A weekend getaway to Castlepoint

This weekend was no doubt one of the most relaxing weekends we have had here thus far. It consisted of a weekend getaway to Castlepoint, just a two hour drive northeast of Wellington. We took our new good friend, Dan, and his lovely four legged friend, Juno (black lab), and met our friend/landlords Shaun and Lauraine for a deluxe car camping adventure. Told that Castlepoint is rugged and exposed, we were expecting the worst I suppose, however it ended up being unbelievably calm, warm and wonderful.  A couple hours after the 3 (plus Juno) of us arrived and set up camp, Shaun and Lauraine arrived with the crayfish buckets. There was no denying we were there just to camp as we were on a paua (abalone) and crayfish (spiny lobster) hunting spree. While we were daydreaming on the days prior of a seafood only feast for the weekend, we were proven it takes more skill than we had...still fun anyone, and leaves us with an even larger craving! The three of us (plus Juno) running toward the cray pot after leaving it out overnight was a bit reflective of a good Christmas morning!

On our way to the cray pots...on the other side of the lighthouse!

 A very happy Juno looking for a restroom spot...

 This reminds us of how Avila Beach must have looked 50 years ago.

 The big daddy of tractor/trailer that pulled some big boats out of the water...this was the only one that had a built in cab!

 The boats surfed their way right into the back of the trailer...

 Boat surfing...?

 A pristine morning at Castlepoint

 Looking North with the lighthouse on the tip...

 Not a UFO in the picture...perhaps some friendly sand that didn't want to get out of the camera lens...

 A very fun, happy group!

 The sunset was breathtaking...

Very pretty view... 

 This was what the entire rock was made out of that consists of Castlepoint...a whole lot of compressed ocean floor (I am sure there is a more elaborate word for this)...

 Couldn't be more relaxed...

 A very excited Juno!

 Sunset. Waiting for the crays to bite...

 We don't think this was trash, but we don't really know how it made its way beyond where the tides reached...

 Someone obviously got a hold of the camera to document a much needed morning nap I was enjoying!

 For some reason this mossy rock captivated...

 Dan and Shaun carrying an empty cray pot... reluctantly!

 A very large cray boat coming in after a long day of catching some big ones (we were a bit envious of the latter part of that statement)...

A very happy Zeph and new friend Dan...and a tuckered Juno...Believe it or not, the wine bottle wasn't theirs (or mine for that matter)...it was all about the smores!

Sally Lives!

A while ago, Sarah and I decided to have a weekend out by doing a little car camping. Little did we know what the trip would lead to. We loaded up the car, fueled up, and headed north to the only camping spot I found that would allow campfires, which we have missed during all our camp-outs so far.

Just as we got to the start of the hills, about 45 minutes into our drive, we started up a small rise. Suddenly, Sally (our car) shifted, lost power, and shut off. We coasted to the side of the road to assess the problem. As we stopped, brownish smoke started pouring from under the hood. Sarah and I jumped out and while I dropped to look under the car for flames, Sarah grabbed our jug of water just in case....


With no flames, and the smoke becoming pure white, we opened the hood. Steam was pouring out of the radiator, which had blown the cap off. We let the steam subside a bit and started, slowly, adding water to the radiator to help cool everything back down. Every time we did this, the heat would create another geyser from the radiator. We decided to turn the engine over, very briefly, just to help circulate the water through the system. After about 30 minutes and 3 gallons of water, we got everything cooled down. With the radiator cap reinstalled, we tried starting Sally again.


I say tried, because after a couple attempts, she started, but ran extremely rough. not a good sign, but at least the engine hadn't seized completely. We called a tow truck and had it taken to a diesel shop for a diagnosis. It wasn't good.


If you look closely, you can see the scoring on the walls of the 2 and 3 cylinders. Unfortunately, this meant the engine would need a rebuild. Even more unfortunate, the quote to get this done was between $6,000 and $7,000 dollars, more than we paid for Sally in February. Common advice was to scrap the car and buy a replacement.

Not an option. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. After doing some research, I found that I could get the parts I needed for less than 1/3 the price of the quote. I also was lucky enough to have a few tools handy, and was able to borrow some I didn't have. The following are a few pictures of the process.

