Birthday Celebrations

It’s not very often we get to have some of the family together, and so this opportunity to celebrate Antony’s 40th was too good to miss. Sarah had kindly offered to host a get together and dinner and with other family members invited we were all set to go for Saturday May the 4th. Very appropriate date seeing as though Antony is a Star Wars fan. However, as you would have read in the last blog entry, the week beforehand went a little awry with Roy’s angioplasty and stent procedure throwing a bit of a curve ball.

On Friday I went with Sarah to do the shopping and organise the menu, keep it simple yet delicious was our plan. Two legs of lamb to be slow roasted, a green olive salsa, a green salad, a chickpea miso & peanut salad, smashed roasted potatoes with garlic butter, and bread rolls. I said I would go round on Saturday afternoon to help with prep. However, those plans were to change.

Antony had no idea about any of our plans, he was under the impression that it was going to be dinner with Sarah, Shaun and family along with Roy & I. Little did he know!!!

Saturday morning we got a call from Antony, he was in utter agony with severe pain. As we were a good 45minutes away, we said for him to call an ambulance which apparently duly arrived within 15minutes. He knew what is was straight away. This is not the first time he has had kidney stones, he had them back in 2016 which you can read about here and here.

As Roy was still grounded from his recent angioplasty and wasn’t allowed to drive for 48hrs, I dropped him off at Sarah’s, made a few phone calls as I had to reorganise who was going to pick up Jason from the airport. Simon came to my rescue there thank goodness, and I then headed down to Middlemore Hospital. You would think being a Saturday the traffic would not be like it’s usual weekday mayhem, but indeed it was just as bad.

I arrived at Middlemore, found parking eventually, then found out where he was, I could hear him snoring long before I found his room!

Dozing!

He was pumped full of fluid and pain killers so wasn’t making much sense, I made myself comfortable in the chair beside his bed and proceeded to wait. After an hour or so he woke enough to tell me that the pain had now subsided, he’d had scans, blood tests, and was just waiting to see the Doctor. To cut a long story short, he was finally discharged at around 4:30pm, we then had to get his scripts, and find the car in one of the distant parking areas.

I took him to his home where he had a shower and a change of clothes before he decided he would be ok to drive his car over to Sarah & Shaun’s for what he thought was just dinner with us. He said he could always stay at Sarahs for the evening, I wasn’t giving away the plans that we had already formulated that Jason would be staying with him for the night!

We got to Sarahs just before 7pm, where Antony was very much surprised to see not only us but his brothers, cousins, niece, and second cousins. After the initial surprise we set about putting out dinner. OMG, the lamb was just amazing, falling off the bone and deliciously caramelised with lots of yummy, sticky with reduced baking juices and carrots, shallots, garlic that had roasted underneath the lamb in the baking dish with stock.

I forgot to take any photos, how unusual, but suffice to say the meal went down extremely well.

The bearded pair, Jason and Antony

Laurie and Antony….yes, that was a hastily found candle for his cake!!!

It was a great evening enjoyed by all, which I must admit that we were the first to leave later on in the evening, I was utterly exhausted and needed to collapse into bed. Apparently there were some sore heads the next morning, not looking at Shaun and Laurie in particular. Jason drove Antony home and stayed the night with him before catching up with a Simon again on Sunday morning. And no I don’t have a photo of the 3 of them together, I shall try and rectify that next time!

All in all the end of a very busy week where the two Vannini men kept me very busy but at least they are both now very well and healthy.

Heart stoppingly lucky!

Have I mentioned before that we are off to the UK shortly? Yes, we are on the countdown, making lists, packing necessities, sorting out all sorts of stuff as we won’t be back until mid October. The days are whizzing by with many things to sort out and it is keeping us very busy. But sometimes things happen that you aren’t expecting which result in a whole lot of changes in plans.

Monday 29 April: Roy had an email from his cardiologist reminding him that he’s due for a checkup. Hmm, shall we see if we can get in before we go away or wait until we get back? We ring to see if we can get an appointment before departure day, yes, tomorrow morning at 8am is the only available time! We will be there.

Tuesday 30th April: We join the throng on the Auckland motorway to get to Ascot in Greenlane. Roy has his checkup, but, oh no, things aren’t all that they are supposed to be, his heart is not working properly when he was on the treadmill. This needs to be checked out pronto. The upshot is that on Thursday morning he will be going in for an angioplasty/angiogram and if required stents will be put in. As you can imagine, that put us into a bit of a spin, with many things to organise and sort. Just as well we have medical insurance albeit just to 80% of the cost of procedures, the bank balance is taking a hammering but better than the alternative.

