Hay Making

In early December, our friends Raewyn and Bruce asked for some extra pairs of hands to help take in the hay at their uncle's small farm in the Moutere. They have a small herd of cattle which are being raised for beef and have a few paddocks which they grow as hay for the cattle in the winter. A farmer from a neighbouring farm brought along the baler and baled the hay. We had had a spell of really good, hot dry weather so the hay was perfect. The bales where easy to lift and a few other members of the Harvey family came along with an assortments of vehicles and trailers to transport the hay to the hay loft. It did really take me back to my childhood days when we used to help with the haymaking at Cromlix. We all had a great time. It just took a couple of hours (350 bales, all counted!) then we all had a beer and tucked into a scrumptious picnic which Raewyn had prepared in the afternoon. A great way to spend a sunny summer evening - we certainly all slept well that night!

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Findlay's Cycling

At the beginning of November Findlay joined a cycling club in Nelson. He had been enjoying doing circuits around the house (everyday after school!) so when we saw an advert for the club we decided to give it a go. He has had a great time. They meet once a week on a Sunday at the cycle track in Nelson. It is a round cycle track with banked corners which goes around the edge of the rugby pitch! He is really enjoying the racing and so far has done very well. They have speed races, handicapped races, Le Mans start races, time trials as well as teaching the kids the skills of cycle racing. He has done very well and has managed to win one race each week. The photos were taken at the Kart racing circuit not the cycle circuit where they met one week to do some distance racing. Looks like we are going to have to start saving for a new bike for his next birthday!
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Kahurangi Point & Lighthouse

In early December Tom headed away for a few days with his work colleagues from across the Nelson Marlborough Conservancy for a "meeting' at Kahurangi Point. To get to Kahurangi Point is, to say the least a bit of a mission. From Nelson drive around 2 hours to Pakawau, in Golden Bay,(where our friend Claire lives) then 50km down a single lane gravel road until it stops, fording 2 rivers on the way - 4 wheel drive vehicle compulsory. From there walk about 5 km along the beach, cross the Big River (yes that's its name) then a further 40 minutes down the beach to the lighthouse keepers house. Rather than carrying all our gear and food down to the house we took two quad bikes, and to get the quad bikes and ourselves over the Big River we took a raft, and, of course, to get the raft to the river we took a 4 wheel drive ute - parking ut up well above the high water mark. The meeting proved to be more of a pre Chrismas social event and a history lesson about the lighthouse, the keepers and community that lived there in the remote part of the north west coast of the South Island, than a meeting - although we did discuss business for 1/2 a day and do a heap of chores around the lighthouse keepers house.

The weather was superb for such an exposed and isolated site - we were very fortunate. It was a great experience to get to such a remote site, with good food, good company and more than a beer or two to go around.

Mt Luna, Kahurangi National Park

Earlier on in the year Tom had discussed the idea of doing a multi day tramp with welshman
Simon Baldwin (Findlays teachers husband). We had thought about the Heaphy Track but time off and logistics didn't work out, so over a beer and a few maps we opted for a three day trip trip to bag the 1630m. summit of Mt Luna in the souther part of Kahurangi National Park.

On Friday lunchtime we headed off to the start of the tramp at the Rolling Riving junction (also the eastern start point of the Wangapeka Track). We had read in the local paper the previous day that the Nelson tramping club were also planning to do a similar trip starting on the Saturday morning so we opted for a 5 hour walk on the Friday afternoon / evening to get a day ahead of them and avoid some poor weather forecasted for Saturday evening.

After the first 2 hours we crossed Kiwi Creek and headed uphill on a well benched track to the 6 bunk Kiwi Saddle Hut arriving around 8.00pm.
The next morning the mist soon cleared and we headed west up to the bushedge then on to the southern top of Mt Luna before heading to the summit and reaching the top about 11.30.
After a leisurly lunch we descended down Stone Creek to join the Wangapeka track at Stone Hut. Another leisurly stop and a cup of tea, then off for a few hours down the track to the historic Cecil Kings hut for the night.
Sunday started off wet as we headed back along the track to our start point at the Rolling River junction.

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Aunt Mary's visit in October

We are enjoying our long summer holidays (school doesn't go back until the 7th February) so I have time to catch up with lots of things including this blog site!

Last October, Tom's Aunt Mary from Edinburgh paid us a visit. She was on a cruise with the Holland America Line which started in Auckland, cruised around NZ then over to Tasmania, Melsbourne and finally Sydney. The ship was docking in Picton for a day which is about 2 hours drive from here but what Aunt Mary decided to do was leave the ship in Wellington the day before it was due in Picton, and fly over here to Nelson, stay the night with us, then we would take her back to the ship the next day.

Tom and I had both arranged to take the day off work and the boys stayed off school. We had a lovely time although the weather was a bit chilly. We took Aunt Mary to the Gardens of the World near Richmond then headed back to Picton on the scenic route via the Nelson Lakes.
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It was lovely having some time with Aunt Mary and catching up with some of the family news.

