Wow, a month has passed already. Time flies when you're having fun.
So what is happening in New Zealand. Yes, we have Covid back in the country and we do not know where it came from. It's contained though (no new cases for the last 3 days) and all the patients are in quarantine. Other new cases are Kiwi's and permanent residents returning from abroad, mainly England, India and the States and all of those are in managed isolation as well. We are currently in level 2, but we do not really notice anything of that. Life continues more or less the way it was with only masks required in public transport. We do use an app to register where we have been. All shops and restaurants have an QR code displayed that you simply scan. If needed you can be tracked that way. After tennis we were having a drink in the pub when one of the guys showed us how to look at your history. Mmmm. in my case, 5 pubs, 4 restaurants, a liquor store and the Hammer hardware. Good thing all data are secured and private...........
It was a bit scary though, the new wave spread through a suburb of Auckland quickly, mainly because it occurred in a close knit community and a church community.
As you can see life on the farm continues as normal. I made these pictures for the children of a Peruvian family where we stayed a couple of days. Covid has not reached them as they live in a really remote canyon, even for Peruvian standards. Peru is one of the worst hit countries regarding Covid by the way. No Covid for them, but unfortunately their house was washed away in a flooding and of course authorities are not able or do not want to help. Luckily a local Dutch guy is helping them and he and I set up a GoFundMe page to get them money to build a protective wall. He started the page and I maintain the website as internet is too slow there to upload anything. Have a look at this clip where the family are filling gabions which are the base of the wall. All done by hand and the whole family is helping.
So you see, we are pretty safe on this side of the world. No Covid, no floodings and for a while now, no earthquakes.
It has affected our life a tiny bit though. This is Nienkes workplace at home. Two screens and a laptop to Zoom while she continues to work. She has been doing two jobs for the last months and is pretty tired. Luckily a new colleague started this week. In the meantime, we see her
name in the paper regularly. I have installed a proper double monitor arm so the desk looks a bit cleaner now and we could store our books on the shelves again to make us look wiser.
Still winter here, but mostly beautiful sunny weather with calm seas. Longing for a holiday, but hey, being stuck out here is not really bad. Going on a holiday to India or South America again is something for the future and even visiting Europe is not on our list for now. Tickets are sparse and expensive and when we return to NZ we have to go in quarantine for 2 weeks and pay for it ourselves. Not to mention that airplanes and airports are petri-dishes where you can easily pick up the virus which we would than bring to our parents? Is not going to happen.
A form of entertainment I'm not too fond of, karaoke. After a few wines and whiskeys my singing improves hugely though. Even the other started to sing better. Too bad we did not make any recordings.
I was supposed to go on a 4 day conference in Christchurch, but our level 2 had just started a day before. They managed to quickly convert it to an online conference, so I have been sitting in front of a screen for 4 days. Have to say, I can get used to this.....
For a moment it looked like we could be heading for lock down again. So my lovely wife decided to make her own masks. After all, she still had to go to Wellington for meetings every now and then, and in the train masks were obligatory.
The old Pfaff sewing machine was moved from under a pile of champagne flutes, memorabilia and other things that are usually blocking your way in the living room and of she went.
I 'donated' one of my favourite shirts (which apparently was worn beyond repair) and I'm not sure where the rest came from, but we do have enough supply now. Funny thing, so far Nienke has only used one once!
Do you think I have practised enough now? Nienke gave me this plastic magpie once to practise on. Unfortunately it recently broke its back. I may need a replacement. Maybe a plastic rabbit. The magpies have gone, or at least, know not to show themselves around our house. The rabbits on the other had keep doing what rabbits do. Resulting in flocks of fluffy diggers.
As a well deserved break for Nienke we decided to visit three pairs of friends on the east coast of New Zealand. First Willem and Carla in Waihi, then Wouter Jan and Bianca in Tauranga and then Louis and Sue in Havelock north. A great start in Waihi where Willem and Carla showed us the building process of their new house.
And while listening to their enthusiastic stories of their new build we discovered that they have nice sunsets in Waihi too.
Pretty amazing ay?
Willem and Carla were invited for an Indonesian dinner at some other Dutch friends house. We bribed ourselves in with some babi ketjap, seroendeng and atjar Nienke. This slow cooker is one of the best things we discovered here in New Zealand, perfect for making stews and in this case that lovely Indonesian dish. Of course made a day before as it is even nicer when reheated.
A day later we felt the need to burn some calories. A stiff walk to the beach (they live high on a cliff) should do. Passing a few cows who were very interested in us.
Worrying news messages around climate change have made us think about our future on the beach.We're actually looking for some piece of land like this, still overlooking the ocean, but a bit higher. Not an easy job.
This one is near perfect. The walk passes this secluded beach with it's own waterfall. Willem and Carla sometimes just sleep on the beach, and why wouldn't they!