Surveying the damage, and the upcoming project

Loosening the engine, notice the fire extinguisher on the front seat, just in case

Ready to lift

With a little persuasion, and some extra hands, Sally's engine is out

Beginning the rest of the tear down, and cleaning.

The new cylinder sleeves installed in the cleaned block

New pistons and rings being installed

Reinstalling the engine

The head, valve cover, and intake manifold reinstalled

The home-made hot side EGR block off.

Cool side block-off.

I also want to give huge thanks to my friends and family for their help, support, and advice during this unintended project. Huge and many special thanks to Graeme for loaning us a car for work, Shaun for his garage and tools, and Sarah for keeping me fed.

More good updates coming soon!

Playing catch up, Part 1

Wow! Seems like time has gotten away from us a little. Sarah and I have been cranking along and settling into a stride here in Wellington. Well, maybe more of a duck and weave as we've had a few curve balls thrown our way since our last update.

So here it goes.....

Back in July, Sarah was able to take a trip with the local women's cycling club, Revolve. They left on a Friday and took a little drive up to Rotorua to explore the trails, finding a few good places to stop along the way. Places like the RJ's Licorice factory in Levin and The Wool Company in Taihape.  She arrived to Rotorua higher than high from eating all the licorice...4 hours' she claims. Fortunately she was surrounded by 3 other fun girls with the similar problem....if you can call it that! The trip was full of fun, rekindling her memory of knitting with Ashley on the drive up, and mountain biking almost every hour of being awake (only separated by stints in the hot springs).  Needless to say she had a lot of fun and had to go on a licorice detox when she returned home.

The knitted hat Marjolien is wearing in the front seat was knitted in less than an hour by Ashley here...she said it was normal behavior but it may have had something to do with the RJ's licorice!

Mountain biking with the girls in the redwoods of the Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua...

With Meghan in the background, about an hour before her bike got run over in the parking lot...no joke! Not a good story (or sound) but the happy ending is that it was covered in insurance and she got a heck of an upgrade for a bike!

Marjolien's steed at full speed!

See no evil, hear no evil, taste no evil? Looks suspicious!

A fun night for the girls in Rotorua...not a late or exciting night as we had ridden over 5 hours of the trails of Rotorua that day...food consumption and hot springs were priority!

Needless to say SBH reteurned home a tuckered girl and had much rest to catch up from the abundant amount of riding they did on the trails there in Rotorua!

This is another beautiful view from our porch one morning.  As our friend Collette says, "It's all about the view"! We couldn't agree more!

And one more...needless to say we continue to be taken by how lucky we are to be in our cozy home with a view like this!

Zeph working in his man space...what better place than on the porch (in good weather that is)? He made us a lovely, stout king bed, made out of reclaimed wood from Shaun's (landlord/friend/upstairs neighbor) projects.  A good use indeed! And, a wonderful bed with storage underneath!

And the finished product!


That theory goes wayside in the rain...but, here is Zeph proving his Wellingonian-ess to adapt to the weather! Fortunately it was a warm storm and he was pretty happy to be getting his hands dirty (or clean) again!

And a really cool knife block he made out of more reclaimed wood...

And, in the kitchen department, Sarah made some gluten free breads, and one of the best ice cream sandwiches we've witnessed...gluten free and dairy free of course.  In true Kiwi fashion, our favorite vanilla ice cream right now is made from...ewe's milk! While it seems intuitive that there is ice cream made from sheep's milk, there is only one dairy that does it thus far!  Sarah is beginning to become a proponent for using lamb for their wool and ice cream over meat...if you tried the ice cream you might agree!

the gluten free bread...excellent toast as well!

and an amazing ice cream sandwich thanks to a new vegan cookie cookbook and the ewe's milk ice cream...quite a treat indeed!

 and a very good gluten free apple oat waffle...complete with (imported) maple syrup...they haven't figured out how to make maple syrup from their maple trees here yet...or, nobody is selling it! honey on the other hand, is everywhere! 

 

All for now~ More catch up soon! In the next round of pictures will be the long story of our car dieing and Zeph bringing her back to life by rebuilding an engine for the first time.  As well as a very colorful trip to Rotorua to watch the singlespeed world (mountain bike) championships!  

