Saturday 30th July

Well, the week started off with good intentions, and most of them got done. Finally got all the rose gardens at Pah Road dug over, took 10 bags of horse manure so far, they need another 5 at least though. Started at Rockville, new garden to do, well, I mean, it’s an established garden, but new for me to start on. A lot of older rubbish trees and shrubs that were planted as a shelter for the camellias and azaleas to be cut out, and some Pieris japonica to be cut back as well. The Pieris had been pruned, but cut too high, so instead of a nicely shaped bush, they were tall lanky trees. Not any more, hopefully they will sprout again.

Tuffy had his first ride on a quad bike, around the farm to the rubbish pit. He took to it like it was normal, sat on the back tray for a bit, then discovered that if he sat on my lap, with his front paws on the petrol tank, he had a better view and didn’t get wobbled around as much.

He’s good to take on the jobs, I put my Swandri down, and he doesn’t go far away from it, even if I’m away out of sight for a while.

Had a good day at Kaituna, Paul from Takaka turned up with his wood chipper, so we got stuck into pruning the overgrown trees back, and chipping the branches as they were cut out. He is going to pass on the pruning jobs and general garden stuff now, that he gets out this way, rather than him driving out to the valley from the other side of Takaka.

The cows are dropping calves in the paddocks, found one that I was hoping would resuscitate yesterday, the caul was still over its nose and mouth when I got home, it looked fresh, and felt warm, but after I cleared the caul off, and tried getting it to breathe I had to give up. I think it had been a bit too long before I found it.

Back to milking tomorrow morning, 5.30am start, only 200 cows at the moment, but taking about 3 hours to go through with the amount of milk they are producing. Which comes in handy and helps pay for the Pajero.

Took Tuffy back to Collingwood beach this morning, in an effort to wear him out for a while. He found a grey cormorant, and thought he’d do the big brave dog and chase it away. The Cormorant just sat there then pecked him when he got close enough. So he’s a bit wary of them now.

The local kids build beach huts along the beach, with all the logs and stuff washed down in the January flood, some are quite substantial, and they seem to have a lot of fun building them

We’ve had a beautiful day here today, I’ve got a lot of seedling trees from Rockville to use for the hedge, mostly Pittosporum crassifolia and Matai, all good hedge trees, provided I get them to survive. I’ve still got about 300 Nikau to get from Pah Road, once I get some planter bags and mix for them.

Sunday 24th July

The Pajero is back, reconditioned motor, and something extra as well. The mechanic was taking to for a test drive on Wednesday, got about a mile up the road outside Takaka and the right side back brake pads fell out. So much for Pit Stop in Auckland saying they were ok. The left side were fine, the right hand side were just flat plates of metal, and had chewed into the disc as well, really deeply.

So, I now have new brakes all the way round, a reconditioned engine, and finally enough gardening work locally to survive on. All I have to do is last long enough to get the first few payments from the work now.

I spent the morning splitting firewood, and water blasting a verandah in Collingwood, I’d promised Jenny I’d be there last week, but without the Pajero it got to a lot of promises and me not turning up, so it became today.

I had Tuffy with me, he wandered around a bit at Jennys, but never that far he was out of sight, and I had my Swandri on the ground, for him to find if I went elsewhere. He’d come back, sit or lie on the Swandri for a bit, then go exploring again. Once I started water blasting, he was more than happy to play in the mist from the blaster, so I had a wet dog for a while.

Took him to Collingwood beach before coming home, so we spent an hour or so walking along the beach, with him chasing seagulls and oystercatchers, without going into the water.

We got home about 4pm, it is now 7.30, and he hasn’t woken up yet. Considering he is only 8 weeks old, it’s been a fairly long active day for him.

I’m working at Pah Road tomorrow, digging over the rose gardens and pruning back the overgrown shrubs and climbers, then Tuesday/Wednesday at Rockville, Thursday/Friday at Kaituna, Saturday I’ll go up to the Naked Possum and start clearing up around there.

