Ross and Wyn Davies Travel Blog

Sunday 2 January was Rest Day. We were able to relax after our trip to Christchurch the previous day. It was good to have time to rest up and digest it all.

Monday was back to work although things were slow to pick up and we only worked 4 hours. We weren’t complaining. Tuesday was a late start as well – mid morning.

By Wednesday the cherries were starting to roll and there were apricots and plums as well. We worked a full day, our first for a while. After work I got started on getting behind our meter panel, removing the door and getting the panel hinged down. Continue reading →

My cousin’s husband had died suddenly earlier in the week. This was awful news at an awful time of the year. Somehow I’d had enough of sudden deaths for 2009 –two was two too many. Julian was a lovely man who had a way of saying what he thought needed to be said without worrying about what people thought. In the dark days of my separation I went to visit Julian and Beth in Christchurch for what I hoped was a weekend of rest, relaxation and rejuvenation. I got the rejuvenation, but not how I expected. They both gave me a hard time, in the nicest way, and Julian always laughingly referred to it thereafter as Boot Camp. Helping someone turn their life around is a rare gift – and not one you ever forget. Plus Julian was a blogger when I didn’t know what a blogger was. Continue reading →

We arrived at Val’s parkover at Earnscleugh at about 6.30pm on New Year’s Eve. We were quick to join the tail-end of a happy hour. Then it was time for a quick tea with Les and Suzanne. Finally the four of us headed off to the Clyde street party, taking our car with Les designated driver. Things were going well by the time we got there but the crush at the bar was manageable at that stage. There was a DJ with dance music and a good family atmosphere. There wasn’t too much drinking because drinks had to be bought from the hotel where the queue was about half an hour by 11pm. There was a count-down to midnight and it was a nice way to see in the new decade. Continue reading →

We had a 10am start on Monday 28^th – which suited us fine. We were in no hurry to start. We worked sorting and packing cherries as well as a few apricots. It was a warm day and after we’d finished we sat out in the sun and relaxed. It’d been a busy few days over Christmas and we needed some time out. Continue reading →

Boxing Day in Dunedin was greyer and cooler – it was always going to be after the day before. Wyn did some washing and I went off on my bike in search of cream for the trifle. Laura had stayed the night and Michael and Andrew came round for lunch. Michael bought the ham and we had new spuds and veges. Then it was time for ping-pong and pool and dishes and finally trifle. It was Boxing Day which spells Boxing Day Sales and the paper was full of them. Plus we needed more bubbles. Continue reading →

We woke to a fine day near Wanaka at Wyn’s son’s place. It was windy and warm enough. There were presents to open and pancakes to eat. All too soon it was time to pack up and head off in Suzi. We were on the road just after midday – wondering how many others would be doing the same thing. Traffic was light as most people settled down to Christmas dinner. Without the car and with a strong tail wind we zoomed along. Wyn drove the first bit to Alexandra – giving me a chance to catch up with a few texts and phone calls. As a got closer to the coast the weather the sky got bluer and the day warmer. Continue reading →

And now it’s Christmas Day. It’s our second Christmas on the road. It’s a lovely warm morning here in Central Otago.

Merry Christmas to you and all the best for the New Year and New Decade. We hope you have a lovely day with family and friends wherever you are.

Wednesday (23rd) we actually worked a full day at the packhouse. The morning was the usual cherry sorting. When the full sorting team arrived in the afternoon we got to fill in for another couple who’d had to head away for a couple of days. So Wyn ended up QC (Quality Control) on the sorting and I ended up Bucket Boy – keeping track of the buckets each sorter sorted. That kept us both busy and me warm as well – it can be cold in the packhouse and the cherries come wet for sorting. Yesterday was Christmas Eve and another late start. This gave us time to get to the Post Office and to join the mob in the supermarket. It was a hot morning but luckily everyone in the supermarket seemed relaxed enough. Alexandra is like that – very relaxed – which is good on days like yesterday.  Continue reading →