Dinner at Adriaan van Kersen was amazing. He loves cooking Indonesian as well and with all the dishes others brought it soon looked like an oversized traditional 'rijsttafel'.
Loved his house as well, gave us some inspiration for our own new to be build dream. We had to love a bit about his lamps hanging over the kitchen island because they were powered by batteries. At 10pm there was a huge power cut, stretching out over the whole of Waihi and it did not come back on again that evening. Needless to say that teverone complimented Adriaan on his wise decisions.
The weather had changed completely by the time we reached Wouter Jan and Bianca in Tauranga, only 25 km further south. Bitterly cold and wet. But Bianca and horses, even a snow and hail storm would not keep her away.
"Tafel grillen' (grilling meat/fish on the table), a good old Dutch tradition. The host doesn't have to do anything (everybody cooks for him/herself) and if food gets burned, you can only blame yourself. All jokes aside, it's what we call 'gezellig' (cozy).
Yep, should do that soon again. Too bad the drive to that area of NZ is about 6 hours from our place. With Nienkes new hybrid RAV4 a breeze though. With the cruise control and build in radar the only thing you have to do is steer the car.
One of the very few roads we had never driven, from Taupo to Hawkes bay. Very nice indeed and a beautiful hidden waterfall.
If only that was true. After this long weekend we need to spend more calories the honest way. Unfortunately no pictures from our get together with Sua and Louis, but needles to say that it was a great evening as always.
After Wooffers and Helpex we decided to try out Workaway. Although we are good to the climate we are not completely organic (one of the o's in woof stands for organic), we very occasionally use chemical spray under the fences and me shooting rabbits, magpies and ferrets is maybe also not completely 'green'. Our first Workawayers was a nice French couple that had been in NZ since February. They loved it at our place. Worked well and even cooked! Soon a guy from Brasil will follow.
And then I had to call the ambulance. Not for Nienke or the French couple, but for Fergie, the tractor. Although not mortally wounded it wouldn't move anymore. An arterial bleeding (petrol spurting from a petrol line) meant it had to go to the tractor emergency department. And then, just like old people you find out that general health is fading a bit. It needed a new pacemaker (start motor and battery) and a few joint replacements. Damage: 1000 dollar. Well, in all those years we hardly spent anything on it.
It was a week of bad luck though. Waterpump broke down, alarm system started to beep (and did not stop), still couldn't find the leak somewhere in our extensive water pipe system, etc. Our van needed some more repairs as well. And then a crown broke. Dentist said she could repair it. Well, that lasted 4 days and of course on a Sunday the tooth had to come out. Hooray. New implant. Time to let the sunshine in and let the summer start!
But snow on the tops of the Tararua's behind us showed us that spring has many faces. The French couple experienced 4 seasons in one day like we have often in NZ. Luckily they were already behaving a bit like Kiwi's after 8 months, they just put on a raincoat and got to work.
I did reward them a few times with a hot tub after work.
Remember I was on a trip on the south island? I had that amazing salmon and bacon pie in Fairly. Guy and Liesbeth came for dinner and Nienke was going to try and make a salmon and bacon pie. Oh my, that was delicious. Came very close to the Fairly one. I know it sounds like an odd combination, but just try it out yourself.
Had to do a stiff walk in the morning again though. Luckily we have a few miles of beach to do the walk of shame without being seen by too many people.
Found it. Did another round along all the water pipes. Did not find anything which meant that I had to start digging. Dug up several pipes and was starting to lose faith. I had narrowed it down to one of the three leads from the pump shed. Nothing on the mountain side of the house. Was about to start digging near the tub but then thought 'let's check that one tap under the tree first'. Stepped in a puddle in the grass that shouldn't be there. Got it. A root from the three had started pushing against a pipe and the tension broke a three way T-piece. Luckily I had a spare in my 'water-box' and could repair it. It only took 6 months to find it. Farmers say, just wait till summer, where the grass is greener is your leak. Well, that does not work in winter time and also not on dune sand.
The culprit.
Relieved I had solved the problem I grabbed the gun and went rabbit hunting. In one and a half hour I shot 13 rabbits. It's a huge plague. This one by the way is a bit exaggerating don't you think? Fell backwards like in a John Wayne movie. Even our older neighbour now allows me to hunt on her property. Recently her cat did not come home and somehow she was under the impression that I don't like cats. Where would she have picked up that idea? I was the first on her call list. Anyway, Nienke and I helped searching for the bloody cat. Of course after 2 days the bastard turned up again, probably has been shagging another cat during a romantic weekend. Since I helped her and reassured her that I do know the difference between a wild rabbit and a big fluffy ugly white cat I now can cross the border. I hope for her that her cat does not ware camouflage. Right, I have only shot 3 rabbits this morning and want to get a few more before Nienke pick me up for a get together with friends tonight. Be careful guys!
_+Lucky+shot+bij+Whangaroa.jpg)