Ohakune: Paint verses Weather

This was the planned weekend for painting our A-frame in Ohakune. Our friends the Cakebreads had also generously donated their time to help out behind a paint brush and a brand new spare refrigerator. With a new bed mattress to also haul up it warranted the hire of covered furniture trailer, which of course quickly filled up with kids bikes, strollers, toys and tools.

Lugging the furniture trailer up sounded like a great idea to get all the bulky items up to Ohakune in one swoop. It was'nt until it was hitched up to my car's tow bar on the Friday afternoon that all the experiences of doing so last time came back. The trailer is both tall, long and heavy. It gives the car a constant back and forth bucking motion as it uses its momentum to resist any change in forward speed. It is like towing a recalcitrant giraffe on two wheel. Same colour too. And of course all this must be done at 80km/hr which adds an extra hour of pleasure on the whole trip. Amazing what you see when you travel everywhere at 80km/hr.

The girls quickly decided they would all go in the other car leaving Chris and I to haul slowing up the country.

The weather was not looking so great but the evening was a nice one to drive in so I was holding out hopes to beat the weather predictions. However Saturday morning just at dawn, true to predictions, the rain set in. We installed the fridge and mattress, took the old fridge to the tip, then amused the kids until lunch time with the local climbing wall and cafes. In the afternoon a break in the rain occurred. We quickly donned painting clothes, brushes and paint and attacked the dry areas of the house with a mixture of a 'cabin fever cure' and 'rain be damned' attitude. In four hours the girls made some great progress with the front of the house while Chris and I almost completed the entire back of the house. The only bits left where the eves that were too wet. The apex of the A-frame is high, maybe 15m off the ground so some airy times where spent up the ladder. I was glad to work my way down to the firm grass and a cold beer at the end.

Progress was remarkable for the few hours of clear weather we had. But we all had firm plans for Sunday morning to finish off the 'annoying' last bits that we did not quite manage to fit in. So did the weather. It had firm plans to rain again so painting was called off. I resided myself to the slow haul back to Wellington with the recalcitrant yellow trailer bucking at the back. Funnily, the girls all took the other car again.

I had taken the camera up with the great intent of getting some progress shots as we went. Unfortunately the brief gap in the weather demanded such intense activity the goal fell away. So no pictures sorry. And nobody like to take photos of the rain. 

The plan is to return again before winter to finish off all those bits that were missed. This time we shall only go if the forecast is clear. No trailer either.

Amelia Long Exposure

Was experimenting with some long exposure shots using a tripod at dusk.  Caught this rather ghostly shot of Amelia running up the back lawn through a shaft of dusk sunlight.


The exposure grabs the fluidity of her running motion but more interestingly the action of the  sunlight glinting off her hair. So for photographic curiosity sake here it is.

Kids Love Bubbles

Caught these shots a little while ago of the kids having fun with bubbles in the back garden. Amelia was interested in running through them. Lucy was interesting in the mechanics of the device. Telling.

Lit Ngaio

The Ngaio trees have unusual translucent white spots in them that let through sunlight from behind. I know I shoot weird stuff, and so to indulge a strange fascination with sunlit foliage I was playing around with a shot using backlit sunlight though the spots on the leaves. 

Wet Wairarapa

On Wellington Anniversary weekend we packed the camping gear and the family (no wait, get up off the floor) and headed over to Martinborough for a weekend of camping with the Cakebreads.

On the Friday night we drove over the hill and stuck up the tents and got stuck into refreshments. On Saturday it was a little overcast but otherwise fine. So we found ourselves driving over to Masterton to take in the Wings of Wairarapa at a distance. I blog with pictures so here are some long range shots with the new 55 – 250mm lens.

All the girls, young and old, were doing really well with the whole tenting thing, it must be said. But they where to be truly tested. After a great dinner at the local Thai we returned for further refreshments around the tent. About 5am the rain began. It was the same rain storm that was flooding Auckland but we stuck it out for the morning. Both the tents were dry but we zippered them up and headed off for some wet weather entertainment. Tour de cafe then off to the Masterton pool with the kids. Oh well. We managed the wet weather until about 2pm before we returned to the camp site. The tents we doing a fantastic job of being water tight but unfortunately the persistent downpour was seeping uncontrollable under the tents though the earth.

Well the pin was pulled and we all spent a wet and soggy hour packing the car and putting down some sodden tents before heading back to Wellington. It takes some rapid maneuvers to pack a wet family, tent and camping gear into the car. But we worked it through in record time. No need thought – the trip over the Rimutaka Hill was a wet, slow grind. Driving back it was still surreal that we had actually gone camping on such a thoroughly torrentially wet weekend. We could not of planned the weather worse. Are we going again? Of course we are!

The Office

On some days ...

Break in Transmission

You must be wondering what's happening. Why has a serious chronological chasm is opened in this little blog. Well, granted, it has.

I guess Christmas got in the way, access to the blog was a bit limited and I got out of a the weekly habit. Well I'm back into the world again and the typical rhythm and hum of life and the year is rolling on.

I best blog with pictures, so here goes. We spent Christmas enjoying the beaches of Leigh and further north.

Both the girls are really involved with loving the water and the beach which is great to see. 

One of the memorable events this summer was catching a first wave together at Omaha with Amelia. The glee in her face was a picture unto itself.

The days rolled lazily by with a dream/rhythm of eating, fishing, swimming, play and the normal dynamics of families with young children.

As typical of summer holidays, once we startted to relax the days accelerated by faster and faster until before we knew it, it was time to return to Wellington.

Now we find ourselves back at work, school and missing the play of summer.