Things are having to be rescheduled, the first being that he was supposed to be having grommets put in his ears on Thursday morning so we had to cancel that appointment and try to reschedule. Meanwhile the audiology centre rang to say that they wouldn’t be able to take Roy this afternoon for earwax removal as their audiologist was unwell. Many phone calls to and fro, we have a new appointment for the ear wax removal for next Monday but the grommet procedure cannot be rescheduled as the surgeon is fully booked. We get back to the van and have a bit a regroup. It never rains but it pours!!

Wednesday 1 May: The ENT specialist rang to say they are going to squeeze him in on Friday 10th May as they knew the main reason for having the grommets put in was for flying, so phew, we can get that done. Meanwhile Garry called in on us to see if we could look after his ute for him for a couple of days and pick him up on Friday when he returns from delivering a truck to Rotorua for a family member, no problems with that, and yes Peter & Wendy kindly said it was OK to have his vehicle at their place.

Thursday 2 May: We arrive at Ascot Hospital ready for his 6:45am procedure. At least the traffic isn’t such a problem at that hour of the morning.

Waiting for the surgeon.

I am allowed to wait in his room for his return from the angiogram where they inject dye and follow it on the scan. The nurse comes tell me that yes, they are definitely putting in a stent, but he will be back to his room in a short while. He is soon returned with the procedure all done in under an hour. Isn’t it amazing what they can do and all through a small incision in his wrist?

There was major narrowing of an artery, down to 0.1mm we are told, with the stent in situ, the opening is now 4.1mm

Scan of the before and after procedure with the narrowing highlighted.

We cannot believe how incredibly fortunate we are that this is discovered and sorted now, he was a walking timebomb.

All done and dusted, colour back in his cheeks, coming round from the “happy meds”.

Once he was settled back into his room, he was allowed breakfast. We could peruse the menu and order whatever he wanted, once it was ordered I took the opportunity to make a quick trip out to Beachlands to meet up with John’s partner Jude as she had brought some honey up from Opotiki for us to take to the UK. The weather was pretty rubbish but the drive wasn’t too bad and before long I was back at the hospital ready to play the waiting game.

We had to wait until the incision wound stopped bleeding, as Roy is on blood thinners, this took a little longer than usual. Then we had to wait for Mr Jaffe to come in and check on him, give him some new medications and instructions before we were allowed to leave. Meanwhile the ENT specialist rang again to reschedule his grommet procedure which will now take place next Tuesday, which then meant we had to cancel his appointment at the Skin Clinic. Why oh why are all these appointments happening in the last two weeks before we leave? Note to self, get all these appointments out of the way well before travel! By 4:30pm we were back on the road with most of Auckland for the slow drive home.

I don’t think it has really sunk in yet as to how fortunate we have been for this to have all fallen into place, I mean how canny that the email came thru and we decided to act on it straight away? But also that it was picked up and sorted before it caused a heart attack.

We are off to buy a lotto ticket now!

Handy

I think that I’m pretty handy, I can turn my hand to most tasks and DIY although I do draw the line at most things electrical apart from changing fuses. I do keep my hands busy with lots of different handcrafts, knitting, embroidery or making little projects, and although I can handle the sewing machine with reasonable adeptness it is not my favourite thing to do. And of course there is cooking in all its forms.

All of this means that my hands are extremely key to being able to do all these things, and recently I have been having quite a bit of pain, numbness and lack of strength in my hands, fingers and wrists. So after lots of blood tests and X-rays I was off to see a specialist Hand Surgeon.

He tells me that these hands of mine have done their fair share of work (translation = age related wear & tear) but I do have some issues. He was extremely good at explaining everything and all the possible options but one thing he did ask me that took me by surprise was what were my mothers hands like? Well, that’s ironic as I occasionally catch a glimpse of my hands and think to myself ‘goodness, your hands are identical to Mum’s’. Anyway, we spent some time discussing what was wrong, and the options available.

No, I don’t want any surgery, nor did I want the cortisone injection he offered to do straight away (cos I’m chicken!!), so we came up with the least invasive option first which was to go to a Hand Therapist for some specialist hand supports and therapy.

