Today’s post is an account from some time ago – though still very representative of our glorious life here. We had a nearly identical day just last week.
About 70% of the work we do on the island is mowing. The airstrip, compound and all the tracks need maintaining, and after yesterday’s delightful day (remember the one where we caught our first lobster?) we feel up for tackling one of the more challenging tracks.
We’re up at 7 am, but no workout today, so we enjoy coffee leisurely outside watching the birds. We make up another batch of yoghurt after breakfast and then I’m off on rounds at 9 am. No rain, no visitors, 5.9 kWh power generated yesterday, and 5.3 kWh used.
It takes about 45 minutes to prepare for the mowing – we hook up the tow behind, load the push mower into the tray and change some blades on the brush cutters (after a bit of trial and error, and a handy code from a previous caretaker, we’ve worked out what’s best for each task). By 10:30 am we’re out the main gate and on our way.
Winter Cove is on the northeastern side of the island, 4 km from the caretakers residence, and where the kayakers typically pull in to camp. We’ve had a few groups of kayakers pull in over the two months we’ve been here. They are a fit and determined demographic! One group of young men got themselves stuck in a current which added 5 hours to their already 10 hour day of paddling. It seems like a hobby that requires a huge amount of mental and physical resilience.
On our way to Winter Cove we’re cautiously trialling the tow behind mower. It looks like it will take 3 passes to cut the full width but it’s working well. Apanie drops me at the end of the ATV track with the brushcutters to get a start on the walking track while she goes back for the second pass. It’s taken roughly 40 minutes to get to this point already. I don my chaps, harness and helmet and take a little walk down the track to where the bracken and tussock on the track are a bit denser and start up the brushcutter.
It's warm work in the sun with all that gear on, so when the battery runs out, I walk back to the hilltop and take a little rest and some water before swapping out a new one. They batteries last up to an hour each, so it’s a good, enforced break.
By the time the second battery runs out, Apanie has finished the ATV mowing and she’s run the push mower up and down the start of the walking track, where I had decided it was too sparse to bother with. She tags in on the brushcutter and I head back along the track to clear all the cuttings.
The work is physically demanding, but the view makes it worthwhile, and I’ve been really enjoying this feeling in my body at the end of the day of being physically tired. It’s so different to office work. We don’t put in more than half a day of this type of physical activity. It’s certainly given me a real respect for grounds people who are putting in 8 hours of effort a day. Hats off to them!
At 2 pm, we’re back in the ATV on the way to the house – with a short stop at the header tank to check our water usage (rainwater is our only source, and we shift it around from other tanks to here as required).
Lunch is homemade sourdough, hummus and kraut with salad from the garden and cheese. Yum. There’s a usual 1 hour period after lunch where we just mill about. Apanie is heading down to East Cove and gives me a shout at 4 pm to say there’s a pod of dolphins in the pass. They’re still there by the time I catch up to her – about 20 in total (I’m guessing), hunting fish in the cove. After half an hour of watching them we decide to get in the water ourselves and have a little swim. Soon after one of the yachties moored in the cove heads ashore in his tender and we spend what’s left of the afternoon chatting to him about the island.
We’re back in the compound by 5:30 pm and head to the vegetable garden for dinner supplies (and a spot of weeding while we’re there). Then it’s dinner (tofu noodles), yoga and bed.
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