Our perfect day at Furneax Lodge

Today was my day off, and for the first time it was an absolutely perfect sunny calm day. Yesterday the District Nurse told Erle that his wound from the big operation he had, finally had healed and no further dressings would be needed, a good reason to celebrate I thought. So,,,,,
At 9am I suggested to Erle that maybe we could go out the Marlborough Sounds to Furneaux Lodge at Endeavour Inlet for lunch, he thought this was an ok idea so I rang  and found we had just half an hour to get dressed,have breakfast and pack a small day bag for the trip and walk down to the wharves. Bit of a rush but we made it.

The day was so lovely and hot about 28 degrees with no wind and the sea was calm, we had just the nicest hours travel in the boat along with several others who were doing the same thing. Everything was so beautiful, it was just blue on blue, as you can tell from the photo.

We called into several places to drop people for the day like at Motuara Island a special bird Sanctuary where there are Kiwi birds roaming free. Several stopped to look for them and other rare birds, I would of enjoyed that too but we continued on.

Next stop was at resolution Bay where we fed the tame fish, huge blue Cod and other fish played 'soccer' with round bread rolls. And greeted our friends the Sowman's who live in the lovely bay.

Then it was on to Furneaux Lodge. Nestled in lush bush and near the waters edge,  We bought a lovely cold glass of white wine and sat in the sunshine and just soaked in the beauty of the surroundings and the wine!

We shortly order our gourmet  meals which I intended to photograph but unfortunately we were so hungry that we quickly devoured it all before the photo. The desserts arrived and the same thing happened, I can recommend the meals!

 We had a nice little wander around after the meal, appreciating the accommodation and improvements made since my last visit about 25 years ago. When I stayed in this chalet with natural grass growing on the roof as natural insulation against the heat and the cold, not one of the new luxury chalets but I still like the naturalness of it.
 I also felt the need to have a swing on the children's swings; result of all that lovely wine!

Soon it was time to leave, we had so enjoyed our 4 hours, time had just flown, but the boat arrived and we had to start back for home. So relaxed and at peace with the world, it had done us both so much good. Not an inexpensive day out but a wonderful one.

Our big day out.

I have been doing quite well with the Shuttle, taking cruise ship passengers around wineries and other small tours, today is my day off so I decided it was time for me to have a day of fun and spending! 
We started out by going to Blenheim for a lovely lunch and wine at the Combined Clubs of Marlborough. Then we did a little leisurely  shopping before going and picking up my Mother and taking her on a surprise afternoon tea delight. Out to the wineries I had Erle drive us, to The Boulder Vines Village where we sampled a little wine and even nicer we had some tastings of Prezels Liquors, yumm. Then we got some scrumptious cakes and delicious coffees which we enjoyed outside in the only slightly warm sun. After we had taken Mother back to her Rest Home Villa and enjoyed an Icecream Parfeit with all the sprinkles and flavoured toppings we could get, we returned home to Picton to rest up for a while before heading out to the old Scow A.S.  Echo which has been made into a lovely Cafe right on the waters edge, where we settled down to more serious wine drinking and toasted sandwiches in the setting sun and up on the top deck. So perfect. 

A great day, its fun to spend some instead of just earning it!

Dangerous Shuttle driving incident.

I was out working driving my Shuttle/taxi last evening, I was called to pick-up a man from his own Stag Night party. He had a heavy chain attached to his ankle with as a ball, the heavy centre part of a car wheel. He was quite intoxicated ofcause, I drove him to his home which was right at the top of Otago Street,  one of Picton's Steepest streets up the side of a steep hill.

I stopped in his driveway and he paid his fare then opened the shuttle van door and holding on to his heavy ball and chain he stepped out on to the drive, I heard the ball and chain crash into the concrete and turned to see if he was ok and he had vanished;  just gone. I leaned right over and looked out the passenger door and could just see a pair of boots peeking up over the side of the driveway in the sparse shrubby garden. He had nose dived over the side of the hillside pulled by the weight of the heavy ball and chain. I hastily rushed around the Shuttle to assist him and found him hanging on to the concrete  by one hand and the ball and chain caught on the concrete edging, dangling downwards down a steep slope! I quickly tried to drag his feet by the chain and could hardly move him at all, next I tried to pull his legs, then finally I tried to reach down and get my arm around his waist to drag him but couldn't actually reach far enough, so I grabbed hold of his belt and just hoped that I would not drag his trousers off by pulling him by it; and
 pulled and dragged as hard as I could with all of my strength just managed to raise him enough for him to get his knee up over the concrete edge, after that a few pulls and he was able to help himself up on to the top. If he had fallen he would of been dead or seriously damaged as there is a big drop down the hill. 
He had injured himself on his hand and maybe other places, blood was pouring from his hand, when he used his hand to support himself along my shuttle he left a trail of blood. I had to help him over to his door steps, where he said thanks he would be ok now, so I turned to go and heard the ball and chain and him go crashing into the stairs but I did not turn back to him, I consider I had done far and away more than I needed to, so I just grove back to work and left him to sleep it off where he was. But I do hope that he manages to make it to his wedding on Wednesday.
Great excitement on a Friday night shift.
As a foot note, I have since heard that this man's 'mates' hide his door key so he could not get inside his home, so he must of slept on his stairs. he also ended up spending the next day and night in hospital. Such stupid things men do to their mates on their Stag Party night.

