More work and a DNA test and a hangi dinner to finish

 Landscaping works continue. 

The electronic gate has been taken out and is currently propped on the fence ready to be relocated down the drive when the concreting is beautified and the electrician appears to wire the gate up.

The Forester had its first service, at 15000km. We dropped it off and walked to Queensgate mall for an actual shopping experience (few and far between these days). Then we headed to the Hutt River and picked up a car load of river rocks to take home.

The rocks will form part of a landscape vision of plantings, mulch, rock, and driftwood next to the driveway and garage pad. We were a couple of buckets short.

Later that day:

Hired a trailer yesterday and picked up a load of soil to go into the small corten planter box at the front door. I'm ready to shovel but Mish is fiddling with electrics for the future pump's water feature.

Here's the filled planter box and the excess soil dumped in front of it for the next stage. The front entry is taking shape.

We're also having some fun with driftwood totems, stacking up wood, pumice, shells and found objects from the beach. Everything in the big corten planter on the left is growing well.

After shovelling that soil we shot around to a friend's place and picked up a trailer load of kowhai pruning to mulch. Tossed that off in a spare area and will mulch next week when it stops raining.

Just done the Ancestry.com DNA testing. Spit in a tube and post to Ireland; bit of fun.

Working on the spit.

And adding the blue fluid that stabilises the spit while it flies across the world.

Post spit - about to walk over the park and pick up dinner - a hangi made by the marae at the high school. Yum.

Basically that's a roast dinner, meat and veg, but cooked in the ground which gives it a different flavour. Kind of earthy. 

It's a  fundraiser for a couple of kids competing in a trans Tasman netball competition. 

Chicken, pork, spuds, pumpkin, carrots, onion, stuffing, loads of gravy - and some steamed pud and custard which was a nice touch. They were sold out which is also nice.