It's good to be back home again :)

Yay, I am home again. Touched down this morning about 5.45am after an uneventful flight which is always a relief. I had no complaints flying Air New Zealand. Not only a thickish blanket but a small pillow as well which was great for keeping warm and sleeping. The meal was more than adequate - lamb casserole with mashed potato, sliced carrots and peas, ceasar salad, crackers and cheese and a slice of chocolate brownie type cake for dessert. I passed on the alcohol (I can hear people fainting all around the world, lol) as I wanted to get back here with a clear head, heh heh. I thought I would sleep all the way back but wouldn't you know it, was wide awake for good amount of time - must have been the diet coke before I got on the plane. So, not feeling like watching a movie, listening to music or playing games, I decided to read for awhile until I did eventually manage a zzz- probably three hours worth. I would have had more but bing bong, and the captain was saying we had 35 mins to go before landing and to get ready for same. I don't know why they give people so long. After all, all you have to do is return your seat to an upright position and fill out your entry card!!!. I had already done mine before I fell asleep so all I had to do was sit upright ..... and wait. I had ticked all the right boxes declaring the bar of chocolate as food that Jude had given me as I went out the door of her place mindful of those customs shows on TV where you can languish in customs for ages, getting a fine or worse. I was leaving the plane when I nearly had a stroke as I remembered the chocolate was fruit and nut, and I had declared on my form NO nuts in my possession. Fortunately the first customs person I met said she was only concerned if I had drugs or guns - did I? and when I said no, just fruit and nut chocolate after declaring no nuts, she said to go to the next counter and they would deal with that. It would seem nuts in a sealed packet encased in chocolate are not a major bio security hazard, thank heavens. I had one more mission to go and that was to buy an amount of alcohol for number 1 son and daughter in law by way of his belated birthday present, as they are enjoying making different cocktails now and then. There were specials abounding so got a ltr of kahlua, galiano and frangelica at a very good deal. That should keep them going for some time I am thinking. I had received a txt from Mum the minute we had landed and we alowed our phones on again, so by the time I had got all my bags through the final xray machine, I only had time to buy postcards for the kids back at work and get outside to the pick up area and she appeared. The first things I noticed on my return - how nice it was to hear a familiar Kia Ora from an airport staff person as we came off the plane. Outside the sky was full of cloud, with a bit of blue instead of being all blue with a bit of cloud if you lucky and it reminded me that New Zealand is not called Aoteoroa - Land of the Long White Cloud for nothing, lol. The next thing was seeing Pukekos (mudhens that are a darkblue colour with red legs and beaks ) foraging in grass alongside the road. The differences a year makes - there is a new motorway, which Mum somehow missed so we ended up on the old way home which bought us closer to home anyway returning onto the motorway at Takanini which suited me fine. What hasn't changed is the maniac traffic on the motorway which I do not miss at all. The other thing is all the hills and ranges in the distance in shades of blues, purples and greys. Western Australia is flat by comparison where I have been. Mum and I called in to see friend Deni on the way home to pick up my car which Deni had been looking after for me. Naturally a cup of coffee and catch up ensued and then Viv arrived so another coffee all round which was a wonderful welcome back indeed. Had already had txts from sister Kay and No2 daughter in law so all good. I eventually got into my car - barely knew it as it was so clean and tidy, and had to adjust to different driving style with change from Aussi car which is smaller. No embarressing stalls or bunny hops and a few adjustments to the seat and all was good. The next thing I noticed back at Mum's was the sound of birds. They are everywhere and it was so good to hear them. I get the odd magpie in the gum trees and a mudlark or two around the house in Oz but it has nothing of the birdlife that we do here. Of course it goes without saying that the countryside is