kennedy bay

 

 

Kennedy Bay retains a retro charm that harks back to the 1960s and 70s. The old kiwi baches and caravans still dominate the landscape in a very small seaside community. The nearest shops are 12 kilometres away in Coromandel town. The challenging drive to town weaves up and down through the Coromandel forest on winding part gravel and tar seal road.

smoking the catch

Early Easter Saturday morning, the air is filled with the fragrant smell of smoked mussels in a nearby neighbours smoking hut.


tree felling

For Queens Birthday weekend we travelled to the bach for some well deserved down time. The weather was beautiful (although a little chilly at times) and I managed to walk the dog on the beach everyday. Mr B and Sydney with the help of  our wonderful neighbours were able to fell the pine trees on our fence line. The trees were about 20 years old. They were dropping branches and there was a real risk of uprooting in high winds. It's not uncommon to see uprooted pines near our bach that are left to rot where they fell. 

The sleepout exterior is largely finished. The plumber, builders and electricians will be working towards getting their part of the project to completion. The adjoining blue shed now looks very shabby and rundown in comparison. Mr B will probably be inspired to keep tidying up once the sleepout is finished. 

sleepout continues

the sleepout is progressing well (the walls are up and the windows are in), the roof is on and the exterior cladding is going up. It's all looking good and we're on the hunt now for furnishings. Mr B and Sydney went down last week with our van loaded up with stuff for the builders. Our family is looking forward to using it. Very exciting...

Check out the photobombing chicken!

more sleepout progress

the builders have made a great deal more progress...

sleepout progress

View from front

View from rear

As you can see the sleepout floor is going down and the underfloor insulation is being put in. It's a simple rectangular shape with bathroom to the rear and will be extra accommodation for when family and friends come to visit. Most likely our teenagers will take it over as their retreat. Soon I'll be on the hunt for retro furniture. That's my favourite part...

the early birds...

Early morning view from the deck of our bach

Meet Shaggy (a pied shag)

The local chooks meet Miss 6

Another wonderfully long weekend at the bach. This time we were visited by the early birds of the area. Firstly we had a young pied shag come walking up the steps and tapping on the glass sliding door with its beak. It appeared friendly and Miss 6 & I were able to walk it back to the beach about 120 metres from our deck. The shag happily walked along and dived in to the surf with great vigour then swam away.

Then the next day we were visited by the local chickens who have a lovely, cosy coop about 75 metres away and a very dutiful owner, yet they insist on coming down to see us for special tidbits and dusty sand baths under our deck.

the bach sleepout

Before alterations start

Demolition begins

Just back from a long weekend at our bach. Mr B, Sydney and B jnr spent the best part of Friday getting stuck into our new project - renovating part of the garage into a sleepout (which is basically a room conversion into sleeping quarters). We're expecting the builders to start in a fortnights time. I'll keep you all up to date as work progresses.

good morning 2013

Happy New Year!

been places

The last 2 weeks (being the final school holiday break before Term 4 school) were filled with going places. First off, Misses 16, 5 and I travelled to Sydney. The photo above is of the view most days from our hotel room. This didn't matter much as we were out most of the time.

Then next we took a family trip to our bach on the Coromandel coast for some well deserved down time.
Despite the sometimes wintery weather we enjoyed lovely cosy nights, card games and lots of laughter. It was a good chance for the older 2 children to relax before final exams. Although I've been places for a couple of weeks, it is nice to settle back into a routine again.

frost

a quick trip to the beach in the middle of winter is probably not the ideal holiday for most. On our first morning, the bach windows were fogged up with condensation and outside it was frosty. Our daughters and I went for daily walks on the beach and raced back for much needed hot cocoa drinks.

new traditions

Our family have enjoyed some new holiday traditions in the bach. To name a few: fry ups of the leftover Christmas ham, digging for cockles on the low tide, lighting a bonfire on the beach at night, stargazing, beachcombing, using a kayak and swimming at the beach almost everyday...

