R.I.P. JOHN HUGH CURLETT

Our wonderful brother-in-law, John Curlett, died today.  He was a true gentleman and gentle man.  He was Max' sister's husband and this photo was taken at our wedding in 1970.

SUNSHINE

This morning our weekly Parkinson's walk was on the road around the airport at Onerahi.  The weather was perfect.  Just wonderful after weeks of rain.

To keep the warmth in during winter Doug installed a couple of cat flaps on internal doors for me.  One between the living and sleeping areas and the other (below) between the laundry (where the cat flap going outside is situated) and the hall.

The magnets on the flaps were quite strong and I found the noise of the cats coming and going in the night a bit much so Doug removed the flaps for me.  It still keeps the warmth in but is silent.

This is the face that greeted me when I went into the hall this morning.  Kath was in the laundry looking into the hall.

FLOODING

The Rest Home Bus had taken residents to see the floods so, when we were there this morning we checked which roads they had been on and set off to see for ourselves.

We went to Hikurangi and turned off at Jordan Valley Road then drove  back through Hukerenui.  When the Rest Home went on Monday the water was lapping at the road.

This isn't a lake but the Hikurangi Swampland which is usually grazed.

A few miles further on and the cows are grazing happily on higher ground with the floods in the background.

We then came across these lovely rocks with moss? covering them.

There is still a lot of rain in the ten day forecast so I can't see it going down anytime soon.  This is the swampland that drains over the falls I posted a few days ago.

Fungi

On a recent walk at Tikipunga Park we came across this little gem.  I don't know its name but thought it looked delightful.  I just love the colour.

More Water

When my friend, Elaine, was visiting from Queensland at the end of March we visited the Wairua Falls and it looked like this:

We visited it again today and it now looks like this:

It drains an area known as the Hikurangi Swamp which always floods in wet weather.  (It is now 4 days since the rain stopped).

The main highway north is closed due to a slip and the road that goes past this falls is now the only route north.  Although I have heard that trucks are now able to deliver supplies to the north the sign at the beginning of this road said "No trucks" so I am not quite sure what the story is.

Sunshine!!!!!!

After four days of rain we finally have some sunshine and decided to do the walk from A.H. Reed park to the Whangarei Falls.  The river has gone down a lot but is still high

I took a photo of this stream meeting the main one last time we did this walk and the water was barely running.

                                            One side of the path is running with water.

I didn't go any closer than this as the wind generated by the rush of water was so strong.

and this is the waterfall in December.

                                               The path was running with water.

Got off lightly

It is still raining heavily with strong winds but I got off lightly.  I just heard on the news that the number of properties without power has increased.

This morning I spent about an hour outside cutting up pieces of lasiandra.  This is always very brittle and I lost some in the last storm a few weeks ago.  The other casualties were half my tamarillo tree and a jacaranda that had worked loose and was blowing around in circles.  Doug arrived just after I finished cutting up the lasiandra and tamarillo and he cut the top off the jacaranda and we will see whether it survives.

After some soup for lunch we went to visit Max and happened to arrive just as the National Party candidate, Dr. Shane Reti, was setting up.  We were very impressed with him.  He spoke about his life and aspirations and then, in Maori tradition,

sang.

We then went for a short drive to see the Whangarei Falls after all the rain.

Half of the top of the tamarillo tree has broken off.  I hope it will heal and regrow.

                                             It doesn't look very big lying on the ground.

                     It was hard to get a photo of the pieces that had broken off the lasiandra.

This is the pile of lasiandra ready to be cut up.  The leafy pieces were cut up for compost and the wheelie bin while the woody parts are cut up to dry for kindling.

Looking down from the top of the falls.  The walkway across the river at the top of the falls had been closed.

                             This is a photo of the falls from below taken last December