We had a visitor last week

One of the daughters of good friends of ours in the UK, came to stay with us for a few days before she headed home. She'd been in NZ si ce the beginning of December. 

It was so lovely to see her, it's been a long while for me. 

On Saturday we went to Raglan, sat on the beach for a while then had lunch at the Harbourview Hotel.

That's not sand by the way, it's grass, it's so dry!

We had a meander around the shops, Louise bought a West Coast stoneware coffee keep cup. We then had a stroll around the wharf.

We couldn't leave Raglan without driving to Ngaranui beach lookout, one of the best views you'll ever see. It was a glorious day.

Our final call, before heading back, was to Groovy Rags. She couldn't leave Raglan without purchasing a iconic, made in Raglan  t-shirt, sorry no photo,  bugger.

Sunday was her last day, we went to Hamiton farmers market and bought fresh veggies for lunch.

Then it was time to head to the airport, remembering last minute, to take photos. Tash was at a work colleagues leaving do, so called in to the Village Cafe on the way out 

Then it was off to Auckland airport, over the years lots of work has been made on the motorways and it is now so much quicker to get there. There has also been so much work done on the airport that it's barely recognisable. It's also very confusing, so we opted to take her to the drop off point, which was, well, big! Busy! Loud!

And then off she trotted, this wee little girl, backpack on, pulling her trolley suitcase, and with a last wave she was gone.

From a very shy girl, she has become a beautiful, adventurous, confident young woman. It brought a tear to my eye to see her go. There's a few right now if I'm honest. 

Come back soon Louise, you've so much still to see, bring Kizzy too 

You'll be home now, send our love to everyone 

Love from us all here in NZ 

Take care "Luke" 😉

After the lull, things are happening again at the top house

 On Saturday a digger turned up and started clearing the drains

then it moved up to the top house to do some work there

 Before photo of the drive

 The drive today

 Where 2 new water tanks are going 

Before

After, woodshed and Manuka tree gone

Before, craft room in background 

After

Before, old woodshed and Manuka tree

After

A lot of gorse has been cleared

Back around

To level the right hand side of the drive, earth was taken from the left hand side of the drive. First the topsoil was taken off, then clay dug out and used on the other side

Then the topsoil was put back. The digger driver has done an impressive job 👏 

Where the old tank ended up. It's new home will be somewhere on the hill, below the clay line. I'm surprised it survived being dragged down the hill

Finally, for today,  because this post has taken me ages cos Blogger is being a twat, nowhere near as good as it used to be, anyhoo, the new craft space is now pre wired

View's improved with that bloody gorse slowly disappearing

There's more to show, the digger, before doing all that, has been clearing drains. No photos yet though 

See ya next time

Sue xxxx