New beginnings

WOW- It is about a year ago that Samuel and I moved into Otamatea Ecovillage in Kaiwaka

What a year it has been. The first 6 months we rented a little flat at Peter's and Ning's place.

There it is - see our entrance

In January this year we started plastering and painting the cottage, belonging to Sabine and Wolfgang, our new home.

Wolfgang with Jessie on his lap and Sabine.

We moved in February and we started a trial partnership of one year with Sabine and Wolf. We are halfway there and boy, have I learned a lot about gardening - big and small jobs. I am also physically changing due to my daily input of digging, pulling weeds, pushing heavy weelbarrows up hills ( sometimes muddy and slippery), loosening soils, planting seedlings, etceterea...
There were are plastering with mud and painting with lime wash - all in the eco spirit

samuel's first beehive

...more pictures of our 2 homes, where we garden, around the village and the many animals we encounter daily.

first place

new place

first place

Sabine's garden where we have the most veggies growing at this moment but that will change.

some views from and of the village or the peninsula we are living on...

taken from mountain road which gives you an overview of the Otamatea river that is accessible form our home - the village is situated on the left side of the river

top of the peninsula with the brynderwyn hills on the background

one of the coldest days this winter - we seldom have ice

me on the Sunday market in Mangawhai

RANGITOTO

Here is a bit of information about the 600 or 700 year old non-active volcano Rangitoto - on historic conservation trust website http://www.rangitoto.org/

the top is what we were aiming for... will we survive it?

a typical NZ orchid - small and white or green

the pohutekawa flowers in bloom but not in such a massive way I expected it to be. Maybe the drought of 2 months might have been in play here cos rain is the sole source of water on that Island.

Again the top of the island and a few baches. Since a couple of decades it is by law forbidden to build new summer houses.

it was a nice day for a swim - a bit cloudy but still quite warm. Just a tiny bit of sun was enough for the black stone rocky paths to reflect its heat. So, quite good the sun was hiding otherwise we would have been roasted.

pohutekawa red flowers and the black rocky paths. see above and below.

2 examples of some quite prehistorical looking leafy plants

Two appealing islands in the Haruki Gulf

A view on Auckland city- the sky tower and the harbour bridge

Me resting after the climb - It took us an hour to climb it. ( with a few photo stops)

this is an attempt of 360 degree shot of the view once on the top.

Me again, feeling eager to have a swim in the water after the climb and descent of the volcano, feeling hot and sticky.