Friday 18th was a no-work day so we decided to move back over to the parkover place at Val’s. This gave us a chance to catch up with our washing. During the day I noticed that our solar controller had stopped working. No humm from the fan. No amps out. The LEDs claimed that the batteries were charging and that they were full. Yet at 12.4volts they clearly were not full. All was not well. Out came the ‘manual’ which wasn’t very helpful – it didn’t have any explanation that made any sense. I got on the phone – “ahhh Silverdale …. we have a problem …..” to the supplier. He talked me through a couple of tests and the conclusion seemed to be that it had stopped working. I reckoned that it was cooked – it’d been running very hot some days. He was calculating amps and it was all over my head. Continue reading →

Yesterday (Thursday) we were up bright and early to start work in the packhouse at 8am. Luckily Wyn was going well. I wasn’t feeling too bright – I was still feeling the effects of the tooth extraction battle. Or more likely feeling the effects of the stuff I’m taking to not feel the effects. Anyway, lunches made and all ready for anything, we headed off along the road to the packhouse. The thing was that there wasn’t a lot happening there, the darn fruit is not ripening very quickly. So the packhouse wasn’t starting until 10am, so we wandered back up the road to Suzi to relax for a couple of hours. Continue reading →

Today (Wednesday) has been a relaxed day getting stuff done before we start in the packhouse. My ex-tooth seems to be settling down nicely – touch wood. Wyn and Suzanne decided to tackle the walk to Cromwell. I got things packed up and sorted out. Once they let us know they were in Cromwell, Les and I headed off to Cromwell in our respective motorhomes for a coffee with the other two. Afterwards we managed to get some more shopping and posting done and then some dumping and supermarket shopping. We’re not sure when we’ll next get to a supermarket – we’ll probably stay put until the weekend anyway. We finally headed away from Cromwell at about 4.30pm – Wyn driving again. Continue reading →

Yesterday (Tuesday) we woke to an even bigger sprinkling of snow on the tops around Alexandra. We made another push on Christmas shopping. We almost bought a new BBQ for ourselves until we worked out that it wouldn’t connect to our gas bottle and the necessary adaptors would cost about $70. We took that as a sign to persist with our old BBQ and gas bottle. We headed out to our orchard/pack house in Earnscleugh and it was decided we’d start on Thursday. We checked out the parking area and found that most of the facilities were a work-in-progress. However we don’t really need much and it’ll mean we can walk to work. We’ll try it out this week and see about next week once we get our car back.

I had a date with my dentist in Cromwell. Continue reading →

We drove on up to Wyn’s son’s place overlooking the Wanaka basin on Thursday 10^th December. It was a fabulous day with fabulous views around the mountains. We enjoyed a few beers in the sun and had a BBQ tea. Later we went for a walk down by the lake on a lovely calm warm evening. Everyone was out enjoying it by the looks. There were more stones to be skipped and by the end my tennis elbow was back. Ho hummm… Continue reading →

Oh dear me… We have got behind haven’t we! I just seem to get caught up on this blogging business and next thing I’m all behind again – a couple of weeks this time. And it gets harder to remember. Mind you, “that might be a mercy” do I hear you mutter? Look, I know Brevity is not my middle name but this is going to be briefer anyway.

Wednesday 2 December we came back from Wanaka to Val’s parkover place at Earnscleugh. We got ourselves set up and generally enjoyed the fine weather.

Thursday we made a start cleaning the car and Suzi. Continue reading →

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a much nicer day. The sun came out again and it warmed up nicely. And it was calm – particularly in the morning. A calm Lake Dunstan is a thing of beauty. After three weeks or so it is not a view we are very familiar with. Wind seems to be a fairly constant companion in these parts. In fact the paper that day carried the story of the campervan that had blown into the lake at Lowburn the previous Friday – the really windy day. In any case, it was time for us to move on. Continue reading →