Painting the bedroom

Another lockdown project ticked off the list.

This is what my bedroom looked like nine days ago:

And this is what it looks like today:

Lock down really matters

We're all enjoying the Covid-19 songs.

This is a brilliant one from Mulan and Miya's recorder teacher, Kevin.

Hope it goes viral!

Covid-19 lockdown life

My warmest sympathies go out to all those who are suffering from the worldwide pandemic that is Covid-19.

The situation around the world is truly awful -- people are suffering and some are dying.  And many more are hugely struggling from the necessary restrictions and financial shutdowns.

From what I understand, the strict lockdown is the best option we have right now -- it's the lesser of two evils.  Without a lockdown, too many people would get Covid-19 in a short space of time.  Too many people would require hospital treatment all at once, and the hospitals would not have the room or resources to treat them all at the same time.  Many more people would die at home without proper treatment.  I trust the experts on this, and I fully support the lockdown.  Stay home; keep safe!

But the lockdown has its own problems -- important but non-essential work stopped, families with reduced incomes, follow-on financial ripples, etc.  It's going to take a long time to recover.

But dare I say it, personally I'm enjoying the lockdown!

At least in my little bubble we're fairly well protected.  And life is so peaceful!

In many ways it's like the summer holiday I never had this year (only a bit cooler).

For us, typically over summer paid work slows as our students take a break from their studies.  The girls' outside activities stop, too, as most are term-based.  So, typically over summer we spend more time at home on other projects -- gardening, painting the house, etc, etc.  Or. to put it another way, during the school holidays homeschooling becomes more homeschooling.

But this past summer I never got to do that -- I was mostly busy working on Belmont Music Centre duties.

So, I'm genuinely enjoying the lockdown, and it's very satisfying to potter about at home and get to do some of the things I really wanted to do over summer.

Overall, I could count on one hand the number of times our family has gone out the gate in the past three weeks.  And I haven't missed the outings at all.

We're not even needing to go out the gate for groceries -- we're ordering everything online.  Mostly we're getting what we need -- the minor struggles with delivery errors or items not available are merely First World Problems.  In normal life we almost never eat out or get takeaways, so our home cooking is just the same as always.

Financially, right now our work and income is reduced, and it's not great to have two slow work periods in the year.  But where possible we're working online and our income is still enough to be comfortable.  None of us need to go out the gate for work.  We haven't applied for the work subsidy -- while we may be able to get it, at this stage we don't need it, and best to leave it for those who genuinely do need it.

Mama has stopped a lot of her teaching work, but is still teaching some students online via Zoom.  I decided to not teach my paying students online -- they're getting a break!  Mama has been busier than usual with NZ government translation work (I hear she had some urgent Covid-19 documents to translate into Chinese).  She's also been doing a bit of TV documentary research work.

For the first several days of lockdown I was busier with Belmont Music Centre manager duties, but that's eased off now.  We'd decided to cancel music lessons on Saturday 21 March (just before the lockdown started).  I was then busy organising online teaching, and from Saturday 28th we've been back up and running with online classes (also using Zoom).

The big change for us is that the girls' outside activities have stopped.  Mulan is suffering the most with this, and is eager for things to return to normal.  We can't do swimming, gymnastics, athletics or netball.  Music and ballet have continued, but they are now all online on Zoom.

Our usual schooling deskwork is mostly the same, though I'm happy to report (I'm not sure if Mulan and Miya will be happy to read the report) that with more time available I'm adding (and planning to add) some learning topics that I've had in my head but hadn't had time to get started.

Right now, our gardens are looking much better than they've done in months -- the lawns are mowed, and the hedges and trees are trimmed.  We emptied everything out of our garage, waterblasted the floor, and returned everything neatly.  I chopped all the firewood -- our five-year-old pile of branches is gone.  I sewed and put up a new curtain.  Mama's been painting the fence.  If lockdown continues into winter we'll start painting the inside of the house.

