We hate wet Mondays

We hate wet Mondays – and today is a shocker, wet, wild and windy.  What a start to the working week.  My workplace is a huge barn of a building and after the weekend it takes a while for the heating to take effect.  About half the staff in my area were home sick today, and the sounds of coughing and sneezing emanated from the ones who had made it to work.

Robin drives a truck so he has been outside in the rain and the wind today.   Although he is well protected from the elements he is still wearing shorts.  As he says, bare legs dry faster than wet trousers!!  Here he is, just returned home from a hard day’s work.

Robin in his woolly hat, rain jacket, and shorts

Stokes Valley

We took a trip to Stokes Valley today to call in on our friends Graeme and Kathryn.  Stokes Valley is a suburb of Lower Hutt,  with the valley floor sheltered by the surrounding bush clad hills.  There is an interesting concrete sculpture by the artist Guy Ngan at the entrance of the valley.

 

The valley was formed during the ice age approximately 20, 000 years ago by glacial scouring.  The area was first surveyed about 1840, and the uninhabited valley was named after Robert Stokes, one of the six man surveying party.  Gradual settlement took place, firstly with many holiday bach’s (huts)  in the early years.  These days Stokes Valley is covered with modern homes  on the valley floor and on the hills both sides of the valley entrance.

A few door away from our friends home we spotted this large car, an American car lover’s dream by the look of it.  It is covered with many different paintings of wild life, and an American flag on the bonnet.  We are sure it gets many admiring glances from car enthusiasts as they drive by.

Piggy Protectors

With the nasty Swine Flu sweeping the world, we all must wonder what is in store for us all.  Wellington, our Capital City (and not too far from where we live), has been named as the place with the most numerous numbers of cases in New Zealand.  The Health Minister has stated that he expects one in four people to catch swine flu before the pandemic eases.  Just as well we have some piggy protectors looking after us.

These little beauties are sitting on a shelf by my desk and their job is to keep me safe while I am at work.

We caught this one sleeping on the job.  He should really be watching over us and keeping us safe at home.  So the message is:  swine flu, keep away, we have protection!!

Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Which means of course that tonight is the longest night. We celebrated with a special turkey Solstice dinner, just the two of us. No, not a whole bird, with wings, drumsticks and a huge body. The chief cook wouldn’t be able to cope with that!! Our turkey was a nice little rolled turkey breast with apricot stuffing, which we found in the freezer department of the supermarket. Served with gravy, roast pumpkin, potatoes and kumara (New Zealand sweet potatoes) and finely chopped silver beet flavoured with garlic, it was was a tasty Winter Solstice dinner. We followed this with an apple and cinnamon bread and butter pudding.

To our friends in the Northern Hemisphere, happy Summer Solstice to you, from us here celebrating the Winter Solstice.

We found this brave little jonquil flowering all by itself in our garden, just in time for the Winter Solstice.

To market, to market

We braved the wind and rain this morning and drove down to the Hutt Riverbank Markets this morning.  The bad weather didn’t seem to have kept the customers away.  The main attraction of the market are the many market gardeners who bring their produce down from the Otaki region.  We were looking for fresh vegetables, and there was plenty on offer.  The people selling this produce are the growers so you certainly can’t get fresher than that.

  Part of the riverbank market

After buying our veggies, we went looking for one of our favourite stalls,  the cake stall.  The couple who run it told us that they start baking on Thursdays and cook in 4 ovens at a time.  That’s a lot of home baking!!  We love their fruit cake and melting moments, so just had to take some home.

We came across a couple from Feilding selling their own farmed  lamb which looked so nice that we parted with some more dollars.  We love lamb, so came away with loin chops, leg roast and something we haven’t tasted before, lamb and rosemary sausages.  All in all, we had an enjoyable time in the hustle and bustle, before heading home.  And yes, the rain still kept falling.

Just dropped in by Helicopter

Parked to the side of  the car park  at Mount Bruce on Sunday was a large shiny black helicopter.  We wondered who the important people were and went closer to have a look.  Out came the camera,  and the rotor started up.  Looks like we were just in time, as the visit was nearly over.  The engine changed sound as the rotor speed increased, then up and away  the helicopter lifted off and flew away.

Off they go to the Tui Brewery

At the reception desk we asked what the helicopter was doing here at Mount Bruce.  Seems that it was owned by an business man in the electronics industry, and the visit was a birthday treat for his young son.    He had just flown his family down from Hawkes Bay for a visit to Mount Bruce, and had kindly donated three transmitters to keep track of released Kiwis.  They were flying on to the Tui Brewery Cafe at Mangatainoka for a birthday lunch.  What a wonderful birthday celebration for the whole family, and the transmitter donation will certainly benefit the endangered species breeding  programme.

Robin outside the Mount Bruce entrance way

Feeding Frenzies

Eels fighting over the food

We timed our walk around the Mount Bruce complex on Sunday to allow us to witness the two feeding displays on offer.  The eel feeding was at 1.30pm.    Now, I really do not like eels at all, they look altogether rather like snakes to me.  (Luckily we do not have snakes in New Zealand).  However, we stood on the bridge over the stream with all the others looking down at the eels.  Those eels certainly knew that feeding time had arrived. The ranger arrived and gave her talk as she tossed tasty eel treats into the water.  The eels churned the water up in a mess of writhing eel bodies as they slid over and under each other in a frenzy to get to the food.  Long finned eels are endemic to New Zealand and can grow up to 2 metres in length.

Kakas on the feeding platform

Later in the afternoon a large crowd gathered in a clearing to watch the Kaka feeding.  The surrounding trees were full of these noisy birds as they impatiently waited for the ranger to arrive with her bucket full of titbits.  Kakas have brown/green feathers with brilliant flashes of orange and scarlet under their wings.  The feeding platforms were loaded with food and drink while on the ground, then lifted up and bolted onto the stands.  The birds went wild, squawking and screeching as they jostled for position on the platforms.  All these birds fly free and find plenty to eat in the surrounding forest.   The extra food and drink offered in the afternoons gives wonderful photo opportunities to the public, and allows the rangers to check bird numbers.

Sipping fruit flavoured water

After all this frenzy, things were much quieter inside the Kiwi House.  Kiwis are nocturnal birds and the Kiwi House reverses night and day to allow visitors to see them go about their evening foraging expeditions.  It took a while for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then we saw them.  A couple of kiwis poking their long beaks into the soft ground looking for insects to eat.  We could not take any photos of live Kiwis in the Kiwi House due to the low level lighting so took a snap of this Kiwi who had met up with a taxidermist.

We had a wonderful day at Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre and they are to be congratulated on the wonderful work they do with endangered birds.