The upshot is I now have thumb supports to wear during the day, some exercises to do and different wrist/hand supports to wear at night.

Daytime thumb support

After just one day of wearing the thumb supports the pain has subsided substantially and the electric shock type of random pain has reduced.

Night time supports….glamorous I know!

And the swelling that I wasn’t even aware of at the base of my thumb has reduced dramatically.

Two weeks later and I’m back at the Hand a therapist for a checkup and treatment. We are very pleased with the results, hand and pinch tests result in amazing gains and we both remarked how the thumb pad is now back to normal rather than very swollen.

The next thing he was to do was a wax treatment. Wax Treatment I ask? Yes, dip your hand into this tub of warm paraffin wax, dip your hand in and out 5 times allowing the wax to cool between each dip. Then place your hand inside this soft plastic bag then into a cloth bag to keep it warm. He then worked on pressure points and joints through the plastic bag. It was very weird but rather pleasant, my hand stayed warm throughout then at the conclusion he peeled off the bag and the wax together leaving me with lovely soft hands!

Generic photo of wax treatment. I couldn’t take any photos of my treatment as both hands were set in wax!!

My hands are improving all the time, I don’t have to wear the hand supports all the time and he also suggested I wear the soft ones during the day if it helps. All in all, getting onto it quickly has been a big success.

‘Ear ‘ear

It’s been nearly 12 months since Roy lost one hearing aid, the night before we flew out to the UK which you can recap by reading about it here. Since then, we were of course away for 6 months in the UK, where various fixes were sought for the lack of one hearing aid but nothing worked effectively. Once we returned to NZ last November, Roy went to get a new set of aids however when his hearing was tested they discovered that the hearing in one ear was almost negligible and so it was suggested he go to see a specialist before ordering new aids.

An appointment was made but he could not get in to see the specialist until March this year and that is going privately, so we waited. Let’s just say the last few months have not been pleasant from anyones perspective….I got sick of shouting and/or repeating myself and Roy got sick of saying “what?”, “I can’t hear you” and basically missed out on many conversations.

Finally he got to see the specialist a few weeks ago. We were all prepared for the news that Roy was needing a cochlear implants, something that was suggested the previous time we had visited the specialist. When listening to the tale of what had happened and having a look in his ears, Mr Brown said that it looked like there was a lot of fluid built up behind the eardrum, probably as a result of flying, and he thought that by putting in a grommet it would probably instantly fix the total lack of hearing. I presumed that we would have to book another appointment to schedule surgery for the grommet placement as my only previous experience with these matters was from when Alex had grommets put in as an 18month old.

“I can pop one in right now”, he said, “just a bit of local anaesthetic gel, a moment of uncomfortableness, and it will be all done!”

Mr Brown putting the grommet in Roys ear

Instantly, Roy’s hearing was much better, now he could go and get his hearing rechecked and new aids ordered.

Last week he finally got the new hearing aids fitted, tested and sorted. He can hear again and I don’t have to shout or repeat myself 10 times.

I don’t think we realised how isolating and debilitating it is not being able to hear properly and participate fully in all aspects of life but thankfully it is now all sorted. What is more, we can actually talk to each other again…..is that a good thing?😜

The mundane tasks

We left Tauranga and headed back to Auckland to stay at Ardmore Airport where the Motorhome Association has a parking facility. Firstly, we must comment on the drive back to Auckland, we came over the Kaimai’s to join up with the new expressway just south of Cambridge. It took us a while to figure out where we were as the new road takes you past Cambridge and then bypasses Hamilton making the trip to Auckland very easy on motorway all the way. In fact at one stage we commented on the fact that we couldn’t quite work out where we were and we wondered where Hamilton had disappeared. A brilliant piece of engineering making it such a pleasant drive.

Hamilton over on the left

Guardians along the new motorway

Parked at Ardmore, it’s just 3 minutes around the corner to Antony’s so we headed round to see him. We have a few mundane chores to get done this week, blood tests first, doctors visits for checkups and prescriptions, a new tyre to be sorted and lots of other little jobs. You know the sort, the ones that in themselves are a 5 minute job but to get what you need, you drive half way around Auckland looking for what you need (even though you’ve checked that they say that they have what you need, and when you get there they don’t have it in stock….grrr), so all of that took a few days.

