Mmmm!

Last week the All Blacks played a Test Rugby Match against France - they did eventually win the game, although it wasn't the most spectacular of performances. What was really interesting, was the fact that the team was hauled over the coals by ALL the media for the whole week because they stood there at the singing of the National Anthems with serious faces, arms interlinked and all, to a man, with tight shut mouths! This has had the entire nation up in arms, especially since the French sang the 'Marsellaise' (however it is spelled) with a passion that would have brought tears to the eyes of any Frenchman and made his heart swell with National Pride.
It goes without saying that the 'Haka' was done with passion, gusto and awesome fierceness - truly a sight to behold. Maybe the All Blacks feel more passionately about the Haka than the 'God defend New Zealand' bit - that is certainly how it looked.
Nevertheless, somebody somewhere got to them and this week, prior to the test against the Italians (who had a 'Geldenhuys' in their side and who apparently was born in South Africa) - the All Blacks sang both verses of the National Anthem - the first verse in Maori and the second in English with a fair bit of effort - we couldn't actually say it was done with passion or conviction, but maybe they were keeping some of the gusto for the Haka - as usual, a brilliant display of New Zealand pride!
The Italians' rugby has shown an incredible improvement - there were certainly times when they made the All Blacks look decidedly ordinary! Eventually the TV cameras wandered over to the coaches box and we recognised our 'very own' Nick Mallett - that explains it!

Dis al!

A 'Beanbag Sofa'

When you don't have a sofa and you feel like a bit of a loaf in front of the box, you can always park your tail on a single bed mattress which is atop a three quarter size bedstead and scrunch yourself into a beanbag which someone threw out because the 'beans' were in short supply and in desperate need of a top-up!

It's a bit more comfortable than it looks although it certainly rivals the best of 'helmet hair' for the style of the decade!

Wanganui strate

Hierdie is nou ook net een van die strate so om die middedorp - die huise wat jy daar voor bo oppie bult kan sien het 'n pragtige uitsig van die Whanganui rivier - let wel - die rivier se naam het 'n 'h' in die naam, die dorp dan nou nie! Dis waaroor al die bohaai gaan!


Die foto is van die onderkant van die hoofstraat - rivier se kant toe. Die is nou nie die 'hoof' deel van die middedorp nie - daar is 'n mooi deel nader aan die rivier waar mens al die 'grand' winkels kry en waar al die 'cool' mense hulle inkopies gaan doen. Daar is natuurlik ook in die beter deel restaurante en koffie winkeltjies en geskenk plekkies en so aan. As jy hier wil stilhou, is dit nie 'n probleem nie - parkering hier rond is gratis. In die 'cool' deel van die dorp moet mens vir parkering betaal!

As mens van die hoof straat deur ons dorp links kyk sien mens hierdie paar huise wat so oppie bult is. Die heiningtjie so regs onder op die foto is die wat om die skool sport veld is - so teen die hoofstraat! En omtrent reg oorkant die Mc Donalds 'restaurant' - ons sal dink dat die kinders by die skool redelike goeie kliente van die burger winkel is!







Toe ons hier in Wanganui aangekom het, was die MWH kantoor in die laaste fase van beplanning om 'n skuif te maak. Die kantore is redelik oud en heeltemal te klein vir almal om gemaklik in te werk. Hierde Vrydag wat nou verby is, het al die ouens alles in bokse ingepak en hulle rekenaars vir ou laas afgeskakel sodat die groot skuif in die loop van die naweek gedoen kan word. Maandag as die nuwe week aanbreek, gaan hulle almal by hierdie gebou opdaag om hulle 'nuwe' kantoor in te trek. Hopelik sal alles klaar op hulle plekke staan en almal kan net eenvoudig inspring en begin werk! Blykbaar is daar 'n probleem met parkering vir almal so ons sal nog sien wat hulle daaroor sal kan doen.


