May 31, 2008 Takapuna Beach

Today we got up and did the final packing for the trip home.  Then we took a little walk around town and down the beach.  We were excited about heading home and at the same time sad about leaving beautiful New Zealand, our friends there, and our fellow team members. We're not looking forward to the 11 hour plane ride to LA.

A one man fishing kayak on the Takapuna Beach.

Takapuna Beach

 

The restaurant at the entrance to the campground (not part of the campground).  This started out three years ago as a small coffee shop.  Last year it had been enlarged some to include an ice cream bar also.  This year it had become a much larger full restaurant plus a walk up carryout.  It has become a very successful restaurant and was packed with customers all the time we were there.  They also now have Italian Gelato.  It appears someone took advantage of an opportunity and has become very successful.

This pretty much completed our 2008 trip.  Joan and I left hoping that we might again return again in the future.

As sort of a PS I must add the following.  We drove to the KEA depot from the campground which is only about a 15 minute drive and upon arriving at the parking area we met up with the shuttle driver that KEA uses to shuttle people to the airport which is about an hour away on the other side of Auckland.  He has taken us to the airport I think for the last three years.  When he saw Joan he called her over and said here I have been saving this for you.  Joan had apparently lost her Habitat nametag in the taxi last year.  She thought that she had lost it at home and had spent some time looking for it before the trip.  It's amazing how considerate the New Zealanders are.

The other part of the story about the trip to the airport was that I left my laptop (dumb me) in the KEA in a not real obvious place.  By the time that I thought of it we were about halfway to the airport and too late to turn around and still make the plane.  The driver called the office on his cell phone butthey had already closed and got no answer.  Upon calling the KEA 800 number the person answering said that the facility was closed and security fence locked, etc. and no way that entry could be made to find the laptop and still get it to the airport before the flight.  The taxi driver was going back to the depot on the next day (Sunday) and said that he would make sure that it was found and express my desire to have it shipped as soon as possible.  Well, I had to live without it for about 2 weeks until it arrived.  How depressing it that?

Life continues to be good!

 

 

May 30, 2008 - Takapuna Beach

Today we left the Manukau campground and moved up to Takapuna Beach on the northside of Auckland to be closer to the Kea terminal.  The campground is right on the beach with views of the shipping and boating inlet.  Then we had to try and pack all of our belongings plus the things that we bought along the way, clean out the refrigerator (normal proceedure is to leave housekeeping items and food in the campground kitchen for others use) and in general get the motor homes ready to turn in to Kea.

Guardian in the campground.

Dog parking stations at the restaurant at entrance to campground.

Our team including Tish and her mother, Mike and his wife, and the rest of us at the GPK Restaurant for a last gathering and meal together.  This was a time of recollection and saying goodbyes.  What great friends we have become.  Joan and I had worked with Tish and Mike before and they are great both as friends and to work with.

Probably the last lamb dinner for a while.

 

 

 

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May 29, 2008 Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Weather - A fine day to finish up some painting.

Today we tried to finish up some of the painting that we have been working on but a lot is left to do.  Presumably there will be other volunteers that can finish the work that we have started.  The buildings are looking better with the new colors and we are pleased with what we have accomplished. 

New paint on the ReStore entrance, looks better!

House on jacks being prepared to load on truck for move.

Special tractor/trailer for moving house.  The starter on the buldozer broke and they couldn't get it off the trailer so we didn't get to see them load the house or move it.  It probably happened the day after we left.

Joan painting.

Joyce painting.

New colors on ReStore buildings.

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May 28, 2008 - Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Greater Auckland office and ReStore

Weather:  A Fine Day

 

Today was more painting plus some other activities. 

Mike was looking for some help getting the position pinpointed for the house build by the church coalition on the lot it is to be moved to and someone to run the digger to put in the driveway and clear the place where the house was going.  I went along and helped with removing some the old wood fence along the front of the lot so that the house movers can back the house into the site.  Also I held the dumb end of the tape to do some measuring.  Jay had digger experience so he ran the digger.  The surveyors were there to set the stakes for the house and it turned out that the house was going to sit in a slightly different place than originally thought.  By the time that was sorted out Jay had the opportunity to dig a new driveway at the proper place.

Jay in command of digger.

 

Jay having fun at work.

