically extended our Friday afternoon drinks into a BBQ. Taught the Kiwi's how to have a real BBQ, with charcoal.

Meanwhile the ladies were entertaining Tia, the grandchild of the group.

Trevor in the role of the BBQ master chef.

Familiar scenes of joy.

Nienke posing with Janet and Trevor.

Thanks Jane, lovely picture, one for on the chimney.

And of course we had to end up around the fire, with a nice selection of '70's music in the background.

The young Bantam chickens in their new environment. I build a bigger coop for them too. All of recycled materials and left overs from the roof. The only thing I bought was  an aluminium door that automatically closes at 9 pm and opens again at 7 pm. Very clever. Ferrets and stouts can't get in during the night.

Not sure what we are going to do with the little rooster, it already has a comb and a nice layer of feathers on his legs. Haven't heard it crowing yet. Friends are not very interested, so it will probably 'coq-au-vin' for this little guy.
Right, time to prepare for tomorrow as 'The show must go on'.