Hi everyone,
The Christchurch earthquake continues to dominate our news, along with the situation in Libya. Petrol has risen by about 13 cents per litre in the past couple of months, but oil companies have kept the price in Christchurch as it was in an effort to make things easier on Christchurch residents.
Jenny L came up for a few days with her brother & sister-in-law as a rest from the failed Christchurch infrastructure. She came to stay here for a night, and it was great to see her. She was itching to get back down to Christchurch though, and check through her house thoroughly. The Uni is opening again on March 14th.
It is amazing, but none of our friends appear to have been hurt. The only people we know of who have lost their house are Dave & Jo L (but they & the kids are all OK). Everyone else seems to have come through in good shape.
The central city will take a long time to return to normal; first of all the people of Christchurch need to decide if they wish to rebuild the CBD in the same location, or if it should be relocated to firmer ground. Repairs will apparently cost about $20b.
Photo: 3News (2011) from http://modernsurvivalblog.com/earthquakes/another-quake-rocks-christchurch-new-zealand/
Tessa is now up in Auckland, and is planning on settling there. She is staying with Mike & Kara while she organises everything –she has a preschool position already and is about to move into a house-share in Botany Downs.
Tessa is now up in Auckland, and is planning on settling there. She is staying with Mike & Kara while she organises everything –she has a preschool position already and is about to move into a house-share in Botany Downs.
Like the rest of the country, here in Nelson we have had a bit of rain, and the temperatures have fallen from some 30 degree days to some cooler temperatures.
In the past few weeks we haven’t really got any work done around the house, as Jan is practicing for the next NSO concert (which is in a fortnight), I am busy teaching a full-time teaching load this semester, and we have been doing lots of other things on our weekends.
We dropped off a trailer-load of firewood to Montrose Drive and picked up a trailer load of green waste from them – man, have we got some great tenants thus far. They seem to be treating our house like their own, and really taking care of it inside and out. It is wonderful.
Last weekend we helped out with the Weet-bix “Tryathlon”, which is a triathlon for primary school children. It was a great event, with nearly 1400 children sea-swimming, cycling and running (and only 4 accidents). I organised a group from Rotary to help out as marshalls on the cycle course, and made banana cake & coffee to bring in for our Rotary helpers team. It was great fun to take part and help the kids complete the event.
We also had Robbie & Janet’s birthday party at their farm in Tapawera - a 'cowboy' party. Luckily both Jan & I have hats, check shirts and boots, which made the whole dress-up aspect really simple. The party was in the woolshed, complete with a really good covers band who played nearly the whole time. It was a really good night, and we caught up with all sorts of people. Fleur & Neil were there and we had a great chat to them, as well as a surprise catch up with Nathan I.
Jan & I also volunteered to help take down a set of water fountain installations from a Nelson street display. There was a competition for these ‘water works’, with the winner getting a prize of $3000, and all the pieces were purchased. The one I liked was a stone sculpture of a man & a dog in a dingy on some rocks, which has been bought by a local pub (the Free House), to go in their beer garden. The fountain is a jet of water that squirts up between the man & dog, as if their boat has been holed. Very cute.
We also went with Sandra & Kevin to the Crusaders vs Waratahs rugby match at Trafalgar Park – moved to Nelson because of the Christchurch earthquake. It was a great opportunity to see a really good game at a very low cost ($32 for both of us on the embankment - plus loads of Stephanos pizzas to keep our strength up!). We would love to be going this Friday coming for the Crusaders vs Brumbies match, but we have friends coming over for a BBQ & movie.
We now have 50 jars of preserved apple puree, apple juice, pear halves and stewed plums in the cellar ready for the winter. I had to borrow some jars off Kathleen to get us through, so now I am trying to buy more Agee jars so that I can pay her back for the loan. Thank goodness for TradeMe and the Buy Sell Swap!
A group of us caught up with Jen C for breakfast the other day – she and some other members of her Friday painting group have an exhibition on at Kaimira Estate for a month, which is pretty exciting. She is thoroughly enjoying Golden Bay, and is now a mad contract Bridge fiend (to the point of having stood for Vice President of the bridge club). The damage from the late December floods is still being repaired.
I have also managed to catch up twice with Kel A – which must be a miracle in the space of a month! Duncan is in PNG, she is splitting her time between Welly & Nelson, but is off to the US in April for a break.
Oli took some fantastic photos at Oma Friedel's 96th birthday in Feb. A couple to share with you below:
I have also managed to catch up twice with Kel A – which must be a miracle in the space of a month! Duncan is in PNG, she is splitting her time between Welly & Nelson, but is off to the US in April for a break.
Oli took some fantastic photos at Oma Friedel's 96th birthday in Feb. A couple to share with you below:
This weekend Jan is going to hire a small digger so we can fill in the dirt around our big water tanks (and I can get my clothes line in on top), and move a mound of dirt over a wee bit between the office and the shed so we can plant some screening plants in autumn. We have also ordered our next lot of fruit trees for the gully.
Fliss didn’t have anything stuck in her throat; she had laryngitis! Bonnie then got an eye ulcer, and we spent two weeks back and forth from the vet for both of them. I emailed John & said that it was like a dispensing ward here with all the various meds that had to be administered at each meal time! Fliss is now pretty right, and Bonnie’s eye is slowly coming right.
John got back last week, and is reunited with Bon dog. He heads away in another ten days or so for his last tour for the season, and Bonnie comes back for another stint of ‘home away from home’.
Happy birthdays in the next couple of weeks to Melissa, Brigitte, Sandra W, Mike D, Jen C, Frits, Duncan A & Dilani.
Right, I think that's it. Catch you again soon.
Alles liebe!
Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young
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