We're lucky.  Lockdown's been pretty good for us.  I'm tempted to try a Jojo Rabbit trick -- lie to the family and tell them that New Zealand is in Level 4 lockdown for another six months.

Athletics

A huge congratulations to Mulan!

Earlier, I wrote about Mulan's Auckland athletics relay successes.

The latest news is that Mulan was selected for the Auckland athletics team to compete in the New Zealand Interprovincial competition.  This team competition is for Grade 12 and 13 boys and girls, and is held over Easter weekend.

Each New Zealand province can enter at most 11 children in each grade/sex, so obviously it's a big deal to be one of the 11 12-year-old girls selected from across all of Auckland.

This was a last-minute thing for us.  Kids who were interested in joining the team were meeting for training sessions on Sunday mornings throughout the summer season.  We hadn't thought much about it, and have been doing gymnastics at that time each week instead.

But about a month ago a few people from our club suggested Mulan go along to the training sessions and have a go.  We first tried it three weeks ago, and Mulan fitted in well with the girls.  We filled out the forms, including listing Mulan's PBs (personal bests), and left it for the managers to decide on the team.

Meanwhile, Mulan was selected by Takapuna Athletic Club to join the Top 10 competition, and they competed last Saturday.  This is an Auckland-wide interclub team competition.  Each club enters at most two boys and two girls in each grade, with each pair then competing as a team against the other pairs from other clubs.

The twist is that each member of the pair has to compete in four quite different events -- this is a competition for all-rounders, not specialists.  So, Mulan competed in the 200m, 1500m, long jump and discus.  Her Takapuna club partner competed in 100m, 800m, high jump and shot put.

Mulan did brilliantly well on the day, getting three new PBs:

• long jump: 3.96m -- 3rd
• discus: 21.09m (PB) -- 3rd
• 1500m: 6:12.37 (PB) -- 4th
• 200m: 31.65s (PB) -- 6th

Mulan's partner, Kate, also had great performances.  Together, they got silver for the Grade 12 girls!

Overall, Takapuna club got 4th place.

The results are here.

On Sunday at training we got the awesome news that both Mulan and Kate were chosen for the Auckland Interprovincial team.  They have asked Mulan to compete in long jump, discus, shot put and 400m.

And if that isn't good enough, last night Takapuna club has its final clubnight of the season, which also doubled as club champs.  Mulan finished her club competition with two more PBs:

• long jump: 4.30m
• discus: 24.58m

Unfortunately, this may be Mulan's final athletics competition of the season.  There is a good chance that the Interprovincial competition will be cancelled this year, to rightly keep people safe from covid-19.  The latest news is that the Interprovincials is postponed until October.

---

We can't forget Miya -- she's also had an awesome athletics season!

At last night's clubnight, Miya finished off the season with two new PBs:

• long jump: 3.64m
• shot put: 8.20m

Mulan and Miya have a healthy, friendly rivalry at athletics.  After each athletics competition we record the girls results on a spreadsheet and analyse the results (doubles as a great statistics lesson!).  Miya was in Grade 9 this season, and we can look back at Mulan's Grade 9 results from three years ago.

Now at the end of the athletics season, we can officially say that Miya beat Mulan's Grade 9 PBs in 4 out of 8 events -- 200m, high jump, shot put and long jump.

Overall, it looks like both girls are pretty even in their athletics performances -- well done to both of them!

NZ history

The girls and I have just finished watching the 14 episodes of The Aotearoa History Show.

It's an excellent series, and we highly recommend it.

Canoeing

Our second big summer holiday event involved our family splitting up.

This is starting to be a family tradition, where Mama and I go and do something together, while Mulan and Miya stay with the grandparents.  Last year Mama and I walked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

This year, Mama researched and then signed us up for a guided 3-day canoe trip down the Whanganui River with Canoe Safaris.

So, Laolao's flight back to China was on Thursday the 23rd of January.  That gave us one whole day to get ready for our canoe trip.