Die 'Mad Butcher' is 'n slaghuis ketting wat mens in omtrent elke dorp in Nieu Zeeland kry. Hierdie een in Wanganui het 'n slagter wat boerewors 'invoer' van Auckland af. Daar is blykbaar genoeg mense hier wat daarvan hou om dit die moeite werd te maak. Boerewors kos so $14.00 per kilogram (onthou, maal dit met 5 punt enige tree) so die goed is nie baie goedkoop nie! Ons het die kans gekry om dit te pru - ons nuwe vriendin Junay, maak boerewors rolle voor die winkel so elke tweede Saterdag en ons het haar ondersteun en vir ons elkeen een gekoop. As mens lank laas ordentlike boerewors geeet het, is dit seker baie, baie lekker, maar nou ja al wat ons kan se is dat hulle rerig hard probeer! Die dermpies is bietjie erg taai! Blykbaar is dit juis hierdie dermpies wat die wors so ongelooflik duur maak!

Ons soek al lank al vir 'n beker wat die 'ding' sal doen - hierdie een was nou Saterdag voor die 'Two Dollar Shop' op 'n tafeltjie. Dit was nou nommer pas vir 'n lekker koppie tee - maar ons kom agter, ons ketel maak dit net nie! Ai tog!

A trip to New Plymouth

Earlier this week, Jo needed to spend a day out on the road doing inspections and assessments with the view to the works program for the next couple of months. Since neither of us had seen New Plymouth, we decided to make a day of it and pack in some exploring between getting the work done.

These two pictures give you a bit of an idea of the condition of the roads just outside Wanganui - bearing in mind that this is the main route between Wanganui and New Plymouth, it looks very narrow and very winding! The speed at which huge trucks travel on these roads is genuinely frightening - anyone who has a heavy duty vehicle license will tell you that their speed limit is 90km/h - but I defy you to find two trucks in a row who keep to that limit! Any of you who ever wondered about the 'cuts' which road builders do alongside a main route can see an example of one in the picture above. Jo reckons that in South Africa, that pyramid of ground would have been removed but evidently, here it is not cost effective to do so - plenty of other things have to be done to ensure that the whole thing doesn't come crashing down onto unsuspecting passing motorists.


There was a meeting of minds outside New Plymouth in the vicinity of this marvellous view and while Jo and two other 'padmakers' from Hamiliton (of all places) checked out viability and traffic flow issues at an intersection, I waited in the car and took the picture below.

There are a few glimpses of the sea en-route into New Plymouth but this picture is the first time one can see a bit of the town itself beside the sea. Once we had checked out the complaint about 'sinking' of a small piece of the road at one of the intersections in town, we wandered down to the main seaside road, along which there are many campsites and resorts. There is a pretty good playground area for children on a huge grassy patch beside a big water slide which we imagine is crawling with tourists in the summer time. On this day there were a couple of folks out walking their dogs and a few Moms with toddlers and prams - everyone bundled up warmly against the cold wind. The beautiful blue and clear sky is very deceptive - in fact it was damn cold that day!

This picture was taken on the outskirts of New Plymouth just before you actually hit the main street. The roundabout is just ahead and is one of the things that you have to become very accustomed to very quickly since they are everywhere! The tower is part of a museum/art gallery affair and has a decidedly Tudor feel about it. We find that it's interesting that most of the towns in New Zealand have Maori names - such as Phakapapa - remembering of course that 'ph' is pronounced 'f' - but all the streets in the town have incredibly English names like Wilkshire Crescent or Devon Downs and so on. The big cities are of course very English, but as soon as the population is less than that of a big city we are into the Maori names for towns.

Note the Beetle parked on the right! Dis al!

Youth Music in Hamilton

The ACK church hall in Hamilton was the venue for the Sunday afternoon rehearsals for the Youth Music Group - here most of them are on our last Sunday before we left, with Janus making a concerted effort to master enough of the bass guitar to take over from Jo!Liandre with her 'keep the ears warm' hat on - on the keyboard, Zendre on guitar and Wouter and Simone at the microphones.
Minette on drums! Liandre ( the hat lassie) is her older sister and our Tuesday evening rehearsals were always held at their home in Hamilton.