The beach at low tide is littered with tiny jellyfish whose sting causes a very itchy rash. We encountered the jellyfish while we were swimming and as a result didn't stay in the water too long. Luckily none of us were badly stung. Then there was an algae on the sand that stunk in the hot sun. We found 1 stingray (thankfully with it's barbed tail removed) left on the sand by some anonymous fisherman and plenty of these spikey things (sorry don't know what they're called) rolling across the sandy foreshore into the sea. 

Now I'm back to the hustle and bustle of city life! 

the bach

the builders, plumber & electrician have finished and the bach is eagerly awaiting our family. Mr B did a fantastic job as project manager and kept the momentum of work going despite the inevitable hiccups along the way. As this will be our first summer spent there, I'm looking forward to loads of fun times and lots of special memories for our family. Happy holidays!

counting down

with Christmas just only a week away, we're wanting to get the bach ready for the holidays. The builders have finished (hooray!) although they're back briefly on Tuesday to complete the shower installation as we've had problems getting the right rails from the supplier for the shower doors.

the digger arrived yesterday hauled by a R Model mack truck. A trench was dug between our bach and the main sewage connection across the road and the pipes were laid and then covered over. The plumber is coming back on Tuesday to complete the connections.

Then hopefully we're done?

decorating

the builders have 99% completed the interior building work in the bach. Mr B and Sydney have started painting inside the bathroom and toilet areas as well as some exterior painting too. No fancy colours here. Just a simple off-white shade in the utility areas, warm vintage yellow for the rooms and a sandy colour on the exterior cladding. The electrician is yet to come and there's still the deck to be built.

Today we had hoped to have the digger there for the sewage connection however there's been a problem with finding where the underground phone cables are placed. Hopefully Telecom (phone company) will be on site asap to mark out the cable positions so work can get moving again.

steady progress

Unbeknownst to us, the builders were able to put in about 3 days work last week. In that time they completed the exterior re-clad and have started to finish up inside.

It will probably be at least another 2 weeks before I can realistically get to the bach (it's hard to be paitent!) as there's so much going on with end of year activities for the children... school trips, a birthday, a ballet recital, parties...

Oh dear, I better get cracking on making my kiwi christmas ornaments before I run out of time!

licorice allsorts

this handmade 100% wool blanket is destined for our room at the bach. It measures 223cm by 182cm and weighs around 2-3 kgs. I love crocheted granny squares especially when they're bright and colourful. Reminds me a lot of licorice allsorts, yummy!

on the inside

Hallway view of kitchen/lounge



Hallway view to new bedrooms

the bach interior is undergoing a major rework (check out the photos above). We still have two bedrooms although now they're both located off a common hallway and the new bathroom/laundry has been relocated. Fingers crossed that the builders finish this week!

retro bach update

last Friday the builders attended a fishing competition and this week they've been working elsewhere. They'll be back on Monday and I'm hopeful that the building work will be finished by Friday next week. The front window has been replaced with a sliding door and that removed window has now been installed around the side as a bedroom window. That's great recycling! The exterior asbestos cladding is being replaced with a marine grade plywood which we'll eventually be painting 'Desert Sand', so the building can blend in with the natural surroundings.

retro bach progress



there's been plenty of progress on our retro bach since I last posted. The new addition is a welcome replacement to that awful eye sore that we had. The new walls are true and straight plus the floor is level. We've had a major rethink of the interior so there's been a lot happening inside as well (I'll post about that soon). The bach has a new roof on. The front window is to be replaced by a sliding door and the new deck will run right across the front of the bach.

Mr B has been fantastic in ensuring that the builders are kept on track with minimum disruptions. He's made several day trips (that's about 2.5-3hrs each way) with his off-sider, Sydney, to undertake demolition, deliver building materials etc. Great work guys!

It will be another week or so before the building is completed and then we'll get on to the painting and decorating. I'm looking forward to getting back in there to have a good cleanup.