Another week in our life

It has been a quiet week here in New Zealand. Samantha and the kids enjoyed their second week of school holidays and are ready to go back to school on Monday. Abby went to camp this week and had a great time. Abby ended up in a cabin with Anna Maree, a friend that she made at the Mother & Daughter camp. Abby said that camp was different here but she enjoyed herself. We were invited down for a medieval festival on Wednesday night and enjoyed a great meal. There were 4 or 5 different meats served. On a slight tangent - they hunt wild pigs here. The chair of the camp board is going to bring us some to cook. We'll have to report back on how it tastes.


The weather has turned much more fall like. Lots of cold and damp days. Rain comes and goes many times on any given day. The dampness sometimes makes it feel colder than it is. As a result we are keeping our coal boiler going most of the time. It keeps the house fairly warm but takes a while to warm it up if we let it go out. It seems like the one load of coal a month might have been an optimistic projection. Two loads a month will probably be what we actually use. This morning produced the first really hard frost. There was snow again on the hills but none here yet. It is supposed to drop down to -2 C tonight. That means concern about water pipes at camp. There are a number of buildings that are unheated and uninsulated. Water pipes sometimes run exposed up the outside of building walls and are then run above the ceilings. The maintenance man came out today and drained the water to some of the buildings so he wouldn't have to worry about fixing pipes tomorrow.

Today was the second weekend of games for Sammy's hockey team. It was here in Gore and they played twice. Their first opponent was Alexandra. Sammy's team played really well and came out with a nice win. Sammy scored 3 goals. He was thrilled to get his first career hat trick. The second game was against Dunedin, a really strong team. Sammy's team lost 12-3 but played a better game than the score suggested. Sammy scored one goal in this game. After four games they are 2-2. More importantly all of the boys played much better this weekend than they did in last month's games.

You should check out the pictures of the kids at the pool. (Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the web album where you can look at full-size pictures.) They have giant inflatable slides and a cool kids pool. On Friday Samantha took the kids for a fun afternoon. It is a really great facility for a small town to have. The pool and the ice rink are in the same building. The pool is heated by the heat created from making the ice. A gymnasium is currently being built adjacent to the arena to complete the multi-sports complex. I'm looking forward to that being completed because it means that there will be change rooms for hockey.

Samantha had a throat infection this week so she visited a doctor. There was a $31 charge to see the doctor. Samantha was prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. She was pleasantly surprised that each prescription was only $3.50 to have filled for a full course of antibiotics and 360 Panadol pills.

One of the highlights of our week was today's arrival of Melissa Weir, our first Canadian visitor. Melissa has been the lifeguard at Lambton Centre for the past few summers and was also a favourite babysitter. Abby and Samantha went and picked Melissa up at Dunedin airport this morning. She is staying with us for the next 5 weeks. We have some trips planned and will be taking in our first Super14 Rugby match next Saturday. Melissa is taking a 10 day tour to Australia during her stay as well. Melissa was kind enough to bring an extra bag for use. It was full of toothpaste, deodorant, my hockey skates and helmet, some bedding, a couple of quilts, candy, yugi-oh cards, and much more. We all enjoyed emptying out the treasures from home. It's nice to have pieces of home here with us.

Check back next week for pictures from the rugby match. It just might be that some of us will have face paint and funny wigs on.