Wanganui Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's hoping you all have enjoyed a wonderful festive season - it was fantastic to be able to chat to some of our special folks on Christmas day - we do miss you, but hope that maybe by next Christmas we can welcome you to New Zealand and we can spend the day together!
Here's a taste of what we did on our first Christmas in New Zealand.

The day began with a lovely service at our new Church venue in the centre of town - we have managed to add to our little band in the form of Pierre on guitar (amazing what a few guitar lessons can do!) and Bonnita adding some beautiful dulcit tones on vocals. Plenty of old favourites in the way of 'O come all ye faithful'/'Kom alle getroues' and 'Silent Night/Stille Nag' with the stunning South African 'Somer Kersfees' to round everything off, made for a special Christmas day service.



There is nothing like a bit of fun in the sun for building up a good appetite for Christmas Lunch - this volleyball match was fiercely contested and was accompanied by much hilarity and leaping about -(especially Martie who stood on a bee) - her leaping about was definitely without any hilarity!



















Volleyball in the blazing heat was not everyone's cup of tea - some folks relaxed in the shade and caught up on some news from South Africa - the two ladies on the left of this picture are visiting here and spending Christmas with their families - hopefully, they felt as welcome as the flowers in Spring.





















If you really want to, you can make a festive and fabulous Christmas dinner anywhere! The garage at Marieta and Hennie's new abode was spacious enough to set up tables and chairs for all twenty something of us - the main reason being that the weather here in Wanganui is unpredictable and we were concerned about the possibility of rain on the day! We needn't have been so worried - the sun shone fiercely from 11am to 11pm!






Andre with lots to say about Pierre (our visiting 'preacher man' from SA) taking a ride on the swing!

The swing which is just a couple of kilometres out of town on the banks of the river was very popular on Christmas day - some of the braver (and younger) folks took the whole experience to another level by leaping off the swing when it was over the water and doing spectacular back-flip dives into the Whanganui river.

After checking the whole scene out from the sidelines for a while, Jo decided to risk it and take a ride on the wild side and swing out over the water.

As you can see, some folks just weren't too keen on swings 'n things - a little shut-eye after a great Christmas dinner was just what the doctor ordered. We don't think they planned to be caught napping! but they needed all their strength to muster up the energy to tackle the dishes!

Na al die dag se dinge, was dit heerlik om terug te kom van die swaai af en 'n ou koffietjie en

nagereggie te geniet - hierdie foto is vir al julle Bothatjies geneem om te bewys dat die ou blikbeker van Fairy Heights dit al die pad Nieu Zeeland toe gemaak het! Die 'kol' was spesiaal vorentoe gedraai vir die wat ons nie glo nie - ja nee wragtig, dis die eindste beker wat julle almal so goed onthou!! O, en die vla binne in was heerlik saam met die bruin poeding hoor!

Ons stuur ons liefde en beste wense vir die Kersgety aan al ons geliefdes - ons verlang baie, maar hoop julle se 'Krismis' ook heerlik was. Wie weet, dalk volgende jaar is daar van julle wat sommer hier saam met ons 'n wonderlike Kersfees sal kan saam geniet - julle moet nou begin spaar - ons wag vir julle!!

Dis al!

Carols by Candlelight in Wanganui

This lovely grassed area beside Virginia Lake was the venue for this year's Carols by Candlelight which took place on Sunday evening.

The group of South Africans supporting the local Carols by Candlelight and Rotary Club who put it on.

The Wanganui Pipe Band entrance - real stirring stuff and a lovely start to the evening with a couple of traditional carols, the ever-present Scottish Soldier and of course, Amazing Grace.

The little guy on the far left is 9 years old and plays that drum like a seasoned pro - all the rhythmic moves included - we were most impressed by this Little Drummer Boy.

The Wanganui Brass Band accompanied by the combined choirs. The chappie on 'first trumpet' is a member of the National Band - a real accomplishment - and got him special mention and a round of applause!

The Twelve Days of Christmas had the group of South Africans leaping to their feet with each appearance of 'five golden rings' and singing with immense gusto - by the fourth time, we had some of the locals following suit! (Shades of a Mexican Wave). The Master of Ceremonies mentioned over the p.a system during one of the golden rings lines - 'the group of South Africans' - so there was no way that we were going to be incognito at this event!

Enough space for everyone to relax on their picnic blankets and dip into their 'tea' baskets. A few brave folks were in summer outfits, but rumour has it that summer is dragging her feet this year and it's still unseasonably cold at dawn and dusk. We were glad we thought to bring warm jackets (along with the umbrella - since there was a light shower or two in the course of the evening).

By the time 'Silent Night' appeared on the programme, it was almost dark enough to appreciate the lit candles.

Dis al!

Estan van den Berg

This morning has brought incredibly sad news with the sudden, tragic death of our nephew Estan van den Berg - younger son of Gratia and Jakes and brother to Jakes Jnr.
Although we have been dealing with the possibility for a couple of days now, the finality of the doctors deciding to switch off the life support has been very difficult for us and we have felt so helpless and so very far away.
Our hearts go out to Jo's sister Gratia, brother in law Jakes and nephew Jakes Jnr - we are just grateful that the other brothers and sister are with them at this terrible time.
We had so looked forward to Estan coming over to New Zealand to spend some time with us as soon as he'd completed his schooling and it's still very hard to absorb the fact that he won't be doing that now.
A very special, mature and 'together' young man, Estan made a positive impact on everyone and his loss is going to be deeply felt by so many people.
There are no words to describe this kind of thing - we are reeling with the reality of it.
We will resume this blog anon.
Dis al.

Wires and wheels

There is almost always a way to fix something - these blocks of wood were lurking in the shed outside and happened to be just the right size for raising the piano enough to be able to tackle the damaged wheels. We are still in the market for any unwanted or unused candlelabra that should fill the holes on the front face of the piano - why anyone removed them in the first place remains a total mystery to us. And once they removed them - where the hell did they put them?

It's not too complicated if you can read and aren't colour blind - it's the remote that somehow manages to get itself 'reprogrammed' that can cause immense frustration when setting up the system.

Everyone who is anyone in our lives knows that without decent music and the option of DVD's when it's raining outside, we are not happy! In the event of not being happy, there are a number of choices as to which ones we incline towards - Grumpy comes immediately to mind!

All set up and testing - beside the piano with repaired wheels

Dis al!