Backroader: Kiwi central

Light rain on my day off means that I've caught up on inside jobs - I've made a big pot of vege soup, done some baking and ordered some reusable shopping bags from PouchProducts Limited. The one I've been using for the last 4 years or so came from Woolworths in New Plymouth and is 'laddering' at the seams. It's used 2-3 times a week along with mesh bags for my fruit and veges so potentially saving 6-10 bags a week. I'm on a personal crusade to reduce, re-use and recycle; it's pretty easy to say 'no' to plastic wherever possible and I hope that others will follow suit. It's estimated that New Zealanders use 1.14 billion bags a year - one plastic bag per person each day. Most end up somewhere in the environment where they will add to the pollution problem for decades (and possibly centuries) to come.

Another website offering string bags and reusable vege/fruit bags

It wasn't easy finding a replacement bag; most on offer seemed to be the bigger cloth bags which are fine for popping in the car but too big for my backpack. It wasn't until I added 'nylon' to 'nz reusable bag' that Google came up trumps. I chose NZ-made products and I'll let you know how good they are when they arrive.

Thursday evening was extra-special. It had been a beautiful sunny day and it didn't really get dark - the moon was rising as the sun was setting and it wasn't until 9.45pm that I needed to turn the light on. As I turned my head I saw a whitetail deer nibbling the grass by the deck steps, then another moved into view and yet a third. I stood by the ranchslider for 20 minutes or so and watched them in the moonlight - I reckon they were the same ones that ate the potato leaves last week. They didn't budge even when I turned the lights on and started cutting up some produce for the Bokashi bucket.

At 10.15pm a male kiwi called followed closely by a squeaky female - they weren't far from the house, possibly among the pile of firewood trimmings up near the boat. At 10.20pm a male kiwi called from the deck, loud and insistent. I turned the light off and slipped out on the deck to watch a shadowy kiwi strut around the grass and down by the bush. Five minutes later another male/female duet sounded out by the road - different to the first two so by my reckoning there was a family group of 5 kiwi - what a blast! I stood outside until I got too cold and went to bed grinning from ear to ear!

This morning I had a welcome sleep-in so it was 8.40am when I pulled up the blind on the bedroom window to see 3 whitetail jumping toward the house; a mother and her fawn, and maybe an older, darker coloured male. I just had time to grab the camera and snap these shots through the deck window before they disappeared into the bush.