The weather has got a decided cold feel to it this week, all southerlies coming up from Antarctica, bringing snow again. There is some discussion of it reaching as far north as Auckland, which hasn’t happened since I was growing up in Otahuhu, a long time ago. Then it was snow on the Bombay Hills at Pukekohe, now they are saying the Hunua Ranges.

Thursday 21st July

At times I really feel like it isn’t worth it. Still haven’t got the Pajero back. The heads came back from Motueka on Tuesday, they had it all assembled and running yesterday morning, until the mechanic took it for a run. And the back brake calliper broke.

So it is still sitting in Takaka waiting for more parts. They are hoping to have it fixed by tomorrow now. In the meantime, I haven’t been able to get into work at Long Plain Road, I’ve had 3 more people ring and ask me to do their gardens and lawns, I’m 2 weeks behind with the ones I’m meant to be doing as well.

I looked at hiring a ute or similar, but the cost worked out to be more than I earn at the kiwifruit, not so much on the daily charge, although that was $68 a day, add in the insurance, and my insurance cover only covers rentals hired through their affiliates, not the cheapest ones, and it all got to the stage where I’d be owing money despite going to work.

Still a couple of good things for the week.

If you go back to December, I was trying to get into the Naked Possum and work on their native plant Nursery, but Grant ended up being diagnosed with terminal cancer, on top of the stroke he had a year ago, so that was all up in the air.
Grant died a month back, and Jocelyn wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but after some time settling back down, she’s going to carry on with the Naked Possum, and lease out the various parts of it, while she retains the managing role.

http://www.nakedpossum.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Naked-Possum/124965522507?ref=nf

I’m leasing the nursery side, it is going to be more producing the plants here at home, and taking them up there, and selling through the retail outlet. Although there is a fair bit of work to be done there as well, the gardens have got a bit overgrown, and the capillary beds are in a sorry state at the moment.

Still, a bit of gardening, some clean up and a few more plantings, it will come back.

They sell mostly Rata, Meterosiderous umbellata, as part of Project Crimsom, to replace the trees that have been killed by possums in the National Park at Kahurangi, and for people to plant on farms and around houses.

That all starts from October, when Jocelyn is having a Spring Opening, I have to have stuff ready to go there by then. I’ll be buying in growing on tubes, and a lot of 1 – 2 yr old potted trees for a while, Jocelyn said they were buying the trees in at 18” high, for $7.50, and retailing at $18, I’ll be having discussions with the nursery about how many for how much as soon as it is all signed up.

The other bit of good news, or maybe not, I don’t know how I’m going to feed him, but anyway, this is Tuffy, he’s 8 weeks old at the moment, Sheepdog/Labrador cross,

I pick him up as soon as the Pajero is back on the road, hopefully this weekend. He was on trademe, free to a good home, and the people who have him live at Collingwood. Sue actually had her Uncle and Aunt live in my house, they had it built and she used to stay here. So it was a bit of local knowledge and from what she said, I got good references from the people she asked around here. Lord knows how big he’s going to get, but if the last Lab cross I had, Samoyed/Lab, was anything to go by,
he’ll be getting a lot of walking to stop him getting too fat.

Saturday 16th July

Well, the week started off badly enough with the storm damage, then proceeded to get worse.

Tuesday morning I got just into Takaka when the Pajero decided it was tired of the early mornings and blew both head gaskets about 100 metres from the garage. Which was better than miles out of town I suppose. It did look impressive though, blowing a huge cloud of steam out the exhaust. Limped it into the garage, and left it with them then got a lift out to work.

We only managed a few hours at work anyway, the rain, hail and lightning returned by 1pm so I got a lift back to Takaka and the garage.

To say that the Pajero was a bit sick is an understatement, both head gaskets were completely blown, luckily I hadn’t driven it too far and the pistons etc were still free and moving. The heads have gone over the hill for crack testing and planing if needed, and it should be back on the road next week.

