First week into June 2020, and good old kiwi weather has thrown four seasons into one. We started with storms, waves and cold and we finished with calm seas, sunshine and washing hanging on the line.

Saturday morning sent a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow into our little seaside village of Waiwera.

Then provided us with a sunny cloudless winter day. Trud headed off to work and my friend Jill and I wandered around the beachfront before she headed off back to town after our girls night in my new abode. George has headed for the hills this weekend with some uni mates for some mountain biking adventures!

Jaxon is the chef tonight with a BBQ ribs and pulled pork extravaganza! Trud and I supplying the salads. And so there goes another family Saturday night around the fire pit.

Trud is heading back to her cottage for one night tomorrow night for her days off….with still 30 days or so up her sleeve, one night a week will last a lifetime. They haven’t got rid of us yet, I still have around 50 days I can use when summer rolls back in, in November! Rules are rules and we, at least, cannot be accused of breaking them.

Time for some self TLC, 15 days of no new covid cases in our country, maybe a few of the healthcare maintenance visits can be ticked off!

And the exciting news is, with NZ super rugby lining up for an eight week season, if we move to level one next week, we can go to all the “Blues” home games with our membership passes that are yet to be used! The Bonnici-Carter family without a few sports hits has really felt the drought! Out come the Rugby jerseys, scarfs and hats and loyal support for our Auckland boys. Having secured Dan Carter for this super league round, it’s looking like an exciting few weeks ahead.

June 2nd, 2020….the nature gods change the world. We can’t control the storms, the earthquakes, the drought(with so much rain we struggle to understand this one), fires and ice.

The weather gods unleashed their fury over the weekend giving the boaties a taste on Saturday, but putting a stop to any more, save the fish and give the surfers a wave! Those brave enough to don wetsuits and only have freezing feet.

The sands are shifting but the beach seats are chained, the angle is adjusted but they hold their ground. It’s a little like humans, they can be pushed and pulled but those with their feet firmly on the ground will stand with their heads above the bullshit (apologies for the adjective, but no other way to explain it).

Bring out the wild side….and never lose the ability to laugh and be kind. My friend Trud, without jeopardising my dad (her other residence) , finds herself homeless. Oh well, there are worse things in the world, you know pandemics and stuff! We keep putting one foot in front of the other and will always show kindness and look forward to our next adventure. A smile can light the day and a laugh will ease the soul. We must feel sorry for those who cannot smile or laugh – they should watch “The Inbetweeners” you can’t help but laugh!

We have all just been through an extraordinary time of covid 19, of our life standing still. This has provided many insights into what is important in life, and the smallest kindness has been the warmest light!

Someone once told me…You can’t save the world mum (one of my sons obviously) choose carefully what you try to save!

But I will never give up, what you give out will always come back, I think maybe some forget this

So today is work day, time to leap out and attack the business world!

….with the wind and rain are howling in off the beach, you know that winter is really here.

Today is the third day (Monday) of our last holiday weekend until the end of October.

The weekend started with clear sunny skies, sea like glass and provided the gasping fishermen the opportunity to get out on their boats. Saturday night turned the tables and we have been battered with nor-easterlies, waves crashing in and continuous precipitation.

I have seen a couple of Riverhaven visitors, who have been very friendly, but it’s mainly been a weekend of family….

Saturday visit with our cousins saw George making another canine friend. “Sunshine Lollipop”the lastest in his list of conquests. A cuppa with Dad and Sandy and then weather enforced lockdown for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday was filled with a visit from our Wanganui nephew and his gorgeous kids, inside day doing jigsaws, watching cartoons and a shared dinner with Trudi and her yummy chicken pie!

Today is looking like another jigsaw day without much outside activity. George is working as it is not a public holiday in the UK and the seaside village is very quiet apart from the sound of waves and wind.

I would have been packing my bags (with summer clothes) and heading off to a Northern European summer about now. I am trying desperately to let that go and make the most of just life and the small things that make it worth living.

Saturday, May 30th 2020, we thank the Queen for providing us with a long weekend after the four week flurry of adjusting to a new work life. While it’s not her actual birthday, it’s a good reason for a holiday.

