Nice weekend

I ended up spending Friday with my daughter and didn't catch up with my friend (it rained so not good for walking in the park with a baby).  I went to Charlie's assembly where he did a little presentation and was later awarded with "Student of the Week".  The teacher giving him the award read out so much lovely stuff about him that my daughter was in tears :) He just took it all in his stride and showed no emotion, typical Charlie, probably the autism showing.   Only about 35 kids a year get the 'student of the week' award so it's pretty special.

After that I went bed shopping with my daughter which helped her a lot as a second opinion on anything is always helpful.  We got a lovely new bed for Fletch which gets delivered this week.  

After that Stu and I went over to the beach house for the weekend -- it was foul weather over there but still relaxing.  I had to get it ready for visitors staying next weekend (Stu's nephew and family).  We can't go over and they needed a place to stay while visiting Stu's dad who no longer has endless accommodation options.  

Yesterday turned out to be beautiful and we were even walking the beach in our shorts, bare feet and T shirts!  It had been stormy and there were new logs washed up on the beach, one of them was massive.  The power of the ocean is amazing.

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Last week Cole asked me to make a new tassel to hang from his bracelet.  He wears a beaded bracelet all the time, it was a gift from his friend at school (a girl) and he loves it.  The yellow tassel hanging from it was old and worn and I offered to replace it.  When I asked him what colour I expected him to say blue or green etc but no, typical Cole he asked for 'Cyan'.  He even pronounced it correctly so cyan is what I made him.  We fell about laughing because what kid says cyan?  So cute.  I also rethreaded the elastic for him and made his little bracelet stronger.  I think they like a Nana who fixes things.

~ Lynda

Charlie finally lost another tooth so wanted to send me a photo.

Charlie's certificate (name and school blocked out) - notice the mistake?  It's OK I wouldn't expect you to notice that they put Cole's photo on it instead of Charlies!!  I think my daughter might get them to print off a new one :)

This is Cole's bracelet he wears all the time...

And the new tassel I made to hang off it in 'cyan' (well as near as I could get with what was in my sewing cabinet).  He was VERY happy when he saw it.

Charlie getting his award in front of the whole school assembly.

The beach yesterday after a stormy night.

The massive tree that was washed up in the storm.  It's pretty high on the sand so will no doubt become a feature of the beach for a long time.

A mouse in the house!!

The other day I thought I saw something shoot across the floor but then thought that it was just a bird flying past the lounge windows.  Wrong, it was a mouse.  Last night I went to put something in the cupboard under the sink and there were the droppings.  Stu set some traps around the house and also put one in that cupboard. While we were watching TV it went off and there was a little mouse.  Poor thing.  The mouse looked too small to have produced the size of the droppings we saw so we'll leave the traps around just in case.  Yuk.

I live in an area where there is literally hundreds of new homes being built (1,500 to be exact).  They are pulling down/taking away old homes and putting up townhouses and apartments.  It is a major development starting one street away and going through the entire suburb.  That's all good BUT they do the site works all through the night.  They have now started on a site that is literally a couple of hundred metres away from our bedroom and all I hear all night are trucks beeping, diggers digging and general noise.  There is zero we can do about it because it's all approved and I suppose they work through the night because the roads are clear and they don't hold up traffic.  My goodness it makes me want to get out of the city but we simply can't just yet.

My daughter has her medication and it seems to be having a positive effect on her.  She is still not good but can see some changes for the better.  She is very scared of taking medication and aware it can be addictive and have side effects so is monitoring it carefully.  She said it had a massive impact while away on her girls' weekend in that she was able to have a drink but not to excess and have a good time without needing to get too loud or crazy.   I've just spent the day out shopping with her looking for bedding etc and she was pretty good for the most part.  

Tomorrow Charlie is getting the 'student of the week' award at his assembly.  He doesn't know that he's getting it so will be just so happy.  I'm going along (with my daughter) to see him get is award.  He is also giving a presentation at the assembly as it is his team's turn to host the assembly.  It is something his school does to give the kids confidence presenting to groups.  

Cole is doing incredibly well with learning tech stuff.  He absolutely loves it so Stu is going to focus on that and teach his as much as he wants to know.  He's giving him a video camera (that we have no use for) and has set up my old computer so that he can edit videos and make a movie.  He will just love doing that!

