Gentle walk to loosen up from yesterday

So last night Brenda and Roger asked where I thought we should go for a walk today. I didn't know so they suggested doing the Te Waihou Walkway.
A great little track between Tirau and Putaruru. The Waihou river is spring fed and is crystal clear and that is where they take the water for Pump water and bottle it at the plant in Putaruru.
Here is a selection of photos from the days walk.

Big Sis at the starting point

So so clean

Style without a fence

Old jetty

Tui feeding

Neat little walkway and bridge

Crystal clear water all the way

Very pleasant walk

Great countryside

Piebald lambs

Water wheel, turning but not pumping

Awesome little waterfall

How clear is that! at least 2m deep

River through a bit of a gut

The source of the river in the shade there, awesome blue colour

Looking downstream

The Blue Lake which is the main source of the river

Here is the map where we walked.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyWalk

Brenda also took some great pics of the day.

Tui acrobat

Frederick taking pictures by the water wheel

The source of the river

Piebald lambs

Bus named, bike ride and measure up.

Well its been a quiet week, but an awesomely busy and exciting weekend.
Friday morning arrived at Matamata Motor Trimmers to finally get the name on the bus.
It was a great morning, he did a wonderful job. Finally remembered to take some during pics.....

Naked bus in Takanini

Adding the name

Making sure its all stuck down

Finished product

Then I drove across to Te Aroha to meet with the engineering company who are going to make the kayak loader for Fredrock Cafe. I was a bit early so I decided to go for a bit of a blat on the mountain bike. Mike at Cullen Engineering suggested I take the Te Aroha to Paeroa Rail Trail, nice and flat and just next door to where I was parked. 

I grabbed a couple of One Square Meal bites, a water bottle and headed off.

Not too far, I thought, just out for half an hour and then back. Not counting on the beautiful day, flat as ride and the thought that I need to get back into some exercise and start getting out to see the sights. This after all is what this is all about!

So for a little about the Hauraki Rail Trail have a look at  the Hauraki Rail Trail website.

It was an awesome ride, bit of a bit more than I should have but managed to get there and back.

Lots of cute little bridges

Long straights

Loo stop and shelter

Half way there, not all I have to do is get back....

Great sign board giving the history

Once I got back to Te Aroha, the guys were doing the final bits of measure up on the bus, so I managed to get some pics there too!

Finding the struts

They run lengthways guys....

Then a trip back to Walton for awesome pork and prunes done in the slow cooker! 

Its great to be doing these things now instead of just thinking about them and seeing some great NZ countryside.

Man Flu

Lack of content due to having a dose of the flu. 

Thanks to my boss who was caring and sharing and brought hers to work, I have been laid up with the flu for a week now. 

I hate it most when you are on the mend and you think you are getting better and try to do something and you end up with a slap upside the head when your body says "nah, not today mate!" and the doctor that I went to said to take it easy and let your body recover.....

Well thanks to my sister Val who has kindly let me park in her driveway while I'm recuperating and allowing me to sneak inside to watch the Americas Cup racing, then back to bed. But today we are starting to see some improvements so will be getting my act together to head back to Huntly tomorrow or Monday depending on how things go.

I had been thinking that I had done so well over winter not to get a cold, and then wham. But I suppose it's a bit of everything at the moment, getting into my new home, clearing out the old, into the new, the stress of that and everything and my body has said "nuf now, need a break". 

So will sign off for now, hopefully tomorrow will bring a good result in SF and I'll be feeling much betterer.

TTFN

More work and adjustments

Another weekend sees me over in Walton again, after catching up with friends in Titirangi on Wednesday before flying to Wellington on Thursday for a meeting. Great weather in Wellington!
So some more work in getting some minor rust spots sorted by the doorway and a new front piece on the bottom step to tidy things up. I am slowly sorting out storage and cupboards and how/where things sit and fit. Awesome fun!
Helped Brenda and Roger remove the corrugated iron fence to make way for the new trellis fence, and washed The Fredrock Cafe. So heading to Manukau tomorrow for a specialist appointment to follow up on my ear operation, but before that I will go over to Matamata to start getting the Frederock Cafe decal made and another look at the electrics. I have suddenly lost half my capacity! We had a good look but couldn't find anything wrong, but that doesn't mean anything because we are learning how things are wired so don't know much!
We are learning fast.

