Camping, cousins young and not so!

 The winter is fading into the background of our year and so we joined friends for a weekend of camping in a teeny town called Dannevirke. (originally established by the Danish - hence the unexpected name).
 The campsite was no five star affair, but had all the basic amenities that one looks for and we had a terrific 'getaway' - meeting loads of new folks and making serious decisions about acquisitions that we should think about!


Being the 'Big Day' of the World Cup - the campers were asked (politely!) to dress in the colour (or non-colour, whichever way you might look at it) and prepare for an evening of rugby madness at the Dannevirke Club.
We walked from the campsite to the club en masse and attracted honking horns and waves and cheers from all the passing traffic! Armed with balloons and all in black, we were hardly unobtrusive - it was still light though - had it
been dark nobody would have seen us!!!

Just before setting off - posed for a group photograph - if you had Super Vision, you would notice that at least four of these 'all black supporters' have blood which runs green! But in the event of the best team being out, we will camouflage our disappointment and wear the black of self-respecting mourners!!

The author and co have re-experienced the joys of camping in a tent - our creaking backs and knees are giving us pause to consider keeping our tent for the 'emergency shelter' when out and about on the motorbike, and investing in something a little more sedate for our adventures in New Zealand.

 On a different note - my dear, dear friend Rozanne, who now resides in the USA, took this photograph - she really must have felt a tingle of homesickness, however far away the reality is! Don't you just love the population count?

I have to put this up for our followers to see - THIS is something that I do not have the courage to do - not if my life depended on it, I don't think - so CHEERS to my cousin Patty!!
Amazing!
For those who are either half asleep or didn't look closely - this is Sydney, Australia - from the top of the bridge!! EISH!

Thanks to the children for sending this picture of our two new grandsons - cousins Estan and Henri - in their onesies from us in Whanganui. (parcels finally both arriving after some very anxious months!) 

The volcano and river being represented and the maori wording meaning - "I am the river and the river is me" 

Cuteness! Dis al!

Another tragedy unfolding.

 The stricken Rena - perched on a shallow reef, her containers hanging at precarious angles and her hull damaged and leaking oil.
At this stage nobody is saying anything about how this could have happened on a beautiful, calm Spring day - the captain and the 'watchman' have appeared in court already, but no -one is admitting much about anything.
This is not a reef which has suddenly appeared out of nowhere - it's evidently documented loud and clear and always has been.

 It has all been so unbelievable - the pictures which are being broadcast of the stricken container vessel which ploughed into the reef just off the beautiful Tauranga Beach, are becoming more and more horrifying as the days go on.
The beaches for kilometres up and down the coastline are being suffocated with the thick oil - apparently the consistency of marmite - and a massive clean up effort is beginning.
The locals are up in arms about the evidently 'tragically slow response' to this newest disaster - the Prime Minister Mr John Key emphasising that there has been work behind the scenes which ordinary folk couldn't be aware of and were even less able to actually see, so in fact, in his opinion, the cleanup began inordinately fast.

This could well be the case, however, four days of apparently NOTHING happening was too much for most folks to bear and many took matters into their own hands and got stuck in. Now that volunteers have been asked for, there are at least a thousand people who have registered to be 'trained' so that they can help.

 There have been requests from the powers that be, to leave the oil pollution for the 'experts' - that it is toxic and should be handled a certain way - blah blah de blah - the locals will have none of it - they have been streaming down on to the beach in their hundreds, armed with buckets and rubber gloves and spades and sticks and whatever else they can lay their hands on, to start the clean up and see if there is any chance of saving any of the birdlife.
There have been some lucky ones.

It has been such a mission to get parcels delivered safely to our special people over the past months that when friends were heading off to South Africa for a month's holiday, we were delighted to accept their offer of courier service! These 'boards' were made for our new grandsons, and each came with a special 'made in New Zealand' hand knitted jersey - complete with the requisite fences and sheep!

 Preparing for a music competition which has taken place in the small town of Hawera (about an hour from Wanganui) - Eden and Hannah are working on a violin duet.
It is so good to see that although the children in New Zealand are much like children everywhere, there are loads of opportunities for those who wish to, to get up on a stage and take part in eisteddfods and competitions and compete against children of similar ability. An 'expert opinion' in the form of an adjudicator is often really positive encouragement too.

Some of our faithful blog readers have mentioned that they have enjoyed the odd 'smiles' that we have put up here, so here is one which gave us a chuckle.
Dis al!