Away From Home

Holiday Trip Day 3

April 24, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Tuesday morning in Picton, while the trailer was being tied down those of us who were not involved with that process explored the rushing creek beside the campground. Our tents had been pitched just beyond the bushes on the left side of this picture, so we got to listen to the water all night.

A bridge went across the creek here, and a trail went along it on both banks. Grandma and several of us went exploring.

We found this beautiful waterfall downstream just a short ways.

Here comes the train! The track ran along the hillside maybe 200 feet from our campsite! Three trains roared through during the night! We were glad that most of the boys slept through the noise.

After we left the campground, we started up Queen Charlotte Drive again. This time, we made it past the lookout over the harbor without stopping (no ferries in dock or coming in, this time!), but just a short way past, there was another overlook! We pulled in, thinking maybe we’d just take a quick look from the van. No way–there was an enormous logyard down there, and we ended up spending half an hour or more watching the activity down below. There were log trucks coming in constantly to be unloaded, with huge clam loaders that took an entire load in one trip, and then sorted the logs by size. There was one clam loader being worked on, as well. There was a barge tied up to the dock, but nothing loaded on it. This is a deep-water harbor where ships come in from the ocean to load with logs which are taken to Japan, processed into lumber, and then the lumber is shipped back here!

On we went again! The scenery was so amazing that Gayle stopped at most of the tiny pull-offs on the way up the hill, so he could admire the view, too. We were glad he stopped, rather than trying to look as he drove; that would have been downright dangerous. The Marlbourough Sounds are spectacular!

Some of the geologic formations along the road were really something to see, too–look at these rock layers!

Almost to Havelock! We stopped at another overlook and Gayle and the children went down the trail to these mudflats that are exposed at low tide.

Made it to the bottom! Now they have to climb back up the hill.

We ate lunch at a small picnic area at the edge of Havelock, and watched the tide starting to come in to cover these mud flats as we ate.

On we went again, this time as far as the Pelorus Bridge, over the Pelorus River. This bridge is one lane, with a walkway along one side. We walked over the bridge, then down a trail to the rocks along the side of the river.

One of our boys has learned how to skip stones, and his sister somehow caught a picture of his best skip–seven jumps!

Gayle and the children walked down another trail while Grandma and I went back to the van. They got to cross this swinging bridge.

We made it as far as Nelson that night, and found a campground there.

Holiday Trip Day 2

April 22, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Monday morning we were all up at the crack of dawn.

We pitched our tents between this road and some bushes; right on the other side of the bushes was the sea!

There were gorgeous flowers along the shore.

There was also a lot of Silverbeet (Swiss Chard) growing wild. We harvested some for our supper the first night (it tasted quite salty!), and also for lunch and supper the second night.

While we were eating breakfast around the trailer, we got to watch sheep walking along the very edge of the cliff above us!

Baby doesn’t mind his surroundings too much, so long as he has his mama!

This was the view to the east of our campsite. While the trailer was being tarped, some of us walked down the road to the fence in the distance.

After we left our campsite, we drove around the Lake Grasmere Saltworks. Those are huge piles of sea salt, produced by evaporation from huge ponds.

The salt evaporation ponds.

See the salt along the edge?

Vineyards near Blenheim.

This is the kind of route we were driving a lot of the day.

We stopped just north of Blenheim to cook hamburgers for lunch at a rest area beside the highway. The boys enjoyed playing in the bushes.

Our first family picture with the baby!

We stopped in Picton in the late afternoon. After spending an hour or two in an aquarium, we went to the marina for awhile. The boys and their dad walked around looking at the boats, while the rest of us waited at the van. We got to see this car ferry coming in!

The ship had to turn around and back into the dock.

Late in the afternoon, we left Picton and headed up the hill on the Queen Charlotte Drive, intending to go halfway to Havelock to a campground for the night. As we climbed the hill over the town, we saw an overlook–and of course, had to stop. There was the other car ferry coming in, the Interislander.

We stayed to watch the Interislander back into her slip (quite a feat, in my opinion!) and unload. See both ferries, side by side?

