Te Awanga, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

At the southern end of the Hawkes Bay is Cape Kidnappers. A cycle route runs all the way along the coast from north to sout, and we jumped on half way to do a return route. There are wineries along the route, but we first headed to the end and had some lunch in the cafe. We returned via Rod McDonalds Te Awanga Estate vineyard where they had an awesome array of wine taste, 16 I believe.

Holiday Projects, Napier, New Zealand

Perfect time to do some projects over the holidays. We were in need of some extra log storage as our existing hiding places have become over full. The roof has been designed to be a dry planting of mostly sedums. The second project was using some wood from the old demolished bedroom ceiling to make an outdoor table. It was meant to be rustic, but it wanted all the power tools tried so it ended up being pretty tidy. The photo may not show it but it is some 3 meters long and rather tall. The height allows food to be moved from the plate into the mouth with minimal effort, shoveled if you like. The final project is the refrubishment of one of our bridges over the stream. This must be 30 years old and had began to become dangerous to traverse.

New Year, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

New Years Day in New Zealand is a bit different from the northern hemisphere. It hasn't rained for several weeks here and the ground is getting quite dry. It continues to be in the high 20s or mid 30s and the BBQ is therefore getting some action. DIY projects enthusiastically started before Christmas are not quite finished but 80% done is mostly finished.