Valentine’s Day Brunch

“Happy Valentine’s Day”, we said to each other as we exchanged cards this morning.  Plus a little chocolate – just a small amount as we have both had the “eat less and exercise more” lecture from the doctor lately. 

Happy Valentine’s Day

What would be nicer than enjoying a leisurely brunch out on this special day.  A new restaurant had opened up in our suburb and was close enough that we could stroll down in the sunshine.  It was our first time in this establishment, and it is owned by a very keen young couple.  By all accounts it is doing quite well, and we have heard that their Sunday Roasts are delicious and reasonably priced.  We will have to try that out at a later date.

Our new neighbourhood restaurant

We looked over the brunch menu and soon made our choices.  Corn fritters and bacon for Robin, and French Toast and bacon for me, both served with maple syrup. Lovely grub!  We followed this with a nice hot cup of coffee each.  I think the proprietors could tell that we were a long married couple as Robin had brought the Sunday paper with him to read at the table!  

All ready to tuck in

Hope everyone is having a Happy Valentine’s Day with their special someone. 

 

Technorati Tags: Valentine's Day,brunch,chocolate

Seen around town

What’s this I spotted over a fence down our street?  It looks like a canon to me.  However, I have it on good authority that is not actually a canon at all, but in fact a mortar.  Not a real one of course, but a garden ornament.  Why anyone would want one of these in their front garden is beyond me.  Perhaps this is a matter of “Don’t mention the War”? 

Don’t mention the War

Small cars are easy to park, that’s certainly true.  But this small car is verging on the ridiculous.  The owner obviously is a commuter as it is often found in the railway station car park.  Not parked in a proper car park, I notice, but squashed up in front of a tree!  Note that the back wheels are over the garden edging.  This tiny car would not suit Robin at all, he likes to drive a real blokes size vehicle. 

 

Wonder what brand this tiny little car is?

Technorati Tags: mortar,gargen ornaments,car parking

Fridge fans

Summertime….. and the living is easy.  That’s how the song goes.  But summer puts an extra strain on the caravan fridge.  When we have the awning erected, it goes right over the fridge outlet and restricts the flow of air from the back of the fridge which does not work efficiently.   The fridge requires a constant flow of cool air over the evaporator to transfer the heat generated away. The answer, Robin has discovered, is to install a couple of little computer fans at the back of the fridge to help things along.  He did this to our previous caravan and it worked well.  First of all, buy your fans.  This was the easy part, in fact they have been purchased for many months now, all ready to be installed.  Bur you can’t rush these things, can you?  Then, take the cover off, making sure you know where you put the screws for later use.  Then he attached the fans to some all purpose metal make-up brackets and screwed this into place at the back of the fridge.

Wiring up was a bit more of a challenge.  He attached the wires to the fans and wired them up to the newly installed on/off  switch on the wall beside the fridge.  My job was to hold the switch straight and still while Robin did this tricky job reaching into a very cramped space.  Then came the very important check, to make sure the the fans were sending the warm air out from the fridge, and not the other way around.  

Finally it was all completed and the cover was re-attached.  This little job took several hours over a couple of days and the new fans will certainly make our caravan fridge perform more efficiently in the warmer weather.  Robin needed a cold beer after all that work in the hot sun!

Job all done

 

Technorati Tags: caravan,fridge efficiency,summer

American Iron - Love it

Gidday

Jenny said I have to write this blog myself, as she didn’t even come with me to look at the American vehicles on show, she was too busy gallivanting around a quilt show.  The event was put on by the Moonshine Rod and Custom Club who were holding their annual show at the Trentham Race Course here in Upper Hutt.  In addition to the great showing of American vehicles  from all eras there was also a display of vintage machinery, drag cars and motor bikes, American of course.  To help make the day more pleasurable there was the usual take-away stalls all doing great business and for those who had enough of looking at vehicles there was a band playing on the back of a curtainsider truck, very loudly. So here are some of the cars I saw that took my fancy.

 

This Ford Phaethon was a treat and lovingly looked after pity about the Chevy Engine though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  They don’t make a dashboard like this anymore

 

For anyone in NZ who has seen the lotto Ad for Power Ball will have seen the car that  was able to raise and lower itself on its suspension. Well this car did this, quite impressive .

Of mist, bees and barbeques

The ethereal mist covered Upper Hutt again this morning, that’s several times now in the last week or so.  Everything looks a little out of focus when there is mist around.   The mist didn’t reach Wellington City this time.  Last week it wrecked the travel plans of many fans who had attended the AC-DC concert in the city the previous night and were trying to make their way home the following morning.

