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I went up to Nelson over the weekend, mostly to see my sister Imogen, across from Melbourne with her family for a couple of weeks.

By coincidence that Saturday I was there was the day that Lou&Buzz had chosen for their “barn-raising” – a communal effort to plant 500 truffle-fungus-impregnated oak trees on their property.

It was a good fun afternoon – the day was overcast so the work wasn’t too difficult, and so many people showed up that the whole lot was done in around three hours. We soon settled into a rhythm:

Lou&Buzz had previously laid out the stakes:

Buzz and a friend raced ahead at warp speed digging the holes:

An army of penitents followed along behind planting the treelets:

While dad and I and a couple of others followed along closing the wind breaks – a surprisingly tricky thing to get right:

In the final phase some more people sprinkled on the fertilizer.

And what did all the kids do while the grown-ups were planting trees? Why, they played on the Bouncy Castle of course!

The finished effect:

I popped up to visit my parents in Nelson over the weekend – possibly the first time I’ve ever spent time in Nelson in winter. I think of it as such a warm summery place: it was certainly a shock to find out that it was as cold as Christchurch at this time of year.

I spent my time hanging out with Mum&Dad and various random assorted uncles and aunts:

I was also there for the house-warming for Jackie&Dave’s remarkable new mansion:

I spent Labour Weekend with my parents at their property, Mamaku, in Tasman. As always, their house was looking wonderful, and the views glorious:

We spent a day with my sister and her family in their new bach over the hill in Golden Bay. The bach was just perfect, and perfectly sited right on the beach. Just magic: