Waimea Menz Shed

G'day Sheddies.

Please excuse me in using my own travel Blog, but this is a quick way to tell you (again) about next Thursdays Men'z Shed bike ride.

This Thursday 3rd August leaving at 10.20 after smoko!
Its on barring earthquakes, pulled muscles, heart attacks, hair cuts, nuclear bomb droppings in Nelson from Donald Trump and West Coast like rain.

I scoped out the ride last Sunday and its a goodie!

The last ride we had 4 hardy men braving the chilly inclement weather and biked into Nelson to see the Da Vinci Robots & Machines Exhibition. Its a cracker and still on till 13th August!

Here are a few photos...to wet your whistle and show you what you've missed and what you could enjoy this Thursday!

The hardy Men from Waimea, Ian, Brian, Jimu and Tony.

Tony and Ian had huge bulges in their legs, but it didn't stop them!

Leonadro's famous Vitruvian Man, notice how he actually wrote back to front.

We share the same birthday, maybe this is why I do things back to front 

(well that's what the Wife says).

...notice how I add a capital to Wife.

This was dreamt up in the early 1500's, even has a modern style chain, which was not invented till 200 years later..like allot of things Leonardo drew up!

He actually dissected real people (after they died) to understand and draw these very realistic and artistic drawings.

 The first ball bearing coming up.

This is a fabulous Exhibition, well worth a trip into Nelson.

 On the exploratory trip last sunday to check out if I knew where to go, heading for HQ Cafe at Brightwater for coffee and cake. I spotted Dave Meier out on the roadside tickling up his new front fence, so I stopped for a chat (as you do)....below is some of his Teddy Bear art on the outside of his house...another attraction for our bike ride!

Dave is the one with the crossed legs and goggly eyes.

This is Jimu stopped on the Stop bank awaiting instructions to start on the stop bank...

Will he have some mates from the Shed next Thursday to sup some coffee and cakes at HQ in Brighwater?...its up to you!

Cheers 

From the Social Committee

Please flick me an email if your a possible stop banker!

jimuthesaxman@gmail.com

Auckland to Wellington

In Auckland we always visit Christine's sister Kath and her husband Jim, out at Whangaparaoa a beautiful spot near Gulf Harbour. I was heading out to do some busking at Silverdale but somehow got a little lost and ended up at Orewa. Plenty of people about so I started busking, then I found there was actually a small busking festival going on 100 meters down the street.

The busker below is Jonathon Acorn, with his dancing puppet show, a man of 30 years international busking experience. I knew of him, he not of me, and we had good chat.

The next day I headed for the New Zealand Juggling Festival in Parakai and was also going to see Keith Levy perform at the Kumeu Arts Centre. I had been following his exploits via the internet and wanted to see him perform. It was a small showing that night and a wonderful mix of rhyming and storytelling. On this occasion he teamed up with The Dirt Road Orchestra. It was character-full night as one could expect, looking at his vehicle below called "The Flying Tortoise".

I had also arranged to meet up with Keith further north at Uretiti Beach near Whangarei but as we motored out of Whangaparaoa, the bus electrics were playing up. After we got to Uretiti  and after much discussion, we figured that the main bus house battery was definitely suspect and on the way out. So we decided to head back to Auckland and get some help from AA Solar back at Silverdale, who did a super job of fitting two 120w Gel (AGM) batteries into the old case, another solar panel on the roof taking our solar capacity to 290w and a new controller to cap off the whole upgrade of our solar electrical system.

Two new gel batteries, one above the other in the old battery box by the door. 

 This is the superb beach at Langs Beach, north of Mangawai Heads....I uni'ed to the end of the beach, had a swim and uni'ed back to the bus.

The photo's below are of Snells Beach. I was out doing yoga on the mudflats and boy did the tide come in fast, ending the yoga

The nicest toilet block I've seen was in Matakana, a nice little trendy town

Heading south we came to Tirau, which looks like it is the corrugated iron sculpture and sign capital of New Zealand

The dog building is the Visitor Centre.

We took the back roads a bit and headed through Raetihi

What an impressive Church

Not sure just how long this will be around as it hasn't seen any maintenance

 or fresh paint in a day or two.

It was all unlocked ready for business

On the way to the Gallipoli Exhibition we spotted this scooter at the Te Papa parking.

All padlocked up.....they train them young in Wellington.

The sculptures/models of Gallipoli fighting etc were all done larger than life size by Weta Workshops.

They looked so real, even down to hairs on the arms etc.

A powerful and sobering exhibition, making one appreciative of the efforts of our forebears fighting for and giving their lives, so we can live in peace today.

There was also Waka Ama races in the Wellington harbour

Near Te-Papa was a skateboard event/competition with skateboarders from USA, Australia and Europe.

The weather was pretty cool and windy, they managed to continue even tho some showers came through. They towelled off some areas, so they could skateboard into the night!

Cruise ships in port, this view from the Seaview Road.

Christine headed back to Nelson for 10 days, while I spent more time in the Capital then took off back to Taranaki to see Womad 2017.

Next blog will be my return to Womad and Christine's return where we stooged round Taranaki and down into the Kapiti area.

Cheers

Jimu & Christine 

Napier to Auckland

Kia Ora.

We were heading to Napier for our second year in a row to attend the Napier Art Deco event. However this year it rained for three days.

I was booked to do some busking, however the rain severely affected play, not quite the vibe of last year when there was fine weather. All good experience though.

 My version of  the night life on Marine Parade.

We headed out of town north on State Highway 5, taking a few detours down the smaller roads and eventually arriving mid morning in Taupo. It's years since I've spent any time in Taupo and it has really come into its own as a tourist hub. While Christine took a boat cruise to see the rock carvings out on the lake side cliffs, I went busking in one of the main streets. I earned more in 30 minutes in Taupo on a fine day than 3 rainy days in Napier.

It's tough staying up with these road bike guys. but I'm up to it!

We got both bikes off the back of the bus and mountain biked up to the Huka Falls to join the hoards of Chinese and other nationalities taking photos of the famous Huka Falls.

 Riding a large unicycle is a great way to start a conversation, but only if one stops to admire the view.
Everybody wants to see just how I get on this 36 inch unicycle.....and this is pretty much how I do it......its not fool proof tho..... because I am a clown, you know...and have the scars to prove it!

 The hard bit is getting on it...then staying on it...then getting off it..safely.

 The Mosaic L'Art Cafe was closed, we'll catch it next time!

Next we headed up State Highway 1 to go to the Hamilton Gardens, so much to see and very easy to get lost in there.

Lots of Chinese tourists about.

Their tour guide got them to pose like this, they were having fun!

This was the sky in Raglan, which has no easy park up spots for motorhomes

 so we paid $15 to stay in the Working Mens Club carpark, not as nice as our usual places!

Over the hill in Wainui Bay the local surfers were out, one in particular was really "laid back".

We just got back to Whangaparaoa with enough time for me to check out the Japan Day festivities.

 I took the opportunity to go in by bus to Queens Wharf. It was just like being in Japan again, very little English being spoken, with all the Japanese foods and customs in full flight.

Okonomiyake, these are very tasty.

These shrimp are flattened with a plasterers trowel. Not something you would see in Japan, I think!

Morning reflection in Gulf Harbour.

End of Story, next we're off to Parakai Springs and north towards Whangarei.

Cheers

Enjoy

Jimu & Christine