Second-to-Last Dargaville Holiday Post

Ok well its now about 7 months since our holiday in Dargaville (wow!) and, frankly, I don't remember very many interesting details. So, I'm simply going to do TWO posts and summarise what we got up to, and show you a few pics! =)

Monday 25th,  we went to Dargaville Museum. First off, we watched a 15-minute(?) video about gumdigging and stuff, then we walked through to see everything on display....Mum and Dad thought it was amazing, so ask them what was there! lol everything's blurring with the following day in my head!

Tuesday 26th, was a trip to the Kauri Museum which we really enjoyed. They had all sorts of things..a cow in the process of being milked (not real!), the first Caterpillar(?), operating models of various machines, and a life-size boardinghouse, complete with model people, performing various tasks, etc.. - examining a patient, having a tooth pulled(!), and so on. .................

Wednesday 27th saw as take do the Trounson Kauri Walk:

This became a bit of a photoshoot (to get my mind off being bored...lol):

Danielle and Diana...Diana is soooo nice to photograph!! lol =D

Funny photo I think!

Diana, Danielle, Bryce

The boys

Girls shot (minus Maria)



Does this pic in anyway remind you of the Duggars or Bateses?

 Later on we had Thai takeaways for dinner; I still like Indian better!

Dargaville - Sunday 24th April

Hi again everyone...=)

Mum played a sermon (on a cassette tape) around midday, then we had lunch (er, brunch for me!) and started our chocolate bunnies (Yes I know they're supposed to be for young children..but I still like them!).
Later on we went for a REALLY long walk. Actually most of us weren't so excited about that idea...so (random, I know!) We started picking flowers and putting them in the girls hair (not mine! haha). Here are a couple, er, few  pics:

The girls were calling themselces 'flower girls,' and wanted to know when the wedding is, Uncle Pete? lol! =D

The End...

...

Ok I need to do some serious blogging, but for now I'll just give you a quick update on what I've been up to, before I go to bed.

On Thursday night (about 11:30) my sister Monique (10yrs) had some kind of seizure, which lasted about five minutes. She went to Kidz First (Middlemore Hospital) by ambulance not long after. On Friday morning (in hospital) she had another, worse, seizure. She was admitted for the weekend, and as she had to have someone 16yrs + stay with her 24/7 Mum and Dad took turns staying with her, and they organised a few other people to spend a few hours with her. So Friday and Saturday I made dinner, looked after my siblings and basically kept the house running (actually either Mum or Dad was around most of Saturday to help).
On Monday she and Dad went to Starship (Auckland Hospital) for an EEG (some kind of test). We found out yesterday the likely diagnosis is Beneign Rolandic Epilepsy. They arrived home Monday afternoon.

I also baked on Monday - for Tuesday.
Tuesday I had a flute lesson, and we sat our tramp(olining) badge. I passed Level 2.
Straight after tramp the Aikens' came to our place for afternoon tea, and I did the Chapter 2 Test in my French book with Mrs Aiken (yay passed that really well too!) =)
Just after Dad arrived home from work his cousin, Marie, popped in to say hi (wow the last time I saw her must have been when Maria was born?!?).
And Tuesday, Wednesday and tonight I have been for a driving lesson...Dad keeps teasing me that all the cops start patrolling the roads when I go for a lesson!

This afternoon the rest of my family went out for music lessons, so I had a lovely couple of hours on my own. Then my family, and my cousins arrived.

Now its past bed time, so I think I better go to bed so I can do school work, and bake for the supper after the induction of our minister at church tomorrow night.

G'night =)
Luv Bee

Dargaville Holiday Post #6: The Kumara Box!

On Saturday we got up late...
And went to The Kumara Box:

When we got there, we met the couple who owned the place, Mr  & Mrs Suckling, although Mr Suckling has his photo on billboards everywhere with the name 'Ernie,' and is usually known by that name now!
Then we chose seats on the 'train' and went for a ride to see where the kumara is growing, etc..

This was homemade from 40-gallon drums!

Each drum had a place name on it

You ride between a couple of paddocks, where there's
various 'things' - this pig,
 

There are 2 pews inside and they actually hold services in here sometimes!

There are murals on either side in this tunnel, which were 'rescued'
from a shop that was closing(?), and the artist who painted
them years ago is going over the top of them as they
were really faded!

I think these below under ground...Don't you?!

Ernie is making this kiwi himself! from flax.

This tractor doesn't need anyone in it to drive it,
it can be programmed from a computer,
and then run by sattelite!

The harvester. In the middle is the conveyer belt,
which the kumaras come up on then people stand
around and sort them, some go on the shelf above
the belt, others into the buckets hanging off the sides.

 After the train ride we were shown through the sheds that the kumaras are stored in - not so great for Mum's clostaphobia! (if that's how you spell it..!) Then into the theatre(?) for a talk about various things to do with kumara. Unfortunately I can't remember much of what he said 'cause it was so long ago, but we were shocked at how many kumara growers are in a small area up there! We also watched and listened to Hayley Westenra singing some Moari song, she has an amazing voice!!! =D

After a long talk (everyone was having a well-behaved day and sitting very quietly, and Ernie was enjoying speaking to us so he just carried on!), we talk some photos:

And then... we got invited for drinks and a snack - homemade slice, etc.. and hot cross buns! So we stayed to chat and stuff for ages!! And no we'd never met them before! Oh I just remembered, a couple of ladies (one's the editor of the Health Ideas or something magazine!).

These are their customers

Big kumara!!

This is on the kumara in the above pic.

I know it's unlikely, but if you are ever up that way, this would be a great place to visit! check out there website: http://kumarabox.co.nz/

Well, kumara still isn't my favourite food, but we had an awesome day!
Bee
PS: Sorry this post is so long!

Dargaville Holiday Post #5 - Tane Mahuta

Bonjour! =)

Well, we just did 'normal' stuff in the morning [sleep] and early afternoon. Later in the afternoon, we drove up to see the Tane Mahuta, a massive Kauri tree.
Here are some pics:

From left to right: Me (Bianca), Monique, Diana, Dad, Bryce, Jarrod (standing above us), Mum, Maria, Danielle.

Tall trees!



Well you can see how big the trees are up there! And I think one of those photos will become our most recent family-photo for a while! =)

Au revoir,
Bianca

Dargaville Holiday Post #4 - Quad Biking

Written 28/4/11

On Thursday I got up early, well, earlier I suppose!
And we went to Baylys Beach, where we hired a 2-seater quad bike for an hour. Unfortunately you had to have you drivers license to ride them yourself, and Dad had signed something to say that he would be on it the whole time, so first he took as all for a ride on the back, then he let some of us older ones dsit on the front and have a go at 'driving' it, which is definately more fun! Although someone seriously needs to tell my Dad that going fast is half the fun!





Yeah, this is me



Maria enjoys the beach



Mum and Dad. Isn't the beach beautiful?



An up-close view of the bike, with Monique (then 9) and Dad on it

Look at all the tacks we made!

I think this was definately better at the time, but
I think the video is still cool!
Caution: If you are the owner of this vehicle,
you might not want to see this! =D

As it was already late afternoon, we just went back to the unit for dinner, and I managed to motivate myself to do some of the review I was up to in Writing & Grammar, yes, I actually took school work with me! lol
Later on we went for a walk, and ended up watching a pipe band finish their practice - probably in preperation for Anzac Day.

<3 Bee