Week 9

Sunday 15th January. Rob needed to go into Albany shopping centre to get shoes and trousers so I offered to go with him. We left about 11am. The car he has got at the moment is not very powerful, only 1.5 litres, not what he is used to driving! I was laughing as he couldn't even overtake a car towing a caravan at one point! It certainly curbed his speed! The shopping centre was busy and I just kept up with him as he speeded through the place. It didn't take long for him to get what he needed and we were off again. Lunch was a take away from KFC. Many years since I have had one of those! Had to admit it was quite tasty! He had bought a Guns and Roses cd so I was subjected to that on the journey back! We stopped in Warkworth to get a few supplies and last stop was at Jim and Wendy's to pick up the smoked snapper Mangawhai Mangawhai . Had a cuppa and a chat with them. It's been a hot day, Wendy unhappy she had to take a rest from gardening! What to do with 2 large, smoked snapper! I would really have preferred them fresh but apparently Jim has a smoker and that's what he usually does with them. Will ask to have them unsmoked next time though. Anyway I took as much of the flesh off them as I could but suspect there was still a lot on there. Rob doesn't eat it, surprisingly, so there was ample for N and I to have for tea and for lunch tomorrow. Later we started watching "The Level", detective program from UK. Five episodes running each evening. Monday 16th January. Rob up and off to first day of work at United Autos in Warkworth. We were awake about 7.30 and I was listening for him going in for a shower. I do realise that he's a grown man and has been getting himself out of bed, to go to work, for many years without my help! However I still find myself worrying that he will sleep in! A quiet day, finished the jigsaw. Rob home just before 6. Strange to have him coming and going after all these years! Pleasant though and we are co-existing well! N and I went for,walk and paddle. Watched The Level. Am finding it difficult to grasp Tuesday 17th January. Went to the library, got new jigsaw! Oh, the excitement! We wanted to suss out a walk at the other side of the estuary Path to the beach and swamp! Path to the beach and swamp! . We have a leaflet of walks in the area, from the tourist office. It states that one will get wet feet so we wanted to see if it was necessary to go at low tide. The approach road is called Black Swamp Road, perhaps that should have given us a clue. The road petered out and there was a small , grassy parking area. One other car was there. As we got out of the car I did think that I wasn't well shod for walking any distance. Since we have been here I have rarely worn any other sort of footwear than jandles. Ah yes, jandles known in the UK as flip flops. The walk started off well. A narrow track with tyre marks from a small tractor, well shaded and easy walking. To,our right many pukehoes, birds like large moor hens, were foraging for seeds and grubs. To our left an orchard or olive grove. Couldn't quite get near enough to identify the trees. A couple, presumably from the other car, passed us with a cheery good morning. After ten minutes of so the track appeared to go through a swamp that was indeed black. The tyre marks were full of water and the track seemed to go through that for a while. Nothing ventured nothing gained. We took the decision to press on. I went first and managed to negotiate the first part then putting my right foot forward, onto a bank I knew, I just knew, that I was going to slip. Oh yes, full frontal into the black mud. I managed to turn over and shift onto solid ground and Nigel pulled me to my feet Kauri Museum Kauri Museum . It had been a soft landing but it seemed I had bent my big toe rather painfully. Still I was on my feet and could walk so we turned back to return to the car. Adventure over for the day! Back home for a shower and to soak bruised big toe in salt water. No beach walk tonight ! Wednesday. 18th January. Beautifully bruised big toe but, surprisingly, not very painful. Afternoon at cards. At the beginning we drew for which table we were going to be on. Quite a few more there than last week.. I played with Bryan and the other two on our table were Stan and Jill. Stan and Jill played well and had good cards! That meant that Bryan and I lost! Still it was fun and an enjoyable afternoon. Nigel was on a table with three ladies, they seemed to enjoy his company! One of them, Liz, told me about bridge evening, Monday, at the club in Mangawhai and encouraged me to go. I'll give it a go, all being well, although it's a fair while since I have played Kauri Museum Kauri Museum . Thursday. 19th January. An at home day apart from a trip to the shop in Mangawhai Heads. The Heads has a small shopping centre with a couple of restaurants, takeaway, bakery, pharmacy, post office, bottle shop ( other shops can sell wine but not spirits). Four Square is a small supermarket. It seems that every small town has a Four Square. Mangawhai which is 7kms away also has a small shopping centre which is slightly bigger. There's also the weekly market there, butcher, garage and library. Last night of The Level, a two hour episode. Had hoped for some clarity but was still not sure what had happened! Don't think Nigel or Rob was that sure either. Friday. 20th January. A day out at the Kauri Museum at Matakohe a 45 minute drive from here. Kauri Trees are among the worlds largest trees and grow to over 50m tall with girth so up to 16m. They can live for over 2000 years. The north of NZ was covered in forest of these trees. The forests were decimated in the 17and 1800's when the European settlers arrived. The timber was ideal for building. Then the land was cleared for agriculture. The remaining Kauri forests are now protected. The trees also produce a gum, resin like substance, known as New Zealand Amber. Early settlers dug for this gum which was bought by gum dealers and used for the manufacture of varnishes and other resin based products My favourite place My favourite place . The museum has a gum room where the cleaned and polished gum is displayed. One of the rooms had some stunning pieces of furniture, made from kauri wood, that I would have been very happy to bring away with me! The Volunteers hall displayed a massive 22.5 m slab of Kauri and housed a beautiful, turned Kauri balustrade up to the mezzanine floor. We had been told by one of our card playing friends that this was the best museum in NZ and I would agree that it would take some surpassing. We finished our day by visiting the church and the post office buildings. I have been struck before, when visiting other museums, how important the post office was to people in these isolated communities. Telegraphy and then telephones were lifelines for the inhabitants. Hard to imagine in these days of high speed broadband!. Back home and after supper a short walk on the beach finished off the day. Saturday 21st January. Library and market in the morning Rob home mid afternoon. Weather forecast for later is wind and rain. Nigel and I went down to the beach. High tide and pretty windy down there but I still managed a paddle. Quite a few people about and still a few in the sea. Life guards there too as usual. Not the sort of day I would have liked to go in! The rain started about 9pm. Hope that there's enough to top up the water tanks and do the ground some good.