One of the jobs was to get a new tyre to replace the one that was now in the spare position. Only trouble was, we could not get the nuts undone to remove it from the back of the van, they had been tightened with the hydraulic air gun. Roy had been to Carters Tyres to order a replacement so he gave them a call to see if they could offer any assistance or advice. Not a problem, they would send round the mobile tech to take it off for us. Brilliant. He arrived within an hour and quickly had it removed, plus he then checked all the pressures on the van tyres for us again to make sure that they were still all ok. We could then take the tyre to the workshop and have the new one put on the rim. Antony came round to give us a a hand to lift the spare back into position and hand tighten the nuts this time. Another little job that became a bigger one ticked off the list.

On our wanderings we came across the Covid Vaccination centre in Papakura, we hadn’t had our second booster shots so time to get them done. What a great experience at the local marae where it was all set up, although we didn’t even have to get out of the car, it was all done quickly and efficiently. We were very pleasantly surprised to be extremely well rewarded for our attendance too!! (You can message me to ask for further details on that!!)

Then the weather really turned nasty so we decided to stay put until the Sunday once everything was clear. However, we couldn’t believe the number of caravans and small motorhomes that left the safe parking at Ardmore to venture out into gale force winds and torrential rain to continue their journey when warnings to being put out to avoid unnecessary travel especially with towing vehicles and high sided vans – madness.

Staying on for a few days meant that we could catch up with Antony, have a couple of meals together and generally be around to annoy him!

Eventually, all our chores were attended to, appointments kept, tests & checkups done (we are both well) it’s now time to move on.

Plan B

You know how I said in the previous post that my oven was fixed? Well, it seems it wasn’t, the same §¥@% fault has recurred. Damn thing. Another phone call to Coastal Motorhomes and Plan B is now in place as the supplier will be visiting in a weeks time and he is bringing a new part to fix it himself although I really think that we should call it quits and just get a replacement oven. So back to Whakatāne we have to go. But first, we do get to spend the week at Pyes Pa and the surrounding Tauranga district so we can take the opportunity to meet up with a few friends and family.

And true to our usual style, even those plans evolved and changed daily, it’s just as well we are reasonably flexible and not on a tight schedule. Keith was celebrating a significant birthday so I offered to cook dinner for all the family, we planned a bit of a surprise as well but those plans went completely out the window when Isla (6yo), our great niece and Keith’s granddaughter was taken into hospital with high temperatures and breathing difficulties. Hmmmm, Covid? No. RSV? No.

Poor wee thing, she was really very unwell, so much so she was quickly moved to ICU where she remained for the next few days.

Top: not well at all in ICU, bottom: feeling a bit better, then yahoo one very excited Isla on dads shoulders going home

Both mum & dad were shattered after the experience, taking turns to be with her at the hospital with Covid restrictions making things even more difficult plus taking care of sister Ashlyn aged 3. But in true childlike fashion, Isla was soon on the mend and back to her usual jovial self after a few days in hospital.

Meanwhile, we met up with friend Judy for lunch at a local cafe and caught up with all her news since we were last together up at Whakapirau…no photos of course! But it’s always lovely to reconnect and share tales.

We also went out to Papamoa and caught up with Doreen. We met Doreen last year when we were holed up at Rona’s for something like 11 weeks waiting for Aucklands border to open, and we hit it off. We’ve since kept in touch and it was lovely to visit her in her new tiny home.

Doreen and Roy

From there we didn’t have to travel too far to visit and have lunch with long standing friend Estelle (I refuse to use the term “old friend”). We had a lovely lunch and get together …and also ‘helped’ Estelle with a jigsaw she was doing!! Again, I forgot to take pictures!

After a week in Tauranga we returned to Whakatāne to get the oven fixed…and guess what? It couldn’t be fixed so to cut a long story short, a new oven will be installed later in the year. Why later in the year? The reasoning for that decision will be revealed all in good time.

Parked at Matatā DOC camp

After all details were sorted we headed off to Matatā DOC camp where spent two glorious nights and we were pretty much all on our own. We have never seen the camp with so few people in it, it was very quiet with only two or three other vehicles in over the two nights we stayed here. Of course with no oven working we just had to have fish & chips for dinner from Aunties chip shop across the road. They did not disappoint either, beautiful fresh fish in crispy batter and the best chips we’ve had in a while, with not a skerrick of grease left on the paper. Truly delicious.