The week has passed in a blur of busyness, business, bleakness and buses…

Day and night they roll in, usually two or three at a time, some stop, some dont! I watched an elderly man (one of the two people that take the bus all day) wait in the pouring rain, hat, coat, bag – only to have the next bus drive by as fast as it could, turning at the beach and putting the foot down past the bus stop…bright spot he didn’t have to wait long for the next one. But wait….

Waiwera residents have the undivided privilege of getting stuck behind a bus, crawling up the hill,when leaving for work, adding another 10 minutes on to their travel time!

Last night was Friday night and some things don’t change! My family and friends still gather on my deck, over the fence, to celebrate the end of the working week…the word is out, we are still here and our doors are always open.

While we are still in a COVID world of lockdown two, we can now have gatherings of 100. Let the good times roll. NZ has had no reported cases for almost a week, the shops are full, the roads are busy and I will need to buy gas for the second time in two months! The uncertainty and stress is still growing for those who have lost jobs or will do so in the near future, with NZ predicted to hit the 10% unemployment level by September. Economically there will certainly be some challenges.

Today, however, I can see blue sky (for now) and can focus on domestic activity without screentime.

And as the buses roll in and out (even on a reduced weekend schedule) Waiwera wakes to a winter long weekend of rain and thunderstorms, so they say.

May 28, 2020, 5.00am bus just thundered in! They say when you get older you don’t sleep in, just as well isn’t it?

Yesterday was just rough! Rough sea, rough wind, warmer in the morning turning real cold early afternoon and rain all day, mostly at right angles driving in from the sea.

The morning, however, brought colour to my doorstep…

The Rosellas are getting bold in this humanless world and comfortably sitting right outside my French doors while I work. The apple on the top of the tree may have something to do with his boldness.

George ran, came back very wet, I just sat at my computer most of the day until around 4pm, when it lightened slightly. Went for a walk to see the cooped up canine, and did a couple of laps of the driveway, at least he did.

Walked back, through Riverhaven, to wish Len (bubble buddy) a happy birthday. Had a Speights and a catch up for a bit until his mates arrived, boys night. Back via the cottage and over the fence (in the wet even) In weather like the last few days I’m sure the gate could be unlocked – it’d be like in a 24 hour washing machine.

The afternoon visitor, definitely to the apple, was a Tui. These noisy guys have become prolific in the trees around Waiwera over the lockdown…and are becoming bold and cheeky, and very loud at times!

So the apple is still a temptation and succeeds to push one outside the comfort zone. The moral of a wet day (and week ahead) is reach for the Apple and step outside, even in the Rain! Oh and it’s nearly the weekend, a long one!

Wednesday 27th May 2020. I wake before the first bus to the sound of waves ending their journey as they climb up the sand towards the Seawall. Rain adds to the water noise as it falls on the roof and then rolls into the water tank outside my bedroom window…I think the wind is also adding to the morning music and the elephant (bus) thunders in at 4.50am! These guys are getting earlier and earlier!

It is Wednesday already, another week flying by….before we know it we will be another year older and it’ll be Christmas again.

This week, so far, has seen the Merc fly through its health check (warrant of fitness) with minimal cost, Jaxon’s fate (redundant or not redundant) has been put off until Friday, George enjoyed (slept through) his UK bank holiday on Monday, Dan battled wet weather traffic to work and Sue sat at computer screen for 7- 8 hours per day selling out of boxes!

Floyd visited after work, in a window of rain break, having a run around the front deck. We were all outside but Floyd decided inside looked a much better option and looked longingly at the bright lights.

Just realised I haven’t got a photo of Russ here, in my push to move I left all these things behind. Today, when I get a rain break and a brain break (from computer), I will climb the locked gate (to my cottage) and go get one and a couple of other things I need here. I should have raced in and got a gate key cut when I had it for seven weeks! It would make life a little easier. I am in grave danger of impaling myself on the top of the fence posts. But the lesser of two evils, the other option is getting drowned in the rain and a cold or flu, in the 10 minute walk (around the outside and signing in and signing out) to my cottage over the fence. Nah, I’ll keep climbing the fence, as Russ used to say “use it or lose it” and while I can I will.