Cars and trucks were coming off the top deck of the Interislander, and trains were being unloaded from the lower deck. That is a locomotive pushing two flat cars in; they hooked up to a string of eight freight cars and pulled them out, then went back in for more.

Holiday Trip Day 1

April 22, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We took a week’s holiday, touring the top of the South Island. We left early Sunday morning, after loading the van and a borrowed trailer with everything we thought we might need for a week’s camping.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the Waiau River was especially pretty.

After church, we set out to go north. The first stop was to pick up oil for the van. The oil has to be put in under the passenger seat!

Next, we stopped at Ohau Falls, because the baby seals are spending their days there again.

The sea is always beautiful across the highway from the falls, too.

This little guy found a hollow under a rock into which he could stick his feet to watch the sea in comfort!

After we left the falls, we were going through places we had never seen before. This long railroad bridge was impressive!

Hills a little ways south of Blenheim.

We turned off on the south side of Lake Grasmere to find the campground we had selected for the night.

Setting up camp for the first time! This was a DOC (Department of Conservation) campground. They provided flush toilets and water (boil before drinking), but that was all. We had a propane camp stove to cook on, so Mom and I worked on that while the rest set up tents and figured out how to blow up air mattresses. We were maybe 200 feet from the sea, which was quite loud here. Lovely sound to go to sleep to!

Baby’s First Outing

April 7, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Today was Baby’s first time to leave home. We took a picnic lunch to Gore Bay, and the older children played in the sand for a couple of hours. Esther and Grandma enjoyed taking pictures!

Baby slept happily on the way to Gore Bay and for an hour or more while we were there.

When the waves went out, there was still enough water in the sand to make reflections.

Baby was not happy about being in his seat when we left, and cried until he fell asleep (in a couple of minutes!) with this aggrieved expression on his face.

Finding a Bull

December 28, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

What a day we had yesterday! It started out peacefully enough. I got up a little after 6:30 (Gayle had the day off, as the day after Christmas is also a national holiday), and had my quiet time. Seth showed up in the living room at 7:15, so he went out with me to milk. Our first hint of trouble was when I saw that the gate to where the cows were was–OPEN! Oops. Last night I moved their fence, then came to the house a different way, and forgot to latch the gate shut. They obviously shoved it open and went off exploring. They were nowhere in sight; they had all night to wander whereever they wanted to go. We quickly checked, and no, they were not near the calves. Uh-oh, now what? I got my keys, told Gayle what was going on, and we got in the van. Which way to go? No tracks anywhere to be seen. I had a hunch that they might go north; we’ve pastured them in a neighbor’s paddock in that direction and they know the cow there. We went that way, checking for tracks in the driveways we passed. No clues till we got beside the paddock they wintered in. Finally, we found tracks in the dust on the road, going the way we were going. Thank God, we were on the right track! We went on; at the end of our road is a paved road and I knew we wouldn’t be seeing tracks there! Well, Lord, which way do we go now? Right towards Cheviot, left on Munro Road towards the railroad track, left and then right to Sinclair Road, another gravel road, or right and then left onto Factory Road? I decided to check out Sinclair, turned that way–and we saw them! They had found a herd of beef cattle and were visiting with them over the fence! Thank you, God! We drove around them, and Seth got them moving–but they went the wrong way on Munro Road! He stayed at the end of Sinclair while I went around them and got them going the right way again. They fairly willingly turned onto Homeview Road and headed for home, but while we were following them home, I saw something I was not happy about. We were thinking that both cows were pregnant, but on the way home Chessie was very definitely showing signs of being in heat. We thought she was six weeks pregnant, but by the time we were home it was pretty obvious that she was not.

