Out with the old.....

And in with the new!

We have 'new' wheels! Acquired on Janet's birthday, blue and with the perfect badge on the front - sure to be a winner!!!

Unsignposted and without any descriptive narrative or fanfare, this driftwood creation stands beside the highway and begs questions like 'who did the artwork?' and 'what's it there for?' etc. No matter - we took a picture of it anyway.







This house stands beside the State Highway near Taumarunui and every time we drive by, we threaten to take a photograph since it's so dilapidated looking and appears to be about to come crashing down at the first mention of a puff of a breeze. However, one of Jo's colleagues who lives in the area, assures us that the house in question has looked the same 'for ever' and is in fact the most marvellous place for a 'kuier' - Sky TV dish and all! Maybe a lick of paint would in fact spoil the ambience and detract from the character.

On the 'big picture' front - we are still in the process. At the moment we are waiting for our police clearance certificates to arrive from SA. It has been so difficult not to become frustrated and disheartened with the tediousness of it all and the lack of communication issues that those of us who are far away all seem to encounter. After waiting for a full three months and having no response from any form of connection with the police clearance folks, we managed to (through a friend here in NZ) get someone in Pretoria to make inquiries as to the progress of our applications. Evidently, the documentation is in fact done and we are now just organising to have it sent here safely and are hoping that with this last step, Immigration NZ can allocate us a case worker and we can move on to the next phase.

It will no doubt be superfluous to mention that when we finally get PR we will be VERY HAPPY! On the other hand, if we don't ever get the aforementioned PR, perhaps selling everything we own besides a keyboard and a bass guitar and opening a bar on a pacific island somewhere is not such a ludicrous idea after all. Most folks we mention the idea to are very quick to offer to join us and work for board and lodging! Who knows, stranger things have been known to happen!

My grandbaby's Daddy tells me that there will be an announcement as to the gender in the next day or so and that I should nag if they don't send a mail post haste. I know that technology being as ingenious as it is, (actually the computer animator being a genius) has this blogspot come up for the soon-to-be-parents as soon as there is a new post - so here is the new post and with it, the reminder to let the grandma know!

Pink or Blue???

Dis al!

Ducks in a row

We were drumming up a welcome cup of coffee the other day and happened to glance out of the window to see this proud mama with her chicks 'trotting' across the entrance to our driveway. Fortunately, the camera wasn't too far away and we managed to capture them for you to see.

Remember this is a residential part of Wanganui-not a farm, pond or lake for miles, so we are quite mystified as to where they came from and where they were so intent on going to!

Nevertheless - I know I said ages ago on this very blog that these creatures pop up wherever there is even the hint of a puddle - so I guess I was 'righter' than I thought!

We have both been somewhat under the weather with the flu bug which has been rife in Wanganui but seem to be over the worst of it now and my voice is back after the laryngitis which snatched it for about four quiet days!

It looks like we are going to acquire a 'new' car - for those of you who don't know, VW is the way we go (if we possibly can) and the Mitsubishi that we have had since we arrived has lost some of it's 'charm' and is about to be traded in for a you guessed it VW. We'll let you see some pictures once the deal is done!

As far as the Mitsi is concerned, an ad currently on TV comes to mind - "You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter!"

Dis al!

Train trip to Hamilton and back!

We took a 'birthday train trip' to Hamilton and spent the evening with Annelien and Carel - cake and birthday cards and dinner and happy birthday singing made for a special evening - Dankie die Bothas vir die rondry en oplaai en aflaai en saam rugby kyk en koek en sing en ete en geselskap ens! Ons waardeer julle ongelooflik baie!

Annelien and I were tickled by the 'slim' milk to have in our coffee while indulging in this marvellous cake! Oh well - every calorie helps I guess!

Pretty scenery not far from Palmerston North where we got onto the train for our day trip to Hamilton. The mountains in the distance and the fairly clear sky means that the outside temperature is cold enough to make us grateful for the heated train carriages.

We were informed by a fellow traveller that this scenery is 'nothing' - well we thought it was something enough to take a picture of!

There was a lunch time-ish stop for a bite to eat at the Station Cafe at Uhakune - a town which is one of the places to stay when you are skiing on Ruapehu mountain. I thought of you Janet when I saw the menu board - not as spectacular as the one you did overseas, but knew you would appreciate the beautiful printing as well as the 'chalk drawing' of the train.

The Overlander was at one point, going to be shut down, but has been retained and revamped to a degree. There are many train enthusiasts, especially those who are steam fanatics who apparently fought long and hard to keep the lines open and although it's not the Blue train or Rovos Rail by any means, the carriages are comfortable and well heated with a 'take away' buffet car to stave off any hunger pangs along the way.

Sunday morning arrival of the Overlander train at Hamilton station - from Auckland en route to Wellington.

The last carriage on the Overlander train has a scenic back window for photographs like this one. Passengers are requested not to spend more than about twenty minutes in these special seats, but I don't know how many folks actually take much notice of the rules!

This little town has a monument to sheep shearing - one of their residents has held the world sheep shearing title for more than a couple of years and shears something in the region of thirteen sheep in fifteen minutes!

Had we been asked to say which country in the world held the sheep shearing title we have to admit that we would have plumped for Australia so there you go - New Zealand has many surprises!

There are five viaducts between Palmerston North and Hamilton - this is one of the more spectacular of them .

Pretty scenery in spite of a rainy and grey day on the 1st August - we have been interested to see that lots of farmers own 'tonka toys' like the one in this picture. They are also used a whole lot by road construction contractors so we see them often and they never fail to raise a smile because they just look so dinky and cute - we are used to these kinds of vehicles being about ten times larger.

One sees the wintery mountains a lot closer from the train than from the road.

The section of railway line from Taihape to Feilding changes to steam every fortnight - this means that 80 passengers joined the train for that leg of the journey. Some of them had been waiting for a spot for two months! We particularly liked the gum boots on the front of this steam engine!

Thought you might like to see the snowscape now that it's done - apparently, this is the view from the hut where all the Wanganui folks stay when they go skiing. That volcano is evidently not dead!

The four folks trudging up the hill are the commissioners of the painting and their sons - making this a pretty personal painting!

Dis al!