I was never really a fan of opera music, but started to appreciate it a bit more during our holiday in northern Italy a few years ago. I've now got a decent collection. Recently discovered that the lounge label Cafe del Mar also had classical music, the Aria series. Very pleasing music. This is Metamorphosis by Paul Schwartz:
There are those kind of questions that are very hard to answer. Like how did Donald Trump become president or how does a mouse get trapped with it's head faced the way out, ... Well the second one is easier to explain I guess.
It scares me to see how many stupid people there are in the usa (the country does not deserve capital letters anymore). Marc Twain said: 'it's easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled'. Especially all those so called christians who just don't want to see the dirty old fool Trump is, but adore him like he is the returned messiah himself. Disgusting.
Unfortunately the total lack of leadership in his own country by this idiot who undemocratically bought himself a presidency (as you do over there) impacts on daily life in other countries as well. The man who blames China for not having done anything to spread Covid19 is exactly doing that. And the chaos in this unbelievable polarised country has a huge influence on the rest of the world. One only hopes the virus will get him too one day, and his mate Pence who is not much better. Also a total egg.
Talking about eggs, our ladies are finally all producing, resulting in 10-12 eggs a day. Luckily we have neighbours and friends who want to buy our eggs or we would have to start selling them at work or roadside. The average survival rate of honesty boxes is even here in innocent New Zealand reducing.
Meet Boris. As said before one of our chicks turned out to be male. This man looks pretty good, but is for the rest pretty much useless (hence the name Boris as he resembles the British PM). He has subdued one of the hy-liners, but the other 5 don't want him near them. He does make heaps of noise, but as our bedroom is furthest away from his 'hen imperium' he does not wake us. When I walk over the property I tease him by whistling his own tune which frustrates him quite a bit, because the other chickens immediately run in my direction and leave him to defend the fort on his own. We then start a music contest which I easily win. I may keep him though, to start breeding a new generation of hy-line/bantam cross chickens in the near future.
I've sent many pictures like this to my fishing buddy Dick, showing him how calm the water was, implying he'd better get his boat out. Unfortunately he's been quite busy, but one day.....
This was the day we let our 2 new Hereforder steers in with the old ones. A bit of sniffing and pushing, but after 5 minutes they were cheerfully galloping around the paddock, clearly happy to form a herd. The oldest male will soon have to settle for the freezer instead of a lush paddock as winter has arrived and the grass does not grow that fast anymore.
Rabbits are still a big problem here. No idea why they decided to make a hole right under the chicken coop where I would obviously find it. Probably an american rabbit, not that many brain cells. A few days after I found this one I was cleaning out the coop and the ground underneath me opened like in an earthquake. Sank 15 cm in a hidden hole. I guess they like living dangerously. Recently bought a laser for my gun which turned out to be very helpful when I had to come to arms when our neighbour thought she heard something outside late at night. Nothing of course, but on the way back home I shot 3 rabbits.
Now we are back in Covid19 phase 1 we could finally have our FDC (friday night drinking club) meeting again. First meeting at our place. Great bunch of people. Super to see them all again.
I had prepared a few quiches. Did you guys know some baking paper actually has two different sides? One side stick, the other doesn't. No note about that anywhere on the box of course. There sure was some baking paper on the quiche. They loved it anyway.
I know, it looks like all we do is eat. The DBC (Dutch borrel club) was invited at the Dutch embassy for an traditional Indonesian 'rijsttafel'.
Really enjoyed the evening, perfectly organised, but I still think my own 'rijsttafel' trumps (!?) the one we got that night. Nevertheless we ate way too much and strolling back up hill to Rutger and Landa's place where we stayed the night was eh let's say a bit of a challenge.
Feeling guilty, heavy and fat we decided to climb up the mountains around Wellington the next day and walk the Wellington skyline.
About time we started working out again as fitness levels had dropped to an embarrassing level since leaving South America.
Made it to the first top where a nice young lady saw us struggling with a selfie and offered the real thing. She did manage to get herself in the picture as well. Those are gloves indeed. My hands are still getting stiff during the night and in the evening, but also in the cold. Haven't managed to play tennis yet.
This is a red hot poker, or kniphofia. We've got a few of them on our property and I really like them as they show happy bright colours. Haven't found a way yet top mimic the volume of orange dressed soccer supporters yet. Not sure if it is the salt sea air or the poor soil, but their progress is slow. Maybe they mimic the Dutch soccer successes, that would explain it.