Tomorrow, after Charlie's assembly, I'm meeting up with Becca (US friend) for a walk around One Tree Hill/Cornwall Park.  That should be lovely :)

~ Lynda

Busy doing nothing

I've been busy but not on much!  A busy fool more like it :)  We went over to the beach house on Friday and came back today (Sunday).  We really only went to visit Stu's father and check on the beach house as we hadn't been there since our US friends stayed and it's nice to make sure everything is OK.  Thankfully they left the house lovely and clean and there were only a few things put away in odd places so I can't complain at all.  

When we visited Stu's father he asked if we could make up some flat pack cabinets he'd had delivered.  Sure we could... three hours later we'd made three lovely bedside cabinets but didn't win any speed awards because there was a vital pack of special screws missing and Stu said it was impossible.  I came up with a solution and we finally got the job done.  I'm not a bad problem solver at times :)

I went to visit Becca (US) again last week and had a lovely time.  She is just so happy here and absolutely loves New Zealand.  Her little boy is absolutely gorgeous and overall they are doing really well here.  I'm sure we'll catch up from time to time for a walk or whatever.

On the night that we got back from holiday I woke at around 2am and needed to go to the toilet.  My brain still thought I was in the motorhome so I was searching around for a torch or my phone etc that I had kept by the motorhome bed.  When I couldn't find those I got out of bed being careful to not trip over but then stood at the end of the bed absolutely lost!  It was really dark so I just called out to Stu to put a light on.  Duh... that's when I realised I was standing in my own bedroom :)  

Last week Cole and seven other kids from his school had to go to another school and show them all about this educational toy called a 'Sphero'.   All the kids were split off into different rooms full of kids from lots of other schools.  Cole and his friend had to do a powerpoint presentation (which they had to write and make themselves!) about the Sphero then show the kids how to drive it and then when the kids split into smaller groups, help them and answer questions.  I went with my daughter and we were just so proud of him.  He was amazing and the confidence of this will just grow and grow as he gets older.  

My daughter was a mess though.  She is literally all over the place and can't seem to do anything.  She has lost confidence in so many things and just seemed like an empty shell who just worries the entire time about everything.  Later that night Stu and I went to their place and she seemed a lot better around us and this weekend she has had a 'girly' weekend staying with friends in a hotel.  I hope that will help her.

It's a double edged sword being around her -- yes, I have to listen and try to help as much as I can but OMG, I also want to run a million miles away because it all drags me down so much.  She has been given some medication which she will try.  If it's not the right one they will swap it so hopefully she will come right.

That's my lot for today.  Not much on this week just a haircut and colour.  I will try to have some boys to stay this week though, maybe one at a time so they get some individual attention.

~ Lynda

Here is Cole doing his presentation... so cute how confident he was.  

Driving the Sphero ball across the floor, showing how it's done on an iPad.

Setting up all the Spheros for the other kids to try.  

Home again, it's been a blast :)

Day Thirteen:  We are back in Christchurch tonight and leave for home tomorrow.  We've had the best time and seen so many amazing sights around the country that we had no idea about!  

Today we put on our walking shoes and went all over Akaroa.  Stu showed me the house where he worked before he moved to the old shipping office building.  We then went up some hills and down others... through a historic park, up to a lookout and down to a lighthouse.  The lighthouse used to be at another location but was moved to the present sight to prevent it being destroyed.  It dates back to the 1800s like most other things in the town.  

Overall Akaroa is a beautiful place and when we come back there is still more to see and do.

We drove to Christchurch where we are staying in a fantastic motor camp with all the bells and whistles.  My goodness camps have come a long way since my childhood days of caravanning around the North Island with my parents.  

A cute sculpture beside a building... a bit of French flavour :)

Another gorgeous, historic home.  

No explanation necessary... I am officially a 'senior' in three months.

One of the views from our walk.

The old Akaroa lighthouse -- for $5 we had a talk and a tour.

Me on the lighthouse, yes... I'm wearing the same clothes in just about every photo.  They were my comfortable walking/ travelling pants and top and I seem to end up wearing them all the time!