On Friday morning, after Mulan and Miya's swimming lesson at 8:30am, we dropped the girls off at the grandparents' (Nainai and Yeye).  Then it was time to start packing.

With no idea how much clothing we needed, we piled heaps of the old tramping gear in the car -- better too much than not enough.  The list of suggested gear seemed to say it could be cold and wet, so in went plenty of thermals and gore-tex.

Then we had the long drive down to Ohakune, the home of Canoe Safaris, where we had booked accommodation for the night.  Getting there around 8pm we had a quick dinner before crashing into bed; we needed to be up before dawn for an early start to the river.

We had a nice view of Ruapehu from our room, which we only got to appreciate on our return after we'd survived the canoe trip.

Before leaving the lodge we had to squash all our gear into one watertight barrel each.  Back in the car went all the gore-tex and most of the thermals.  And I still didn't need a lot of the stuff I packed in my barrel, as the weather was perfect the entire time.

Next morning, we met the rest of our paddling group.  Besides Mama and me, the only other paying customers were a father and his two teenage children.  To help us along we had a super-experienced guide, Erin, and a new guide doing a training run, Simon -- both were brilliant.

Piling into the van with the canoes on the trailer behind us, we drove to the starting point at Whakahoro.

After securing our barrels inside our canoes we had a quick river-side theory lesson on how to paddle and how to read the river.  Then we jumped in and started paddling.  Mama and I shared one canoe (Mama was the engine at the front while I was in control of our direction at the back).  Our two guides controlled the other two canoes, with the teens at the front.  The dad was in a one-person kayak.

Within minutes Mama and I were stuck on a partly submerged log.  I'd steered us directly onto it!  A bit of wriggling around and we were back moving again.  But it was a great learning experience, and we didn't make the same mistake twice.

Over the three days we had 90km to paddle.  The steady paddling, hour after hour, was tiring but enjoyable.  The first day was the hardest, and the next morning the old body was stiff, but by the end of day three I felt like I could keep going forever.  Just getting back to the basics of physical activity, eating and sleeping was very satisfying.  On the afternoon of the third day it was something of a disappointment to see power lines in the distance.

The Whanganui river is popular for canoeing and kayaking, and often we'd pass or get passed by other groups.  Mama and I had a bit of a middle-aged moment when we quietly grumbled together about a group of too-loud youngsters, yahooing their way down river with beers and loud rock music.

The occasional rapids were a lot of fun.  On the first day the dad in the kayak tipped over going through one of the rapids, and lost his sunhat forever.  Mama and I managed to stay (mostly) dry the entire time.

On the third day we encountered the biggest bit of white water.  Our plan was to hurry there in the morning, get through safely and then set up for lunch to watch the other groups have a go.  Our guides knew exactly what they were doing and had trained us well.  We all got through safely without capsizing.  But most of the other paddlers were wobbling and tipping out all over the place.

This was a good lesson in the importance of choosing the right guide.  Another good lesson was seeing two canoes stuck wrapped around rocks.  They'd been abandoned there until a change in water level might push them on their way.

On the second day we stopped off for a walk up to the Bridge to Nowhere.  This was a nice change of muscle use, and the upper body enjoyed the rest.

After long days of paddling, our two camp nights were a welcome pleasure.  We set up our tents while our guides prepared dinner.

All our meals were provided and prepared by our guides.  As they wisely pointed out, even if everything else were to go wrong during the holiday, if the food is good then everyone is happy.  And our food was excellent!  Breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks were all delicious, nutritious, filling and well-timed.  They even satisfied my vegetarian requirements.

It wasn't the sort of holiday where we took many photos.  It was only at the very end that Mama and I took a photo of each other sitting in "our" canoe.

Back in Ohakune on Monday afternoon, the other family had to immediately drive home.  We were more relaxed and stayed there one more night before heading back to Auckland on Tuesday.  Of course we wandered around the town and checked out the giant carrot.