After we got the cows home and Chessie milked, I started making phone calls. First I called the man who AI’d the cows, and as I thought, he no longer had the gear to do it; mating season is over here. So, I called the other man in Cheviot who does it; he’ll have the gear again in 3-4 days–otherwise no one is closer than Culverden. Neither one had any suggestions of a bull to use. We called a number of other people, and the boys and I went to the neighbors who had the Belted Galloway cows and bull, but she sold the bull. We did get to meet her husband, and that was quite interesting. He is a deep-sea fisherman, working near Heard Island, halfway between Australia and Africa and way south. He goes out for six months at a time, catching Patagonian Toothfish–in South America they are called Black Cod. The ship takes all supplies needed for six months, and freezes the catch onboard; they are not resupplied the whole time. Next time he goes out he’s going with a different company, on a ship that only carries enough fuel for three months, so that’s how long he’ll be out then. These islands are volcanic, but totally covered with ice except for a little spit that has a tiny bit of vegetation. The only time they were inhabited was about a hundred years ago when some sealers lived in holes in the ground for five years, catching elephant seals and putting the blubber in barrels. Very interesting–I was glad the boys got to learn about it. They couldn’t help us with a bull, but gave us a phone number of someone else to try.

I made more calls, and finally about 1:00 the man whose number the neighbor gave us called back and said he did have a bull we could use, a Belted Galloway, out at Manuka Bay. Manuka is two bays south of Gore Bay, a few miles. It’s probably 10 or 15 miles from here. Too far to walk the cow! We needed to find a horse float, now. Well, the neighbor who lets us use her paddocks has a horse float, right? Gayle was in Cheviot, so I called on his cell phone and asked him to stop by and talk to them, since their number is not in the phone book. Just before he got home, a friend and her daughter stopped by for milk, and I asked if they would happen to have a horse float–no. Gayle got home with the report that the neighbors sold theirs, but had a truck–but were using it today. Our friend called about that time to say that they had a trailer that might possibly work. Gayle talked to her about it, and she talked to her husband. She called back to say that their trailer would not work, but she had talked to someone else and they had a horse float we could use! Finally, everything was lined up: bull located, and horse float organized.

Gayle picked up the horse float after finishing the project he was working on. Finally, at 4:30 we were ready to go. We had decided to take both vehicles so we could all take the cow to the bull, thinking that we could spend some time in the water while we were there. We found the paddock the bull was supposed to be in with no trouble, but no bull in sight! We followed Chessie up the hill, and gates opened into two paddocks, one sort of open; the other thick bush. A couple of boys went into the bush to search for the bull, and Gayle and some other children went up the other way. I stayed near Chessie and followed her as she wandered up the hill, grazing. It took an hour and a half of searching through a maze of paddocks and cow trails over hills, through thistles and springs and deep bush, to locate the bull! In the paddock Chessie spent most of her time in, there were tall hummocks everywhere, and they were quite soft. We figured out that it was many year’s accumulation of dead grass–each year the grass dies and falls down, and then more grass grows up through–as well as thistles! There are thistles everywhere in that paddock, too–and springs of water flowing across and down the hill. The view from that hill was absolutely gorgeous; quite a view of the ocean, and we could even hear the waves breaking. Lovely place to spend a summer afternoon! Finally they got him down to the first paddock, which was wide open, however, and we directed Chessie down there as well, then all sat back and watched to see what would happen. It took about half an hour, but the job got done. Then, we got to separate Chessie and her new boyfriend to take her home! Even a Belted Galloway bull is massive, and that was a bit nerve-wracking. He quickly realized we were trying to get her to the gate, and kept himself between her and the gate! It took 10 minutes or so, but we finally got them separated enough to get her through the gate and lock him in. Sure hope this works! We’re praying for a Galloway/Jersey calf about the first of October. Quite the adventure–but as I told Esther, our life here has seemed like a long series of adventures.

There were several definite blessings yesterday. #1: This is THE week I really wanted Chessie bred, as if she takes from this time, which we’re praying for, she’ll go dry the week Chrissie calves and we won’t be without milk. #2: Gayle was home yesterday; he rarely has a day off, and I could not have done the job myself. #3: The calf should be a good dual-purpose calf, good for meat if a bull and milk if a heifer. Wonder what a black-and-white Belted Galloway/brown Jersey cross calf will look like?

Looking south from Cathedrals Road, on the way to Manuka Bay, towards the Hurunui River.

Looking north or west from Cathedrals Road. The views from this road are spectacular!

On the way down the track to the paddock where the bull is, on Manuka Bay.

