The Kiwis are back

Tim and Mike working in the garden

Two years ago Shelly and Tim from New Zealand spent a few months at Tenderbreak (See link here Tim and Shelly, 2009). It was not long after the Black Saturday fires, and they not only helped us out with many chores around the place, but they helped take our minds off that terrible day and its aftermath. In fact, their youthful enthusiasm, “joie de vivre” and eagerness to learn about the world, inspired a new life force in us. Tim and Shelly became close friends and that friendship continued even after they returned to the “land of the long white cloud”.  



Mike and Blue  keeping the garden up to scratch

Well the wonderful news is that Tim has returned, accompanied by his brother, Mike. Shelly is hoping to join them soon. Although they have only been here three weeks, we have spent many hours sharing our respective adventures over the past few years and discussing the state of the world and possible solutions.

Digging a trench for the new pipeline

We have also been very productive. Apart from mundane tasks such as weeding, planting seedlings, watering, cooking meals, de-nailing second-hand wood, harvesting fruit and veggies and running our weekly market stall they have also helped with some larger projects. We have installed a new water line along the front of the house to provide fresh water (when we need it) under our verandah, have shifted several hundred bricks from Bayswater and started making a new door into our workshop area (see next post).



Hazelnut Truffles. Yum!

One of the joys of having Tim around is we get to devour his delicious food creations. What’s more, he carries around dozens of recipes in his head. He’s a walking recipe book and is only too happy to share his knowledge with others. One of his missions in life is to reawaken interest in good food and how this knowledge can help our bodies maintain good health.  Both Tim and Mike are vegetarians and Tim uses his culinary skills to turn our produce into delectable meals.

Whilst Tim and Heather are busy in the kitchen, Mike provides musical accompaniment on the acoustic guitar. How lucky are we!!!!!!