GREEN as opposed to red dirt, and dry vegetation if any and cows, lots of cows, sleek looking dairy cows, woohoo. There has been major changes in Waiuku over the last year. The old four bowser Shell petrol station that had started life looking like one of those old fashioned country garages selling petrol in the movies,( before being slightly modernised in the 80's), has closed. The Caltex garage of a similar size has been demolished and on that location a brand new 8 pump, modern layout service station has been built (at a cost of about 3 million dollars). I will miss the Caltex garage as they still fully served you petrol there and Shell is self serve. I don't know why, I never had a problem filling up the ute from the petrol pump out at Tardun but when I go into a service station, I like to be served and am lucky there is a Caltex one back in Oz on the way to work that I have begun to frequent for that very reason. The afternoon I spent at a funeral which was also by way of a reunion with all the next door neighbours who had been asked to sing. The funeral was for the widow of one of Dad's fishing mates from when I was a child and a close family friend of the next door neighbours so I attended it with Mum. It is always interesting to hear the background stories at funeral's (I think) as I only knew this woman as the wife of one of Dad's friends as a child and as her son spoke there was so much more to her life which was a long and interesting one. It was a nice celebration of her life. I ended up singing with the six sisters and with two run throughs before the service began, it went well. We sang as folk put flowers/petals on the coffin in the hearse before it left to the crematorium. I knew many of the faces of people at the service from my much younger days, , but had forgotten names - I had one young woman come up to me and ask if I remembered her only to find out she was one of my girls from Johnston House days (boarding school in Hamilton which is much more recent). Caught up on the goss about some of the other girls in her year which was great. We then went back to the next door neighbours as Mum had forgotten to give them their birthday presents, had another cup of coffee and more catch up before returning to Mums. Was somewhat drooping by this time I have to say. Am staying at sister Kay's for the night and have a shopping expedition planned for tomorrow - looking forwards to that.

Perth Airport

1. My bags are packed (tightly I might add) and I'm ready to go, I'm sitting here behind the doors.... of Perth airport, woohoo. Mybattery is running low so this may be a quick one. Spent yesterday morning trying to upload negatives of slides and gathering information for the Kariaotahi school reunion. Trawling through my precious things I actually came across an exercise book of Dad's when he was in Std 4, (Yr 6) in 1943. It was an anthology book of obscure poetry, used mainly for writing practice I am thinking. Good to know me and mine are not the only ones that had occassion to put b's and d's back to front in mini dyslexic moments. I also came across my school reports from primmers to Std  3  (Yr 1 - Yr 5) and on reading them through, I found I was above average in oral english, reading, vocab and some maths, was logical and had common sense, (most of them said that) but the overwhelming thread through each report  (two a year) was that  I was talkative, LOL, did not see that one coming at all heh heh.  

Between  all the above I stripped my bed and remade it, laundered everything in the house except what I stood up in,  emptied and cleaned the fridge ( a jar of sundried tomatoes, olives, and butter remain apart from a host of condiments that will last until the second coming - well almost lol)  watered the garden and swept the floor before finally packing at 3 pm before my bags were picked up at 4pm by Bronwyn. At  the last minute I decided to get someone in to house sit as Jude is off to Perth this week  and just felt better about having someone there to keep an eye on the place and to keep the garden's watered.  Becks, who is house sitting was blown away from the view and the size of the place and loved it on sight.  I told her she could play Goldilocks and have her choice of three beds -    a double, a Queen (fittingly mine, heh heh) or the King size one left until Janet gets to pick it up.  Becks is one of the Macca's crew and  has house sat for Bron and Gerard so was happy to jump at the offer of some time on her own as she still lives at home.  