The gorgeous fellow we went to such trouble to locate!

Mud and Boys and Life

December 11, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This has been another normal, interesting week. The “mud” in the title comes from Wednesday evening, when the three youngest boys slipped outside after supper when I wasn’t watching. They went into the garden, which they had been told before supper not to do, and played in the mud. I’m sure it was fun–but what a mess! I didn’t get a picture of it, but it looked worse than this one from Michigan two and a half years ago! This time, they were coated from head to toe in thick, sticky clay! Because they had disobeyed, and because they knew beforehand what the penalty is for getting muddy, I had no compunctions about hosing them down with a cold-water hose. I had to hose and rub with my hands to get the quarter inch of clay mud off their clothes, then had them take off their clothes, and hosed them again, and then sent them to the bathroom to finish off with a cold shower! And it wasn’t a warm evening. They all decided they don’t want that again. While the youngest watched the other two getting cleaned up first, his lip stuck out farther and farther as he considered his coming fate.

One warm evening, the kitchen door was open, and Ginger came along to see what we were doing.

I spent a couple of days this week sorting clothing. Does this look anything like a secondhand shop? or a garage sale? We’ve been blessed with lots of hand-me-down clothes for the boys!

Next step: sort through what each boy had in his drawers/closet and decide what to keep and what to put away/throw away. Here is one boy’s stack (think he had more than he needed?):

One rainy day, Esther decided to make a batch of bread, since it always raises better on that sort of day. I gave instructions while I worked on clothing. It turned out pretty nice!

One day this week the sun shone! I did lots of laundry (and it all got dry!) and we weeded the strawberry bed. We found a number of ripe strawberries. Yumm! We have to get them quickly or the slugs eat them.

Aren’t Esther’s kids cute?

We went to Gore Bay for a baptism this afternoon, and when I mentioned we wanted a family picture, one of the ladies there offered to help take one. It took quite a few tries to get one with everyone’s eyes open, and this is the best.

After the baptism, we went to the home of the girl who was baptized for a meal. Joe discovered this wheelbarrow and had so much fun with it that they gave it to him when we left!

So there you have it–several tiny glimpses into our week. It was a good one!

Picnic at the Ocean

November 19, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We had a spur-of-the-moment picnic at the ocean tonight. I threw together a quick casserole by baking sausages and cutting them into little pieces, then mixing in a couple of cans of baked beans and topping it with leftover mashed potatoes, while Elijah made Ants on a Log (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins) and Esther cut up fruit. Then, while the casserole baked, we milked quickly and then left. The children had great fun digging in the sand, while Gayle and I got to be by ourselves and walk down the beach to the rocky cliffs at the other end. What a lovely end to the day!

One of my sweet boys picked this bouquet for me on the way back up the cliff!

This Has Been an Interesting Week!

November 19, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This week has been very full, and I haven’t had any great inspirations for a good post, so here’s a quick look through some pictures Esther took throughout the week.

Sunday morning was a beautiful morning to drive to church–but apparently eggs are not a good choice for Sunday morning breakfast. I’ve been watching what we eat and how the children react in terms of carsickness (quite an issue when you go through the Hundalees and along the coast!), and the two weeks lately that we’ve had eggs we’ve had a lot of complaints about upset tummies. The week in between, when we had granola, no one complained. Anyway, this time the youngest got sick, for the first time, and got you-know-what all over his shirt, pants, and car seat. We pulled off immediately and cleaned up while the children enjoyed the ocean. What we didn’t get a picture of was Daddy down at the water, rinsing out the shirt and pants when an extra-large wave drenched him!

Sunday evening after we got home, one boy asked to look up how to make a slingshot, on YouTube. A magpie has been terrorizing the boys, and drew blood on one the day before–he came in with his hand pressed against his head, and blood streaming down his forehead. It seems to be a juvenile magpie, just having fun. (The juvenile delinquent of the bird world?) So, my boys are out to protect their family from this terrorist and a slingshot seemed to be a halfway decent idea. This was what he came up with, and we had the materials on hand (milk bottle top and balloon; he added duct tape to secure the balloon later):

Monday was a gorgeous day, and my photographer got some beautiful shots of the animals and the views from around the house.

