Some alien little S.O.B. managed to beat the security on our site and install a nasty little bit of malicious code in the software for the Theme I built it on. As it was above my paygrade (and I was out of town and trying to cope with it on my phone screen) I had to SOS our providers to delouse it for me.
Which they did, but I have had to revert to an older theme to get things up and running again. I will eventually (after I get home from Wellywood) try and pretty it up again – but I sure as Hellers won’t be using the theme that had the buggar factor in it!
I took some photos on the way back home from lunch at Ruawai on May Day, wending from Arapohue to Tangiteroria. There was still quite a bit of flooding after three week’s of “Drought-breaking” rain. Instead of loading them into a Gallery as per usual, I hunted out a Linux app that will produce slideshows and render them as a video. And I included the donor photos as well as the usual stitched panoramas.
Oh! Fragious joy! NOT!
First teach the elderly brain how to drive the app. Then teach it how to add subtitles in YouTube. Then add sound from a Creative Commons source. Anyhoo, anyhoo: several tries (MUCH) later… (Oops. Click on the CC at the bottom of the YouTube player to show the subtitles…)
And got the camera closer to the wee church you can see across the Hokianga Harbour from the Rawene foreshore. (And it’s not so “wee” when you are standing alongside it.)
Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Motukaraka Point
Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Motukaraka Point
Light the blue touch paper and stand clear.
We hastied back to the barge ramp and got on the Bridge Over Placid Waters
We hastied back to the barge ramp and got on the Bridge Over Placid Waters
The distant view of Rawene and Motukaraka Point
The church from mid-harbour, much closer than when you are eating fission chips on Rawene foreshore
Rawene from Mid Harbour.
Everybody ready to race up the hill to Rawene Takeaways
After decades of use, Mr Sammy’s wooden spoon has just about had enough of stirring jams, jellies, stewed fruit, steak and kidley, cake batter, bikkits and breads.
This morning it was being used for stewing apples, and the business end was staying in one spot while the handle flexed while my arm was stirring. I’m not for a second going to blame the Samster’s workmanship: the spoon doesn’t owe us anything after all its service.
Much ado about nothing. I am well north of 100 donations, but they lost the records (I think when they moved from Park Ave in Grafton to Gt South Road in Epsom) so the print is for 100. (Lovely print, for whatever number.)
Goofy old dork about to be vampired
Littlest sister, Paula, would be off the clock as a plasma donor.
Today was a hot one for Waitangi Day, and I thought that would ensure my sourdough would go gangbusters, just like my starter was at breakfast time. I mixed up my dough, put on the shower cap (¡on the mixing bowl, not my noggin!) and put the bowl out on the deck rail in the sunshine to proof. Without considering what the temperature was gonna get up to in the tiny glasshouse I had just created.
Sure ’nuff – when I took it inside to tip it onto a board to preform it ready for the banneton it had WAY over-proofed and turned to flour and pumpkin seed custard. ¡Buggar! Time to become Mr International Bread Rescue.
I threw some more flour onto the board and kneaded and floured and kneaded and floured until I had a born-again dough. ¡Hallelujah! And I cut it up and patted it out to fit my biggest cast iron frypan, and yea, verily, I discovereth flat bread. Turned out half-way between naan and tortilla and was very nummy.
Mock tacos – 🌮🌮🌮🌮.
Rescue underway
Satisfied consumer having an, “Heft meer em!” moment.
Today will be the last full day before we deport the visitor back to South of the Harbour Bridge. Jean was harassing everybody into the car because she wanted to get to the Library, so off we went. Then I had anticipated heading to Rawene for lunch at the Boat Shed, where the lunch menu isn’t available until midday. So we dawdled up through Okaihau, then down to Horeke and along for a stretch of legs at Mangungu Mission House.
Thence over Horeke – Taheke Road. The locals managed to “acquire” another wildfire (like they do on this road EVERY summer — Hmmm‽) So we expected Fire Service activity and just hoped the road was open – it was. Firies still around, and at least one helicopter and monsoon bucket working. Got through to SH12, turned right to the Taheke Bridge, round the corner from the marae. Ay! Caramba!
From home to Waipapa, then on North on SH10. Round the Tourist Route from SH10 to Whangaroa, with visits to Matauri Bay, Te Ngae Bay, Wainui and Mahinepua. Drove as far as the road goes around Whangaroa Harbour (I had to apologise for leaving the amphibian at home when Grant wanted to go further). Then back to SH10 to Kaeo to Donna’s Mad Hatter’s Café for lunch.
Grant had to sit in the BIG CHAIR for the traditional photo.
After lunch, reverse direction of travel as far as Kapiro Road, then followed the signs Rangihoua Heritage Park, the site of the first Mission Settlement in New Zealand.
As it took about an hour to walk the track and read all the information DOC has placed about the site neither of the Crowther brothers were much popular with the Librarian, sat in the car; but then neither of us had actually asked her to be a klingon and banish Grant to the back seat for the week. So there was not much sympathy given by anyone to anybody.
Bay of Islands from Mission Station siteDown here, round the corner, bit further. Then back up – that was the bit that Grant wasn’t so enthused by.
We left home on a mission to demonstrate to Grant that our Northland roads are not as bad as their reputation would lead you to believe. So we left home, up past Lake Omapere and Okaihau Golf Course and over Wiroa Road, past Puketi Forest to join SH10 just before Kaeo.
Carried on North, then side tripped into Mangonui and to the Rangikapiti Pa Reserve for the massive view. Back in the car and on to Cable Bay Store for lunch.
After lunch we hung left at the end of the Taipa Bridge and through Oruru to the Bush Fairy Dairy at Peria. And begorrah! We met the fairy!
From there our route home was up through Fern Flat Road (one of our more “marginal”) then across to Mangamuka Bridge and home.
A few clips of a couple hundy metres of Fern Flat Road, complete with teensy surprise right at the end.
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