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Having travelled all the way down to Dunedin for the soccer tournament we decided to stay on a few days after it finished and have a bit of a holiday. While the weather for the football was awful the weather at the end of the week was great and we had a lovely break. We visited the Cadbury's chocolate factory and climbed the steepest street in the Southern Hemisphere. It doesn't look very steep in the photograph but it is really! And no its not called Findlays Road - that was on the way home!

More soccer!

Even before the winter Saturday soccer season ended, training started for national soccer championships. The trials to select the top 15 players in each age grade for the Nelson area had taken place in June and Niall was selected to play as one of the top 15. The 14th Grade, South Island tournament this year was in Dunedin and Nelson were defending the title they had won last season (13th Grade) in Queenstown. As the boys are getting older the competition is getting tougher. There were less teams in the competition this year than in previous years but this meant that the real elite players were concentrated in fewer teams. This also meant the standard of football was higher and great to watch. Unfortunately the pressure of defending their title proved too much for the Nelson team and although they won 5 (out of 6) of their games, they were beaten by the team from Christchurch so came runners-up this year. The weather was very mixed from sunny warm days to sleet and snow on the final day. We had a good time though and stayed on in Dundedin for a few more days. Dunedin is 2 days driving from here so it was good to have a bit of a holiday too.

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Richmond Athletic

Another season over and Saturday soccer has come to an end. Niall's team had a bit of a mixed season, eventually finishing 8th in their league. This didn't really reflect their effort and ability as they had a few unlucky loses at the end of the season but they weren't too dissapointed. It was a good group of lads. Niall and his friend Eric were the youngest with some of the team off to University at the end of the year. At last we will be able to have a lie in on a Saturday - no more 7.30am rises! Yahoo!

Junior Soccer Legend

Findlay's 7th Birthday

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Lunar Eclipse

Last night we watched the most amazing lunar eclipse in the skies above Nelson. This was the first total lunar eclipse or "blood moon" since July 2000. A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full during a lunar eclipse.

Soccer Champs!

On Saturday 21st July Findlay's soccer team took part in a 7th Grade soccer festival in Nelson. They had a great time. It was a pretty exhausting morning - 5 games of 15 minutes, some without a rest between so they were all pretty tired by the end. Their results were a bit mixed - won 2, drew 2 and lost the last one which was a shame. If they had drawn the last game they would have got into the semi- finals but by that time they were all exhausted so it was maybe as well that they didn't. Their coach - Shannon, is only 16 but is pretty committed to the team and does his best to control eight 7 year olds. All the boys got a certificate and even Tom won the Spectator of the Day certificate and a voucher for a free cheese burger at MacDonalds!

Winter holiday 07

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Le Tour de Rabbit Island

It's the last day of the school winter break and we have another brilliantly clear winters day. Since returning from our week at Raumati Beach the weather has been beautiful - cold in the morning and night (with temperatures down to -2c. degrees) but beautiful sunny and bright during the day. There is heaps of snow on the high mountains in Kahurangi National Park, to the west of Nelson and a dusting on the tops of Mt Starveall and Rintoul, (below), about 10km behind our house.

We watched the first real mountain stage of the Tour de France all morning, (for 4 hours) then after lunch and inspired by the Tour, we loaded up the van and headed out to Rabbit Island. With our bikes unloaded we headed for the safe and relatively quiet gravel roads to the west of the island. We have all had a bit of a cold / cough over the past few weeks, so some good fresh air and exercise was well received. Findlay loves getting out on his bike and is becoming a good confident rider. Tom recorded the afternoon with a new camera his work had bought, so he used the trip to familiarise himself with it. However it was simply "just point and shoot"!

Back to school for Fiona, Niall and Findlay tomorrow.

On the 15th May Tom and I headed to Wellington for my Postgraduate Graduation from Victoria University. We had a great day which started off with a parade down Lampton Quay ( the main street in Wellington) to the the town hall where we released our balloons before entering the town hall for the ceremony. It had all been a bit of a palaver but all worked out OK in the end.
When I was given the date of the graduation I wasn't told what time it would be - I assumed it would be an afternoon ceremony as had been the case in previous years so went ahead and booked flights etc and Tom and I got quite excited at the thought of a day in the city without the kids. Two weeks before the ceremony the tickets arrived only for us to discover that the ceremony was to be at 7pm at night! I phoned Air New Zealand to try to change the flights but the last flight to Nelson left at 7.20pm in the evening! So it looked like a graduation ceremony was out the window but Tom and I decided to have a day in the city and make the most of it anyway. Then 2 days before the 'big day out' arrived I got a phone call from the university asking if I would like to graduate at 2pm with the engineers, computer scientists and architects. So that was how it was - right at the end of the science faulty graduations....Fiona Young - Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Studies (Education)! A very memorable day in all and another NZ experience to remember.
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Autumn in Richmond

Autumn in Richmond

These pictures were taken from the lookout on the hill just behind our house. You can see our house just at the bottom of the picture to the right of the seat. If you click the picture you will be taken to a new window with some more pictures on it.

