Lessons and Big Toys

My day started at 0556 when a text arrived to tell me that a friend would not, as I had hoped, be coming to live on Lewis. Bummer.

By 0830 a large digger (of the earth moving type rather than a macho Australian) arrived to landscape round the Cottage.

I went to Croquet having made the serious error of leaving my mallet on the ground where I had put it when clearing the boot of The Handbag. Fortunately I wasn't playing in a competition because I had to play with a borrowed mallet. Then I had lessons in Association Croquet (the game that 'everyone' usually associated with Croquet) but without my own mallet practising the shots was rather pointless.

Then a quick visit to Esquires for a cheery greeting, coffee, a sandwich and a quick communications session.

Arrived at Petanque on time and played three games in time to get back to the Croquet Club to learn how to play with a seriously big lawnmower with which the Club's six lawns are mowed. A terrifyingly responsible job although I'm sure that after the first few times everything will be OK.

Arrived home to find that quite a lot of the landscaping had been done but, more importantly to me from a practical point of view, the drive and car parking area had been completed.

I promise not to mention the weather too often but today Hawkes Bay was the hottest place in New Zealand. Officially it was 30 deg. My veranda registered 34 deg. The funny thing is that, because it's not humid, it feels very pleasant.

Still no news of the phone though.

So Much to do in the Land of The Long White Cloud

When I was in New Zealand in 2005 I did lots of things that I never imagined I would do. I went para-gliding, white water rafting, heli-hiking up a glacier and tramping in one of the most beautiful National Parks in the world. And those are just the activities that spring readily to mind. I decided that when I went back for 6 months in September 2006 I would learn to para-glide properly, play Bridge again (there are excellent Bridge Clubs in the Napier area), see if I could sing and learn to ballroom dance, and so much more.

I'm still not quite sure how everything went quite so differently.

I was cycling through Napier Park and saw the Napier Petanque Club in full flow. I was called in and shown the game and from that moment I was a player of petanque.

A few weeks later I was driving past Whitmore Park and saw a board inviting people into an open day at the Croquet Club. A lady - Jayne who is a most enthusiastic Golf Croquet player - showed me the basics and I was absolutely hooked.

I started learning to sail as well.

Add to those activities my cycling and the general business of living and there was little time for anything else.

It was good.

You can see more of my white water rafting pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/rotowhenua/WhiteWaterRafting