Minor casualties

We have had two solid days of seriously high wind - 110kms +. Trees are down, roofs are off, trucks have been blown off the road, the town sounds haunted with all the whistling and howling and the airport has been closed. Luckily my casualties have been minor. My front gate, that wasn't in the best of condition is now hanging on by an thread...

and my rooster took a tumble.

It was supposed to ease off at lunch time, now they are saying this evening. I'll wait until things stop banging.

Climbing Paritutu

I didn't make the dawn service this morning but I did follow through on a promise to my trainer. What with one thing and another I can't get to the gym this week so I promised to climb Paritutu, one of the sugarloafs running out from the port. Here is the view from the bottom.

And here is the view from almost at the top. I didn't get all the way because it's rock climbing along a chain and I was doing it in between showers. Well worth it though and well worth doing again on a fine day.

Annual abundance

My poor little feijoa tree is at it again. Here is a shot of the sublime and the ridiculous with my phone for scale. And here is the crop to date - well technically, this is what I have retrieved so far. Last week they were all on the tree then suddenly they ripened and started dropping. Coming soon to a 'free to a good home' sign near you!

Never say never

When I finished my degree I said I would never do formal study again. Cake decorating and flower arranging, that was it. However, as you know I am doing Te Reo Maori and managed to pass all my assessments last year. That means that last Tuesday, along with about 60 of my classmates, I graduated. Gown, sash, certificate and academic record, the whole shebang.

And here is a shot of the after party. We all took great delight in being outside on a fabulous day having a quiet bevvy and a great time (the empty Guinness glass is mine btw).

Ramere Breakfast Club

Every Ramere (Friday) morning a group from Te Reo class get together for breakfast and (in theory) practice. This morning one of our number 'graduated'! She can't join us at our proper graduation on Tuesday so she was decked out in a high class, recycled gown and sash and needed an extra sip of her hot chocolate to deal with the emotion. And here is the rest of us, well most of us. When we are all there we are 8. Note substantial support of the local economy, not just take away coffees and the dictionary at hand for emergency vocab support.