Mama made another excellent choice for our couple-holiday.  I wonder what she has planned for us for next year.

Horses, of course

Mulan and Miya love horses.

They read horse books, both fiction and non-fiction, and love the idea of riding horses.

But we live in the city.  And we're super-busy with everything else that we do.  It's just not possible to squeeze in horse riding lessons during the week (unless we stop some other activity).

Our solution was to try a horse riding holiday camp over the summer holidays.

Mama did a bit of research online and found Kate's Riding Centre up near Kerikeri.  It looked good (at least to us city slickers) and we booked a 5-day camp for the girls.

The timing and the place were perfect, as Laolao from China was holidaying with us in New Zealand.  While Mulan and Miya were staying at the camp, Mama and I would be tour guides for Laolao, showing her around the Bay of Islands.  (We were last up there when we had our campervan trip in the winter of 2016.)

We left home fairly early in the morning on Monday the 6th of January, aiming to arrive at the farm by 1pm.

On the drive up we stopped to stretch our legs at Ruakaka.  No one else but me cared that it was a special back-to, where I used to go camping every year as a child.

At Kate's farm we had a very relaxed greeting.  The mezzanine of the farmhouse was scattered with various mattresses and as the camp kids gradually arrived they (we) took sleeping bags, etc up and organised the beds.

During the week I got the impression that the living environment and caregiver system for the camp kids was mostly free range.

Mama, Laolao and I stayed at the farm for another couple of hours, watching the kids get settled in.

Very quickly they were over with the horses, and we immediately saw that we had chosen the right horse camp.  Kate is brilliant in all horse matters and was an awesome teacher to the kids. I felt I could trust Kate completely, and the girls were in safe hands.

Kate really emphasised understanding horses, and using that understanding to be able to connect with the horses in a caring but in-control way.  She was great at explaining the reasons for why they do things the way they do.

Prior to this camp the only interactions Mulan and Miya had had with horses was a couple of sit-on and led activities.  But here at the camp it was hands-on all the way -- exactly what they were wanting.

No longer needed, Mama, Laolao and I left the farm, driving the short distance into Kerikeri and to our B&B we had booked online.

While the place we stayed at was lovely, the main problem was that it wasn't entirely private.  I had thought that we'd booked a granny flat -- a separate unit with two bedrooms, bathroom and living area (plus limited access to the kitchen in the main house).  It turned out that the living area that we had was not completely separate from the owner's area, and the owner was often in and out of "our" area.  Basically, we had two private bedrooms, but then shared the living/kitchen space with the owner.

Nonetheless, the owner was very nice and the stay was pleasant.  Watching wild rabbits on the back lawn was very relaxing.

We stayed here, and the girls stayed at the camp, for four nights.  We picked the girls up at midday on Friday the 10th.

Each day we visited the girls briefly for a quick hello and to see the improvements in their horse-skills.  But for the most part we left them to it.

Instead, each day we picked a different area and went sightseeing.

On Tuesday we drove over to see Kemp House and the Old Stone Store.

On Wednesday we drove into Paihia and caught the ferry over to Russell.

And on Thursday we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.  Actually, I sat in the carpark reading for a few hours, while Mama and Laolao went into the grounds; I had already been in the grounds enough times.

Laolao loved Kerikeri, and was full of praise for the area the entire time.

And while I completely agree that Kerikeri is amazingly beautiful, I would still not like to live there.  My main complaint about Kerikeri is the roads.  I hated driving around there -- to get anywhere at all you have to drive, and the roads are often high-speed one-lane-each-direction and no median barriers/islands.

On Friday we got to the farm to pick up the girls just in time to get a few photos of them with their horses.

The girls absolutely loved their stay at Kate's.  I think we're decided that we'll return for more camps in future holidays.

On the way home we took the scenic route, driving through Opononi (seeing the statue of Opo the dolphin) and the Waipoua kauri forest.  Of course we stopped to see Tane Mahuta.