Well this week is washing by in a blur of precipitation. The boaties will be happy as their new water tanks will be filling up and they can go fishing over the coming long weekend, with water they can use to wash their boats. While I love fishing and getting out on my boat, I think I will leave it to the experts who will all be rushing to fulfill a fishing need from lockdown and water restriction deprivation. I can wait my turn until the rush is over and pick a perfect day!

And with the virus seemingly staying offshore, we can now have parties of 100 people from Friday! Just can’t afford one and don’t have 100 friends close! But maybe the great Speights sports game (questions on bottle tops) can be planned. Len (our Speights loving caretaker and bubble buddy who helped build the bottle top supply) and I have a deal with the boys….it could be a long night!

Sunday 24th May 2020. The day of rest before another week of reality.

Yesterday was brisket on the BBQ day and Jaxon was up at 3am to set the scene. I woke as usual at 6am, pulled on the trackpants, made a coffee and joined him on his deck to watch the morning roll in. And roll in it did, the mist rolled down the river in a white blanket as the sun rose, we could hear the waves crashing on the shore a couple of hundred meters away. Captured in time in a whole new world.

As I headed back towards the beach the waves (big for this east coast beach) were hitting the sea wall.

The valley mist still touching the sea, clinging to the breakers.

Back to reality from my moments of magical mist and sunrise….The rest of the morning was filled with house cleaning at new abode, then a lockdown clean for my cottage over the fence. Dan did the family bit and helped the Riverhaven crew install the new water tanks, George vacuumed the new house, while I scrubbed and washed and put to bed my cottage for the winter. Another weight lifted, as having to vacate under pressure to hand the gate key back the same day, after I had finished work, left me no time to clean and clear. Yesterday however, I could put all the nonsense behind me, did the right thing, signed in and out and didn’t see a sign of the Riverhaven crew. (As Russ used to say…”Just the ????” ….those that knew him will finish this sentence)

Jobs done, we took a trip to the mall (after lockdown running shoes desperately needed). It was like the day before Christmas! Car parks full and traffic stationery and hundreds of non distanced humans. In and out, one store only, backing off from those walking straight at us. Escaping as quickly as possible, hands sanitised and in car headed north within 20 minutes for our weekly cuppa with Dad and Sandy.

We dealt with the new internet booster (that finally arrived after two weeks) and now have 5G internet throughout our new house, linked to my cottage (one advantage of being over the fence). 99 dollars well spend as a one off. At least I don’t have to pay for another connection. (I have my own at the cottage, as Riverhavens’ is too intermittent for us to work)

The afternoon saw a raft of different visitors to Waiwera as the sea presented a surf break near the island….surfers! Reminiscent of my Muriwai, west coast, childhood.

Surfing at Waiwera a bi annual event! (If we are lucky)

The evening found us back up at Jax and stephs for the pit masters brisket BBQ….

My wonderful crazy family, fire pit, music, beer pong and great food! The 3am early morning start was worth it….the best brisket ever!

23rd May 2020….the winter sunshine continues to warm our days and our hearts, at least for part of the days before it disappears (early) behind the hills.

Yesterday was almost Shorts and T’shirt weather while we were working in our sunny office! After a chilly start, supermarket done and dusted by 8am, the sun streamed in our dining area, home office while we beavered away for the bulk of the day.

It really felt like Friday again, after another full weeks work and we all gathered at Jax’s house at 3.30pm, Steph, Dan, George and I, to sing Jaxon happy birthday when he drove in….let the fun begin.

A late afternoon and evening of laughter and Hugs! Yes we can hug now…with our bubble buddies.

Steph brought Jaxon a fire pit….and what a success it warmed our bodies and our souls, and burnt off a lot of wood rubbish lying around the property.

As the sun went down and the boom box played…we were joined by our bubble buddy Jacquie and her family for an evening of laughs. Not exceeding our 10 party limit, in fact just hitting the magic number when Trudi joined us after a full day of work.

Chinese takeaways, shouted by Dan, and home to fall asleep on the couch before 9pm!

It’s all about family and friends, giving and supporting, laughing and loving and making the most of the great moments…or making moments great. My boys are following in Russ’s footsteps and getting really good at this! We’ve got to keep this fire going. Today is BBQ day, Jax will be up already stoking the fire pit!