Autumn has arrived with all the changes ahead

Autumn has arrived with all the changes ahead

As we look around it’s clear it’s time to harvest the apples, corn grown for the first time, ripening tomatoes and plan for the pruning that we do at this time with the mulching and wood cutting of branches. There are changes as one person who stayed here for 6 months has left because he doesn’t want to have a cold winter here, another is away for a few weeks. Yet we look around at all that has been improved and maintained and are grateful for the help we have had. The old leaking caravan is covered, the inside struts replaced and a portion built over the outside sink.

We are meeting many who pass by, the water containers have been filled many times and daily there are cups to remove and replace. It is good to have that connection point, a place for conversation with passersby. The carts have been used, especially in the past weeks with rainbow gathering in the park where people from the NZ and the nations have come to camp and share life together. We visited one Sunday and arrived before the first meal of the day cooked by some and shared in a group circle around the fire that never goes out. We took about 1 1/2 hours to walk each way going into a part of the Tararua Forest Park I hadn’t been before. That was a good day. With their donations these people have helped recoup the cost of 2 carts and there are 4 bikes sheltering under the cart shelter. All food, bedding and tents/ taupaulins have gone in on backs or with carts. David offered to take one particpant on the quad trailer as he is wheel chair bound and had been carried over the slip by 2 able guys. What a good spell of weather, although 2 that were leaving said they had to wait 5 hours for the river to go down after 16 ml of rain. We had one many call in to the house after reading the sign that I made and erected at the gateway.. The Gate, A Place to Pray, Kuwaha ki te Rangi… when the Place to Pray stood out as he passed by. That ended up being about 2 hours of sharing with him and his son.

lIfe includes having 2 hens sitting of 5 eggs each. Ducklings becoming the age of being food for us. What an interesting journey as we prepare for a helicopter drop for this or do we backpack what we need in smaller lots? It seems be don’t have much to bring in after the big effort of getting materials ready for the DOC airlift at the end of last year.

It’s a joy to go bush doing the pest control. I found that the winds of Cyclone Gabriel pushed down a few trees and branches but tracks are passible. No rain damage so we were spared. I feel for those who are isolated by slips, a long haul ahead for many with so many areas being affected in many parts of the nation that the Waka Kotahi finances for our road reopening is likely to be used elsewhere. So continues our story as we wait the KCDC councillors vote in April with all the discussions and possibilities involved. Watch this space!

We have hosted people over the months… recently a woman from Germany who we meet when she was in the forest park when the road was closed in 2016. A great gift seeing people again. A second hand bell tent was a great place for one visitor…on the flat area above the house where the sheep paddocks were. close to the generator shed. Now packed away as the wet weather comes again

So keep writing… something to focus on with the daily activities, people and situations we have experienced here. So that’s what I plan to do more of.