Fatbastard: Blog

Kia ora koutou

Summer fades to autumn, 23C becomes 19, and the rain encourages the neighbour's giant bamboo on our NW boundary to sprout new growth. Spikes 100mm in diameter, and 10m high. A threat rather than an immediate problem, but if left untrimmed, they will go to 20m and sprout shitloads of foliage and shade my bedroom deck from precious winter sun. Thank god (and Bunnings Hardware) for battery chainsaws!

Ch 44 tomorrow.

Kia ora tatou
A wedding 'down country' held things up a bit, and this was followed by a four day 'mens gathering' a (very) little closer to home. Contrary to popular belief, we did not remove our clothes, anoint our bodies with pig fat, and dance naked around a fire. Some of the guys did go to a local beach for a naked swim in the predawn, and watched the sun come up. I stayed back at the camp and finished Ch43. I will post on Tues.

Kia ora koutou
New Zealand's founding document - The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6th 1840 about a hundred miles north of here. It provided a legal framework for relations between the indigenous Maori people and the British Crown, and promised Maori undisturbed posession of lands, forests, fisheries and other treasures. These promises were broken almost before the ink was dry, but the signing has been celebrated as our National Day for most of my lifetime. My wife and many of my friends will be going north to celebrate at Waitangi. I'm going souh to a wedding. Ch 42 before I go.

Kia ora koutou
A weather system from the tropics just dropped buckets of rain over the upper half of the North Island (half a meter in some places), with widespread flooding, power outages and shitloads of settlements isolated by slips, washouts and destroyed bridges. Seven or eight dead. We are okay and Ch41 will be posted in the weekend.

Kia ora koutou
They say 'use it or lose it' so I have been pushing myself to keep boating and diving even though I find the physical effort involved more and more taxing. A holiday in Houhora (a harbour further north) was fun despite some boating difficulties, and I have now returned home to better fishing and diving than we managed on holiday. Death to jetskiers! Chapter 40 in a few days.