Simone looking particularly delighted with Oom Jo's ability on the keyboard!

For all of you guys who do get to read this blog - thank you for the beautiful flowers and chocolates - so unexpected and so appreciated!

We send our best wishes to you and hope you keep at it so that next time we are in Hamilton we can catch up with you as a group and listen to you really rock!

A tiny taste of our 'new' house in Wanganui

From the road across the 'valley', with a bit of a zoom lens, you can see our house with it's Art Deco image and flat roof.

On our first morning we woke up to a very cold and frosty outlook!

The back garden at Parkes Avenue - not so inviting in the wintertime, but definitely has potential for the long summer evenings ahead!

A photographic trip from Hamilton to Wanganui

Ok so the volcano isn't just outside Hamilton, but this trip takes you from there to Wanganui! The total trip is about 320km and as you can see, the road is pretty narrow and winding with some road works along the way, which makes for some delays! The 'pitiful' load in the back of our little car is all the 'over and above' stuff which we didn't load into the big van on the first trip-the precious freesias a little worse for wear! Hopefully they will recover in time to bloom profusely for August 1st!

Moving house in New Zealand!

Since most of the homes in New Zealand are of the papier mache variety and are covered with 'wood finishes', 'brick effects' and so on, it is really easy (if a little expensive) to check out your neighbourhood, decide you would prefer to live somewhere else, call the owners of the above featured trucks and arrange to have your house moved to a better location. And with that, abracadabra - your home can be loaded onto the aforementioned truck or trucks, and relocated to the suburb or rural area of your choice!
This particular home has arrived from somewhere else and is in the process of being installed beside one of the main routes (called State Highways here) just outside the little town of Huntly.

This 'piece' of the house has been temporarily removed from the main house - probably for ease of loading onto the trucks, and will be re-attached once the house is in it's final position. The whole things is then balanced on the wheels you can see under the structure until the corner posts and support structures have been pounded into the ground and then before you can say 'Jack Robinson' the bits are all put back together again and lowered onto the supports. Wheels removed and gaps filled we assume and there you go! All set up and ready to meet your new neighbours!

We just were so amused to see that although the house is empty of furniture, there are still drapes at the windows - swinging about as they lift and lower and swing the house about until it's in it's final position. That 'final' position is relative I guess - if the new neighbours turn out to be seriously undesirable - no worries - call the moving company and move house again!
Last time we drove past this location, the house was leaning at a very precarious looking angle, but had the bit they had initially removed, stuck back on again - so clearly one of these days, the owners can move back in!

A new home in Wanganui!