It was lovely going to sleep listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach each evening but there was not too much relaxing being done during the day. Over our two days at Matatā we were kept very busy with cleaning, tidying and sorting out lots as it’s time to move on – the next adventure beckons!

Stoned!

There was a very good reason why we had to return to Auckland at Easter. During some of the checkups with various specialists Roy had had recently, it was discovered that he had a couple of decent sized kidney stones. If they hadn’t shown up on a routine X-ray then we would not have known that they were there unless they decided to move and cause agony. The specialist suggested that as they were of a decent size then it would be prudent to deal with them before they became an issue as you could almost guarantee that they would cause a problem at the most inconvenient time i.e. mid journey on a long haul flight.

A timeline was agreed upon and so the Wednesday after Easter we were at Ascot hospital bright and early for Roy to undergo a Lithotripsy procedure. What on earth is Lithotripsy I hear you say?

Lithotripsy is a non invasive surgical procedure that uses shock waves to break up and shatter stones. It is done under anaesthetic and takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs to complete with the patient usually sent home the same day.

Illustration of Lithotripsy copied from Urology Associates.

The procedure is done in a mobile lithotripsy surgery unit which is set up at the hospital and I presume visits other hospitals in the region.

Lithotripsy mobile surgical unit.

We duly arrived at the hospital at 6.30am where I dropped Roy off. I went off to do a few bits and pieces as I wasn’t allowed into the hospital, and was back at the hospital to pick up him up at 11am. He’d been sent home with a pile of painkillers but he told me he was feeling fine with no after effects whatsoever. I wondered how long that feeling would last but incredibly he had no pain or uncomfortableness at all so the bag of multiple painkillers were eventually returned to the pharmacy.

We were told it was advisable to stick around Auckland for a couple of weeks post surgery, just in case, which unfortunately meant that we would be unable to attend my niece Julie’s wedding in Ohope. We were really upset we wouldn’t be able to attend but it’s best that we do as we are told as Sod’s law says that if we didn’t then…well, you get the picture. We will catch up with Julie & Troy soon and we wish them all the happiness for their future together.

One of the unexpected side effects of this whole procedure has been a very positive one. Roy has been on a drug for his Atrial Fibrillation which is for anti clotting /blood thinning which he has been taking for the past couple of years but he was told to stop taking it a week before the surgery and for a few days afterwards. He noticed something a few days after he stopped taking it, and that was the soreness, almost gout-like pain in his feet had disappeared. Hmmm, was there a connection? He started doing some research and came across a NZ medical paper which indeed backed up exactly what he was experiencing. So an email was sent off to his cardiologist explaining what had happened, the upshot being a different drug was prescribed.

Now, weeks post the change in drugs, he has no more pain in his feet, he can walk comfortably again and as well, his ankles which had become quite swollen, have also resumed to normality. Unsurprisingly, I can also attest that Mr Grumpy has also been sent packing!!!

Mr Grumpy

If it wasn’t for the fact of having this surgery which necessitated the cessation of the medication I am not sure that we would have linked the symptoms with the drug, particularly as the symptoms only came about gradually over some time.

But how fortunate is that? Fixing two problems at once, and for once it was not being put down to an “age related” condition.

Meanwhile we have the checkup scheduled where we hope to see in the X-ray a normal kidney sans stones.

Visitors and appointments

It’s always lovely to see family and friends, and over Auckland Anniversary weekend niece Sarah came to visit with her Mum Leslie as well as Sarah’s three boys Ben 15, Asher 13 and Finn 11. A fun day full of laughs are on the cards when they are around and the boys are growing up to be very nice young men.

It just so happened that Antony was also here for the weekend , and as usual the three of us played a few games of cards.

And yes, the sun is shining in Antony’s eyes!

Asher demonstrated his skim boarding skills….and no, Great Aunty Bernice did not want to have a try but thanks for asking!

Ash and his skim board

After cooling off at the beach it was back to base for lunch with everyone.

Antony, Roy, Leslie, Sarah and Finn….Ben & Asher evaded the camera!

Tuesday was Roy’s date with the orthopaedic specialist to see about his arm. The upshot of that is we all agreed not to do anything with it as he has only a 10% reduction in strength and the post op recovery would be months for little appreciable gain. Phew! He will continue with physio though.