A selfie, I think the first one we both agreed on being acceptable. As travelling to Europe is not really an option yet (Europe has now opened it's borders to Kiwi's and as Dutch passport holders we were allowed to travel to the Netherlands anyway, but even today it would mean 14 days in quarantine on our way back home) we decided to book the Keppler track around December. A four day, 60 km walk in the fjordlands down south. You have to carry your own stuff, so a weight of approximately 15 kg on your back. Last weeks walk was a good start but we need to train a bit more. So we went out for a walk at Battle hill farm, so Nienke could observe the progress made on the Transmission gully, a new highway through the mountains connecting Kapiti with Wellington. The clouds had other ideas and obscured any progress totally. So we did a few short tracks in the actual battle area (no more than a 'stand of' between a few men) and decided to drive back to Kapiti to do some tracks there.
We left the rain (and rainbow) behind us and found a nice sunny track, the Mataihuka walkway, overlooking the Kapiti coast, sometimes called Kapiti's skyline walk.Amazing, having lived here for 13 years and did not know about it's existence.
For a moment we thought we were having vivid flashbacks. Almost at the top we suddenly saw lama's. Unfortunately no stall with hot empenada to be seen.
Amazing view, we could see Mana island on the left and past Otaki on the right. Raumati beach and Paraparaumu at our feet. The new highway through Kapiti clearly to see as well.
Yes, Dick found his boat again. Clear weather, a calm sea, just perfect. We managed to launch from Te Horo beach without the help of a tractor. Very promising for the future. Pretty cold though, but I did not plan a dip anyway and the wet-suits helped.
Only one other boat on the water. No activity in there. But yes, we caught many fish. The first 2 hours only sharks. No good. Maybe it was the presence of a whale. We saw it's spout about 500 meter from the boat, but it did not show itself anymore. We moved a bit further north (fishermen seem to believe fish are like people, if you don't like the neighbourhood you move to another) and suddenly started catching gurnard. Not very big ones, but the 10 of them were enough for 2 meals for 4 people.
I'm still not very fast in filleting them, so I had to fillet (a job you'd rather do outside) the last one in the dark. Still got all my fingers.
Went out to feed the animals one morning and saw a rat eating out of the rabbit bowl. Pretty cheeky thing. It just sat there looking at me. Walked back to the house to get my gun and when I returned it was still there. Fatal mistake. Bullet between the eyes.
During lock-down artists were having a difficult time. Enough time to produce, but hardly opportunity to sell. Someone came up with a facebook page New Zealand Made Products which turned out to be a huge success. So much that my page is still waiting to be published (update, it just got published, > 60 people like it already and 2 asked for prices). Hopeful that I might sell some spheres I plugged the iPod in the amplifier, turned the heater on and started having fun again. My fingers are getting better by the day. Only the left middle finger won't bend completely yet, but I blame Donald Trump for that. We've finally started teaching friends how to play mahjong. We have to bribe them first with some snacks and bites, but in the end they do like it. The biggest problem is the etiquette. If they had played with Chinese players none of them would have fingers left! We also haven't told them yet the Chinese only play for money!
This weekend we explored some tracks we found online. The were supposed to be in Otaki's backyard. When we arrived at the spot where the track should start a big gate blocked the entrance to the Waitohu stone quarry. A nice family on a quadbike told us that they had heard of tracks there somewhere and the woman could remember having seen a DOC sign of the Tararua Forest park. We decided to climb the fence and started walking, encouraged by a small blue triangle nailed on a second fence. After 2 km we indeed saw the DOC sign, but no sign of tracks. With our printed A4 map we managed to find a track and it turned out to be a very pleasant walk to the skyline of Otaki.
So pleased with our efforts and discoveries we went straight to our local Hunting and Fishing store and both bought new walking shoes.
Workwise things are going well. Nienke is very very busy as people are leaving (lock down apparently appealed to them) and that means more work for her. So on Sunday night I saw her pretty down and Monday morning suddenly very happy again (when she saw that a capable colleague had applied for the vacant position). I am helping out in Otaki again. Saw a weird man who came for a sore knee, but kept talking about the Covid hoax, masks not working, people not really dying, governments lying, etc. He did not like that when I asked if he imagined his knee too. And so, we live on! Cheers.
We start our blog today with a song from the new CD from Reb Fountain, a Kiwi musician who we recently saw at WOMAD.
Eh, what do you say, no new posts for a month? Been too busy? During lockdown? Well, we actually have been quite busy.
Lockdown for us meant working a lot on the property. Nienke worked from home most of the time as well and I pitched in whenever I was needed.
What an extraordinary time, lockdown. NZ went into lockdown early. Not as early as I wanted, but early enough to spare us from the carnage that happened elsewhere in the world. Most of our positive cases came into NZ by people returning quickly before the borders closed.