 

Surveyor spotting house on lot.

 

Mike doing some measuring.

 

Church coalition house to be moved to site.

 

May 27, 2008 - Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Greater Auckland Habitat office and ReStore

 

Weather:  A fine day for painting.

 

We have continued to work at scraping and painting the last few days.  The new colors and paint are now looking like we have accomplished something customers are starting to remark how much better things are looking. 

 

 

Jay pressure washing roof preparing to paint.

 

 

 

Jay washing.

 

 

 

Roy painting.

 

 

 

Roy painting soffit.

 

 

 

This is Jack painting.

 

 

 

Jack working on soffit.

 

 

 

Kiwi saying of the day:  “As messy as a dog’s breakfast” – a really big mess!

May 24, 2008 - Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Today was Sunday and we didn't work today so after church did a little touring.  We joined Warren Jack for worship at his church.  Their Weslyan Methodist Church had a number of things going on today.  They congregation was celebrating moving into a new building and this was the first day of worship there.  They also were saying goodby to their interim pastor who had pastored them for the past year.  Their regular pastor is returning in a couple of weeks from a year long sabatical and training.  After worship there was a buffet of food that was enjoyed by all.

Our team including Tish and Mike.

Marjory, Tish, and Joyce (L to R) at Ken's party.

A friend of Habitat, Jay, and Warren (L to R) at Ken's party.

Shirley, Jane (our affiliate team coordinator), and Jack at Ken's party.

Another great day.

Life is good.

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May 22, 2008 Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Weather – Fine

 

More painting today.  We’ve been doing a lot of prep work and priming and now we’ve started putting on the first coat of some of the finish colors.  We can see the big improvement in the looks of the buildings.  The new corporate colors are really attention getters and make the buildings much more attractive.  It makes the old colors look pretty ugly.

 

 

 

 

Mike, one of our supervisors putting on the new blue.

 

Inside of ReStore - Miscellaneous household items building.

 

Inside the furniture building.

 

 

 

Joan and Mike painting the main ReStore entrance.

 

 

 

Shirley still rock and rolling.

 

As we’ve been working there has been a steady stream of customers in and out of the ReStore.  They claim that sales are down some because of the economy and the sprucing up of the buildings is hoped to attract more customers and sales.  In addition a consultant is helping to study what types of inventory sells best and the potential to increase income through inventory controls.  Warren Jack the ED here was explaining that the Hamilton affiliate ReStore has become a model of ReStore operations here in New Zealand with steady day to day sales and produces income probably higher than Auckland’s.  Warren says the Auckland ReStore operation tends to have peaks and valleys in sales and they would like to level it out and produce a more steady income flow.

 

The ReStore here does have an incredible amount of inventory of materials for sale.  They have everything from household items to construction materials including windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, appliances, etc.  Some of our activities have included doing inventory, sorting and discarding items that have not sold and probably never will.  Numerous dumpsters have been filled.

 

Joan and Joyce have spent a couple of days in the book room sorting books and magazines and categorizing them.  Hopefully customers can look in one area for books of particular interest.

 

Another great day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Pot Plant – Potted plant (not marijuana!_

May 21, 2008 Greater Auckland Habitat Office/Restore

Weather:  Mostly Fine

 

Today Shirley finds her niche, running the rolling machine.

 

 

 

The affiliate is preparing an area on the site for an additional building for the ReStore operations.  It involves bringing in a lot of fill dirt and compacting it for the building.  They needed an operator so Shirley was appointed the designated driver.  You just never know what you might be called upon to do when volunteering with Habitat.  The contractor and Mike were impressed with Shirley’s operator skills and perseverance.

 

For the rest of us it’s prepping and painting.

 

A good time for all.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Fringe – Bangs (hair)

May 20, 2008 Greater Auckland Habitat Office/ReStore

Weather:  Rain and some sun.

 

Today we started work. Readers of this blog probably were thinking that we were never going to do any work.  We knew that eventually it was going to catch up with us.  After a lot of touring and sightseeing everyone was anxious to get to work and there was plenty of opportunity to do that.

 

 

 

 

Fixing lunch in the Habitat office kitchen.

