Plenty of Room for Dancing ...

We made a lightning trip over the hill after work last Wednesday 25 November. Denise is getting very panicky in that there is still so much to do in tidying up Avalon and with the quiet time for real estate over Christmas/New Year fast approaching, we need to get stuck in and get it presentable for putting on the market. Hence, on this trip to Fossils Retreat, we took over miscellaneous items gathered and taking up space at Avalon, such as : two steel baths, a laundry tub, pedestal and basin (intended for the garden), several large plastic rubbish bins full of garden stuff, two heavy duty tyres for the ute, new porcelain toilet and cistern (in its packaging), and the like.

As Jacob the Builder told Denise - ' you won't need a key to get in'.
Pretty much open air stuff here! The digger in the background belongs to the septic tank installer

Taken from the main bedroom window looking back through the fireplace gap between bedroom and living room. Floor has been filled in and framing for the new wall. About where that pink board is across the floor will be a compact en suite

The wall between the other two bedrooms is gone. Wardrobes for both rooms will be at the end on the rhs - a bit from each room, and then back to the hall will be a new bathroom - very compact indeed. You can see the claw foot bath at the back that will go in

Our Builder has Started!

For some reason I can't presently recall, it appears from the dates on the photos, we next visited Fossils Retreat on Thursday 19 November. Jacob, our builder, has already made a start, as you can see.

Foundations for the new extension - a bit more dining room area and a laundry.

The wall between the old bathroom and kitchen has gone. This roof will also go, and new framing for a new roof

It appeared the original fireplace went diagonally into both rooms. Jacob is getting ready to cut new floorboards and square off each room

Over the Hill

You will constantly read the phrase 'Over the Hill'. Useage of this term is shared by both Wairarapa residents and Wellington (region) residents. The Hill is called 'The Rimutakas' or 'Rimutaka Hill Road' and is 22kms long, windy, and not for the faint-hearted. Takes around 17-25 minutes to get over - depending on whether you get any hold-ups on the 'down' (Wairarapa) side where there are no marked passing lanes. The hill is frequently closed on very windy days, and occasionally for snow and sleet. Featherston is the first town when travelling from Wellington.

From Wellington city to Featherston, about 1 hr 20 mins drive. We currently live in Lower Hutt, about where the '2' is on the map, and it's exactly 1 hour's drive from here to Fossils Retreat in Carterton

Here's some tourist blurb on the Wairarapa Region : Nestled at the southern end of the North Island, this region combines urban life with wilderness experiences and the simple pleasures of a rural paradise. The Wairarapa region offers exciting opportunities to acquaint yourself with New Zealand's rural off-the-beaten-track charm. Fringed by mountains and rugged coast, the region offers a diverse range of experience for lovers of great wine, gourmet organically grown food, astonishing wildlife and natural beauty. The area is particularly renowened as a wine-growing region, boasting over 30 vineyards. The Wairarapa is also home to a wealth of other specialist food growers - from olive oils, fruits and vegetables, nuts and herbs, to honey, traditional cider (alcoholic - for American interest), boutique beer, cheeses and chocolate - this region is the perfect destination for those with an interest in culinary indulgence.

That pretty well sums it all up ... heaps more, of course, and we know several secrets ... about all sorts of things

Photos taken while travelling 'over the hill'.

The first view of the Wairarapa valley - about one third of the way down (from Wellington) from the summit. Sorry about the uv haze and the dirty windscreen

Taken going back 'down' over the hill, on the Wellington side

Get a good look at the quality of the fences on the left as you go up the hill from Wellington, because ...

they are not much good at stopping your vehicle. Some poor chap went right through the fence here going down the hill (to Wgtn) the day before. We saw his car still down the side - 200 metres down. He was coptered out.

We know several people who won't even venture over the hill.

The Kia Ora dairy in Featherston. Has great value for money cone ice creams

We don't mess around trying to get the message across with our road signs

Several Surprises

We arrived back up at Fossils Retreat early afternoon Saturday 7 November, stopping on the way at Featherston to drop Tansy off to Orton Lodge for the night, then at Greytown to visit a Kitchen Installer, then on to Masterton to visit a 'Made in Masterton' show which was a little bit useful to us. When we did arrive, we were very surprised indeed to find a fully erected garage on site. We weren't expecting this for another couple of weeks.