Quite a contrast with the Netherlands where they chose to go into a 'smart lockdown'. This basically means that the economy is more important than the poor people and the non-productive people, resulting in a staggering loss of lives. With 340 lives lost per 1 million people the Dutch government settled itself firmly in the top 10. And because they did not test much compared to other Western countries (69th in the world ranking) we must assume the real number is a lot higher. Not exactly a success story or even 'smart' for that matter. But maybe not surprising from a right wing government. New Zealand may have been lucky as our geographical position made it easier to 'lock' the country, but we are happy to have Jacinda as PM, a female Labour leader. Our cases have not been in double digits since April 18th and the last few weeks almost every day we had 0 cases.
During lockdown I divided my time between the property and the local GP practice. The seaside fence ceased to exist in certain areas. That explained the sudden appearance of different types of dogs in our garden, usually followed by frantically yelling owners for Jack, Hunter or Rocky to return.
This was one of our best friends during the flu jab clinics I ran. Hand gel (liquid gold of 2020) was in short supply and several industries changed their production lines in order to make essentials like face masks and hand gel. A New Zealand gin company made the best hand gel and we gratefully used it. Working with gloves when you have to give multiple injections doesn't really work, it's very unhandy and results in a lot of waste of time and gloves. Because of the relatively low risk in NZ we chose to not to use gloves but use hand gel generously. Unfortunately that does lead to layers of dried gel on your hands. This gin infused gel was amazing though. It did not cause debris on the hands and smelled delicious. And at he end of the day you'd only have to dip your hand in tonic and ......
The drive through clinics were quite a success and highly appreciated. We should have combined it with drivers license tests though. A drive through is a bit like an intelligence test. The purpose of the drive through was to easily and quickly administer a jab in the shoulder through the half opened window. Still people managed to appear wearing half their wardrobe, with cars of which the window could not open, jumping out of their cars, driving into the area from the wrong side, pushing their accelerator when they got the jab (nearly driving over the nurse), one lady nearly caused a major accident turning her car in front of an oncoming truck. One man got a flat battery right in front of the exit causing a major (well, for Otaki it was) traffic jam. Funny were also the people who came in walking or on a bike. Still positioning themselves in line with the cars.
Meanwhile we had one after the other beautiful sunset. I'm not sure if the sea was so calm to taunt us (as we were not allowed to go out fishing) or because everybody was inside and people caused less trembling of the globe.
Most people in NZ really enjoyed the lockdown. The weather was great and people finally had time for that odd job that still had to be done, family time, sports, cooking, etc. A survey showed that Kiwi's were not at all in a hurry to go back to level 1. The environment really enjoyed it too. Waterways were cleaner, wildlife flourished, we even have parakeets on our property now.
Shopping was a bit of a problem. As essential workers we both were allowed to shop at certain times but as we thought that was awkward we did not do that. Nienke was our designated shopper. Because we are reasonably self sufficient we really did not need much and I think Nienke only shopped 4 times in those weeks. Supermarkets were allowed to be open, but most smaller shops had to close and focus on online shopping. To support local and small businesses I did order
some food from the Dutch shop online. You don't want such important suppliers to go under. So, reluctantly, I ordered some licorice (which mysteriously disappeared in only a few days) and some Dutch cheese (same fate I'm afraid). Anything for a good cause though.
When level 2 arrived it was finally time to go fishing again, or what turned out to be 'feeding the fish'. Boats were still not allowed, but fishing from the beach was. So I dusted of the fishing rod, made lunch and took the box with snapper remains I had saved for this occasion and made my way to the beach.
Not that I was full of hope, but just the feeling of being on the beach and fishing again was great. Needless to say, I didn't catch a thing other that a small cold (the water was freezing). After about 3 hours I decided to put my stuff on TradeMe.
So that evening I made bapao's. Filled with shrimp, so there was at least a bit of a connection to seafood.
As we were not allowed to make a fire (that might lead to voluntary fire brigade members having to leave their bubble) I decided to attack the big pile of wood in our paddock with the chipper. Quite a dusty job. With 'Classic rock' in my ears and an old fashioned Dutch Covid19 facemask I managed to reduce the pile of wood by two-thirds. Now we have 2 big piles of mulch, we need a gardener...
Joining the ranks of people who started cooking again. Like in many other countries flower was firmly on everyones wish list, next to face masks and hand gel. This is my creation, with almonds, cinnamon, raisins and a few other ingredients. Just a few thousand more and I can start building a second home....... Just trying to figure out how to bake a front door.
Winter has introduced itself last week. The Tararua's behind us showed it's white peaks. Quite a treat with a beautiful sunset as contrast. Shot from one of our paddocks.
