Hi everyone….just a little update from Greytown. The first 3 weeks were wild – weather wise anyway. Lots of rain, snowfalls on the mountains, and some pretty amazing winds. Spent heaps of time inside with the animals in front of the fire. We’ve had some lovely sunny days over the past week so have finally ventured past the town boundary – not really but you get the picture! We had a lovely day out visiting Cape Palliser, about one and a half hours drive south of here. Bravely climbed the 250 steps to visit the lighthouse – had “full on jelly legs” by the time we made it back down. Lovely views along the coast and over to the South Island so worth the climb. We had very sore leg muscles for a few days after – I was walking like a duck most of the time! There is a seal colony near the lighthouse and the drive along Palliser Bay was beautiful. We visited the pub at Lake Ferry for fish and chips – “fesh and cheps” – on the way home.
We’ve had very little exercise walking Zeb the dog – his top speed is around 1km an hour. He stops to smell nearly every blade of grass and has little rests every 100 metres or so. He is still very keen to go but his enthusiasm doesn’t overcome his age and arthritis. So to get/keep fit we spend lots of time riding the house sit bicycles. We’ve covered every street in the town numerous times, peddled out to the local railway station about 5 kms from town, and taken a few countryside rides just checking out the farms and talking to the cows as we go past. Mostly flat to undulating roads but the wind can be a challenge. We also walk as much as possible. Tested ourselves with a steep climb at nearby Waiohine Gorge, the same place with the swinging bridge we visited earlier. We took a picnic lunch and pulled into a little parking spot near the Waiohine River to eat. Reg successfully crossed a small stream that feeds into the river – rock by rock. I was happy to watch from the sidelines. My back is heaps better but the thought of slipping on a rock still gives me the creeps!
Now we have also been socializing!!! We have visited a local café called the “Left Bank” a couple of times on a Friday night. They have live music and lots of dancing. The clientèle are mainly oldies – so we fit in well. The café owner is a ‘muso’ from way back. He gathers some mates together and they have a ball jamming away with songs from the 50’s to the 70’s. There has also been some very talented guest artists lately, so we’ve had a great time. We met Mark and Linda the first week we went along – a local couple – and had a meal with them the next night while we watched the AFL Grand Final. Such a friendly, generous couple.
We also drove over to Stronvar recently – about an hour cross country – to meet our next house sit people. We had a lovely evening looking over their 10 acre farmlet and getting to know them. Lots of animals for us to look after; 30 odd sheep including a hand fed lamb called “Chopper”, 2 cattle, 2 dogs, 3 cats, chooks and one duck. Beautiful countryside. Will send some photos when we are living there – mid December till mid January. Not sure what we’ll do between leaving here in a couple of weeks and arriving in Stronvar but we will see. So many options in such a beautiful country. All you need is a car and a tent.
Well that’s about it for this time. Hope you are all well. Keep in touch.
Love
Di and Reg
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