New garage on site. A lovely big one, 9 metres long. The first water tank on lhs was delivered several weeks ago, and no, contrary to several comments we have heard, it is just resting there before it goes in alongside the garage

And another surprise ... the meter board has (sort of) been attached to the house

Our $4K+ power and phone cables laid across the drive. Bit of a worry with it all lying in last week's downpour, eh?

We got stuck in to more demolishing. Denise couldn't wait to seriously address this wardrobe in the back bedroom.

This is likely to be as far as the interior decorating for this bedroom goes, folks. About #23 on the Priorities list. We will be taking a metre or so in from the wall on Denise's rhs, and a metre or so from the adjoining front bedroom, and making a dinky tiny little bathroom with a new door in from the hall

On Sunday 8 November, we had an appointment with Mitre 10 in Masterton with their kitchen consultant, so after supplying him with all our measurements and requirements, which he will then transpose into his computer and send us a layout (which will be really useful to us as we are not much good at envisaging out of thin air), we visited the Car Boot Sale in Chapel Street, Masterton (a quick visit - pretty junky but good for fresh veg. The $3 hamburgers can be recommended).

Back to Fossils Retreat for an early lunch, then we got stuck in to demolishing again. You wouldn't believe the variety of screws used to hold the kitchen fixtures together. We are doing this frustratingly carefully, as parts of the laminated bench top and shelving units will be very useful in the garage.

Denise coming to grips with more plumbing fixtures

Voila! Little gas stove, benches, sink top, all gone! Except the corner unit, which Denise decided was too heavy for us to lift into the garage, so we have left it for the builders. This whole wall will move out 1 metre or so to increase the dining/kitchen area, and that window will be used on the new extended west wall (to the rhs in photo). The whole extension will line up with the existing house wall and we will be using that space for a large laundry and storage.

All the bits of wood and fixtures deemed 'able to be reused' (most of it - we don't throw away much) were stored in the new garage. We have rapidly growing piles of timber, firewood and rubbish outside.

And another nice surprise !

As we hoped, the existing bath is a claw foot. Instead of being our outdoors hot tub, this will now be relocated to and used in the new bathroom, so we need to look for a dunger steel bath for outside

More cupboards ripped out from the existing kitchen. That wall will disappear to open up the existing bathroom beyond it, which will then become our kitchen area facing north. We couldn't get the hot water tank out as our plumbing wrench has seized

For Sale : French doors; hot water cylinder with fixtures; lovely retro hanging glass etched/painted shade

We were pleased to see two of the potatoes had put up leaves. And thrilled to find all 25 feijoa trees still intact. Maybe the dog poo works after all. Just to be sure, we gave them all a good organic spray (which will wash off after first rain, unfortunately) and a good water. Jennifer managed to shear only one plant off while clipping the surrounding grass. Then it was time to store everything remotely useful in the garage, pack up and lock up, and off to pick Tansy up and head home. We are starting to believe we are making progress.

Meet the Dependants

For those of you not aware of our whanau who still live at home - we have, deferring to age, Scruffy (3yrs); Tansy (2yrs 8m) and Madge (just 2 yrs). Madge has had to suffer Tansy since she was 8 weeks old, and they are extremely attached to each other.

Scruffy was rescued from an Animal Shelter by Denise over 18 months ago, and had lived her prior 8 months in a cage. She was just getting all settled in and comfortable in her new home ... when along came Tansy ... who thinks that every tabby cat is just like Madge, waiting to be chased and scrapped with. We just wish Scruffy would get on with it and give Tansy a hiding instead of retreating to high places.

Consequently, we now have our own recluse Garbo who retires either to her bedroom in the hot water cupboard, or the penthouse on top of the pantry.

Scruffy being totally oblivious to everything except food in her favourite warm spot

Tansy has a lot of growing up to do but is getting slightly more obedient. We will need to think about how to keep her restrained at Fossils Retreat. She thinks every animal or being is in her world to play with and be her new friend. There will be a lot of yelling and no doubt, child abuse when we get settled in at Fossils Retreat and start gathering livestock. She is still absolutely fascinated with Scruffy. We still have to lock her in the bedroom to get Scruffy in and out of the cat door. After all this time ...

Tansy is, we and various other persons with doggy knowledge agreed, made up of the following recognisable varieties : Whippet, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Fox Terrior ... the SPCA told me they were told her father was an alsation ... we don't know how much more parentage out there ... Huge heart, not quite so huge brain ... but very loveable

Tansy and Madge - inseparable. They miss each other terribly when apart. Best of friends most of the time but have many a 'more than just playfighting' episode as well.