Erle

Erle has come around from the operation and is recovering, not sure if he will remember me being there with him though. He has tubes coming from every possible place and has been given a couple of lots of blood and lots of pain relief, I think he looks awful but they say he is doing fine and will be ok. I am so glad it has gone well.

People ask me how I am coping.... with Erle being in hospital after a huge operation, I say I am ok. Maybe not..... I just fed our poor little cat Porsche my muesli for breakfast, I caught myself before I got into the cat biscuits! haha. This was after I rang the hospital and was unable to get any news of him.

I have just been able to speak to Erle. he sounded amazingly good, helped a lot by the morphine drip ofcause, he says he is not too bad at moment though it hurts to breathe as his cut is from right up under the ribs down to pubic area. It was so lovely to be able to speak with, and no he didn't remember me being there last night. I shall go visit this afternoon.

My Husband Erle has some serious health issues that have recently come to light. So serious that he has been fast tracked through our hospital system in only a couple of short weeks. Tomorrow he will have major surgery, your prayers and good wishes would be very appreciated, he will need them. His Daughter Leigh has returned from Australia ( not for this reason) and her presence will help to soften the blow, I hope. He will be in hospital about 10 days it is thought if all goes well.

There is big family wedding to be held in Christchurch Daniel Erle's Grandson is marrying Amanda, on Saturday, we had been so looking forward to this exciting happy occasion, sadly it was not meant to be for us to be there, we will send all our very best wishes for their wonderful happy future.

Today, before his major surgery for Bowel cancer and Gall bladder removal, we are going out for a happy dating day together, for a lovely walk along a beach then out for lunch in a nice waterfront cafe at Havelock, then for dinner it will be his favourite Bacon and egg pie, ( that Leigh has bought him) and strawberrys and
whipped cream, a treat we used to make for ourselves on our honeymoon, then we had to shake the cream with a teaspoon in it, til it whipped, we might be able to refine the process tonight.
Going to be such a great day.

We had a platter of mussels with seven different flavoured toppings which tasted sensational, served with homemade bread to mop up all the juices, then we each ordered a different gourmet pizza and shared. I had a couple of glasses of lovely wine and Erle settled for orange juice. We topped it off with a delicious choc caramel biscuit. Quite a feast for lunch time. 

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Robert Louis Stevenson House,Villa Vailima, Samoa.

Welcome to my visitor from Samoa, I hope I am making a reasonable job of writing about your country.

We took a trip up into the cooler hills not very far from Apia to visit one of the things you just have go see while in Samoa, The Robert Louis Stevenson house.
called Villa Vailima. a very elegant gracious house.























 It is set in a huge area of beautiful garden and native bush with little streams and lots of birds.

There were lots of pretty flowers to enjoy.

The old house has been completely renovated and redecorated and is looking magnificent, it is cared for by a team of workers. We were taken on a tour of the two story building, the rooms were few but really huge.filled with furniture of the era and the many items of memorabilia were very interesting. An enjoyable visit.

We found these unusual statues at the back in the restaurant area used for conferences and weddings.

Millenia Hotel.

We only stayed the one night at Outrigger before moving on the the Millenia Hotel on the waterfront at Apia. We were offered a waterfront room but the receptionist was sure we would not want it because it was right beside the restaurant, but that didn't worry us at all, we loved out waterfront room so close to the restaurant, we quickly made freinds with the waitresses and got the best service.

 We had our own private balcony in front of the unit and on busy evenings diners came and ate their meals on our balcony, we liked that.

Were fascinated by the way patrons drank their beer from tower with a huge iceblock in the centre to keep it cold.  This was our new friend Notta and the singer from the band that entertained us one evening. And another waitress with some ladies out for a few drinks.
We however drank a cocktail each evening and some wine with our meal, no beer towers for us.