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Here are some photos of our weekend in Collingwood. We stayed at the DOC bach on the beach front. (Kiwi holiday houses are called baches which is a shortened form of bachelor pad!) The location of the bach is just great - right on the beach and you can hear the tide coming and going as you sleep. Its pretty basic but just ideal for a weekend break. We were in Golden Bay to help Scott (Claire's husband) celebrate is 40th birthday. Unfortunately the weather was a bit mixed on the Saturday but Sunday was glorious. We had a lovely time - even the boys enjoyed themselves and didn't really complain about missing their Saturday football games.

Weekend in Golden Bay

Golden Bay May 2007

Our Welsh Friend

Meet Dafydd.

Dafydd has come from Wales to spend some time in New Zealand. He is spending some time with some of the children from Richmond Primary and they are writing a book about his adventures. Last weekend he came with us to Golden Bay. He had a great time and so did we!This picture was taken on the picnic table just outside the DOC bach where we stayed. The weather at the weekend was unsettled but it didn't stop us having a good time.

First site visit to Granity Pass

One of Toms big projects this year is the construction of a new (replacement) back country hut in Granity Pass, on the Mount Owen masiff at the southern end of Kahurangi National Park. The hut site is at 1220m. altitude and requires and hour and half drive (from Nelson) and about a 6 hours to walk get into.

On 8th May, Tom and some of his colleagues visited the hut site to decide on exact location / orientation and geotechnical issues (flood, rockfall, soil types, avalanche likelihood etc..). It was a glorious day.

Fortunately he had a helicopter on hand - so 25 minutes after leaving Nelson he was there.

Saturday Soccer

Well the soccer season started yesterday and we had our first day of rain for about 6 or 8 weeks! Findlay is playing football on a Saturday morning now too which means Tom and I are going to have to take it in turns watching the games. Tom went with Niall yesterday. Niall is playing up a grade this year so he is playing in the youth league which is for boys aged between 15 and 18. All a bit bigger than Niall but some aren't quite as skilled nor as fit as Niall so his first game went ok. The boys in his team haven't played together before so it was all a bit disjointed to begin with. Niall's team , Richmond Athletic, were up 1 at half time against a team from Mapua but the final score was 3-2 to Mapua. Niall wasn't too disappopinted as he knew the first game playing together would be difficult.

Findlay is playing in the 7th grade which is for youngsters who turn 7 this year (or younger). Most of the kids are only 5 or 6 and it was quite entertaining watching them running after the ball. Findlay, of course, has had some great coaching from Niall so has a better idea of the game rules etc. His friend Sam is in his team and he also has older brothers so it looks like Sam and Findlay are going to be quite a partnership on the field! Their team won yesterday 13 - 1!! Findlay scored 6 goals and Sam scored 4. Findlay also got the "Player of the Day" certificate so we were all fair chuffed!. No photos I am afraid - it was too wet.

Fletcher's Beach

Fletcher's Beach

Having smashed all the boiled eggs we headed on down to the beach. Scott wanted to do a bit of surfing and the rest of us just wanted to enjoy the lovely warm weather. The boys ended up swimming as the water was reasonably warm, especially for this time of year. Claire and I enjoyed lazing on the beach and watching the young seal pups frolick in the waves. Tom took the pictures! A lovely way to spend Easter sunday - relaxing at the beach. (click on the picture above to see the rest of the photo album)

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday we headed over to Wharariki Beach to roll our boiled eggs down the hill. Daniel, Scott's youngest son came with us. It was great fun although we had to be careful to avoid the cow pats!

Findlay the football champ!

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Today Findlay's friend Matthew came round to play after school. Both boys are pretty keen soccer players and had great fun kicking the ball around the garden. It was a lovely autumn time with leaves everywhere. Both boys are hoping they will both be in the same socceer team when Saturday soccer starts in a few weeks time.

Sunday 1st April

Well it was a beautiful, sunny Autumn day today. The leaves are beginning to fall from the trees but its still lovely and warm. Tom and I spent the morning pottering in the garden. Findlay was keen to do something so we all went to Rabbit Island for a bike ride. Findlay has a new (secondhand) bike with gears so he can now go at great speed both up and down hills! Unfortunately we forgot the camera so no photos this time. We cycled about 10km which was pretty good going for Findlay's little legs and my stiff legs! We returned home via the dairy and ice creams all round. Only 4 days until the holidays...Yahoo!

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These are Tom's photos of his recent project. He was replacing a shelter/hut in the back country and since it was in quite a remote location (2 days walk from the nearest road/track) they decided to fly the new one in rather than building it on site. All went well until they tried to fly the old hut out. It disintegrated in mid air and the debris was scattered all over the area. Luckily no-one was underneath it at the time! Oh well it just means another helicopter trip another day to clean up all the mess.

The Wangapeka Track

A picture from Tom. Last week Tom was in the back country installing a new tramping hut. He had a couple of beautiful days which meant the helicopter flights were pretty awesome.

Here goes.....

Well here goes with our new Blogspot. Just got our new computer, signed up for broadband and have the webcam running so thought we would give this blogging stuff a go. Hope you enjoy reading our diary entries as well an enjoying our piccy's