Bucket List – Day 3

Last night’s motorhome park was reasonably quiet.  Probably aided by the fact I had removed my hearing aids.

The morning was spent with family catching up on everything that was not covered during dinner the previous evening.  Eldest grandson, Carlin and I had a meeting to discuss our plans for the ‘Round the Mountain’ walk. 

In the afternoon I drove north to Kaitaia where my uncle and cousin live.  I’d already been warned that the main road north (State Highway 1 [SH1]) was closed due to numerous landslides in the Mangamuka Gorge after recent heavy rain.  The alternate route was SH10 which takes the east coast route.  It’s only slightly longer and is more scenic.

Our daughter had already warned me NZ roads were in dire condition and whilst I didn’t find them as bad as she had suggested, there were some long delays caused by road works.

One of a number of long queues caused by road works.

Eventually I reached Kaitaia where I phoned my cousin Adrienne and asked for directions to her home.

My Uncle Arthur is 91 and the last of my parents generation.  My Aunt passed away several years ago.  My cousin, Adrienne and her husband, Selwyn have moved into Arthur’s house to keep an eye on him.

The last time I can recall seeing Adrienne was shortly after I had returned from the UK with my parents and brother.  I would have been 10 and Adrienne about 4 years old.  She is now a grandmother!

Both she and Selwyn still work, although they plan to return at the end of the year.  In anticipation they recently bought an Australian made luxury caravan and 4WD Ute. 

The caravan has everything you would need for self-contained extended travelling, including a washing machine and microwave oven.

Arthur’s house is a traditional Kiwi home sitting on a corner quarter acre block

 

My arrival coincided with Selwyn preparing the evening meal.  Apparently Selwyn does all the cooking and unlike me; he is very good at it.  We conversed into the evening before I had to beg to head to bed as the jetlag was kicking in.

Tomorrow I head back south.

Bucket List – Day 2

First task for the day was to buy some supplies; primarily food and cleaning essentials.  There are two major supermarket chains in NZ. Pack n Save and Countdown.  The former was the closest and the obvious choice.  You can imagine my disappointment when I couldn’t find any savaloys in the store.  I’ve been waiting 30 years for kiwi savaloys and they didn’t have any.  Fortunately Countdown came to my rescue.

 

A large bag of 12.  However I won’t be able to eat any tonight as I’m having dinner with our daughter, son-in-law and five grandsons.  Tomorrow night isn’t looking much better.

The remainder of the day was spent shopping and wandering around Whangarei.

Initially I assumed this was an eastern orthodox church spire down near the town basin.  However it’s a tourist attraction.

The moorings in the town basin are obviously popular

The red ketch is our eldest grandsons newly purchased yacht. A steel hull built in Cornwall, UK in 1991.  Sailed to the Falkland Islands where it remained for 15 years before eventually arriving in NZ. 

The Town Basin has been redeveloped

The ‘Bridge of Canopies’.  It wasn’t here when we lived in Whangarei 30 years ago.

That evening I met everyone at Split Restaurant.  It’s ‘Split’ as in the Balkans.  Many Yugoslav's migrated to this part of NZ drawn by the hunt for gum (Amber) which was quite valuable. 

An enjoyable evening.

Five grandsons – Niko, Carlin, Giovan, me, Vittori & Mettaio

Niko and his partner Alarna

Mettaio (No4), Carlin (No1) and Giovan (No5)

Vittori (No3) with our daughter, Dale

Dale and our son-in-law, Aaron

The Bucket List

You may have been wondering why the blog hasn’t been updated for several weeks.  I’ve been away attempting to reduce the size of my ‘Bucket List’.  Unfortunately as quickly as I eliminate items on the list more get added.

I decided to return to the country of my birth for what may be a final visit.  There were three objectives.

• Catch up with family and friend
• Complete the ‘Ring of Fire’ walk around Mt Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park; and
• See what changes have occurred over the last 30 years.

