Lockdown BBQ

Life is much quieter in lockdown, with no going out except for essential supplies are medical reasons.  Not that we would have wanted to go out over the last few days as heavy rain kept coming down, thank goodness for our heat pump and double glazing to keep us warm.    Roast chicken was on the menu last night and Robin decided it might be nice to fire up the Weber BBQ and cook outside.  Luckily for him the rain eased in the afternoon so he didn't get wet – actually, if it was still raining he would have been protected under the Archgola.

The chicken and roast veggies cooked so nicely on the BBQ and I made stuffing in our little oven inside, gravy, plus some leeks in cheese sauce.  We really should make use of cooking on the barbie more often, as it is wonderful for roasts.

Chicken dinner cooking

After our meal we sat and watched some TV, sipping on perked coffee, a glass of port in hand and nibbling on a little chocolate.  This lockdown life isn't too bad at all, is it?

Today Sunday, we received our grocery order.  Being retired and in that “vulnerable age group” the supermarket make customers like us a priority so we only had to wait two days for this order.  Sadly, our preferred supermarket doesn’t seem to have priority bookings, and we couldn’t even book a delivery spot at all.  So we ordered from the opposition and got great service indeed, delivered by a nice cheerful young man who dropped the bags on the doorstep for us.  We placed a couple of bags on the seat of my walker as we were bringing them inside and Gemma decided to check if their were any treats inside for her.

Lockdown shopping delivery

Wonder what the next week will bring here in New Zealand?  All regions except Auckland (where the bulk of the cases are) will be dropping down to Level 3 from Wednesday.  Not too many changes to our lives in this lower level, except many will be rushing out to buy click and collect fast foods and coffee, or getting these fast food orders delivered to their homes  I don’t think we will bother with takeaways at this stage.  No getting away in the caravan just yet, we will just have to be patient for a while longer.

Waiting…….

It hasn’t been much of a day today, cold, wet and miserable.  Our leafless tree outside does say “winter”, doesn't it.  But we got busy in the morning and between us we did a little housework, about time too, I think.  Yes, we have to admit that  it does look better now.

A chilly wet day

Guess the highlight of our day during lockdown has been the daily Covid briefing on TV, hosted by Jacinda and Ashley.  The country was waiting with baited breath today to see if the Alert Levels would be dropped down in the coming week.  At the moment the whole country is in Level 4.  We were told that Auckland would remain in level 4 for the next two weeks, not at all unexpected as the bulk of the cases have been found there.  The rest of the country will drop to level 3 next week.

TV briefing today

Some people call level 3 “level 4 with takeaways” as fast food outlets can now open and offer home deliveries.  Cafes and restaurants can also sell click and collect food and coffees.

So we wont be able to get away in the caravan until we get down to level 2.    Meanwhile, we will stay safely tucked up at home.  We have just put in a grocery order to be delivered, nice to know we are “priority” because of our vulnerable ages, so that will be delivered on Sunday.  We can always pop around to the dairy for milk as needed, and our veggies growers offer a pre-ordered pick up service.  With plenty of things in the freezer. I don’t think we will starve!

Gemma enjoys us being home – with laps to snuggle up on and plenty of cuddles coming her way she is in pussy cat heaven.  This morning she decided a change of outlook was in order and we looked around to discover her way on top of the wall unit.  Goodness knows how she got up there!  And there was no trouble getting down, she jumped jumped to the floor in a single leap!

What is she doing up there?

Heavy Rain and Slips

What a morning we woke up to.  The rain had been coming down in droves, and we were having our breakfast and preparing to travel down to the Hutt Valley to meet our SLG friends for lunch.  Then the phone rang to inform us of a large slip closing the south bound lane of SH1 at Paekakariki.  Just as well that Helen let us know as we were oblivious to this piece of important information.  Ever adventurous, Robin decided that we would set off on our journey, and maybe travel over the Paekakariki Hill Road, if possible.  Not my favourite road at all, I must admit.  The traffic was all banked up on SH1 so we left them all to it and drove up the Hill Road and this is what we found.  Oh no, a slip on this road as well.

