Our Time in Waimate

This visit to Waimate has been somewhat punctuated (holes not semi-colons). We returned to stay with Rusty, Wal, Ami and Shannah on April 3rd, stayed for a week, went to Stewart Island (please refer to other posts), returned on the 17th, went to Tekapo on the 20th, and have spent this week here as well.
The first week we were here I had a really special project that I'm really proud of. Wal had bought a huge slab of Macrocarpa wood. The piece is about 12ft long, 3 feet wide, and 2 inches thick (that's 72 board feet for those of you in the lumber industry). We planed it down, sanded it, inserted 9 butterflies into some checks (cracks) in the top, built legs out of two Poplar stumps, and oiled the whole thing down to make a huge dining room table. It looks awesome. I'm especially proud of the butterflies. Building this table with Wal was tons of fun because we both have a very similar approach to building things. We both like to take the time necessary to really figure something out before we dive in. It made for a great week.

Carrie was doing lots of planting and stuff that week but since I'm writing the post you get to hear more about the stuff that I think was cool.
After our week on Stewart Island we returned and Wal asked me to build a set of shelves that will be just outside the back door. That was also a fun project because it was not very complicated but I still got to see it from start to finish.

After we returned from Tekapo I've been doing small jobs here and there to fill the days.
In the evenings we've been playing a lot of Chinese Checkers. By the way, if you haven't given Chinese Checkers a try recently I suggest it highly. It is a really great game! I've also learned a new card game called 500. I'm excited to teach it to people back home.
We are leaving Waimate tomorrow for the last time this trip. It is sad to say goodbye but we intend to return to New Zealand some day and when we do we will certainly be stopping in here!