Another happy day in paradise.

Well we did not quite finish the weather boards. We were into all the fiddly bits and that slowed us down. What we did looked neat. Les and Ray the plumbers got all their pipes in and tested. Jane and Dave Rogo started hanging the doors.

It was another good day with some hard workers doing their thing. Thank you to all who showed up and to all who brought food along. We hope Martin gets well by next Saturday. Maybe he will come and tell us all the things we did wrong? Just blame Dave.

September 12th day...

Having been inspired by the Governor General's visit we will be wanting to rip into work tomorrow. We will complete the weatherboard. We will hang internal doors. We will install a meter box. We will do the batten around the suffiet. We may even look at scribers. Enough to keep us busy. As usual check the phone message on 4774848 if the weather is doubtful. We are going so well, and enjoying the journey. :-) See ya there!

Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand and Lady Susan visit with Mike and Christine

Today the patron of Habitat for Humanity in New Zealand, Sir Anand Satyanand and his wife, Lady Susan, visited Mike and Christine's home.

Saturday 5th September.

We had somewhere between 32 and 40 volunteers turn up on Saturday. We made a big inroad into getting all the weatherboard done on the house. The women from the Waverly Church provided heaps of delicious food for morningtea, and as always food came from Jean, Christine and the whanau. It was a good day even though Martin was worn out trying to keep an eye on us all.

Well done to all the volunteers. We are ready for the Vice-royal visit tomorrow. After the official part we are having a bit of a feed to celebrate the roof going on and the exciting progress so far. All volunteers welcome. The official party will arrive at around 3:30 p.m.

Work day Saturday 5th September

Tomorrow we will rocket ahead with the weatherboard. We can only go to the top of the windows. We will also be tidying up the site for the Governor General's visit on Thursday afternoon. He will be coming up to the site at around 3:30p.m. that day. The sun is shining today and the forecast is good so we look forward to basking in the sun as we work tomorrow.

Come anytime after 9 a.m. We will have another fun day. It should be as easy as falling off a log tomorrow, the nails will be in place.

See you there.

A start made on the weatherboard

Around 20 people fronted up on Saturday to begin on the weatherboard. After the day one of the volunteers commented that "weather board is more complicated than you think isn't it?" I think getting started is the most difficult part, and we made a good start on Saturday. (Dave and Martin have been up today (Monday) and arranged things so that it will be easier next Saturday. ) Thanks to all who fronted. We had some great food and some new faces. Lily was one of those new faces and she said, "I'll be back! I'm hooked!" Great stuff.

Photos:

#1. Some people get dressed up for Habitat! (Actually one inconsiderate couple wanted Dave to marry them on his Habitat day.... they need to sort their priorities!)

#2. Double trouble. Christine and "she's da man" who does "man's stuff"!

#3. Weatherboard started on one side.

#4. How many people does it take to put the first length of weatherboard on?

Answer: 5 women and 3 men! Very efficient we are.

#5. Early morning preparations.

Weatherboard time.

During the week a couple of builders installed the windows. The house will receive a building inspection today (Friday) so that tomorrow we should be able to begin on the eaves and weatherboard. The work day begins at 9 a.m..... come and go when you can or need to. Lunch is provided and you can be guaranteed some great company during the day. We have a leak in a pipe we need to fix .... :-(

As usual if it is cancelled due to weather you can find out by phoning 4774848 and a message will be left on that.

Photo: Doing fiddly bits of weatherboard on the last Habitat house.