A Sweet Home,Sunshine, and the Best Girl Scout Cookies Ever

 Good Morning Wellington! This was taken a couple mornings ago from our deck overlooking the city and Bay

Well, where to start! I guess the thing that has been bringing us most joy this past week (aside from the sun coming out) has been our new home.  We moved from a cold, damp, older flat to a new, warm, dry home with amazing views and a huge deck for the BBQ (and Zeph)...The view is quite amazing...on a sunny day it looks unmistakeably like the Mediterranean or French Riviera, except with some beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background! 

 In the distance are some snow-capped mountains that happened last night as a result of it getting quite chilly out!

What a treat! It has been amazing how much our mood and outlook have improved with our cozy new abode.  We find ourselves racing to get home after work, just to relax and, be at home!  What a lovely feeling.  We had a fun house warming BBQ of sorts, combined with 4th of July celebration on the 4th of July.  Zeph had the BBQ going with some amazing treats and some of the best hamburgers we have had in a long time!  We had some great friends come over and it was sunny, so we felt right "at home".  

While the weather has taken some getting used to, it hasn't been all bad.  The longest it has rained for (yet) has been 4 days, then the sun comes out and dries everything out.  When the sun does come out, it has been the most calm/still days where we just want to go jump in the water and go for a swim.  Brrrr! But, still warmer than the water off California, believe it or not!  And, pristine, clean water!  

 That is heaven on a plate! Tim's infamous homemade girl scout cookies! Shortbread dipped in chocolate with a homemade coconut carmel, then drizzled with dark chocolate. Could it get any better?! YES! They were gluten free and dairy free!! BRILLIANT!!

They were worthy of two pictures!

Last night we were really fortunate to get invited over to new friends, Tim and Tracy's house for dinner.  They are both here from San Francisco and are quite a fun/lovely couple to hang out with.  Tim is working at WETA for their current film projects and Tracy is launching her presence into her yoga teachings.  Anyhow, they roasted chicken and veggies for dinner and when we thought it couldn't get any better, Tim whipped up some dessert for us.  Now, by whipped up, I mean he made some fresh coconut ice cream (dairy-less, made with coconut milk) and some heavenly, heavenly gluten-free, dairy-less Girl Scout Cookies.  Unbelievable.  Little bits of heaven that took you to your happy place all over again.  To top the night off, we watched a great movie called Paper Hearts.  A documentary of sorts about Love.  Highly recommend it for some light, feel good fun.

 While we did not take this picture, it was recently taken here in sheep country and it might put new meaning to counting sheep!

Work for both of us has been great.  We are so lucky to be working with Peter as he is a great person and a great mentor for both of us.  Zeph got his license about a week ago and mine should be here in the next couple of days which will be quite exciting.  For the record, he does have an advantage for getting the commission check though!  He has been working the industrial side of commercial real estate and I have been working the retail leasing/sales side of commercial real estate.  It is fun being at work together, learning together, and commuting together!  Quite a treat and we both feel so fortunate to be in such an amazing spot while thoroughly enjoying what we do.  We also have been working with a growing number of businesses who are expanding and we are helping them find their new locations, which is quite a lot of fun learning about their business models to better understand what locations work for them.


The last piece of the puzzle has been getting back into a workout routine as this brings us a lot of happiness and balance.  We purchased a pair of lights so Sarah was able to go for a night ride with a lovely group of girl mountain bikers a few days ago.  She left at 6pm and rode for a couple hours with the girls and the highlight being the clear night and the view from the top (as well as a couple of the girls bringing tasty treats that were passed around).  We have also been tossing around the idea of getting a couple wetsuits so we can work on our open water swimming here in the Bay. There is an area set up for swimmers so it seems more appealing, especially when the water is calm!  We have been also thinking about getting a pair of rollers (to ride indoors when it is wet/windy/cold/dark) and to possibly work on the (trail) running skills a bit as well.  All ideas that we'll probably figure out (hopefully before it turns to summer)!

That is all for now.  This week looks to be quite busy with work, which is a good thing!  Sarah is fortunate to be going back to Rotorua with the girls on Friday for a girls' weekend getaway on the mountain bikes.  If there was a way she could tuck Zeph into her pack, she would!  Hope all is well with you and we'll be in touch! Hugs, Sarah & Zeph