After looking for cheap flights I opted to book with Air NZ.  Past memories are of a quality airline and this time I found myself disappointed.   Yes, I did purchase a cheap fare opting to pay for an economy seat and one piece of hold baggage.  The fare would have substantially increased if I’d also chosen to pick my seat rather than have it allocated.  I also opted out of in flight meals.  The six hour flight departed Perth at 9PM arriving in Auckland at 6AM.  NZ is five hours ahead of Perth.

The check-in process was completed using a self-service kiosk.  Immigration was very similar.

Perth Departure Hall

 

My first flight in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  Note the RAAF C17 behind the 787 in the top right.

The flight was uneventful.  I must have been one of the few on board not to have purchased a meal.  Clearing Customs and Immigration in Auckland was also uneventful.  Ag & Fish queried me about my boots after I had declared them on my arrivals card.  However they waved me through when I informed them they had last been worn in the UK back in 2016.

I had already decided rather than rent a car and use motels I work hire a motorhome.  The cheapest option was on of the small bright green JUCY vans.  My van would need to be self-contained as that would enable me to freedom camp at no cost.  After much online research I identified Wilderness Motorhomes as the best value for money and booked a two berth van.

    

It was very comfortable and I was pleased with my choice.

After collecting the van the first thing I did was to drive to the nearest BP service station and purchase four passes for the northern toll road.  This road didn’t exist when we lived in NZ and its construction has definitely reduced the time when driving north.

I’d had very little sleep on the aircraft and therefore carefully took my time driving north to Whangarei, my first destination.  Whangarei District Council encourages self-contained motorhome parking and I found a vacant park in the south of the city near the new lift bridge.

And so Day 1 ended

What Happened?

This will probably have been the longest gap between blog post since I started back in 2010.  What Happened?

Ten days ago we were seated in the front room watching the heavy spring rain fall when the was a simultaneously loud clap of thunder and lightening bolt.  The room lit up and a long brown streak shot across the room as a very frightened Molly headed for somewhere to hide.  I commented “That was close!”

Several hours later Jan noticed we had no internet coverage.  I suspect our cable connection had temporarily dropped out.  The physical infrastructure is provided by the National Broadband Network (NBN).  When the network has previously failed it usually takes 2-3 hours to come back online.  I waited 24 hours (this is Australia with [according to our politicians] the best internet in the world) and when the connection was still offline I phoned our internet provider to report the issue.  “Your call is important to us….. You are advancing the queue…. all our customer support staff are busy…. we are experiencing high demand…… you may be interest in the following products.. etc, etc”  You get the idea.  Eventually I was able to speak with someone who spent 30 minutes talking me through the fault finding method… which I previously done!  Yes… they would lodge a fault with the NBN.  I was advised it would likely take 2-3 days for a technician to contact us (best internet in the world).

The next day Jan had a call from the NBN Technician.  He was in the area and was it convenient to visit in the next hour.  This was such a shock Jan needed to sit down and let her heart settle.

The technician arrived within 40 minutes and immediately tested the cable connection.  An electric spike had “fried” the NBN modem.  It’s NBN equipment and was replaced at no cost to us.  He did mention it was the fourth modem he had replaced in the neighbourhood that morning and he had a further four local premises to attend.

Unfortunately whilst the cable connection was restored we still didn’t have the internet.  Our router had also been “fried” and required replacing.  The router model is now obsolete requiring me to purchase a different model with a different configuration system.  Eventually that was done and the internet restored.

However Jan then complained she couldn’t stream any of her videos from the media server over our local network.   After some fault finding I identified the problem as a “fried” ethernet port on the media server motherboard.   Not wanting to go to the expense of replacing the motherboard I purchased a cheap PCI-E ethernet card for the computer and inserted it into a spare slot on the motherboard.  We again had a local network connection between the media server and the rest of the local network.   Well for 48 hours and then the media server motherboard failed.

Of course the motherboard was obsolete meaning I had to replace both it and the cpu.  More expense! 

