A New Project at Warblers Retreat!

Covid 19, Day 3 , Saturday 28 March 2020

Who likes a project?  Men like projects, women like projects, so do kids, but some like projects more than others. I think Dave and I might fit into the category of loving new projects, creative ones at that!  So what’s the new project?

The Caravan

We bought an old 1974 caravan a number of months ago.  We had the idea of making it a nice little place where the two of us could retreat to when we had a few guests.  We had previously lived together in a caravan for a year, so we know we are pretty compatible!  Mind you, that caravan was a lot larger. 

This little ‘Pioneer’ caravan is in excellent condition.  It’s NZ built, maybe that’s why! We debated on making changes to the interior as it is the old 70’s brown, avocado green and burnt orange, it has a carved wooden pole, yellow lampshades with tassels and last but not least brown woodgrain vinyl cupboards and drawers.  Not my choice of colours, but it’s original and is certainly going to stay like that, for quite a while anyway, unless we have a change of heart.

Preparation work

Dave marked out the heights and prepared the base by digging holes with the digger.  I spent time in the surrounding bush removing a lot of the dead whiteywood and weeds that had grown in the surrounding bush.  It’s been such a dry summer and there’s a lot of dead pongas and whiteywood in that area that needs tidying up before we can even begin to think about replacement planting. 

We love doing this sort of thing.  Dave is in his happy place, playing on the digger and building something, while I am in the bush with my trusty toys, my Stihl chainsaws, doing bush gardening.  It’s making things look good that spurs us on.   

So, watch this space as the progress develops over the next week or two.  Our challenge will be to only use materials we have on site as everything is in lock down.  Now that’s when true creativity comes out! 

Good and Bad News

It was announced today that we had 63 new cases of coronavirus, that’s 23 less than yesterday, and the second day running with a drop, however Jacinda says it’s too early to get excited yet.  I must admit I am the eternal optimist. 

I was to marry a lovely young couple today in Albany. It was the anniversary of them being together for five years. All weddings and funerals have been banned in New Zealand over this four week isolation period. I really felt sorry for them as they have been planning for months. There will be many more couples out there in the same situation. A big toast to them was made to Rumi and Vinnie in the evening.

Visitors at Driveway Drinks

And, yes, we did have the distantly neighbour meet in the early evening, this time joined by the largest group of piwakawaka (fantail), I have ever seen together in one group.  There must have been around 8-10 of them.  Normally we only see them on their own or in pairs, but this  was amazing watching them flit everywhere.

Another great day in Pare-dise!