thar she blows!

A 3-metre pilot whale was attempting to beach itself near us last night. We heard about it the old-fashioned way with ears -  some walkers on the beach told us - but  most of the onlookers had seen it on Facebook with some excellent photos. The power of social media!

 

By the time we arrived Adam, a Cape Douglas permanent resident, was in the water trying to send the whale towards the open sea. 

 

 

 

 It was trapped by a falling tide and the rocky reef and wanted to swim towards the sunset, but Adam patiently turned it around several times and nudged it along past the reef where it could head out and away to freedom.
A cold wet Adam emerged from the sea.

 

 

 

2 guys from the Dept. of Environment,  Water and Natural Resources turned up, summoned by telephone,  very grateful for Adam"s intervention: "I'll requisition a wetsuit tomorrow " said one.

 

Next day: Facebook reported "the whale didn't make it".
I drove down to have a look but no sign of it.

too many wallabies

The black swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor, lives next door to us in the Conservation Park. Wikpedia says: "The swamp wallaby is found from the northernmost areas of Cape York to south-western Victoria

It was formerly found through to south-eastern South Australia but is now rare or absent from that region."

Rubbish!

 

There's heaps of them, mostly to be found eating our lawn and hurling themselves in front of cars on the road.

 

It was cute to start with - hearing the clatter of toenails on the beach deck as they knocked over chairs to get at the water we leave there for the cat.

Then one morning there was NOTHING left of 5 large geranium maderense plants; the next day it was an entire large rhubarb plant gone; then judicious pruning of hares' foot fern and butterfly bushes (which I imagine to be dessert.)

 

Challenge: find nice plants that they won't eat - maybe holly?

 

early morning - at least it's not eating the hardenbergia which is growing beautifully on the screen

 

 

The tunnel house continues to produce rivers of cucumbers - and the odd one that gets away by hiding under a leaf - tomatoes, baby capsicums, zucchini and button squash. The kipfler potatoes are growing outside in almost pure sand and I harvest (no need to dig) just enough for a meal. Beans haven't been good, probably the soil is lacking loam.

 

 

the big cucumber went into the compost

 

blown away

Windy Wellington was back with a vengeance for the weekend - winds of 50km per hour on Sunday with occasional gusts you could hardly walk against.

 

Our hotel was the Copthorne at Oriental Bay, near the water behind a run of cute little boathouses which seem essential to the yachting fraternity who use them for storage.

 

Mount Victoria overlooks St Gerards monastery to the left, the Copthorne right and bathing huts all along the shore.

It's amazing what can be jammed inside a hut

 

Te Papa (meaning treasure box) Museum is a fascinating place and we paid several visits: my favourite is the Air New Zealand exhibit  with its flight simulator, display of uniforms and advertising over the decades including its latest air safety video with a Hobbit theme which has had 23 million hits on YouTube. We saw it in the plane and for once watched it.
You can watch it by clicking here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOw44VFNk8Y

 

Due to the magic of computers, they used only 29 actors in the battles scenes.
New Zealand is mad on The Hobbit and all the works of Peter Jackson - well his industry is a huge employer: even Te Papa has a fierce orc in its foyer.

 

Not something you'd want to see in real life

 

We saw The Hobbit 3 in 3D at the pictures and enjoyed the unrealistic  violence, wholesale carnage and ducking to avoid falling 3D stones.

 

 

On Sunday we did a hop-on hop-off bus tour which was terrific: loved the view from Mount Victoria, 

NZ Christmas tree in the foreground; looking towards the South Island

 

 lunch at the Botanic Gardens

 

David admiring begonias (out of the wind) at the Botanic Gardens

 

 and a great overall view of Wellington. Our second driver had a role as an orc in Lord of the Rings which he played for us on his iPad - he loved being an orc.

 

As we struggled against the wind to walk back to the hotel David spotted two enormous tree trunks and a guy carving totara wood in a workshop, so of course he had to have a chat.

 

 

David and wood-carver

 

Later we went to see Into the Woods starring Merryl Streep as The Witch at the cinema which I loved. David said it was OK, he didn't go to sleep.

It was a wonderful few days in Wellington and we were blown away, literally and figuratively.

the windy city is a winner

Wellington turned on a perfect day for Catherine and Michael's wedding - sunny, low 20s and minimum wind. Guests assembled at Te Papa museum on the waterfront where we boarded a bus for the church at Johnsonville. 

 

Ilga adjusting Richard's button-hole flower

 

After the ceremony the happy couple drove off in a red Jaguar followed by two buses - skilled drivers required.

 

To the most amazing venue, Boom Rock,  perched on a cliff high above a huge flat sea.

 

It's a breathtaking view out over the wide expanse of Cook Straight and a great background for photos.

 

Bride & groom plus her family and Richard on the right

 

The wind was incredible,  as apparently it always is there, but it was hats and sunscreen rather than the Drizabones lined up in the hallway.

 

Drizabones for the rainy days

 

There's a golf course along the cliff and clay shooting for those interested.

 

Golf course - a hole-in-one has been known

 

Catherine and her bridesmaids looked gorgeous,

Bridesmaids in grey, school friends each end.

 

Michael was appropriately devoted, speeches were witty and not too long and the dinner was excellent; venison sausage rolls as nibbles were brilliant and NZ lamb racks melted in the mouth.

 

Richard, Ilga and Michael

 

 

 

 

boomsmas on holiday

We have left the beach to Alison and Christopher who volunteered to look after Willow while we go to New Zealand for a wedding.

 

Michael, son of David's brother Richard, is marrying Catherine, whose parents live in Wellington, so we have joined forces with Richard and his wife Ilga and are en route to Wellington for the ceremony.

 

We landed in Auckland then set out in a hire car for Lake Taupo.

Richard's GPS is determined to take us via the shortest possible route which means up and down steep hills, through quiet valleys and over dirt tracks,  making for an exciting trip with marvellous scenery.

 

 

No-one on this dirt road but us and some cows

David and Richard watching the sunset over Lake Taupo.
The next day a sky-diving plane crashed into the lake - no casualties