Trek #1 Waiorongomai

Roger and Brenda at main map board

Brenda taking another of her wonderful photos of a cute little waterfall

Brenda taking more pics

Butler's Incline, nasty rock fall covering the tracks

Looking away from Butler's Incline

View from the track across the plains

Renewing the old workings

Brenda looking into the old mine workings

Had an awesome morning this morning. Did a 2 hour trek around the Waiorongomai Valley, just south of Te Aroha. An old gold mining area with some amazing tram tracks and old workings. It was a lovely start back into some gentle exercise and some lovely sights.

Weekend workshop.

This weekend has been amazingly productive thanks to Roger and Brenda.

Firstly I have installed and wired up an inverter to allow me to run my coffee machine and mixer and other small items like charging the laptops etc. 

Then Roger had designed a way of supporting a shelf in the locker on the side of the bus. Then from the left over ply we (Roger) made two boxes to sit on the shelf. One for bike gear and one for kayak gear. 

Shelf and boxes

Boxes in situ

The other project was the completion of the ramps. They now have handles and latches to assist in carrying them. 

Catches and handles

Open and closed

Of No Fixed Abode

It's official, I am now of no fixed abode. I handed over the keys to the rental agency today and that was it. Actually quite an anticlimax after the awesomely frantically scary weekend.

On Saturday while cleaning out the house it suddenly hit me. I'm getting rid of a huge amount of my life, paring it down to what will fit in The Fredrock Cafe. Leaving so much behind and heading into the huge wide unknown.

For me this was a "OMG what the heck have I done" moment and it freaked me out a bit....ok a lot. I then rang my awesome sister and husband and asked for help. For anyone who knows me this was a huge thing and such a leap forward from where I have been. 

I have suffered from depression for a number of years and believe that although I am hugely better, I have to be very careful about how I handle situations. So rather than let the packing up get the better of me I reached out and asked for help. A quiet word to those out there who are in similar positions, don't be afraid to ask for help, there are people out there who want to help, are happy to help and expect not much in return. 

Without the assistance of Brenda and Roger I would never have achieved the move out of the house. While thinking about how I could ever thank them for the work in assisting me to pack up, clean and sort, I realised that words could never convey what they meant to me, so I have decided to thank them by going out into the wide green yonder and have an awesome time. When I told them this they were stoked and only asked that I take them with me occasionally!

So out of the house on Saturday, a trailer load, the 4wd loaded up and most of the bus chocked full of stuff, including book cases, chests of drawers, tables and heaps of stuff to be sorted.

Sunday was a day of sorting stuff, organising where things were going in the bus (Brenda is a great organiser) and Roger and I washed The Fredrock Cafe, we started designing a shelving unit of the side locker and sorted more stuff for storage, stuff for getting rid of and now I believe I am almost there.

I sit here eating my dinner, on site, where I will be for work days, til November when I leave work and head off into the wild green of Aotearoa. The weekend behind me was hugely exhausting, both physically and emotionally and I am looking forward to concentrating on work for the next three days.

It is Money Week and I have to admit that I haven't done half the stuff I should have for this week, but have a World Cafe session with the YWCA in Auckland tomorrow evening and a special seminar on Thursday.

I also have to mention the House Warming Package that my wonderful sister Lorna sent me. A combination birthday, bus warming package, including some awesome treats like Kitkats, TimTams, Pringles, Hummus, Camembert cheese, cream cheese with yummy stuff in it, crackers and Toffee Pops to round it all off. She's awesome is my sister Lorna! 

So as the sun sinks in the west to end another awesome spring day, I sit in The Fredrock Cafe having eaten a pork chop with roasted kumara, potato and carrot. I am so grateful to have the friends, family and support that has surrounded me over the past while. It is exciting, daunting scary but I am so looking forward to this the next chapter in my life.

When I find which hidey hole the camera is in, I will take some pics of the Fredrock in it's new home.

TTFN