After handing over the keys I then drove Gerard home and parked my car there as they are having it as a second car while I am away.  I then caught a lift with the family down to Dongara to Jude's 65th  birthday and had a lovely time.  She like me has had friends she has grown up with and it was great to meet some of the people she has talked about and more of her family.  It was also a mini Tardun reunion with a full turnout of those who were about and Colin (Janet's husband) played and sang for the music  for the night.  It was after dinner when people finally got up for a wriggle round the dance floor and it was great to see   a heap of oldies (heh heh) on the dance floor with the grandchildren  all busting their moves.  Those who travelled left around 10 and those of us who stayed started cleaning the hall around 11pm.  With another of Jude's friends who had bussed all the way down from Exmouth,  I stayed at Jude's.  She has a tiny one bedroomed flat but we pushed the table and lazy boys  back and managed to fit a mattress on the floor (me) and a camp bed (Rhonda).   I  was so tired by  then I could have slept on a board and not known the difference.  I was rudely woken at 5 am when my phone alarm went off - playing the theme song to "The Rafters"   on full volumn.  I leapt (as much as one could in a tight space)  to the table to turn it off and grabbed it to put it under my pillow only to hear it go off again 10 mins later on the delayed alarm.  It would seem in my comatose state I had pressed off on the alarm but missed save .  I thought having the phone completely switched off would have been enough  but it would seem not, as I found out.   I dozed on and off hearing Jude's Mum ring up at 7.30am  to wish her Happy Birthday but missed Jude leaving to open the hall for breakfast.  Speedily ablutioned and was repacked to go down to the hall by 9am to a barbequed breakfast done on the barbeques just outside the hall.  This was along side the harbour with the tide in so a great start to the day.  

Jude had arranged with her brother and sister in law to give me a lift to Perth and we were on our way by 10am, down the Brand  Highway  which was virtually empty.  It was noticably light with traffic with the Coastal Highway now open.  It made for good travelling time with only a few places slowed down by trucks.  We passed through the turnoff to Eneabba where there were bush fires last year.  It burnt on both sides of the road, which was closed for four days at the time.   It was fascinating to see all the clumps of green grasses that have grown since  interspersed with blackend remains of gumtrees and scrub.  We stopped at a road house half way down to get some drinks and ice creams  (them)  and peanut brittle (me).  Had a conversation with the shop assistant who commented it was an old fashioned toffee  and to watch my teeth.  I laughed and said, what the few I have left - I will lick it if I have to, lol.   Coming into Perth it looked extremely dry  as since Christmas there has been over 60 days with temps  30 celcius  and above - another record.  Ray and Kay showed me where their grand daughters go to school, which was hit by the Perth fires earlier in the year.  Lots of the trees are gone and though there was smoke and water damage, the school survived .  

I am now writing from the free internet in the airport as I had typed up a post only to lose the whole thing off my computer when it dropped out of internet - rude words, rude words.  I only have a thread of battery left so all good.   I was way to early so after typing my now defunct post, I decided to eat the peanut brittle - for energy of  course and also so as not to be arrested by taking food through customs with nuts in it.  I had picked the more peanut less toffee slab of brittle and it was somewhere after the third mouthful I felt something hard in my mouth and wouldn't you know it, (no not a tooth) but a great lump of filling.  Damn and double damn, that will teach me for being so flippant.  I am pleased to report that I am experiencing no pain except the anticipated pain in my wallet when it will cost something like $150 -$200  to repair ,  spit, snarl.  I may hold out til return to 
Australia as with medicare and health ins it will be much cheaper.  Am back to seriously thinking about having the few working teeth I have left  ripped out to be replaced by a Hollywood type set on gnashers instead..... watch this space.