Ditto for Stu, he seemed to wear his shorts nearly every day!  

Day Fourteen, home day.

We had a really relaxed morning just getting sorted to leave.  Packing, refuelling the motorhome, emptying the grey and black tanks and topping up the gas cylinder (all things you need to do when taking the motorhome back).  

We decided to drive around the "red zones" of Christchurch before dropping off the motorhome as we'd never seen them.  These are all the zones where the houses had to be left after the Christchurch earthquake of 2011.  It was apocalyptic... absolutely eerie and sad.   Street after street, suburb after suburb just lay empty. The streets were all still there but all the houses were gone except for the odd one out of an entire subdivision.  I have no idea why anyone would choose to be the only house left?  We found that strange.  The land is now just for pedestrians and I have no idea what the intention is for it as it can't be built on again due to the liquefaction of the soil.  Over 8,000 homes were removed!  

If you look on Google Maps (search for red zones, Christchurch) you can see the empty streets and then if you look at street view, most of the homes are still there as those photos were taken in 2012.  Weird.

We then took the motorhome back, caught our plane and are now at home.  All the unpacking is done (I hate that job with a passion but it has to be done), washing is on and we are relaxing.  

It's been an absolutely fantastic trip and between this holiday and last year's motorhome holiday we have travelled over 4.000 kilometres!  

~ Lynda

A random street (Google photo says it is Azure Place off Brooker Ave).  This is how the street looks now, as does every street for miles around it.

Here is the Google Maps shot of how it looks now with all the houses gone.

And a comparison I have done showing the street with houses (2012) and today.  Really sad.

Our ride home -- they had passengers enter from both the front airbridge and the back, not sure why but it was a lovely day so it didn't matter :)

Nearing the end of our holiday

Carrying on from my last post... we are nearing the end of our holiday and only have two more nights before we fly home.  I know I don't normally update so often but it's fun to be able to share photos of our travels and many of you have enjoyed seeing them, thanks.

It's really been a fabulous time and confirmed to both of us that we will buy our own motorhome someday.  There is just so much that we have missed seeing and so many little roads we wish we'd had time to go down.  Hiring a motorhome is great but we want to travel for weeks at a time and that would get pretty expensive on a regular basis. 

Day Eleven:  Today we woke to freezing temperatures but we were totally warm in our motorhome (now that the heating was fixed yesterday).  It was an absolutely stunning day.  There was a heavy frost on the ground, so much that kids were making snow balls out of the frost!   

We got up and went to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and spent about 2 hours soaking in all the various pools, some really hot and others just relaxing.  We also took two rides on a waterslide called "the Superbowl" which was great fun.  I had no trouble climbing the many stairs to do the ride and my knees have behaved themselves through the entire holiday.  Later on we drove to the shops to have a good look around, had some lunch and then went back to the camp.  Later on we went for a walk to the town and the weather was still brilliant.  I didn't take many photos today because our activity was mostly in the pools and I wasn't going to risk my phone there. 

One thing we have noticed this entire holiday is that most tourists are like us, older or retired and many of them in motorhomes.  There are some young families who have taken their kids out of school for a couple of days but mostly older people.  It really is strange to be in places that would normally have been teaming with overseas tourists -- normally you'd hear English, German, American and many other accents.  Oh and I should mention, no crowds or queues.  In each pool there was only a couple of other people generally which made it even more relaxing.

This is the amazing frost we woke up to this morning.  It was just the most beautiful, clear day.

Hanmer Springs township.

Mr Hanmer who the springs are named after.

One of he beautiful trees in the town centre.

An aerial photo of the springs. 

Part of the hot pools last night, photo taken while walking to dinner.

Day Twelve:  We left Hanmer Springs and drove to Akaroa.  I have always wanted to go there and Stu used to live there many years ago.  As we came over the last hill, there was the view that I've had on my lounge wall for nearly 20 years!  We have a painting of Akaroa and the view I saw was the same angle.   We drove down to the township which is all French due to France hoping to take ownership but the British beat them to it!  Meanwhile France had immigrants arrive so the town is basically very French in style. 

