Off the cuff braai!

Winter has been back for a few days now - cold and wet and windy for the most part - but since we have so much that needs seeing to indoors, we aren't complaining too loudly. We are working on the EOI and setting things up for a smooth transition to our new abode -moving telephones, broadband, electricity and gas and so on - and planning on taking up residence on or about the 1st November. We are planning on doing the move ourselves - well, in this case, the plural form of the word is implying more than two - most of the folks you see in the photographs towards the end of this post, have offered to lend a hand on the day/s that we are actually moving, so hopefully, it will be as painless as can be expected under the circumstances.
We took a little 'drive by' yesterday and the house gives the impression of being empty - now we just have to hope that the agents come up with the goods and get the place sorted out. I did happen to notice that the BMX bicycle which was 'artistically' arranged in one of the large plants out front, has been removed - so here's hoping the bunch of students who have called the place home recently, have removed all their other belongings - particularly those of the less savoury and more smelly variety!



A couple of big hoo hahs going on in New Zealand this week - not least of which the group of Grammar school boys who made utter arses of themselves at one of the prestigious museums. Apparently, at the exhibit about the Nazis and the second World War concentration camps and so on, these twits decided it would be a huge laugh if they took pictures of themselves bowing in front of the Nazi flag and kissing swastikas and clicking their heels snappily together while tossing up a Nazi straight arm salute - and then posting them on U-tube (or similar, I'm not sure which one now) for the whole world to see. I'm sure I don't have to mention how embarrassed and shocked and devastated and so on people here are - and not just the jewish community either. The boys concerned have been made to appear at the museum in question, caps in hand, red faces and all, and fess up to their complete 'idiotness' and make a formal apology for their behaviour. No-one has mentioned whether that is the sum of it or not - I guess the larny school they represent had something to say to them (and no doubt their parents) but I was so impressed with the way it was all handled by one of the Jewish elders who appeared on TV the next day. He was such a gentleman and made references to the boys being 'young' and 'uneducated' and so on - he was gentle and understanding and handled the whole situation with great class! Good on ya Rabbi!



We got together with a couple of friends for an off the cuff 'barbie' after we had done the set up for the new music which was happening at the SA church at the Top Ten Holiday resort. The weather had turned suddenly cold and wet and so the spirits all needed a bit of a lift - needless to say, like the true South Africans that we are, we decided to do the work and then round it off with a 'no frills' standard braaivleis - (not too much in the way of schnazzy salads or gourmet side dishes) - with a couple of ales thrown in.



Some of the discussions look really serious!

This is the great thing about an off the cuff get together - serious conversation about all sorts of challenging subjects interspersed with loads of laughs and a makeshift dance floor simply 'cos we felt like it!

Pierre and Corne - two of my new music students - (Pierre is taking up the guitar and Corne has started lessons on the violin) getting to know one another on the dance floor!

Mariaan and Stefan - she's the minister of the SA church here in Wanganui for the moment - at least until her husband (seen dancing with her here) has to move to Wellington as part of his medical speciality training.

And the owners of the holiday resort also take time now and then to relax and enjoy the company of friends! Andre and Martie are quite impressive on the dance floor! Dis al!

Finally!

If you look closely, you will see that there are two of these standing in our garage at the moment, waiting for the move at the end of the month. Pointless de-crating them at this stage so will hang in there for another couple of weeks. The flourescent stickers say 'Held by New Zealand customs' - they don't say - 'because we are really full of it'. They also don't say that the whole exercise defies any kind of logic, or 'sorry there is damage to the wheels', or 'perhaps, in retrospect, we realise that you didn't personally murder any elephants' or anything like that!
Whatever the case may be, we are just exceedingly glad to have finally got our ivories into our possession and look forward to having them dusted off, tuned and carefully positioned in their new spot in our new abode!
Dis al!

Bulldozers, busses and bands

Not very far from where we live! No wonder it seemed to be very cold over the weekend!

The unexpected snow on the desert road and surrounds over the weekend took most people by surprise and since Jo was 'on duty', it was his phone that seemed to ring incessantly as they closed one State Highway after the other because they had become so treacherous.

The South African singer Nadine came to New Zealand last week on a whirlwind tour and had gigs in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and Wellington. At the last minute it was decided to get the Wanganui SAcans organised and take a small busload to Palmerston North for the concert. As the photographs suggest, a great time was had by all!

And Junay wins a bottle of wine in a lucky draw on the bus!

Towards the end of the concert, Nadine invited couples to 'langarm' on stage with her while she performed and here we have our very own Andre from the Top Ten holiday park dancing with Marieta - and the two of them walked off with the prize for the best of the three couples!! We're sure it's the first time these two have danced together and they did a sterling job!

The intrepid bass player - as always with a smile on his face in spite of all the effort of lugging heavy equipment to and fro and setting it all up!