 I am now checked through  with luggage.  Arrived to find I had only packed 17k  so took out my external hard drive from laptop case and squeezed my camera into the bag, now stretched to the seams but still only weighing 20k  with 3k to spare.  My laptop is under the 7k allowance but handbag probably takes up the slack, heh heh. I am now going for a wander through the shops before going through customs.  I have a bottle of water to drink as you cannot take water through customs but you can take an empty bottle to fill the other side - I ask you, what is the deal on that.  My bottle is still unsealed and whilst I am all for bio security this is just plain dumb.  Anyhoo, will post and away, and next post will be from NZ, woohoo. :)

Insects and technology

Following my experience with the bush cockroach that would not die of my last post (well, not quick enough, lol), I was on a mission. I was grocery shopping later in the week and purchased a can of flyspray that said on the label, "kill with one spray" - a label that filled my heart with joy. I did not have long to wait to use it. I was no sooner ensconced for the night, affixed to the couch in front of tv and laptop, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and a cockroach scurrying across the lounge floor. Checking that I had at least 2m of clear space between myself and the insect, I dashed to the cupboard under the sink, grabbed the new can of spray and gave it a blast, expecting that the sodding insect would flip over on its back, feet pointing to heaven, lying extremely still. Wrong. The damn thing ran backwards and forwards across the floor, with me up on top of the couch, blasting enough spray to knock out an elephant. Finally it shot round the back of the couch and disappeared, which meant I walked gingerly about until I went to unplug the laptop from the powerpoint at the side of the couch, and leapt a foot into the air when I espied the dead cockroach on the floor just below the power socket where the laptop was plugged into. One to me, heh heh. A day or so later, and another near miss of a heart attack when I came across another flipping cockroach. Once again I was ensconced on the couch, and feeling a bit peckish, I thought I would saunter out to the kitchen and nibble on a cold pork finger, as you do. As the only doors inside the house are on bedrooms, I had not turned on the light in the kitchen as there was enough light for a raid on the fridge where the pork fingers were resting. I had got one out and had taken a few bites when the rindy, fatty bit came away from the pork finger and fell on the floor. Using the 3 second rule I bent down to scoop it off the floor and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek, (and there was a scream), it was lying next to a dead COCKROACH on the floor. I was in bare feet - I could have stood on it - arrrrrrrrrgh again. My instant reaction was to leap backwards with the remaining pork piece in my hand. and to jump back onto the couch until my heart rate dropped to a normal rate again. Damn and double damn, as those of you who know me well, know that I would never usually give up the crackling rind end of a piece of pork without a struggle!!!!. But wait,there is more ......... I did not venture back to the kitchen until next morning when it was the full light of day and said insect had been dead for at least 12 hours. Armed with a long handled broom and long handled shovel thingie, I sidled into the kitchen, swept the creature up and dropped it at arms length into the rubbish bin. Feeling a sense of relief I made breakfast and only realised a while later that there was NO pork rind on the floor ............ so what or who had dragged that off in the night ........ OMG what next. This was now war. I had suspected I had a mouse in the house a couple of weeks ago - I hadn't seen it but had come across what I thought was droppings along a ledge in the "pool room" but no other signs so wasn.t sure whether it was a current dweller or a dweller from the past. It just so happened that I was in Bunnings the following day and came across some plug in high frequency thingies that are meant to keep insects and vermin out of the house. I bought two, plus two new continuous spraying insect sprays to go with my death at one spray hand held can and am happy to report, no sight nor sign of an insect or vermin since. Shattered nerves are almost calmed though am still a little wary of wearing bare feet in the house, and have the place fully flood lit as I move about the place at night now just in case, heh heh. Had my three monthly house inspection on Tuesday and got home to find a note from the agent to say the house looked beautiful - may just frame that one, lol. I had mopped all the floors, tidied a few things and at long last gone through the kitchen cupboards putting them to rights. The biggest job was getting all my ironing up to date, which took several goes in the 30Celcius plus heat, and finishing off the back lawns with my handmower, in the same heat. I tackled both in stages early morning and late evening until all was