After the appointment we met up with friends Glennis & Rob for lunch. We met Glennis about 35 years ago when Roy & I played competitive Scrabble. Over the following few years we all served on the National committee together when Roy was NZ President and I served variously as secretary or treasurer. Roy and I no longer play competitive (or recreational) Scrabble, Glennis does though. Funnily enough we found all our Scrabble sets (yes, there were many) when we cleared out our container last year, some are now in the care of friends Linda & Bill, others were donated to charity.

Glennis, Robin and Roy

We had a lovely lunch and catch up with all their family news including about their daughter Rachael who used to babysit Antony & Alexandra when they were little. Rachael now lives in France and we met up with her and her family when we were there in 2010 which you can read about here

Glennis took this photo of the two of us.

During the week camp numbers have dropped dramatically, everyone is back at work and school so it is just the weekends that are very busy.

Simon sent us this gorgeous photo of granddaughter Maria on her (Covid delayed) first day of school last week.

Maria, keen and eager to start school

Waitangi weekend and we had more visitors, this time Wade & Lindsay came to stay after Antony had been up for his usual Friday night stay. It was Wade & Lindsay’s 44th wedding anniversary, these days we celebrate such things in a much more sedate manner – we ended up playing cards for most of the time. As the weather was forecast to be a very wet end to the weekend, lots of campers decided to pack up early and leave before they had to deal with wet tents, wet gear and grumpy children! Luckily the rain held off until Sunday morning and we could still sit under the gazebo and play cards, Lindsay was determined to play until she did not come last as she had done in all the previous games!

Lindsay & Wade at the card table.

Just as well they stayed Saturday night and not Sunday night as the weather really turned horrid. Camp emptied out except for a few hardy souls who braved the elements. It rained, and rained, and rained some more, the wind blew and all in all it was not a pleasant night for anyone. Sleep came in brief patches as I woke to the sound of tents flapping and awnings groaning, the sound of rain lashing the van, or the sounds of car doors opening and closing as campers escaped sodden tents and bedding. However, the rain is much needed to refill water tanks and nourish the ground for plants and animals alike. Now it’s just very humid.

We just have one more medical appointment due at the end of the month to clear and then we can start to head north for a while and get some fishing done, something we are both very keen to do.

Now with the promise of border openings and no MIQ on return, we are really looking forward to being able to head off to England so we can spend some quality time with Callum, and his mum & dad too of course. Woohooo.

What’s next?

Here we go again, another b*#*#y lockdown, topped off with earthquakes and tsunami warnings, so what’s next? Locusts?

Lockdown. How is it that a couple of persons actions can bring a whole nation to a pause? Easy, ignore all Covid advice and recommendations, be selfish and go inconvenience whole heap of innocent people.

When the news broke of the shift in levels, we quickly raced around the camp informing campers of the change in levels and the news that the park would be closing as the shift to level 3 came into effect. Everyone was packed up and gone by late on Sunday morning which left us on our own to enjoy the solitude.

We were a bit concerned that the changed Covid levels would scupper our plans for the week, our last week at Shakespear. We had a few appointments scheduled for the week ahead with a bit of uncertainty whether they would still go ahead but we were sent texts to say that they would indeed proceed. Roy had a checkup scan and a follow up appointment with the urologist as it’s been three years since he had surgery and radiation. Both of the appointments went ahead as planned, the scan on Monday and Tuesday at the specialist. We can report the good news that all is well. Then he just had his final eye specialist appointment scheduled for Friday as a follow up to his second successful cataract surgery a month ago. He has already had his new drivers licence issued which removed the requirement for the need for glasses to be worn whilst driving. The checkup went ahead and all is great there too so we will be free to move on once the Covid levels change on Sunday (today).

Next throw into the mix a few earthquakes which resulted in tsunami warnings to put us all on edge. The first we knew of the earthquake was when Alex (in London) messaged to asked if we had felt it? Uh, no, we were asleep at 2.30am when the first one happened. However, interestingly our smoke alarm went off three times during the early hours, which when looking at the times of the subsequent earthquakes, the timings coincided?! The alarm has not gone off since, apart from when I burnt the toast, and it’s a relatively new alarm with a 10year warranty and it’s a sealed unit that does not require you to change batteries.

The screeching warnings that came in on our phones later in the morning certainly give the old heart a jump start. We were packed up and ready to drive to higher ground as we were put on a Maritime/Beach watch but it wasn’t necessary to move in the end.

