Building progress - part 12 - almost there!

Not much longer and we can move in!! Here are some more pictures which speak for themselves...

Holiday activities

Canterbury Rodeo 2010 in Mandeville

Rodeo is a sport arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. Today it is a sporting category that consists of several different timed and judge events that involve cattle and horses (even sheep for the kids), designed to test the skill and speed of cowboy and cowgirl athletes who participate.

Weekend at Flea Bay on Banks Peninsula (South East of Akaroa)

After being picked up in Akaroa, we enjoyed a scenic 4WD drive over one of the highest passes on Banks Peninsula with some spectacular and dramatic scenery from crater rim of ancient Akaroa Volcano to volcanic coastal cliffs and Akaroa Lighthouse.

We went kayaking in the afternoon and saw many seals (some of them are enormous in size), birds and a few penguins. For a short time we were accompanied by 4 Hector Dolphins, quite special to see them right next to your kayak.

We stayed the night in a colonial Cottage (no electricity but solar heated water for the showerblock next door and a long drop)

Flea Bay is a small coastal bay nestled between dramatic volcanic headlands and part of Pohatu Marine Reserve. It is home to the largest Little Penguin colony on the mainland. The evening guided tour into the breeding colony to view the White-flippered Penguins was very interesting. Some of those little fellows need a bit of help to survive the first few weeks after hatching. They are hand fed some fish twice a day by the care takers.

The next morning we were dropped off at the top of the hill and than enjoyed a 2h walk down to the bay. That's a beautiful walk trough beech forests and lots of different ferns. Early in the afternoon we were taxied back to Akaroa but before that we had to visit the beach again to collect some shells. The big ones are called Paua. 
Perfect weekend and very good value - recommended!!

Building progress - part 11

This time I am not happy with the builders - especially the painters are making a mess. Due to Xmas break nothing will happen for two weeks which was expected, but they painters just left with tools lying around and left some pots with paint open which of course will dry out completely. So far we didn't have any major hick-ups with the house, but by the looks of it the painters are going to be my arch enemy. They have not finished by far, many walls still need a second layer of paint. And there are many spots which need to be touched up in the end. To annoy me even more, someone made a long scratch into our new kitchen bench top. And the plasterer does a poor job with rendering the outside walls, he takes forever. GRRRR!!!

Building progress - part 10

More paint on the walls... and some painter's stilts.

















And we finally have a kitchen!! It's going to look great. Heaps of storage and plenty of drawers. The feature color we chose for the kitchen wall is called Spice, a warm brown color. But apparently a 2x2cm color sample gives you a different impression than a complete wall. It looks more purple-brown to me than expected, but it' still nice.

Heavy machinery arrived on the plot to dig a hole for our septic tank. Luckily only the green lid of the tank will be visible in the end, so no need trying to hide the flashy purple color behind plants. This tank recycles all our waste water. The quality of the recycled water is more than 99.9% germ free and it would be a shame not to re-use it. Not for drinking water of course but it's perfectly fine for flushing toilets.  The two black tanks will be stored under the roof and be fed with the recycled water from the septic tank.

The linea weatherboard already has a first layer of paint. Unfortunately the plasterer takes his time (probably already is in holiday mood) and still hasn't finished. Not much will happen in the next two weeks as NZ is sort of closed down for Xmas and summer break.

Building progress - part 9

During the last two weeks the inside walls were prepared and the painters could finally start doing their work. It's great to see how a building site slowly transforms into a future home. The ceilings already have their final coating of paint. So far we are still on schedule, but Xmas break is ahead and hopefully this will not slow down the progress too much. The painters were even working on Sunday.

The outside walls have a first render. They still need to be painted.

During the last couple of days we had some Nor'wester winds. (Foehn). Sometimes it looked liked the sky was on fire. I will never get used to those crazy jumps in temperatures.