It seems to be our “thing” when we housesit here at Whakapirau that the local charity shops are frequented, looking for jigsaw puzzles. And yes, we have done a few, some have tested our patience, others are done within a day or two.
Four very different puzzlesAnd another four.
Just about every jigsaw has one piece missing, my theory is one person who “helps” with the puzzle, pockets one piece so they can be the one to put the final piece in, however, they forget about it after a few days, the washing gets done and they wonder what that smudged up piece of card was in their pocket!
The worst one was on the bottom left, it had 5 pieces missing.
Some are just straight ‘what you see on the lid’ type of puzzles, others are wasjig puzzles that are what the box picture is looking at, future views or what happens next. I prefer the wasjig style of puzzles as you just don’t know what is developing in the scene before you and test your skills. However, that’s our puzzling done for a while, until our next housesitting stint that is.
We were all set and ready for the off early on Saturday morning with our first stop at Simon’s to pick up a car seat. On the way to see Simon we travelled through the streets of Epsom, the streets were lined with furniture, carpets, furniture and other detritus the aftermath of the floods. Peoples homes were waterlogged, I cannot imagine having to deal with the physical damage never mind the emotional, financial and mental anguish that comes with this type of disaster. It was a very sobering sight to see.
We had morning tea with Simon and Maria, and caught up on all their news. Fortunately they escaped major flood damage, with just a couple of small leaks from overwhelmed guttering is they had the misfortune to suffer. But we were on a mission, we were meeting up with Antony at the airport, ready to greet Alex, Ian and Callum along with Ian’s parents Chris, Barry and brother Matt from their long journey from London.
Callum running to meet Grandma & Grandad, closely followed by Mum, Dad and grandad. Chris & Matt had already come through.
They flew straight through from London with just a change of planes in Kuala Lumpur, and they were remarkably fresh. Callum was apparently a little trouper, he slept 9hours on the first leg, and another 3 hrs on the second leg so he was raring to go. They had a shuttle organised to take them to the car rental place not too far away, although the van that they had booked was not available so they had two cars in the interim to be returned on Monday to then exchange for a van. By the time we were finished at the car rental place, we were on our way in convoy to their AirBnB rental in Manly, Roy and I led the way with their two cars following and Antony coming along later.
Their rental property was right on the waterfront at Manly, they were quickly settled in, showered and changed and ready to relax. I had organised a quick, light easy dinner for them all, we ate, caught up on their trip and left them to get an early night.
Sunday and everyone was coming to us at Shakespear for a family BBQ lunch which I had sorted. Everyone seemed to arrive at around the same time, first Alex and crew, then Jacky & Chris arrived closely followed by Simon, Anita and Maria. Antony soon joined as well.
The crewPlaying and talkingCompetitive petanque…sibling rivalry never stops it seems!The diggers and trucks donated by Wade & Lindsay were well used too
After a lovely lunch, Alex & Ian announced that earlier that morning on Manly Beach, Ian had proposed! Yes, he even got down on one knee! What exciting news, we are so happy for them, they are a great couple. Bubbles were drunk in celebration and it topped off a fabulous day. We also so lucky with the weather, the sun shone all day as the sunburnt bodies later attested even though sunscreen was liberally applied and we sat in the shade of the gazebo.
The happy couple!
Monday and the exchange of vehicles had to be completed as well as a trip to MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) for the day, Antony met them there and they all had a great day out. I had organised dinner for them for when they returned and Alex’s friend Claire & Matt came to join us for the evening.
Dinner on the deck
Tuesday and it was Grandma and Grandads turn to have Callum for the day whilst everyone else went off to see the sights of Auckland City.
First stop, toilets, then playground followed by an icecream at Gulf Harbour watching all the boats in the Marina. Putting together Lego-style sets we had collected, this was a huge hit and kept Callum amused for a good couple of hours. He was very good at putting it all together, very patient – grandad wasn’t too bad at it either !!
Lunch time and Callum wanted to help grandma, he took on the job of grating the cheese, and a great/grate job he did too!!
Grating the cheese
However, the highlight of the day was getting to ride in the tractor with Ranger Bruce, and drive the tractor. Bruce was brilliant at showing him what to do and let him control the levers to lift the forks. They were moving my garden to our new parking spot and it was done with great accuracy.
Tractor driving.
The end of the day and we were meeting everyone at the house for dinner together. By this time Callum was tuckered out, we had to keep him awake for the 5 minute journey home. After dinner Callum had perked up a bit so it was then jigsaw puzzle time, he just loves jigsaw puzzles and he is soooo good at them, he quickly polished off a 100 piece Wasjig puzzle with very little help from us.
Jigsaw ninja!
Now they are off on their next NZ odyssey, whereas we prepare for the next cyclone 😬.
Harry picked us up mid morning and said we were heading out to Lumley Castle where we were meeting Kim and the children for a look around the stately home.