We are once again involved in getting some more music going at the Top Ten holiday resort for the SA church services which are held there from time to time. Jo and Johann and I went up to the park on Monday to do a general set up and sound check before the service and our first 'performance' on Sunday 18th Oct. Boy are we glad for all our own instruments and sound system this time - it helps so much having our own things with us!

For those of you who have mailed and Facebooked about our living arrangements since we are now technically 'on the street' - never fear! Our new place is done and dusted and we are moving in over the weekend of the 30th October. Four bedrooms mean a music school venue and a second bathroom mean your own one when you come to visit!!

We'll post photographs as soon as we have some! But it's a really nice place in a very pretty street!

Dis al!

The motorcycle museum visit

One bright and sunny Saturday a couple of weeks ago, we joined about 12 others and took a trip to the motorcycle museum outside Palmerston North.
We were able to park all the bikes alongside the warehouse where the motorcycle museum is housed - this picture was taken about three quarters of an hour into the visit - you will notice that the ladies had had enough of gawking at the motorcycles and peripheral 'goodies' and had decided to hang about outside till the fellas were ready to set off for lunch at a cafe bar in Palmerston North. Although it was a clear and sunny day, the wind was wickedly cold and so we were glad to soak up some sun before heading off on the back of the bikes and freezing our butts off!


This bike which stands at the very front of the warehouse was the topic of much debate and then a detailed explanation by the owner about how interesting the design is - simply for the fact that the designs found at every turn on this machine, basically are not mechanic friendly and often defy repair!

The place is really very full of things other than the motorbikes themselves and all the fellows from the Ulysses club spent a lot of time chatting over the various exhibits with quite a few disagreements about vintage and 'specs' for the various motorcycles thrown in to keep the excursion interesting!

The chap who takes care of this museum basically inherited the project from his late father who, we understand, was a huge bike mechanic and enthusiast who put in years of research and background study to create this warehouse full of bike memorabilia along with all the bikes he collected over a very long period of time.

This bike with wicker side car all decked out in genuine leather must have been quite a show-stopper in it's day!

As you can see, the basic look has remained the same, even though we are 'biking' in a whole new country! Most of the Ulysses club chaps who we ride with have been riding for years, but few of them have waistcoats like this one which sports proof of some of the rallies and events Jo has been on over the past twenty years!

P.S We see we need to fix the date function on the camera - the dates on these pictures make no sense!

Dis al!

This picture of a rainbow was taken ages ago - before we realised how often you see beautiful rainbows here! Even so, they are usually pretty spectacular!
We are happy and busy with all sorts of things - Jo has been on a couple of overnight work excursions, often returning with new ideas about where we should visit next on our exploratory travels! The network which they are working on has been extended, so the new 'bits' of road need to be visited and assessed for upcoming work requirements.
Our South African stall at the local 'Rivertraders' market beside the river here in Wanganui, has been going for a couple of Saturdays now and appears to have taken off! The 'girls' are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for boerewors rolls and the distinctive and delicious aromas of braaing wors waft around the whole market area - I think personally, that many kiwi noses bring their owners to the stall and before they know what's hit them, they are tucking into a fresh, hot boerewors roll with 'n heerlike tamatie en ui smoor bo oor'!
They are also selling herzoggies (coconut macaroons) and koeksusters. Some days there is both biltong and droewors on offer and melk tertjies and soet suur tertjies jostle for space on the tables. The beskuit is particularly popular and they are pretty well selling as fast as they can produce these delights!
As a result of the market success, Junay has been approached to do some catering for a function at the Top Ten Holiday resort early in November - basically a day's worth of goodies to eat. She has asked me to go in with her on this project, since I had done something similar in Wolmaransstad for the BKS office. We have been getting all the costing and planning done and should be on track for providing morning tea, a finger luncheon and then afternoon tea for 25. Should be great fun and hopefully if everything works as it should, we should make a bit of pin money out of it.
I have a violin student starting lessons next week so that means that I need to get all the music sorted out so that I can find things! At the moment, all the music is in the wall unit it belongs in, but is in no particular order!! Beginner violin music needs to be found and hauled out!
We had a visit from our landlord and his wife this past weekend - they have been really nice about it all, but the bottom line is that they are going to have to put this house onto the market. It doesn't appear that the house is going to be sold within days, but we are not too enamoured with the idea of having the house on show at weekends and people traipsing in and out all the time. So guess what? We are going to be moving again!
We have a couple of appointments over the next couple of days for viewing houses to rent in Wanganui and are secretly hoping that we get something really quickly that is exactly what we are looking for and has a 'long term' type lease arrangement attached. That was what we had here, but things have changed in the landlords' situation and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter. We have to admit that he appears to feel very bad about 'tossing us out on the street'!! We know that he will give us a really good reference as tenants so that's good!
The pianos are still not here! Will probably arrive within days of us moving - before, not after if Murphy has his way!
Dis al!