Madge was a baby from friends, and as the more astute of you will have noted, is quite similar to Scruffy in appearance. We often get confused still. (Both tabbies, for you less observant). She dislikes milk and fish and chicken and chop bones but will happily guts anything else around. Can demolish a dog biscuit in 2 minutes flat (after getting it out of the bag). Often brings loving gifts inside (headless birds, moths, wetas and the like). Has an ongoing fascination with the toilet - likes creating paws-on-art around the bowl interior.

So, that's the kids who you will read mentioned from time to time.

Another Soggy Welcome

We were up to Fossils Retreat again on Thursday 29 October. Some visible progress in that the concrete pad for our garage has been poured, and also, the heavens opened the night before :

A somewhat waterlogged drive. We do have a final coat of compacted gravel to come after all the tradespeople's vehicles have visited

The day was mainly spent with visits from electricians and plumbers, and another enlightening explanation of the workings of the space-age septic system we are required to have from our installer. He will also put the first of our water tanks in. (2nd water tank = Stage 6). We broke for lunch and met with Ian and Hugh (at Bambina, Main Road, Carterton - good - great risotto) for their belated birthdays, then back to the property for more meetings. Tended to the plants, stomped around in the numerous puddles, then went home.

Denise Gets Another Tractor

When we first started tossing around the notion that we might buy a little bit of land in the Wairarapa - whereas Jennifer immediately started thinking of stocking the freezer with meat as soon as possible - Denise's first utterance was 'A tractor. A red tractor'. (She's not a John Deere gal as my astute farming friends will have immediately noted). As we've moved further down the track with plans and reality, she has been made to see sense and agrees a red tractor is way down at the bottom of our list of priorities. So low down, we'd have to win at least $750,000 in Lotto.





Denise in seventh heaven. She had the $2,500 asked for the tractor, but realised it would take a bloody long time to drive up to the Wairarapa from Little River, Banks Peninsula

We got our first housewarming gift from friends Diane and Catherine.

A super mirrored tractor that can be stickied on. We will find a very special place for this one.

And a wonderful card! Wherever do they find these treasures!

The front of the

card - the

tractor is paua

The lovely mirrored tractor

that we can apparently stick

on anywhere
It's a very tasteful and modest

size of 12cm long. Not too

much 'in your face'. Good

for touching up the old lippy,

eh Diane?

They have written inside the card : 'To Denise and Jen. Wishing you all the best in your new place together. Looking forward to visiting soon. Lotsa love Cath and Di.'

Just lovely. Many thanks, Cath and Di.

p.s. decorating the spare rooms is down about #'s 16 and 19 on the priorities list. At this stage, we're looking at it as an autumn project. That's autumn 2011.

(Denise says that is absolute rubbish, and you shouldn't be put off. Any of you). (Jennifer says just be prepared for the homey - that's an American word - it doesn't mean what you think it means, it means your place looks kind of welcoming with lots of stuff around and comfortable - and it will be basic for a while. Interesting rough sawn boards, old wooden floors and multiple peeling wallpapers in the same room, sort of basic). We will have power points and beds and drawers and that sort of stuff. You may have to bring your own curtains though if you're fussy about that sort of thing. There will be a new small but very adequate bathroom.

So that was actually the second tractor that Denise has received. The first one, she got last Christmas. It is a lovely little metal die-cast job that took forever to find on ebay. Little red metal tractors are quite highly sought after, let me tell you.

The first little red tractor. As soon as we win Lotto we will be getting a huge replica that Denise can get out of the implement shed and drive down to collect our mail - as that appears to be her main ambition as far as driving her tractor goes. You can see on the earlier blogs how close the mail boxes are - I would be able to walk to collect the mail and back to the house before she's even got to the implement shed (when we get one - about #1 on Jennifer's priorities and #8 on Denise's)

The Plumber's Apprentices and Veges Under Way

Denise just couldn't wait to get stuck in and rip things out. We had already started in the bathroom and dismantled things we intend to reuse - the old porcelain handbasin, the glass shower door over the bath, old taps, etc. Denise was very amused to find, wedged out of sight under the base of a wooden cabinet under the washbasin next to where the toilet was, a few very well worn and crumpled pages from a Playboy magazine.And the metal laundry tub ... As I was disconnecting the S bend under the basin, to my horror, I discovered some dirty joker had pi--ed in it (many times, it appears) God knows how long ago. We don't know how long the house has been vacant. We did find a packet of instant noodles with a use-by date of Feb. '07. Anyway, after copious rinses of bottled water (we have no running water yet, remember), most of a bottle of antiseptic handwash, numerous grass rubs and earth wipes, I still couldn't get rid of the damn smell on my right arm, so one disenchanted plumber's apprentice was very keen to get back to the motel for a shower.