There is quite a lot of news in the fact that we have said our goodbyes to lovely Hamilton and all the folks who were so incredibly good to us in the four months that we were there - and have moved into a 'new' home in Wanganui.
This post could become very long-winded with all the gory details - suffice it to say that once again we have found ourselves in the right place at the right time and are safely installed in Parkes Avenue, St John's Hill - more than we hoped we would be able to achieve in the time available to us and given that apparently homes to rent in this area are very hard to come by! The fact that we got this home before it was 'on the books' at the agency, speaks for itself! Things are seldom absolutely perfect and there are of course things that we could improve on with regard to personal preferences with the house, but it has both a double garage and a carport so when all the belongings arrive from Auckland, there will be somewhere to put them all - we are of course referring to all the woodworking and other varied hobby related things that one doesn't necessarily want in your home! An older home with central heating and completely refurbished and renovated kitchen and bathroom - a managable sized and established 'section' (garden) with a couple of fruit trees and a lovely deck running along the length of the house giving the impression that we will be able to entertain in great style and comfort - especially for all the folks from Hamilton who have sworn faithfully that they will be making the just over 300 km journey to come and see us - we will not be expecting anyone in the very near future since winter has arrived and although Wanganui apparently has frost about four or five times in a year, there has been impressive frost twice in the past week! The house is of the Art Deco style - quite popular at one time in Wanganui and we are hoping that we will start to feel at home soon. Although we don't actually have a view of the sea, if we should feel so inclined it is probably about 10 minutes away! Wanganui is evidently known internationally (?) as having one of the top ten most temperate climates in the world, with temperatures varying between lowish single figures and the upper twenties in summer. Yesterday morning the temperature was apparently minus 1 so there it is - whoever makes these sort of sweeping statements clearly wasn't in Wanganui yesterday having all their facts and figures messed up by nature. We were without gas for heating water and running the central heating since the arrangements which we made with such confidence from Hamilton for some unknown reason, failed to materialise and we had to wait until Monday to get the right guys out here! No matter - when you are in the process of an adventure, things like these are just part of the whole experience! The 'gas man' turned out to be an immigrant from Edinburgh Scotland and so we yapped on for a while about Wanganui versus Edinburgh versus South Africa - but with particular reference to the weather and rugby - he left Scotland initially in the eighties for rugby and weather (in that order) and has found himself still in Wanganui after all this time. Frankly, it was all academic since I was really only seriously interested in his ability to get the gas going - warm water for a shower and a cooker top that worked and some central heating to banish the frosty breath in the house! I guess it doesn't hurt to be on goodish terms with someone who can achieve all these things with the flick of a couple of switches and dials and whatnot, when it's cold and damp outside!
We have both had colds over the past couple of weeks - neither of us has been anywhere near as sick as some of the folks we know and clearly both have fierce immune systems, fighting all the dreaded lurgies that are rife here at the moment. So apart from a couple of residual sniffles, we are fine and 'getting on with it' - the container was delayed somewhere between Australia and New Zealand and is expected to reach Auckland harbour in the course of the day today(!) - we are awaiting the call to say that they need the delivery address in Wanganui - hopefully within a week or so.
We attended the Johnny Clegg concert in Auckland last Monday on one of the Queen's Birthdays - for those of you who don't know, Her Majesty celebrates six different Birthdays every year - the one in NZ happened last Monday and gave the whole country a day off - we spent it ambling up to Auckland and thoroughly enjoying the fact that we don't live there! Beautiful city and all that - just not for us unless we absolutely have no choice in the matter! Johnny Clegg was all we hoped he would be and more and we sang at the top of our voices and stomped and cheered with the best of them - a huge dollop of 'home' - Afrikaans being spoken in the audience all around us! It was absolutely fabulous - he did nearly all of the favourites and some new numbers and we just couldn't believe it was over when it was! - always a sign that the show was good! For a man of about our age, Johnny Clegg's energy on stage is still quite incredible and his mastery of 'combination-hybrid' music is brilliant - I was thrilled to see that he's been awarded an honourary doctorate of music from Wits ( I know it's not called that anymore but whatever) - for his contribution to the genre! Good on ya Mate!
We have taken a whole lot more photographs of the trip down to Wanganui to give you an idea of the surrounding countryside and once we have doctored them for the blog, will post them up here for you to see. So watch this space - again!
Work wise, it looks as though the move was indeed the best thing to do since we have found out that since we departed Hamilton, two more guys from that office have been made redundant and a third one north of Auckland (in a similar position to ours) will be returning to the UK even before his container arrives from there. Things here are a whole lot more secure and the prospects are very good - so we don't even think about what could have happened if we had refused to take the transfer offered.
Apologies for the delay in getting some new stuff up on the blog - things have been a bit disorganised and hectic with plenty of very touching farewells in Hamilton and many promises of visitors to come. Once our 'stuff' finally gets here we will not know ourselves! but will be able to entertain anyone who cares to visit!
Our e-mail addresses remain the same and so you can still contact us just as easily as before!
Dis al!