Before we leave a few chores need to be attended to. We’ve washed the van, polished the windows and done a few of the usual maintenance jobs including a couple of jobs I’ve been putting off. One being putting new mesh in the fly screen door. As it requires the removal of the door from the van, it seemed a good opportunity to give the door a clean and coat of paint as well.

A good job well done, and it’s now back in situ looking good.

We have emptied out all the lockers and cleaned them out as well as getting rid of some of those “cumzins”, you know, those things that may come in handy one of these days. It’s amazing the stuff you accumulate over time so we have ditched some of the stuff that we have been carrying around for years and never had a use for, so you can guess what will happen now don’t you? Yes, there will come an occasion shortly that we will be able to say…oh, we shouldn’t have thrown/given that away.

As we reflect upon this season of camp hosting, we can only say what a weird year it has been. Unfortunately people’s appalling behaviour or lack thereof is what immediately springs to mind as a summary of this year. The entitled, confrontational, aggressive attitude of a few people have tainted what otherwise has been a lovely summer. Instead of dwelling on the negative though we shall focus on the positive.

There were all the wonderful family and friends groups that came to stay and enjoyed camping, swimming and generally having fun in the sun.

Like this group who set their tables together for a banquet one evening. And yes, that is our van in the background in the top right hand corner

There are the families that come back every year and greet us like long lost friends. The huge number of positive people we meet every year certainly make up for the few idiots.

So what are our plans? Well, the plan is to not make too many plans so we don’t have to change them should the need arise but the general plan is to head south, as in to the South Island for a few months. Yes, we know it’s going to be a bit chilly as we move into autumn and winter, but we shall just have to dress appropriately! We are really looking forward to spending some time reconnecting with lots of friends as well as places again.

First week at Shakespear

We were warmly welcomed back to Shakespear by the friendly Rangers, although the same could not be said for one very grumpy camper whom we had the unfortunate experience to meet shortly after we arrived. Sheesh, some people. However, that was soon forgotten as friendly campers were to make their presence felt with regulars greeting us warmly.

Parked up with the NZ Christmas trees just coming in to flower

My lovely garden was returned to its position behind the van and the garden has been lovingly cared for by rangers and volunteers alike with lettuces, tomatoes, parsley, basil and coriander growing.

Garden

It was a busy first week with Doctors and Specialist appointments for us both. It just so happened that the day I had my appointment with the Orthopaedic surgeon was the day that the northern motorway was slowed to less than a crawl due to major road repair issues and my return journey, which should have taken 10minutes, took me 90 minutes.

Stuck in traffic

With our appointments out of the way, I headed off to Antony’s for a few days as he was having some knee surgery, a meniscectomy and arthroscopy after his ACL and MCL repair done a couple of years ago. And yes, I’m afraid knee issues seem to be a familial problem. His surgery went well and he was soon back in his room ready to be discharged later in the afternoon.

Antony, just an hour after surgery.

I spent a couple of days doing my best nurse impressions as well as the usual mum chores…think cooking, washing, cleaning, shopping!

Whilst at Antony’s I took the opportunity to make use of his oven to make my Christmas cakes (very late I know) but I got them done.

Christmas cakes in the making. This recipe is Mums recipe, the one she made for all our family wedding cakes as well as for every Christmas. I believe that the recipe was one that her mother made so it’s been well and truly tried and tested for over one hundred years.

I also made my usual Cathedral/Stained glass window cakes as well so we are well set for the festive season.

Ready to go in the oven

I returned home to continue my nurse duties as Roy was having surgery for a cataract with a new lens inserted.

Doing his best pirate impression…..or should that be pie-rate?!

The eye cover came off that evening. He is now seeing, clearly albeit one eyed, and as it has been so successful with the improvement almost instantaneous, he has booked to have the other eye done in early February.

In between running around the city for appointments we’ve been busy in camp with lots of people as well as keeping ourselves busy sorting out a few things on the van. The weather has been kind to us as well and we look forward to a nice summer.

We were fortunate to have a very interesting visitor one evening, an older gentleman who it turns was a nurseryman for the Auckland Council in out grew and planted the wonderful pohutakawa trees here in the park. He was a fabulous source of information and very knowledgeable.

If you would like to know more about Shakespear Park, watch the following short video featuring ranger Bruce as well as cameos from some of our other rangers plus of course some of the many volunteers.