Kiwification

A few weeks ago, we received an invitation from the Mayor of Napier to come along to a top-secret meeting, along with a lot of other non-native Kiwis… this video was the result:

On the evening of Monday 25th Aug 2008 (last night), an earthquake measuring 5.9 hit 10km south of Hastings.

This was the first earthquake I’ve experienced in New Zealand:

I had just stepped outside to put a note in the car for my wife - as I closed the door, and walked through the house, I heard a rumbling / rattling noise. At first, I thought perhaps I hadn’t closed the door properly, or that something had happened to the car…

Then our house started swaying, as if it were a boat, or made of jelly. The shaking lasted for about a minute, and got serious enough that we started wondering whether we should “abandon ship”.

I borrowed a friend’s lawn mower over the weekend, to finally trim our increasingly shaggy lawn, but unfortunately, after 10 minutes the engine seized and died. (due to no fault of mine, I was relieved to discover)

My friend has since purchased another lawn mower to replace the dead one, but I’ve taken this as a sign that I need to buy my own lawn mower.

Considering that I want this investment into our garden beautification to last me years to come, I’ve been doing some thinking as to whether I want a traditional petrol mower, or a (battery powered) electric one.

On the advice of a friend, we completed our first “tramp” (hike) this weekend. We completed the “Bell Rock Loop Track”, within the Boundary Stream “Mainland Island”.

This particular track took about two hours to complete, and was visually breathtaking. I felt a bit like a character from Lord of the Rings, running across the spine of a mountain. (No, it wasn’t this mountain)

We recently discovered the kiwi scourge of sand flies. They’re nasty little bugs who live by bodies of water (beaches, rivers, lakes..), and buzz up from the ground to nip your feet, all the way up to your knees.