Never a dull moment.
I covered our new chicken area with a net to protect them from the hawks. One of the chickens decided to try to fly (I did clip her wing) and ended up on the net where it got stuck. As a reward of freeing her I got covered in chicken shit and feathers.
I finally finished the fence line on the beach side. Managed to dig out the original posts and remove all the bits and pieces of the rusted wires lying around. Put new posts in where needed and added 9 wires to it. Overdone and probably futile, but an attempt to keep the bigger rabbits out. As the local store had run out of battens (apparently I was not the only one with this idea during lockdown) I had to source them elsewhere. Luckily some good friends came to our aid and they led me pick quite a few from their premises.
Nienke busy with our blender, just before it 'exploded'. Our local fruit and veggie supplier had a lot of tomatoes on offer and Nienke happily prepared to make her own tomato sauce again. Much less sugar. Successful until the machine gave up. Although we appreciated the machine's suggestion, we decided against the idea of painting the kitchen red. With the aid of youtube, silicon spray, some swearing and perseverance I managed to repair the machine and a second batch of tomato sauce has found it's way into our freezer.
To add to the consternation of the lock down the weather decided to surprise us with a few tornado's. Not as 'bigly' as in Donalds country but still surprising. Our neighbour managed to film it just after discovering his still vacant chicken coup was shredded.
The things people do during lockdown when even 'Netflix' is becoming boring. An old friend started sending pictures of our time in uni. Mmmmm. I hardly recognise myself.
My old faithful did not want to start anymore. No, I don't mean Nienke, it was Fergie, the tractor. Now I don't know anything about cars, but I checked a few things. Couldn't pinpoint the problem. Must be the spark plugs said Dick. OK, got them out but they were clean and looked OK too.
Don't know who invented this device to undo spark plugs, silly thing. Or maybe I'm too strong. We found the problem eventually, a corroded wire to the start key. Not bad, after 73 years (Fergie turns out to be from 1947)!
'Let's get rid of the old pampus' said Nienke. Yeah, why not, so I attacked that old stuff and it added even more piles of burnable stuff in the paddock. Level 2, so time for a fire. As everything was quite moist it created huge amounts of smoke, but as the wind predominantly came from the east nobody, except for my old neighbour (as she pointed out in a phone call and mail), was really bothered about it. After a full day of having a fire I'm still not finished yet!
Great picture towards sunset. Still a fire and smoke in the paddock and an orange sky on the other side of the house.
Really pretty on the other side.
Nienke enjoying a well deserved coffee on the deck.
Yes, that's me. I could say 'you should have seen the other guys' or something like that, but no, it was no bar fight. I have been operated on 5 fingers. All at once as I just wanted to get it over with. 4 Trigger fingers and one cyst that had been operated on unsuccessfully a few years ago. Operation was successful, but not uneventful. Being the first one to be operated on we had hoped to be back home around lunch time. Because of covid Nienke was not allowed to go into the hospital. She had to wander around outside and could call to see if I was ready to go. I can remember waking up after the operation and thinking 'mm, I'm tired, I'll close my eyes a bit longer'. Suddenly nurses started running around and shaking me asking me if I was alright. My heart rate had dropped to 28/min. My heart rate was 44 when I got in and with the combination of medication they had given me it dropped to pacemaker levels. All good now again and I'm being pampered very well by Nienke who is amazing. So now I'm finally in lockdown too. Typing this blog very slowly with the old 2 finger system.
We do have time to do some walks. Last news, fresh as, we were just up when a strong earthquake hit us, 5.8 on the Richter scale. About 50 km north west of us, 37 km deep. Felt like a freight train drove into our home. No damage though, all's well. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121612723/58-quake-rattles-lower-north-island-rattles-food-from-shelves. Still quite some after shocks while I'm writing. OK, that's it for now. We'll close with another NZ song, 'In the air' by LAB
Welcome to our blog. On our blog we’ll regularly post about our adventures on the other side of the world. We moved to New Zealand in 2007 and settled in our small paradise on the Kapiti coast in 2010. A fantastic spot in Te Horo Beach. Nienke has been working as a manager for the Kapiti District Council in Paraparaumu in 4 different roles and has started her new role there in October 2019. Hans has been working as a part-time General Practitioner, first in Otaki and the last few years as a locum, mainly on the South Island.
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We've finally started teaching friends how to play mahjong. We have to bribe them first with some snacks and bites, but in the end they do like it. The biggest problem is the etiquette. If they had played with Chinese players none of them would have fingers left! We also haven't told them yet the Chinese only play for money!
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