Lumley Castle
Lumley castle was built in 1389 by Sir Ralph Lumley. It then experienced a checkered history of being confiscated, executions, plots made and ever changing ownership until it was passed back into the hands of Sir Lumley’s grandson in 1421 for the next few decades. Again, the castle was sold, altered and had various uses until management of the property was passed to a hotel chain in the 1970’s which it remains today as a hotel with function rooms, banquet rooms, café and restaurant.
The entrance to the hotel and castle.
The castle is probably best known for hosting international cricket teams when they play at the nearby Chester-Le-street cricket ground. Apparently some members of the 2000 West Indian team were so unnerved by ‘nocturnal activities’ three of the team members left the hotel in the middle of the night to stay elsewhere. Then in 2002 the Indian cricket team were staying there and were spooked by strange goings on. An Australian team in 2005 also tell tales of strange goings on with team members ending up sharing rooms after seeing and hearing unusual things. It is after all a medieval castle with dark narrow corridors, squeaky doors, and spooky atmosphere.
Corner of the castle from the cricket green
We had a wander throughout the castles publics rooms before having a morning tea in the café. It was here that Harry & Kim asked us if we were ok in small spaces, and did we want to visit the dungeons? The children were in on the action too asking us questions. What is going on? we asked. Surprise! they had booked us in to do the Escape Room in the cellars! We’ve never done an Escape Room before but sure, why not, we love puzzles and quizzes so excitedly off we went.
What lies beyond the door?
We were met by the staff where it was explained to us how it all worked and what we should expect. We were escorted into the first room to begin the adventure of solving the mystery puzzles. The next hour went by so very quickly, we started off all too enthusiastically with everyone going about it all in their own manner, however, we soon figured out what was going to work by slowing down and working together as a team. Everyone contributed to solving the different puzzles and clues, individual strengths came to the fore in different types of puzzles with some better at logic, others cryptic, word, cypher, numerical and more. The children were amazing at how they quickly clicked on what to do at differing levels and I was forever grateful that they could crawl through the small hatch to open the large door to let us into the next room. It wasn’t too long before we got through all the rooms solving everything along the way after figuring out we had wasted the first 25minutes sorting ourselves out!
Finished, with 49 seconds left on the clock!The task done!Photo taken outside in front of the well which was an integral part of the story.
What a brilliant time it was, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was a fabulous thing to do to suit all our ages and skills. We would definitely be up to doing another one.
Heads of those who didn’t make it!!!
Afterwards we meandered through the gardens and went back to the cars, yes, two cars, as Harry had picked us up in one vehicle with Kim and the children meeting us there in the other. Harry & Kim were letting us borrow one of their cars so we could take ourselves off to explore further around Durham over the next day or two. But before that, we all needed something to eat, a very late lunch at a local pub was in order.
Another brilliant meal at the local pub which we enjoyed spending a good couple of hours. The conversation flowed, the food was lovely and all in all a fabulous end to the excitement of the day. Soon it was time for us to head off in our separate directions with me driving the Volvo back to the city (yes, I was insured and listed to drive the car). By the time we returned and found the parking building it was time for us to relax for the evening. Tomorrow we are off to somewhere I have wanted to visit for a number of years .
Housesitting means we have settled into a bit of a daily routine when we do not have visitors. Roy gets up early as is his usual pattern, that usually means somewhere anytime from 4am onwards, some days it may be even earlier. However, I am not an early riser, I wake at a later hour and would rather stay in bed, read the news, do a crossword and rise for my shower and breakfast once the sun has come up and has started to warm up the day a little. Then the days usual chores are done; dishes, washing, feed the chooks, check the sheep, sort out what’s on the menu for the day. Sometimes we have to venture into Maungataroto to do a bit of shopping, or we have visitors who pop by for a coffee and if they are lucky they may even get a scone or a muffin.
We are not into watching TV these days, in fact we only turned it on for the first time for the rugby on Saturday night. But we have been doing a few jigsaws to keep us occupied, we pick them up from the local second hand shops, do the puzzles and then return them to the shop always noting if there are any pieces missing. Of the puzzles we have done so far, only one had all of its pieces, however, we do have three extra pieces that we hope that we may, one of these days, stumble along a puzzle to put them back into their rightful place. In fact we have just completed another puzzle and we were able to put one of the extra pieces into its rightful place.
some of the completed puzzles.
The tide comes in and out throughout the day and the view is always a little different. This is the view from the deck with the tide out, the remains of an abandoned oyster farm can be seen at low tide.
Fishermen go out in their boats and return later in the day with their catch and we watch to see how successful they have been.
The end of the day routine usually end thus; dinner, dishes, then a soak in the spa, gazing at the stars trying to spot a satellite or a shooting star, such a nice way to end the day before heading to bed.
The Vanninis' Manoeuvres 