Ongoing adventures…
Despite most of the rest of the country having a record breaking dry summer, with water restrictions being placed, here on our little piece of the coast it has been a rather wet one. We are having the odd very hot day and sunny ones but for the most part it has not been nearly as nice as last summer. The water tank however has not needed topping up, we are lush and green, and any new plantings have grown spectacularly, so there is a silver lining 🙂
Our hike through the Leith Cloud Forest ,(where Luca took the above photo) was quite the adventure. We got a wee bit lost and took another couple of hours to find our way out through some uncharted territory. Luca and Pica found it quite exciting having to push through trees and then sneak through the back of farms, trying not to disturb the livestock when we emerged through the bush 🙂
Luca has discovered an app that allows him to photograph a plant and it will tell you the name and all about it. He has always been into botany but this has taken it to a new level. We are all learning lots about the plants around us at home and on our excursions.
School has been going well for Luca. He is enjoying the new activities on offer and the new class, including new classmates, making a new friend of a new kid to school. These are the faces I leave when heading off in the morning. Both look pretty happy as they start their day, if a little reluctant to leave the coziness of the bed …. 🙂
He now goes into one of the big schools in town for things like metal work, wood work, digital technology and cooking once a week, and really enjoys it apparently.
This last week the class went abseiling. I loved abseiling and rock climbing when I was younger and so happy that Luca is being taught it.
He says he was a little “terrified” but going to give it a go again. This was a precursor for the upcoming week of camp in March. They head off to the central part of the south island where they do all sorts of outdoor activities, orienteering, archery, abseiling, tubing down rapids, swimming, gold mining, hiking etc. I love that school camps are still part of the Kiwi curriculum, for some this is the only exposure these kids will ever get to this sort of thing and can open up a whole new world for them. In Luca’s school, all kids whose families cannot afford it are paid for discreetly by a fund set aside, so that no one misses out. Rich is going as a parent help, will be quite the experience for him 🙂
All our rain and then sudden warmth and rain again has meant our garden has exploded! Rich and I quite surprised as this years garden was a bit of an experiment and was put in late so we did not think we would get much however we have been proved wrong.
We had a visitor this week, Andrea from Australia!!!!! I have not seen Andrea since 2003, when she came to visit me in the UK, so many, many year ago, another lifetime really 🙂
Rich has started a new project. Our old shed, which had been very neglected over the years is being given a complete facelift. He is doing a spectacular job. I came home from work this week and Luca came running out to meet me , “like new” he exclaimed 🙂
Eggs continue to be supplied by our girls and very much enjoyed….
I am expecting the chicks ( Pocoyo, Feathers and Natu), to begin to lay mid year. River and Bramble both broody at the moment, I am hoping the other chick, (Raptor), is indeed a Roo and by next year their broodiness will not be in vain.
Vida continues to thrive in this environment, she is such a different girl to the tiny, skinny, skittish one we picked up from the shelter
Our day to day has a routine since school going back, and the weeks fly by, it is hard to believe we are nearing the end of February. Like all households, dishes are an ongoing occurrence, as we don’t have a dishwasher, it is done the “old fashioned” way , it is one of Luca’s most disdained chores but he is resigned to it now, though does ask frequently if a dishwasher is in the plan for the extension 🙂
Rich and Luca head off to camp on the 9th of March, this is the area they will be in, the camp known as “Gold Rush Camp Bannockburn”…
I have tasked Rich with taking lots of photos of their time there, fingers crossed for good weather 🙂