Steamin Along

 As they sometimes do, all is not lost, it’s just a little 💩 on your gumboots.  That moment when... you’re all prepared to make a pipi fritter, to go with the silverbeet, & you open the bag of pipis freshly thawed, to find they’re off...stink! My fridge is top of the line & new, but I’ve learned that Motorhome fridges aren’t all that & a bag of chips.  A hard loss after such a lot of work I just had to suck it up & make a silverbeet scramble 😂  The day began early, at 5am to be precise, which is what happens when there’s not enough to do & winter has her frozen teeth on your nether regions. Movies under blankets, with the diesel heater on, are now officially declared...a Thing 😂  I went walking after I moved off from Rhodes Park The boat ramp area has some real character Just some things lying around Somehow all the 7gig of data I get each month has been  thoughtfully chewed & digested, in spite of the free hour I get each day. That’s a  Considerable quantity

Small garden boxes with descriptions During my lifetime, which is a considerable amount of time now, I have been a deep thinker, reflectively taking time to process things. Without time to do that, anxiety & stress plague me.  By a Maori health center I went for a good long walk around the town today, seeing things that usually pass me by, in the busyness of a steampunk festival.  Loved this persons sense of humor Observations for me don’t include what I think about things, or how I feel about them. They are just that, observations. I love reading the old signs on buildings, denoting their history Who knew I actually liked history! Apart from the fact that as a teen I wanted to be an archaeologist that is 😂  This town has some very thoughtful systems I see patterns in things, & that leads me to think about them. The fact that old methods & ways are being returned to constantly throughout the ages, leads me to thinking that the new ways of things, aren’t necessarily progres

Before I left I had a wee walk & came across something you’ll only find in New Zealand. A pair of Skellerup red band gumboots, lying outside a Motorhome. Now any good farmer or the like, knows that if you lie your gumboots down, they’re liable to end up wet inside, or worse, a new home for spiders,mice etc. Mildly bemused, I went on my merry way, stopping at a couple of small settlements along State Highway 26, or SH26 we say here. Said boots Just out of Paeroa, I just Had to stop, & take a pic of the breathtakingly beautiful mountains. I could only get one decent pic, what with power lines, they still exist here! And other modern day nuisances, that like to take center stage in my shots. Just stunning isn’t it The first stop along the way was at Hikutaia, where there is a military memorial, that I drove back to especially to see. A bit of a disappointment that, as a sign says no campervan. Then I wandered (carefully) across a cattle stop, being bars over a shallow pit at the g

Can you believe it, 3 nights & 4 days in one place! The day starts early when you’re parked behind town. The busy bees are buzzing around, getting all the systems in place for the days trade. A bit more about that famous bottle I had planned to go to the maritime museum today, but some surprising things happened instead. A lady I had met recently in Thames, showed up where I’m parked. She isn’t at all well & needed a bit of a hand. Another lady I met the day before, has a dog almost identical to Lexi, that she’s giving away, to get a big dog to protect her from harm. I felt really sorry for the dog & wanted it to live with me But! It’s taken two days of careful thought, to make the hard decision to walk away from it. Meet  Peaches Peaches needs to go to the vet straight away, for eye  infections, fleas, & vaccinations. She’s the sweetest little dog, & I’ve been walking her. It’s the hardest thing in the world to put common sense & thinking before emotion. Right

Today I explored a bit more of Paeroa, after going to the museum yesterday. I walked the length of the town, down to the Art Center, after the recommendation from a friend. And I wasn’t disappointed. Two more dear elderly ladies greeted me warmly, as per the day before, & I had a look around. A huge arty church. I loved that the window & door frames were shaped like people It would have been fabulous to take pics of the local artists work, but that’s not an option. I can tell you that one of the dear ladies was sitting being the desk spinning alpaca fleece though! That was a cool addition to the ambience, little did she realise. The most interesting thing about the art Center, after the cute ladies & the art itself, is the fact that it seems to be housed in the original council chambers, or possibly the courthouse. I know that because the doors leading in from the passage are labeled Mayor & Town Clerk 😂  Tokens that the community care about its people are everywhere S