done. I cleaned the stove two days before the inspection so when Jude stayed the night before, we decided to have pizza to leave the kitchen in its pristine state, lol. That and the fact I was knackered from the heat. I got a bloke in to mow the front lawn with its one and one gradient and have to say the whole place did look fantastic, if I say so myself. It is now four sleeps until I am back in NZ, woohoo. This is the longest I have ever been away from home in one stretch I think, ever, so am actually quietly excited about seeing everyone. I get to see sister Kay, Mum and friend Viv on a semi-regular basis on skype so no surprises there but it is a year since I have seen No 1 and 2 sons, wives and No 1 and 2 grandsons. I cant wait to have some Nana time with them both. No 1 son and family are coming to Auckland so the two cousins will get to catch up as well. I am thinking we might get in a trip to the zoo, the museum and maybe a ride on the ferry, (and that is just for me, lol), but have no fixed plans apart from the fact the boys and I will all be in Auckland at the same time. The other event apart from catching up with family and friends, is attending my primary school reunion. I went to Kariaotahi School from 5 yrs until the end of my 9th year and loved it. It was a two room, one teacher school, with a potbelly type fire place in the corner of the front room (how the heck did we ever get away with that ????, would never happen in these occupational health and safety days, lol), and blackboards around two sides of the main room. The school went from primmers to Std 6 or Form 2 ( year 1 to yr 8) and I don't think we had more than 28 kids all up during my time there. There were four kids including me in my year, which gives you an idea of year group sizing. The families that attended came from a mile radius from the school. The school was very much the focal point of the community and has remained so as a community hall since it closed in the late sixties. In fact No 1 son had his 21st birthday there. The school had two locations in its lifetime, and Dad attended when it was in its original spot from memory, with most local families having two generations attend over that time. Work continues to be intense - we had four days training last week in Theraputic Care. The trainer was supberb and I know this because from 8am - 4pm for four days, my attention did not wander once during the training. I learnt heaps and although some basic human development info was a refresher it was great to gain a deeper understanding of how best to work with the kids that we have in care. It would seem I have been working instinctively in some areas the right way but with the training, I can now back up what I do with a more comprehensive approach. We have had an amount of unsettledness amongst our residents with lots of comings and goings through respite care for some and absconding with another. This has led to heightened levels of behaviours with some regressing with toileting, and their coping abilities. I have had to practice lots of patience with some of them ( I know, who knew I had it in me, lol), trying to keep routines going which gives some security to those who do not feel secure. It is not all grim and have had lots of laughs at the same time. I loved it when I told one of our lads to take his shoes off the kitchen bench as we do not put our shoes where we prepare food , when I heard "Look Lynn, I listened" as he stood beaming after complying with my request at first asking. I burst out laughing as not only did he do as he was asked, but he actually knew what he was doing and could tell me in correct context. This from a little boy who knew no emotions when I first started working with him, or had no vocabulary or context for anything that he did (at 7 yrs old). Working with him is like being in a "Mork and Mindy" series. Although he has just turned 8, developmentally, emotionally and cognitively he is probably functioning at a preschool level, though he is coming along in leaps and bounds at the same time. He has no concept of time and asks umpteen times a day, is it morning, is it afternoon, is it night, so have been doing lots of work around that. My response is to ask him back what time he thinks it is, what meal are we having, are we doing morning things, afternoon things or evening things so he learns the code for time. He knows the days of the week but still does not have a total grasp of how a week plays out. He knows Monday to Friday are school days but will ask, is it the weekend yet on a Tuesday for example. I loved it this week when he asked me if I was working today, tomorrow. Scarey thing is I knew exactly what he meant, lol. He is now trying to work out that if I am on a day shifts I will be at work at the same time tomorrow as I am today. We have done a calander with the days I am in NZ marked on it and I have drawn a plane for the day I return so he can keep checking how long I am away. We have had the atlas out and looked at the page that had Australia and NZ on it and looked where Geraldton and Auckland is as well. Our