Day off

This morning was cold and overcast with the feeling of impending rain, so I packed the water and raincoats and headed for the hills. As you can see, we reached the top with barely a drop. The snow covered mountains in the distance reinforced the icy elements of winter. Zac and Karli loved it. Having all this within walking distance of the front door step allows me to attend to other things on my day off too...starting with "the list".

Getting on with posts

I can't believe how long it is since my last post. It's really about photo downloads. No photos, no post. If I could get into a better routine you could really see what we're up to here in NZ. As you can gather, the veggie garden has finally materialized. So far there are broad-beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, silver beet and fennel. Only 10 weeks to go until we can eat something, that is if the slugs and snails keep away. Since the photo, I have fenced it off so the pooches keep out. That was last weekend.

Totems for a Vineyard

It is one of the most beautiful and peaceful times, walking the dogs around the vineyard at sunset. At Woollaston Estate, the feeling is enhanced by some of the art installations which take on new dimensions in the changing light. Christine Boswijk's Totem for a Vineyard was inspiring this particular evening as it appeared silhouetted against the pinkish sky .

More "wine dogs"

Zac and Karli having a momentary rest from inspecting the rows in Woollaston's Mahana vineyard.

Cellar hands at work

Here are my cellar hand buddies who have been teaching me all the tricks of the trade. Doug is looking after the press. Michael is on the fork-lift. This is the last day of Sauvignon Blanc processing. Next week it's Pinot Noir.

Easter Sunday

The unlikely event happened, that Woollaston gave us the entire four days off for Easter as the Sav Blanc is now processed and the Pinot Noir picking will commence in earnest this coming week. Although I worked Saturday afternoon at Fresh Choice and Trina had a day of My Pie at the Mapua Festival today, most of the weekend involves gardening. The weeds have taken over and so we have undertaken to pull back the old tan-bark, pull out the weeds and then put down some weed mat before replenishing the tan-bark and making it all pretty again. Also, the long awaited vegie garden will evolve in a quiet corner. 

After collecting Trina from the festival this afternoon, we drove home via Richmond where we took the dogs for a walk up the hills. I just happened to pack a bottle of Pinot, glasses, chips and dog treats and we all stayed and watched the sunset over the Tasman Ranges. 

A few winery shots

Zac and Karli made it to work today...not much help though.

The Lees Filter

This filter can turn the muck at the bottom of a tank into pure clear juice...if you connect it up correctly. Those filter plates can go in two ways, the right or wrong way. With a 50:50 chance of getting it right, I managed to get it wrong today. After pulling it apart to fix it, we didn't lose too much juice, but, it makes me think of the efforts of all the people involved the steps along the way to get it to this stage and so the importance of keeping every precious drop gains magnitude. 

Every day is a learning process and today's mistakes will lead to tomorrow's success.

Karli spotted a cicada and is trying to work out how she can climb the tree to catch it. It's her latest sport since there are no geckos or skinks to chase here like there were back in Brisbane.

Autumn Approaches

Walking down to the vet this Saturday morning we were reminded that Autumn would be a noticeable season as the colours change and mornings become cooler.

Driving to work

Some mornings just make you want to stop the car and watch the sunrise. Today I just reached for the camera as I drove along the highway from Nelson to Richmond.

Variety in cleaning

The barrel cellar floor needed a spruce up with the high pressure washer.

Zac

Even though the Zac is surrounded by cats, he still has time to relax amongst the native plants in the back yard.

Abel Tasman National Park

Cathy and David came over for a quick holiday and we all tramped off into the first stage of the Abel Tasman National Park starting at Marahau. The views were magnificent along the way and we eventually arrived at Anchorage where we had time for a quick chilly dip and a spot of lunch before the water taxi took us back. By the time we returned, the tide was completely low so the tractors had to be used to drag the boats up on the trailer as you can see. You can see other photos on Cathy and David's blog.(home42.blogspot.com/)

DJ on roadworks

Cement Stabilisation at Tapawera

Little Kaiteriteri

Trina and I finally had a full day off together so we drove out to Little Kaiteriteri and had a walk around the headland and a picnic. It was a dog day too. Trina and Zac loved the view whilst Karli was off to hunt.

Brightwater Festival

The Brightwater festival is about local food, wine and music. Trina was there in her official capacity as pie-lady in the My Pie van with Aileen. We took Diana along too who is sitting on the far left. Not long afterward, we were enjoying a Tussok Pinot Rose from Woollaston.

Lunch overlooking Ruby Bay

Rush Pools

Weekends usually see us out for a walk somewhere along the local tramping paths around Nelson. This one has the variety of overhead canopy pine forest to vast views of scrub covered hills. The destination today is the Rush Pool, a somewhat disappointing muddy water hole with rushes growing in it. I didn't even take a photo when we got there.

Local bush fire

It was only a small scrub fire over the hill but it was close enough to make us think. Ironically, it started from a spark when a mulcher hit a rock whilst clearing overgrowth around the Atawhai hills. This is the view from our bedroom window. Heaps of ash blew over into the back yard and the house wreaked of smoke but it was over in a few hours, nothing like the fires back in Victoria.