 

Our day starts onsite with devotions about 8:30AM with team members taking turns.  Then Mike and/or Tish explains what they would like for us to do and a briefing on safety issues that might be related to the days work.  Most of what we’re doing involves proper setup of scaffolding, tying off ladders, and things like that related to painting.  About 10:30AM we break for tea or as they call it in New Zealand a smoko.  About 12:30PM we take a lunch break and then around 3PM another tea break.  As we meet with Tish, Mike, Warren, and any others that might be in the office during these times there is a lot of great discussion about varied topics (we try to avoid politics!) and most importantly a building of friendships.

 

 

Front of the RStore with old colors and some of the inventory.

 

 

 

Joan and Joyce pressure washing getting ready to paint.

 

 

 

Jay and ReStore box truck, a great size for getting around in Auckland.

 

In order to set up scaffolds and ladders to gain access to walls that need painted we have to move a lot of materials stored or displayed along the outside walls.  This will take quite a bit of work and time but we dive in and get started.

 

Tonight it felt good to go back to the campground tired from physical work for a change.

 

Another good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Capsicum – Bell pepper.

May 19, 2008 - Matakohe to Manukau (Auckland)

May 19, 2008 – Matakohe to Manukau

 

Weather:  Mostly fine

 

Today we awoke with expectations of arriving at the Manukau Habitat (now Greater Auckland) office to hear that the building permit had been obtained and we can start to work building a house.  Some of the group spent a little more time at the Kauri Museum in Matakohe before driving on.  We passed on the museum having been there at least three times before and went on towards Auckland with a stop at Wartworth.  It’s another beautiful small town and we stopped at a café and had a relaxing lunch sitting at a sidewalk table.

 

Most of us arrived at the Manukau Top 10 about the same time and after getting our campsites secured for the next few days we drove over to the Habitat office and met with the ED Warren Jack, and construction supervisors Mike and Tish.  Alas, no permits yet.  After discussing all the work that was needed on the ReStore building and inside the shop areas we found more work available than we could do in the next two weeks.  Our work will be concentrated on painting the outside of the ReStore at the same time changing the colors to the new Habitat colors and logos.

 

 

 

The Habitat complex is a complex interlinking of building spaces.  The affiliate has their offices there in one building, the ReStore occupies two or three buildings with another planned in the near future, and also there is space allocated to workshops.  In addition to the Habitat facilities their property also has a Shell station that pays rental fees.

 

The painting that we will do will not only preserve and maintain the buildings and hopefully make the buildings more attractive to draw more customers creating more sales that will generate more funds for building more houses.  Yes we are helping to improve some families living conditions and build homes.

 

Tomorrow we start to work.

 

Todays Kiwi word of the Day:  She’ll be right – Things will be fine!

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May 18, 2008 - Pihia to Matakohe

May 18, 2008 – Pahia to Matakohe

 

Weather:  Extremely fine, about the best day weather wise to date.

 

Today we headed from Pahia on the Pacific side of the north island over to the west coast so that we could drive down through the Waipoua Kauri Forest to see the 2,000 year old Tane Mahuta kauri tree.  There is a small town on route 12 as you turn south called Opononi on a large inlet from the Tasman Sea called Hokianga Harbour. 

 

Joan and Marjory - where to next?

 

 

 

 

Opononi Inlet

 

 

 

Jay and Joyce coming back from inlet overlook.

 

Previous trips through here had always been on overcast gloomy days but today was a beautiful clear blue sky day and we enjoyed a different perspective of the area.  There is a huge sand dune on the north side of the inlet with the town spread along the south side.  Roy, Marjory, Joan and I were traveling together and we stopped for coffee at a café and sat and enjoyed the view for awhile.  As we made the turn to head south there was a turnoff to a viewing area that we decided to stop at and the view turned out to be spectacular.  It was high up on a bluff at the opening of the harbour.  We could see the waves forming far out to sea and then progressing into the beaches both on the south and north sides of the harbour inlet.

