Have been delayed a couple of days posting this on account of having to spend time getting to grips with updating our property websites. I now know what a hyperlink is, and can do such things in the website editor! Our website designer has finally ditched us and doesn't reply to e-mails asking how to do this and that.......so it was in at the deep end as they say. To tie up the blog from Gisborne, you might like to know about a couple more quirky New Zealand th...

As part of our desire to get into the Gizzy way of life, and not remain in the sweet but unvibrant community of Wanui, Lesley has been to the Gisborne West Rotary Club for the past two weeks. It may be the norm, but she'd forgotton that a visiting member is required to give the next week's talk. That's a whole lot better than buying the club a round! So we spend a couple of evenings on the computer, picking off from Wikipedia a few photos relevant to Lesley'...

Before I get into the main body of this blog, I wanted to tell you about an issue to do with Maori rights. The Tuhoe people of Te Urewera, to the west of Gisborne and south of the Bay of Plenty insist that they never signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. This treaty between the British and Maori set out an agreement and still today it is seen as fundamental tenet of New Zealand Maori rights. The treaty having been legalised in 1984, Maori could now address ...

Lesley has left for work (yesterday was Lesley's day off and we ventured 50 km north to Toluga Bay). It's still chilly in the mornings and after her shower she dresses in front of our treasured electric fire. The depression has passed and we now have had a couple of beautiful sunny days and can see south across Poverty Bay all the way down the coast. We are glad to report that Young Nick's Head is still there. Just by way of explanation, Nicholas Young was ...

Young Nick's Head is out there somewhere across the bay. We've been looking for it from our beachfront motel for two days now. Rain hammers the balcony windows, like a drum roll reaching a crescendo, then dies for a few moments before resuming its attack. The balcony chairs are sodden. Beyond the grassy strip sea trees bend in submission to a ceaseless south wind. Tons of tree trunks have been piled up all along the shore, driven in on the winter wind. Th...