Our valley is blanketed in low lying mist

The heat of the sun soon burnt the mist off and the day turned out to be a scorcher.  In the garden our fuchsia bush is covered in flowers and the somnolent buzz of several bees caught my attention as they  went about their business.  We love bees, they are such industrious little creatures.  And Robin loves honey.  Especially manuka honey – his all time favourite.    We’ll fire up the BBQ tonight, we must make the most of this glorious weather.

There’s a bee inside this flower

 

Technorati Tags: mist,bees,fucsia,BBQ

Rained out at Staglands

Driving 16 kms up the narrow winding Akatarawa Road (the area is known affectionately as The Aka's) on Sunday the weather got more and more severe as we approached our destination of Staglands Wildlife Reserve.  The plan was to lunch at the Cafe then have a leisurely trip around the reserve checking out all the birds and animals.  I was amazed to find the large car park full to overflowing and wondered what all these people were doing here in the rain.  Mind you, it wasn’t raining when we started our trip, so that was probably true for all the other visitors too.  The reason for so many cars soon became obvious.  Some lucky youngster was celebrating a birthday in a private room off the cafe.  The place was jam packed with mums and toddlers, babes in arms, and a large assortment of pushchairs.

Staglands Cafe

The log-cabin building houses the large cafe and is decorated in the “early settler” style.  Stoneware jugs, brass and copper ornaments all add to the country look.  The large vase of peacock tail feathers added a splash of colour to the room, and anyone with just a few dollars spare could purchase one or two to take home.   There is a large fireplace constructed of local stones - in the depths of winter it would look great with a huge fire blazing in the grate. 

The homely stone fire place

A  mounted stag head looked down on us as we pondered the lunch menu.  I think his cousins may have lost their heads too as we noticed that the light fittings were made from intertwined antlers, most unusual and we had never seen the likes of this before.  What to have for lunch?   This is always a hard question to someone like me who has trouble making decisions.  In the end the six of us put in orders for pancakes, paninis, toasted sandwiches, hot chips and coffee.

Is this Bambi’s dad?

We enjoyed a long leisurely lunch while the rain kept pelting down.  By mutual agreement we decided it would prudent not to walk around Staglands in such bad weather, there would be no fun at all in slipping and sliding in the mud.    The rain had beaten us so we cut our losses, said our goodbyes and made our way home. These three Guinea fowl didn’t seem to mind being out and about in the rain though.  They were pecking at all sorts of titbits in the grass.

Guine fowl at Staglands

Not a shot fired in anger

There’s a hidden historical building in Upper Hutt tucked away down an alley. The Upper Hutt Blockhouse is the last remaining of three built in New Zealand. It was built in 1860 by the European settlers who were fearful of raids by the local Maori tribes. It was constructed with a double-skin timber frame of Totara and Matai which was milled at the nearby Cruickshank’s Mill. The infill of shingle between the timbers was to provide protection from rifle fire, and loopholes were incorporated at elbow height on all the walls for the defenders to return fire. For added protection, the blockhouse was surrounded by large defensive earthworks 30 yards square. 34 men joined the local militia and occupied the Blockhouse in readiness of the attacks, which never happened. Therefore, not a shot was fired in anger from this defensive building.

Upper Hutt Block House

I arranged a tour of the Blockhouse on Sunday with out SLG friends, who were unaware that such a building existed. This building had piqued my interest and I was delighted to find out that tours could be arranged easily. Local volunteer Bruce told us the history of the building and related how it had fallen into disrepair for many years. The land was purchased under the Scenic Preservation Act in 1916 and was one of the first recorded examples of protection of an historic building in New Zealand. The loop holes have had mesh added to keep birds and mice from entering, and the bottom windows have now been boarded up because of repeated vandalism.

One of the loop holes - note the thickness of the walls

These days the local Girl Guides use the downstairs of the building, and the Upper Hutt Round Table service club have been meeting on the upper floor since 1982. This room is festooned with hundreds of flags from other Round Table clubs hanging from the ceiling and tacked on the walls. The service club has done a lot of work to keep this building in good repair.

Upper story is used as Upper Hutt Round Table club rooms

The Blockhouse is managed by New Zealand Historic Places and there is the likelihood that the building will be restored to it’s former condition, and the current occupants will have to find alternative accommodation. It would be good to see the building as it was built, with dirt floors, and a parapet around the windows on the upper story. This building is such an important slice of the early history of Upper Hutt. However there is concern that the history of the local Round Table will be lost if it is all packed up and moved. After-all if the Round Table had not been in residence for so many years the building would of likely fallen into disrepair and lost for ever.

Plaque set outside the building