Clearing a small slip on the road

Before too long the road was cleared and we made our way up the hill.  The wind was blowing, the rain was still coming down, the road was rather windy, so we had to take our time and travel sensibly.  

Heading up Paekakariki Hill Road

We eventually made it safe and sound to our destination at Trentham, where we were welcomed into Calvin and Helen’s home for morning tea and a catch up.  They weren't sure if we would be able to make the journey in such bad conditions.  We were a smaller group this time, with two of our group unable to make it due to a medical appointment.

Helen had booked our group into lunch at the café at the Naenae Bowling Club. The meals are very reasonably priced, and at $10 for a roast meal we couldn’t have done better.  No wonder the café (and the car park outside)was quite busy.

 

Lunch at the Naenae Bowling Club Café

Delicious plates of roast pork and roast beef and roast veggies smothered in gravy were delivered to our table, along with orders of fish and chips.  It was all so tasty.  Then four ice cream sundaes arrived, which were quickly devoured – not for me though, I had a cream donut, much more to my taste.  After enjoying our meals we sat and chatted so long that almost all the other patrons had departed  - time for us to go too, we decided.

Trish, Helen, Calvin, Robin and Jenny

With the weather still bad we all decided to head home, who knows what we would find on our trip back to Levin?  Driving back over the Kennedy Good Bridge we could see that the Hutt River was getting rather swollen, no doubt the low lying public car parks on the riverside were starting to get flooded, as they often do in heavy rain.

And what’s this, such a long line of traffic banked up.  It took us 90 mins to get from Pauatahanui to Paekakariki on our drive home, a distance of 21km, most of the time spent at a stand still on the Pukerua Hill Road.  Finally the traffic started moving and I managed to get a snap or two of Kapiti Island, looking very grey and moody on such a rough day.

Kapiti Island

And here’s the problem of all the traffic woes.  The slip had derailed a train as well, we didn’t realise that.  No wonder we had seem some buses on the road with signs stating “Rail Replacement”    Luckily the train wasn’t swept right off the rails, but was still sitting there, waiting to be removed.  The road was down to a single lane and workmen were still hard at work  tidying up the debris.

The slip was here

We were pleased to arrive home safe and sound, it had been a long day.  But the excitement wasn't over, our Prime Minister announced that the Delta variant of Covid had finally arrived on our shores, and the whole country was going into lockdown at midnight!  Seven days lockdown for Auckland and three days for the rest of the country at this stage, with a review on Friday afternoon.  Guess that will affect our trip up north so we will just have to wait and see how  things pan out.  The whole country is supportive of Jacinda’s efforts to keep us safe and stamp this virus out and stay at home, except for a tiny number of idiot protesters who really should know better.  With any luck we will get away soon.

Jeep Recall

Had a trip to Palmerston North recently as our Jeep had a recall to update the computer. It was a beautiful morning for a drive, just look at the snow cover on the Tararua Ranges behind our home.  This view is looking over the caravan parking area in our village.

Cold weather brings snow on the ranges

We dropped the Jeep off off bright and early, and had requested a loan car for the morning as I had to attend a medical appointment.  No problem with that, and we drove away in a little blue Kia.

Leaving our car behind

Both my appointment and the update on the car was all done by midday so we returned the little blue car, climbed into our much larger Jeep, and drove off to have such lunch.  I was gasping for a coffee by this stage as I had to be “nil by mouth” for my early morning appointment.  Finding a car park in the mall was not easy, as the top parking area had been closed off.  Because it was not stable we were told!  What’s to stop it falling down on us below, I asked Robin?  Remember – we live in an earthquake prone country.  Hopefully the problem will be resolved so I won’t have to worry, or maybe we will just park outside in future.

Lunch was at one of the cafes in the Mall.  While waiting for our lunch orders to arrive, I enjoyed my first coffee of the day.  Robin decided a chocolate milkshake was more to his liking.

He loves his milkshakes

With a couple of of things ticked off our list, it was time to head home, and we arrived back to find a courier parcel on our doorstep, from grand-daughter Megan.  Wonder what it is?  Inside was a jar of honey, with a note saying it was made from the hives on the property where she is staying.  How kind is that!

Special delivery from Megan