Starting to demolish the old kitchen cabinets and resalvaging plumbing bits in the old kitchen. We have successfully removed a perfectly good and reuseable kitchen sink. That connector hose on the left goes to a gas fired stove and oven - appears very good order if anyone is interested in buying - perfect back-up in case of emergencies - you'll still be able to cook a roast.

The weather closed in at the end of the week, and we decided to 'take the day off' on Friday 16 Oct. After a disappointing visit to the weekly Friday Clareville Stock Sale, we headed into Masterton to find some more roof paint, get application forms from the Farm Equipment stores, and the like. We also picked up 6 old tyres free from Firestone, bought a bag of seed potatoes, and planted our first veges at Fossils Retreat.

Potatoes planted in free tyres in temporary position along front fence line. Instructions said feed well when planting. Plenty of horse manure still around for that. Then a couple of shovels of good top soil and topped with some old hay left lying on the property.

We had our first builder's quote in at the end of the week. Gulp. And that is just for 'Stage One' to get the place compliant as soon as possible (water, electricitiy and septic).

Fish and chips for tea from the local recommended chippie (we won't even recommend it); finished off the wine, then we packed up Saturday morning, met Wayne and Matt for a 'viewing', then loaded up the ute and tidied up inside. A HUGE thank you to Matt and Wayne for being so positive about the place and the plans. A big morale booster, as we find we are going through highs and lows frequently.

Sett off back over the hill late afternoon, picked up Tansy from the kennels in Featherston (Mike and Christine, Orton Lodge, in the country just out of Featherston. Highly recommended). As soon as we hit our street, the heavens opened and it rained. Really rained. Then we had to hightail it off to Stokes Valley to pick up two new interior bifold doors we had purchased (at an excellent price off Trade Me).

Madge was extraordinarily pleased to see us home and wailed us all the way up the drive. She and Scruffy were left and were cared for by Nikki while we were away, as Jennifer was very tardy in not remembering to take Madge for her shots in time to be boarded. Scruffy appeared indifferent. Madge was definitely fatter, having, we suspect, eaten the majority of the copious supplies of dried food left for them both. Muddy pawprints all over the sheets, basins, upright furniture, etc. She does miss Tansy terribly when they are parted.

We Get Started to Get Stuck In

We both took a week's holiday from 12 October. With the Trade Me Ute laden, we took over a generous cabin at the Carterton Holiday Camp for 5 nights and transported every imaginable tool and various assortments of garden equipment to Fossils Retreat. Not a lot we could really do though. We did have the intention of painting the roof (yes, ladder was transported as well) but after gingerly climbing up, one old fossil realised that painting the main roof (which needs an additional two coats to enable water to be drawn off safely) was really going to be out of the question, after a slippery and unplanned descent once having reached the roof peak. Denise solved the problem by calling two roof painters out of the Yellow Pages and we ended up organising a cash spray paint job.


Slip-sliding away ...

In between meeting and getting quotes from garage installers, builders and power connecting services, we started painting the front fence.

Once two coats had been given each side, Jennifer came to grips with the weedeater ...

A frustrating exercise but it did result in toned right arm muscles. The supplied line was very lightweight and kept cutting off. We did get a heavier duty line next day

And then we planted 25 Feijoa trees which hopefully will provide a bountiful and attractive hedge and windbreak in the future.

We discovered somebody had been out and nailed an official fire number on to our fence. 164. We really feel like we are starting to get cracking doing things.

The New Blogspot FOSSILS RETREAT

Apologies to all who follow our blog in that we have changed to a new Blogspot link :

http://fossilsretreat.blogspot.com

For those who are new to the development of Fossils Retreat and linked to this current page, you can find the previous chapters under the following link :

http://ruminativeramblingsfromanageingfossil.blogspot.com