 

We continued on south along the Tasman through the Waipoua Forest and stopped to see Tane Mahuta.  This tree is awe inspiring and when you first see it as you’re walking through the forest you just can’t believe the size of it.  The girth is over 13 meters and straight all the way up to the canopy.  There is another tree that’s not quite as tall but has a larger girth at over 16 meters.  The kauri tree is now protected and it is against the law to cut them down.  They do a lot digging and searching for trees that were blown over and buried in low lying areas many years ago.  We stopped in Dargaville, a town in the middle of the Northland area generally considered the center of the kauri forest, to buy a few pieces of kauri wood to bring home.  The owner of the store is a wood turner who makes bowls and other art objects out of kauri.  He told us that he and another craftsman split the $100,000 cost of speculative digging a buried tree.  They did obtain enough kauri to last a number of years and he stores a lot of it in a couple of ex-shipping containers in the back of his shop and store.  He turns beautiful bowls that bringquite high prices, some into thousands of dollars.

 

 

Tane Mahuta

 

Dargaville has an airport that we have stopped at every time we have gone by that area.  The first year we stopped the runway was covered with sheep apparently used for mowing purposes.  I had talked with the manager who also did flight instruction there.  In the course of the conversation I explained about how we were there with Habitat.  We had a nice talk and he invited us back on any Saturday when the club meets there to fly and have a covered dish lunch.  We had never made it past there on a Saturday and today was Sunday.  Today he was there again along with another couple.  He is now retired andis at the airport full time managing things and doing flight training.  He remembered me from four years ago and at that time we were doing a Habitat build over at Waipu.  In the course of our conversation I told him and the other couple about my ride in a Tiger Moth down on the south island.  The couple said that they were going down there in another month and went on to explain that the Fox Moth that was in the museum there and still flown was the first plane used for mail service and people transport in New Zealand.  She went on to say that her grandfather was a gold prospector on the west coast beach back then and used to flag down the plane for a ride to Greymouth north of where he was prospecting.  Once again it was one of those interesting conversations with friendly New Zealander’s.  I was again invited to come back on a Saturday to hang out, take a ride, and share flying stories.  I found out that the airport had been voted the best small airport in New Zealand for the past year and has trained more pilots there than any other.  I can only hope that someday we go by on a Saturday.

 

From Dargaville we drove on down to Matakohe where the Kauri Museum is and spent the night there in the Top 10 Campground.

 

Another interesting and good day.

 

Kiwi Word Of The Day:  Jandals – flipflops (from “Japanese sandals”)

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May 17, 2008 - Pahia

May 17, 2008 – A Day in Pahia

Weather:  Mostly Fine

 

When driving through Whangerai yesterday we called David and Ann Reyburn.  David is the president of the Northland area and who had organized two of the Care-A-Vanner builds we had been on before in the Northland area.  One was in 2005 in Waipu on the Pacific coast and the other last year in Kaitaia at the bottom of the Ninety Mile Beach.  We consider David and Ann very good friends and always enjoy seeing them.  They suggested that they would drive up to Pahia and meet us at the campground and then take us to the current Habitat build that the Northland affiliate had just started.

 

The affiliate has a short term Global Village team arriving a week from Monday.  The Northland area has a high population of Maori and the affiliate has worked with them closely to address some of their housing problems.  This Global Village team will be staying in the Marae that is within walking distance of the construction site.  They will sleep on mattresses on the floor and their meals will be prepared by the Maori.  It will be quite an experience for the team.

 

Joan and I enjoyed our time with David and Ann and the trip to the site.  We stopped and had a very nice lunch at the Texas Diner.  The place is kind of in the middle of no where and from the outside made you think twice about stopping.  But once inside it was very nice with prints of Native American Indians on the wall.  Joan had an excellent burger and I had a steak.

 

 

 

 

David and Wayland checking plans.

 

 

 

Oyster Farm

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to see David and Ann and look forward to the possibility of seeing them in Phoenix next year.  They are considering a trip to Alaska where they would look up Tom who has a fishing boat there.  He helped on the Kaitaia build last year and we also got to know him.  A really fine person.  David and Ann also have friends in Phoenix that they haven’t seen for a while and would like to reconnect with.  Tom’s parents also live there so if David and Ann come to Phoenix we will also try to get there at the same time.

 

Well, it was a great day seeing friends and more of New Zealand.

 

Life is good!

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Aotearoa (A-o-tee-row-a) – Maori word for New Zealand meaning “Land of The Long White Cloud”

May 16, 2008 - Orewa to Pahia

May 16, 2008 – Orewa to Pahia

Weather:  Started out very foggy but turned fine.