The next part gets totally ridiculous. I’m looking at about $2,500 in costs, so I was thinking, well, that’s ok, I’m working, have a freehold house, no debts, I’ll hit the bank for a personal loan to cover that.

Ring Kiwibank Wednesday morning, get Rajev Patel, or his brother, answer the 300 questions and assorted details they want to prove who I am, then try to explain to Rajev that I’m working a contract for pruning at the moment till the milking season starts. He asks how long I’ve been working on the contract, tell him 4 weeks now, and he says that that isn’t long enough, I have to be working 12 months or more on contract, try to explain about seasonal work, and milking schedules etc, but realised I was talking to a foreignor who had no idea about New Zealand. And then I had to explain how long I’d been living here. Well, I’ve been in the Solomons for 2 years, Ireland for 3, so there went another strike against me, I have to be living here for 2 years minimum. So no personal loan.

Ok, next step, I’ll get a mortgage on the house. Try filling out the application form online with Kiwibank. To say it is an exercise fraught with frustration doesn’t come close. Whoever set up their website included a time out setting, you get to page 3 and start filling out the details, and it closes down, due to time. Ok, reopen, start again, got to page 2, bottom of it, timed out. Reopen, got to page 4, filling out other details, timed out

Reopened, Managed to get it all filled out, just hit submit when it timed out again, all of this involves filling out the same details on each page again, as well. So I’m down about 2 hours by this stage and slowly getting past my frustration allowance.

Decided to try contacting Kiwibank direct. Found an email address for their mortgage broker in Nelson, and sent off a email. I must commend Kiwibank for this bit. The person phoned me back within 15 minutes of the email going, so we went through the same procedure, with the same result.

I might have a freehold house, but as I haven’t been here for 2 years and not working here for 12 months or longer, I can’t get a mortgage.

I’m starting to feel just a little annoyed by this stage.

Ok, finance companies. Get the phone book out, start ringing around. It all goes well until near the end of the questions, do I own a house? Yes, do I have a mortgage? No, do I have any other debts? No, am I working ? yes, how long have I owned the house? 4 months, how long have I been working? 4 weeks at the present job, 2 months at the previous, how long have I been living in New Zealand continuously? 6 months this time,

Sorry, your application cannot proceed.

So it looks like the poor Irish Visa card is going to take a major hit. And in the meantime, I can’t get to work, so I’ve lost 5 days so far, with another 2 at least next week. But the weather is improving, and we have sunshine and blue skies finally, and snow on the hills.

I’ve got the big branches cut up, going to get the fir tree cut up today, and stored to dry out, then try to get the bloody plaster coat on the wall upstairs to stay on so I can get the room finished.

The cows are all arriving back from their holiday, about 500 of them so far in the paddocks around me, wandering along the hill top calling out and complaining. We should be back on milking in a few weeks, once calving gets underway.

Just had a Jehovahs Witness call in, trying to flog off a copy of Watchtower. Got talking as I tend to do, he’s from Otahuhu as well, lived just around the corner from where I grew up, we knew the same people, same school teachers. Small world.

Monday 11th June

Acacia branch, it landed just short of the trailer and garage.


It’s been an interesting week. I’ve experienced thunder and lightning, hail storms and heavy rain before, but nothing like the past week. Gale force wins, (80km +)and snow as well, although I can’t vouch for the snow on the hills at this end of the valley, the cloud ceiling has been about 300 – 500 metres all week.

The kiwifruit pruning is progressing, we’re using a different pruning method (again) the last few days, so we are all getting used to that and being slower on the rows again. There’s only been a couple of short days due to the weather, we finished early Wednesday and Thursday, about 3pm, Wednesday due to heavy rain, Thursday because I wasn’t keen to be holding steel handled and tipped pruning shears above my head while lightning was flashing through the orchard.