After rebuilding the media server I discovered it wouldn’t connect to the local network.  Seven days later; after much cursing and loss of hair the media server is streaming video.  It’s not fully functional, but as I am due to head away from home in two days for three weeks I’ve decided to leave the setup functioning as is.  I’ll do the final sorting on my return. 

A long explanation why there haven’t been any posts.

The original motherboard with red arrow pointing to fried ethernet port

New motherboard and cpu

Testing the new motherboard and cpu before going to the effort to install them in the case

Installed, but second test before installing the power supply

Aussie Butt Cream

No doubt you are wondering why the need for Aussie Butt Cream.

A hint is provided by the icon formed by the letter “i” in the word “aussie”.  NO!  I don’t use it for that.  Nothing to do with the toilet or haemorrhoids.  It’s to reduce chaffing when cycling…..  and do I need it!  

Never having use the stuff before, today there was some experimenting about the quantity to be applied.  Obviously I used too much as initially I fell off the saddle (twice) trying to mount the bike.  However I noticed the difference once mounted and pedalling.  I’ll write no more on the subject.

Meanwhile there has been further progress on the boat navigation unit.  I’m now only waiting on two components.  One is an adapter for the connection between the USB TV stick antenna output port and the coaxial cable.  This is due to be delivered any day.  The second is somewhat more difficult.  I need a Raspberry Pi 4 and there is currently a worldwide shortage.  One may not be available until early next year. 

Externally the unit looks like this…….

 

Front.  Volt/Amp meter,  On’Off switch and Fuse holder

Rear.  Two USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, 5 pin weather sensor socket, Coaxial port for AIS antenna and 12V power supply socket

 

Right.  12V to 5V DC converter rated at 10A

Left.  HDMI port and 3.5mm stereo output socket

I’ve drilled a matrix of 2mm holes on both sides of the case to improve  ventilation.

Spring Has Arrived

Looking out the kitchen window it was apparent spring has arrived.  The daffodils Jan planted under the three fruit trees beside the pool have flowered.

On the southern boundary garden the first hibiscus has also flowered.

The same has happened on the northern boundary garden

Out the front, the apricot tree we planted three weeks ago has buds and new leaves.

And the adjacent avocado tree is showing signs

The mulberry has lost some early fruit to the recent storms

The lemon tree looks positive

Whilst the orange tree has signs of new growth it’s development hasn’t been nearly as good as the lime and lemon.

The small garden Jan created after I remove the old Peppergum tree is looking healthy.

Jan is the one with the green fingers.  The only plants that thrive under my ministrations are the weeds!

The one tree we now have that doesn’t produce something edible is the Frangipani.  And we couldn’t find a relative who would take it!   I suspect by the time these trees are big enough to provide a good quantity of produce we will be compost….. probably around the base!

The Old Mill

A 25km ride confirmed the new bike trailer tows rather well.  I just need to remember the combined length is longer when going around bends or obstacles. 

Today the trailer was left at home whilst I went of a 70km ride.  It was supposed to be a 60km ride but I missed a turn eventually realising I was almost at the Port of Fremantle on the coast.  Turning south eventually saw me reach the north bank of the Swan River. 

I made my way back east to the ‘Narrows Bridge’ crossing to the south side of the river.  It was here at ‘Mill Point’ that I realised there was a windmill.

Wikipedia states the mill was built in 1835.  At it’s peak the mill produced 680kg of flour daily.  However it ceased production after less than 25 years due to it’s poor location and unprofitability.  Subsequently it was used as a house, dance hall, hotel and chicken run…. Not all at the same time!  

 

On my return home I discovered the post had delivered the combination 3 axis gyro and temperature module for the boat navigation project.  The pins have been soldered onto the module and cables connected.

It will be mounted inside the case where it will measure roll, pitch and direction.  The gps module will measure speed.  I probably won’t enable the temperature and barometric part of the module as it will be inside the case where the heat from the computer and other components will give false readings.