little lass (3 yrs) is mid toilet training and very excited with her successes. She amazes me at the speed she is soaking up knowledge. She has been focussed on shapes and colours this week. She knows circles, squares, rectangles, triangles and stars. We were driving back from dropping the boys at school on Tuesday and said "Lynn, circle", as we went round the round about, and then square at an empty section next to a house. She was pointing at her stripy top and telling me the colours one by one and is now writing her initial for her name and L's for Lynn (which she then turns into squares). I started showing her, her initial drawing in sand back in January, and she is now drawing in chalk on bricks outside, and with a pencil or felt tip on paper. Our 4 yr old lad has learnt songs that I learnt at school as I have sung him to sleep at night. After nursery rhymes, I went back to good old fashioned songs such as "You are my Sunshine","Mary Anne", "Sailor (stop your roaming, not the Rod Stewart version, lol), "This land is your land" (with NZ place names, oops, lol)," Pokarekare Ana" and "Hinemoa and Tutanekai" ( a song I learnt in year 5) to mention a few. It is likely he will have gone to extended family by the time I get back from NZ, and I will miss his "Mum, sing sunshine song", or" sing sailor song". The favourite song of them all is "the Mockingbird" song as in Hush little baby don't say a word, Mumma's going to buy you a Mockingbird", which happened to be in the nursery rhyme book I gave him at Christmas, followed by "Row, row,row your boat" and "Old McDonald has a farm". Over the past couple of weeks I have bumped into several kiwis living in Geraldton - completely unexpected and one you won't believe. I was in what was Dick Smith's (cannot think of it's new name) looking for a new computer mouse the other week when this bloke asked where I came from - I replied I was a kiwi and he asked where from so I told him. He and his wife had moved over last year from Gore (bottom of the south island for those who don't know where it is and only slightly warmer than antartica the last time I was there, lol). It was not long after the Christchurch earthquakes so we commiserated about that and he commented he was going back to NZ for Easter too. At training (and this is the one you wouldn't credit could happen) one of the women from the office was attending who also came from NZ. We ended up at the same table and I asked what bought her over and she said work. She had worked with CYFS in Auckland. When I had to introduce myself I said I had been involved in boarding in NZ in Hamilton and had come over here for work at Tardun. She then said, I have met you before - I had a client in Auckland who was placed at your school and I came down and visited with you both and bang, straight away I knew the girl she was talking about and indeed did remember her visits. It was a very surreal moment. Today I had a plumber turn up to fix a washer and a leaking pipe in the bath room. He asked where I was from and I said NZ, and he asked where from again so I said Waiuku plus have lived several other places. He said he was from Onehunga (where my grandmother was born). He has lived over here for three years and is going back for good at the end of the year. He said when his boss had talked to me on the ph he said she's a kiwi so I guess that means I still sound like me, lol. I am interested to see how prices compare for things on my return to NZ. I hear petrol is over $2 a litre there - here it has climbed to $1.47 though different service stations vary by a few cents up and down with coupon deals. I paid $268 for my last power bill which brings it to just under $400 all up since I moved in here at the end of November which is on a par with what I paid over 15 yrs ago in NZ. Friend Donna ended up with a $800 bill but she has had adult children home all summer and air con going all the time in several rooms. I had air con on when I was gasping but only have it in one room so am extremely thankful for that. There are supermarket wars going on between Coles and Woolworths at the moment so the cost of milk, bread, eggs and chicken have been slashed. You can get milk for $1 ltr, bread for the same a loaf, and chicken was around $4.95 a kilo. Bananas have gone through the roof and have seen them at $13 kilo, brocolli was $6.95kilo and onions $4.95 which are a few that I remember. I have not grocery shopped for myself for several weeks and have been eating out of my cupboards, freezer and fridge to whittle stuff down before heading away. Need to sign off now otherwise it will only be three sleeps lol. Have got Jude's 60th birthday on Saturday night so am staying with her at Dongara and hitching a ride to Perth with other guests who come up for her party. It could be her brother and sister in law or other friends - I am not fussed, as long as I catch the plane. Am leaving Perth around 7pm Sunday and flying Air New Zealand straight through to Auckland - yay. I plan on getting on board, eating dinner and sleeping the rest of the trip over all going well. Night night :)