 

The day started out with some sunshine but then the fog rolled in and by the time we hit the road it had become foggy.  We later heard that a number of flights in and out of Auckland were cancelled due to the weather.  We had a chat with a couple that was camped across from us and in the course of the conversation we think that we may have recruited a volunteer for Habitat.  He had been in the construction industry, retired and now looking for something to do.  They live in the area that we will be working on the house.  We left the phone number of the affiliate and invited him to come out to the site next week.

 

The drive up to Pahia was uneventful.  Just another day filled with beautiful NZ scenery.  We have never had a drive in New Zealand yet that failed to amaze us with beautiful things to see and nice people to stop and talk with.

 

We arrived at Haruru Falls Twin Pines Campground (close to Pahia) late in the afternoon, relaxed, and had a nice evening.

 

Another nice day in NZ.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Right as Rain – Perfect!

May 15, 2008 Auckland Habitat Welcome

May 15, 2008 – Auckland to Orewa

 

Weather: Mainly fine

 

Today we drove from Piha Beach back up to the Glen Eden (build site) suburb of Auckland and to the Baptist Church where the first of our welcome ceremonies were to be held.  We met the current, past, future partner families, construction manager for the build, and a number of others that volunteer and work with the affiliate.  A very large spread of food was laid out.  Ra and his family sang some songs both in Mauri and English.  A beautiful family that sings together very well.

 

From the lunch we went to the local Maori Marae.  A Marae is the Maori’s ceremonial meeting house.  Before leaving the Baptist Church we were instructed as to the proper protocol to follow during the Mauri welcoming ceremony.  It is considered an honor to be invited to enter a Marae and we were very pleased that they gave us that invitation.  We were told that we might or might not be invited to enter the Marae as the ceremony might be held outside on the green in front of the Marae or we might be invited inside.  Eventually we were invited inside but the ceremony started as we were on the edge of the parking lot and in front of the large grassy area in front of the Marae.  We followed Ra’s instructions and waited until a Maori woman chanted an invitation to come across the grassy area to the Marae.  I had become the leader or “chief” of the tribe (Habitat group) and along with Ra went first with the others following.  With Ra’s instructions we crossed to the entrance to the Marae and were invited to enter and of course we removed our shoes before entering.  The Maori tribal representatives sat to the left of the entrance on cushions on the floor.  The Habitat tribe  sat on chairs to the right side of the entrance.  The acting Maori chief began by giving a welcoming speech that Ra later explained told about how their tribe had come to NZ, about their ancestry, and about their achievements.  Apparently since a lot of them had moved to that area of Auckland for work or other reasons from other tribes or ancestral lines they had joined together and became the tribe of the four winds.

 

The speech was in Maori as was the song that was sung next by the tribe.  Ra gave a speech in Maori and then it was my turn.  My speech was briefer but apparently acceptable after which we sang “This is the Day”.  I then placed a small peace offering on the floor between us which completed the ceremony and we were accepted.

 

The Maori chief then gave us a tour of the Marae and the adjacent school grounds (K-12) of which they are rightfully very proud.

 

After the Maori welcome a tour had been arranged by the Auckland affiliate of a community of 32 residences called Earthsong.  Adjectives such as Eco-Neighborhood, Permaculture, sustainability, and a touch of commune added in.  The housing units are a variety of sizes for a variety of family size.  The units are ecologically designed with solar heating of water, positioning to take the best advantage of the sun for heating during the changing seasons, etc.  They have a website at www.earthsong.org.nz  that we haven’t looked at yet but probably explains it well. 

 

It was a well planned day for us Care-A-Vanners by the hosting affiliate.  It was entertaining, educational, and very much appreciated by all of us.

 

The affiliate has had trouble getting the building permits issued for the build.  The bureaucratic system here is apparently worse than ours.  We mutually decided that the Care-A-Vanners would use the three days of travel we had planned at the end of the build now and then work right through to the end of the month.

 

After the Earthsong visit we drove up to Orewa from west Auckland.  Orewa is on the north side of Auckland and is a Pacific beach town.  We camped at the Top 10 campground at the south end of the beach.

 

 

 

A Habitat welcome lunch!

 

 

 

Ra and family.

 

 

 

It was a very good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Torch - Flashlight