We managed to get a fantastic freedom camping site for the night right on the waterfront.  It is the only place in Akaroa that you can freedom camp and it's great because it is within walking distance to the town.  We had a lovely walk around this afternoon and had dinner out tonight in a hotel that was built in 1883.  The hotel was very dated ie, the restaurant was 'modernised' about 30 years ago but the meal was delicious.  

Tomorrow we plan on going for a really long walk as Stu wants to show me more of where he lived and worked while he was here.  

~ Lynda

Here is the view that greeted us today looking over Akaroa

And here is the 'stylised' painting of Akaroa that we have on our lounge wall.

The following photos are just random photos taken around the town showing the gorgeous old buildings and homes.  Many of the homes and buildings are over 150 years old which is old for New Zealand!

Dinner out tonight.  The hotel was dated but the food was great!

An old house we passed on the way home called Windermere House which was built in 1877.  That's Stu standing out front.  The house was genuinely 'wonky' as you can see in the photo. 

Southward bound again

The weather has been pretty bad and freezing cold but we are not letting that spoil our time.  Here is what we've been up to over the last two days.

Day Nine:  Wednesday, Picton.  We woke to a cold, miserable day but only had indoor activities planned so no problem.  First stop was the local history museum where I spoke to some of the ladies who helped out a little bit.  I also bought a book recommended by a lady at the motor camp about the history of the area.  After that we went to the Edwin Fox ship which is an 1853 sailing ship that is being renovated.  We found that really interesting and the displays about it were really fascinating.  

From there, on to Blenheim where I found a couple of family graves.  We drove through the Yealands "White Road" which is literally a white road which takes you through miles and miles of beautiful vineyards.  Part of the road leads to a view of the ocean and there are picnic spots all along the way.  It was too cold for that today but we did have lunch inside the motorhome anyway.  

We then passed the Lake Grassmere salt lakes where sea water evaporates to leave salt.  Just past there was our camp for the night -- right on the oceanfront!

Day Ten:  Overnight we found that our Truma heater stopped working so we had a really cold night!  Thankfully Wilderness were great and arranged for us to get it fixed at Kaikoura.  We loved our drive up the coast to Kaikoura and had no idea it would be that spectacular and of course all the seals along the way made for extra  interesting viewing.  The area of road that was completely damaged by the Kaikoura 7.8 earthquake in 2016 is now stunning.  Viewing spots along the way and new roading all the way.  

We stopped at Kekerengu to visit the grave of my GG grandfather, William Henry Stretch.  We also saw the old cobb cottages that were on the farm when he was head shepherd on the farm.  The cottages date back to the 1860s.

From there we drove to Kaikoura where we drove around and had a good look at the town -- wow, it's so much nicer than I thought it would be.  We found a friendly seal literally laying on the boardwalk by the beach, got the motorhome repaired then proceeded on to Hanmer Springs.  We had dinner at the Monteiths Pub then had a lovely hot shower in best camp showers we have ever come across. We are off to the Hanmer Springs mineral pools tomorrow and staying here another night.

We only have three more nights after tonight, the time has gone by so quickly but this trip has given us so many ideas for what we would like to do when we come back for longer.

~ Lynda

On the Edwin Fox ship which is being restored.  

Below deck.  

Yealands Estate 'white road' tour.  There were grape vines as far as the eye could see!

Our freedom camp for the night -- Marfell's Beach.  It was stunning.

The Kaikoura Coast... if you look at the rocks you can see seals all over the place.

And in Kaikoura we found this seal on the boardwalk.  It got a bit grumpy when I got too close, apparently they can bite.

My GG Grandfather's headstone, 1823 to 1886.  Beneath it my GG Grandmother's which has been added later as she is buried elsewhere.

The Cobb Cottage which was apparently the "Head Shepherd's cottage".  Given that my GG grandfather was the Head Shepherd I presume he would have lived here at some point.

On the road to Kaikoura, the mountains looks amazing with their fresh snowfall.

One of the many roadside stops along the Kaikoura coastline.

Hanmer Springs -- photo taken while walking to the pub for dinner. 

At dinner, Stu has a beer so he's in his happy place.

I think they made this sign especially for Stu :)

And finally, the most amazing camp bathroom I've ever seen!  It even has a double shower.