There is snow on the hills to the back of Takaka, if it stops raining for a bit tomorrow I’ll get some pictures of it, but as far as the Aorere, I can’t tell, although by the feel of the wind coming off the hills, there must be a fair bit of snow hiding up in the clouds.

Top off the fir.

Chimney minus the cap and sort of tied in place for the time being.

I’ve lost the cap off my chimney, a large branch off the Acacia, and the top off my fir tree so far. The stay wires on the chimney went on Saturday night, so I had the chimney banging and rattling inside the vent till today. I haven’t been game enough to get on the roof till the wind and hail stopped today. I’ve got it stayed in place again, ok, a bit of a lean, but it’s hard to work on a roof with the wind and rain pushing you sideways. I have no idea where the cap is, I’ve been through the paddocks around the house, and along the road.

I know it is Monday and I should have been at work, but as the thunder and lightning, and the hail were still going at 6am, and haven’t really stopped all day, I figured it wasn’t worth driving into Takaka then coming back wet and cold.

Monday 4th July

Happy 4th to the Americans, Libby, Al, Mary, Marye, Mary Anne, Chip, Dave, Judy Murph, and everyone else.

We’ve finally got some agreement on pay rate, for the time being. We’re on an hourly rate for the last couple of weeks, and possibly this week also, while we cut out another block to see just how long it takes to prune and tie down. Then we’ll discuss a per row rate for contract.

I managed to get up to pruning 1 ½ rows today, fairly easily, either I’m getting fitter, or it isn’t as hard as it first was. Admittedly, one row was full of dead gaps, and no canes to choose from, but we all had that.

It’s slightly cold in the mornings at Takaka, it isn’t too bad out here in the Aorere, the frosts haven’t been anywhere near as deep and white as at the orchard yet, but that is due to change later this week I think. Forecast is for snow and cold temps to arrive about Thursday, with rain and thunderstorms in the North Island.

I’ll just be happy to finally get paid, catch up on the bills, only the one really, telecom, but the next pay will be going on more firewood, and restocking the pantry.

A few of the farms are getting calves already, a few weeks early, I haven’t heard how our herd is doing, no doubt I will once milking starts. Another 4 weeks till the “official” start of the milking season, first week in August normally. Then I can drop the kiwifruit, and get used to early starts and afternoon milking just across the road, instead of driving 100 km a day back and forth to Takaka.

Wednesday 29th June

Sunday Morning 8.30am.

It’s been a busy fortnight, kiwi fruit pruning started last week, and I’ve basically been leaving at 6.30, getting home at 5.30 – 6 pm, eating, and sleeping. Unfortunately, I can’t see it lasting.

We finally got our contract rate on paper today, $115 per row, pruned and tied down, less $1.50 for every metre without canes. The rows are 120 metres long, it’s taken me till today to get up to speed and finish pruning a row in a day, I managed 1 ½ rows, still to tie down though, so there goes another day in tying the leaders to the wires. For $115.

I’m driving 96km each day, watching the petrol gauge instead of the speedometer, the gauge moves faster the speedometer. Luckily we have been on hourly rate till today, so whenever that comes through I may cover my travel costs.

Even the usual pruners, from the last few years aren’t happy, due to the mess some of the contract pruners from last year left. They pulled canes from one side of the trellis to the other, tied down late season growth, pruned out the good wood, or didn’t leave leaders for this year. So it makes for a slow process getting the orchard back into shape. As an indication of the poor pruning last year, the yield from picking this year was 40% down on last year, due to the lack of fruiting canes.

Heres a few pics I took this morning, showing what we are doing, from the unpruned rows, to what we prune back to.

I’m still working on the 2 private gardens, Sundays at the moment, but after I finish at the orchard tomorrow, I’ll do more fulltime there until milking starts in August.

Other than the above, there hasn’t been a lot happening, well, not that I’ve had time to notice, apart from the white herons over wintering at the estuary near Onekaka and along the coast here.