Sunset over Tardun

Whilst I was home I bought a new camera after long debate with myself. Did I want an SLR (have no idea what that stands for but it means you can change lenses on the camera and take a gazillion photos a minute, lol) or an ordinary digital one, then, what brand should I get???? I had checked out prices duty free at both ends of my trip and scanned all the throwaways in NZ to see what deals were going. After MORE perusal at actual cameras on my lightening trip to Hamilton, I finally ended up at Harvey Norman in Pukekohe where family members have a connection to one of the sales folk there and ended up by getting a Canon Powershot SX10 IS (for those playing at home) which has 10 megapixels and most importantly, 20zoom whatsits for a very reasonable price, better in fact than duty free as it was already on special. Of course, this does not make me a world class photographer, more's the pity, but the following are a few photos taken by the new beast, without me having read any of the instruction manual (yet)LOL.



This was taken from the top of the Workmates balcony about 5.30pmish last Tuesday night. Because this was such a great sunset, and we had visitors to the school last Thursday, a decision was made to get up on top of the roof of the boarding school to watch the sunset again (armed with nibbles and red wine as there were no boarders back on site) It was not as spectacular as two nights previously as there was no cloud to get the amazing colours of earlier in the week but I think they are still pretty special. I spent most of my time feeling extreme trepidation in case I fell through said roof, and did not venture away from the line of nails, hopefully the strongest piece of the roof being the beams I was walking on!!!


As the sun is setting/


Immediately post sunset.

After a mammoth effort last week of moving - I thought I would show you our new abode. It is deceptive as there are 7 bedrooms, an office, an en suite plus two other bathrooms and toilets, a laundry and an annex between the house and four of the bedrooms, one bathroom/toilet which was added for the previous Principal's seven children. We are located behind the school, to the right and rear of the chapel. We do have a neighbour - one of the staff and his wife to the left hand side of the house, otherwise we are very much the not so little 'house on the prairie'. I stayed on duty over the weekend, with a whole three girls to look after, and the house flows really well for its new purpose.


This is a picture of our new kitchen which is possibly the best kitchen on the entire site - I kid you not. There are plentiful cupboards, a rubbish bin cupboard, pantry, a cupboard with a lazy susan type doohicky in the corner, and a three pronged thing that you can hang tea towels on in the cupboard under the sink!!!!!!! I am in 7th heaven in this spot - there is even a space for a dishwasher - and I am working on that, heh, heh. The only downside to the place is the proliferation of mickey's about the place. (mice for the uninitiated, lol) Have put numerous baits about the place having removed all the traps that were through the house as they are only good if you can remove the demised beastie, or worse, sort beastie as it is demising.


Saturday was spent unpacking and sorting the office and my part of our new room, in between driving the ute so the WMH could get rid of the rubbish and then helping him paint school desks so the new term could be started with a fresh (ish) look. OMG - the rubbish tip - how many sorts of illegal is this - may have to take a photo the next time I am up there, lol. Just about everybody at home (NZ) would have a field day from the Council to the greenies. There is a huge hole where everything, and I mean everything - paper, old furniture, glass, plastic, household rubbish, kitchen rubbish - is taken to the edge and literally thrown in. The surrounding paddocks, bushes etc are FULL of paper, plastic bags and the like, that have blown out of said hole. Goodness only knows what is leaching into the soil,etc etc etc. Every so often, a fire is lit there to have a bit of a burn off and flying ash from paper etc also lies about. All I can say is HEALTH & SAFETY - or OH&S as they call it over here!!!

To paint the desks, we used what paint was surplus to requirements, hence a choice of icky brown or camouflage green, so green it was. We had the girls helping which kept them occupied for some time. On Sunday we did a trip into Geraldton so the girls could get supplies, - I know, they had just had 3 weeks off school but who would think to get their shampoos etc before their return???? I bought a cooked chook at the IGA with some fresh bread and we had a picnic lunch along the beach front before a quick trip up to the HMAS Sydney memorial to pay our respects post ANZAC day before heading back again.

Got back to my own little house later that night - and caught a good amount of the Logies - Australia's answer to the Emmies I think. Rove got 2 Logies making it the eighth year in a row he has won his category. It was great seeing "Packed to the Rafters" which has Rebecca Gibney, 'Mitch' out of "All Saints" and 'Harry' out of "The Sullivans" with the rest of the cast take out 6 Logies altogether for their series. Not sure if it is on NZ TV yet, but well worth a look if/when it comes. Rebecca Gibney won the Gold Logie award that topped the night.

School began yesterday with the new program and had delighted responses from the girl's when I dropped in last night on my way up to dinner (after sleeping nearly the entire day away!!!). Have cooked some pickled pork for tonight's dinner and am off to pick up the Workmate's boys from footie practice shortly so will sign off for now.