Our landlord's paddock of wheat and corners of some of our raised beds.

The littlest goat kids--tied out because otherwise they will steal all the milk we need!

The cow--happy because she can be near one of the calves, even though he isn't hers.

The hills west of us in the evening; wheat in the foreground.

Tuesday we went to Christchurch for Dead Boring (homeschool writing group). The younger children were playing at making a garden in the afternoon. All five of my boys are in this group–can you pick them out?

The family who hosted DB this time live across the street from the Avon River–still beautiful in most places even if sewage gets in it now! The water level seems a lot higher than before the February earthquake; if I understand right, the bed of the river was pushed up.

The house next door to our friends is unoccupied; the people moved out after the September quake over a year ago. This crack goes through their yard.

We drove through a section of town that I hadn’t been in since a week before the February quake. Although a lot has been cleaned up, the destruction is still incredible. It seems like all the older, beautiful buildings are gone or going, and only the newer, less pretty ones are left. So sad.

This picture doesn't show it very well, but the whole house was sort of "wracked"--almost twisted. This entire area is going to be demolished and not rebuilt.

The Grand Chancellor Hotel--tallest building in Christchurch. It's been leaning since February 22, and now it's being demolished.

Churches, built out of brick or stone, suffered the most.

…And we were glad to get back home again to our peaceful spot in the country, far away from the quakes and the city!

The roses are blooming! With 40 bushes around the house, and most of them different varieties, we enjoy quite the array of colors.

While I was in town on Tuesday, I bought 30 kilograms of carrots. I wanted to bottle 20 kg of them for quick additions to soups, so Wednesday I had the boys peel and chop while I read to them. They did about half that day. The next day, they got started on the remaining carrots before I even suggested it, and before I knew what was happening they were finished–with no story to listen to! They were racing to see who could peel and chop five the quickest. My boys are growing up.

Friday we went back to Christchurch because Gayle had a series of appointments with medical professionals to get a paper saying that he does not have tuberculosis. Hopefully now our permanent residency visa will go through.

So there you have it–the partial story of our week! I am very thankful that I don’t have to go to town very often, let alone twice in a week! Glad to have it over with, but I’m also glad we were able to go and attend Dead Boring, get the medical work done, and we even got to have a date while we were there (a dear friend kept the children for a few hours!). It was also good to be able to stock up on groceries and get fresh produce that we can’t afford up here (I spent nearly $200 on produce this week–but hadn’t bought much of any for six weeks.)

Dead Boring Bike Hike 2011

August 31, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve put anything on here. Our keyboard has been acting up for the past two weeks, and it takes twice as long as usual to type anything. Today was special, though, so I decided to share it anyway.

We are part of a homeschool writing group called Dead Boring. Every two weeks during school terms we meet at someone’s home and the children each read a story they’ve written. We eat lunch together, and then the children play with their friends while the moms fellowship. This group has been an incredible blessing in our lives here. We also do a few fun things through the year, and today was one of those.

We met at Waikari, about 50 minute’s drive south of us, and the children and some adults biked to Scargill, approximately 20 km. My four oldest all did the entire route, but I drove James partway and then let him out to ride. I followed along behind him, and enjoyed the beautiful day. It was a perfect time to get some good pictures of our gorgeous scenery! The children all absolutely loved the day, although they are very tired tonight. James actually rode 13.5 km–I couldn’t believe he went that far on that little bike!

The scenery between the highway and Waikari was incredibly beautiful!

Such a beautiful day! There is the determined rider I followed.

Some farms have signs at the end of the lane with their name on.

I thought this hedgerow was interesting, with alternating shades of green.

Gore Bay

August 9, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yesterday the children got the dishes done and the daily housecleaning done in a hurry, so I took them to the ocean. We only have about a 15-minute drive to Gore Bay. We spent about an hour there. It was too cold to play in the water, so they played in the sand while I read stories. The waves were really high yesterday, and we got to watch a few surfers for awhile.

Away From Home

Thank you!