Summer has arrived :)
The pool stands at a lovely 24 degrees, the sun is out, and we had our first dip of the summer. Followed by some pure relaxation on the sun loungers, with no noise other than the birds.
What a blissful day, makes the cleaning and waterblasting all worthwhile.
Now we are off to see Bon Jovi tonight at the Westpac Stadium. This is the first time I’ve been to a concert at Westpac – I usually only go there for the Home and Garden or Food shows.
So all in all – a rather blissful start to the summer in paradise.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Move to New Zealand and get a swimming pool :)
I first wrote this back in December 08, and as I’ve just spent the day cleaning the pool to get it ready for the summer – which is already baking hot – I thought I would resurrect it.
One of the most amazing things about our life in New Zealand is that we now have a chance to own a pool. Not only could we afford a house with a pool – we also have the most fantastic summer weather in which to use it.
Only – never having had a pool before – we didn’t have the faintest idea how to look after it – and within a few short weeks of moving in – our beautiful crystal blue pool had turned a disgusting shade of pond-scum-green.
So here is what we SHOULD have known – but didn’t.
1. The filter on the pool should be run at least 8-12 hours every day.
We have ours on a timer for 8 hours at night.
2. Run the filter for about 1/2 hour after adding any chemicals.
3. You should backwash the filter every few days or at least once a week.
This cleans the filter and the water goes to waste (usually somewhere in the garden).
4. Do NOT backwash the pool for 3 hours!
Usually a few seconds is all that is needed (depending on the filter – there should be a “sight glass” – on ours it’s near the back of the filter near the handle – when backwashing you will see water running through it and it goes from mucky to clear – that means the filter is clean)
Backwashing for a long time leaves the water level low and air gets sucked into the filter.
This is bad.
5. Make sure you have the following:
A vacuum (we have an automatic one and a manual broom type – I really only use the manual one),
A leaf rake for getting crud off the bottom – actually this is a seive with a flat edge for scaping the bottom of the pool – it doesn’t in any way look like a rake.
A skimmer sieve for getting crud off the surface. (Save money and use the leaf rake – the only difference is the edge!)
You only really need to vacuum when there is dirt on the bottom
I also now recommend a Karcher water blaster for cleaning the concrete round the pool – it works really well at cleaning the top edge of the pool as well.
Pool surround before blasting the crap out of it.
And after.
6. Running a hose and pointing it in the corners is a good way of dislodging dirt from areas that the vacuum can’t reach.
We have a “patent pending” devise to make this easier – we taped the hose to a broom handle so we could direct the flow. I’m guessing the water blaster would do that as well, but hey – Blaster cost $500 – the broom and hose required the addition of about 50c worth of duct tape!
7. When the filter is on – if you gear a “gurgling” noise – that means you need to add more water to the pool.
8. Using a Floatron cuts down on the amount of chlorine you need.
A floatron is a solar powered device that sits in the pool and produces copper ions. Having copper ions in the pool stops algae from growing, and keeps the water clean. I was very sceptical about this – but I’ve now had one for 2 years and it really does work brilliantly. You need to clean the floatron every so often to remove build up, but it’s pretty easy.
9. Salt water pools still chlorinate
Bottom line – you have to have the same amount of free chlorine in the pool whether you use “Chlorine” or salt.
10. If your pool smells of Chlorine – it doesn’t have enough chlorine in it.
The smell comes from Chloramines – not free chlorine, which is the disinfectant. If you have enough free chlorine – chloramines don’t form, and you don’t get the smell.
Odd but true.
11. Get a pool cover and a roller for it.
Pool covers do 3 main things:
They keep the pool temperature a few degrees warmer.
They cut down on evaporation from the pool so you need fewer tops up in summer (which is a must if like us you rely on tank water in a drought area)
They also stop quite a lot of debris from entering the pool – however you need to know that unless you actually have the pool indoors – you won’t stop all the debris.
12. You have to balance 4 different chemical reactions in the pool.
PH, Total Alkalinity, Chlorine and Cyanuric acid.
If you are worried about the effect of swimming on your hair – then make sure the pH and alkalinity are at the correct levels.
Cyanuric acid is there to help stabilise the chlorine (sunlight breaks down the chlorine without it and makes it useless).
If you use a floatron – you need a lot less chlorine in the pool – but you do need some.
You can get dipsticks that tell you the levels of all 4 chemicals in the pool within 15 seconds.
13. Find yourself a friendly pool supply shop.
When I first moved in to our house – I found that the local pool shop was invaluable in helping me learn the ropes. And they didn’t once laugh at me when I turned up saying my pool had turned green.
14. If your pool turns green don’t panic.
It’s easy to fix – you just add a packet of “Shock Treatment Chlorine” and run the pump for 24 hours. Then add some Algaecide and run the pump for another 24 hours. You will probably need to do a big Hoover and lots of backwashing – but that’s about it.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Frugal moneysaving tip for New Zealand.
I’m not a great “old style” moneysaver myself – basically because I’m too lazy and most of the ideas revolve around more work that I care to do. I prefer to do my moneysaving in other ways than hard labour!
However I have just spent the best part of an afternoon breaking up flax stalks. To be honest – I don’t like flax plants, even if they are a New Zealand native plant and it’s a good idea to grow them. And they may well be great for making the most stunning weavings out of. I still don’t like them.
But boy – do the stalks make good kindling for the log burner or what???
And given the last few months of hell, courtesy of NZIS, it was rather therapeutic to be breaking what are essentially big branches over my knee, and stomping on the ones that were too big.
With firewood costing between $200 and $400 a load (4 cubic meters) depending on the wood, having a free supply we can use can get the fire going is a huge bonus. We get through probably about $500 of wood a year ( I refuse to be cold, or wear 10 jumpers – I think that’s just silly).
I also don’t understand what gives when people round hear chop trees down for firewood and then burn the last bits and all the smaller branches in the field – talk about a waste of energy. Those small branches would probably keep us going through the winter!
Ah well: at least the Flax in our garden and paddock does something other than dump a load of seeds into our swimming pool.
PS: Sorry for the lack of blogging in the past week. We took a week at the beach – with no mobile cover and no internet. Peace and quiet – what New Zealand does best.
Why you need to take note of the Victoria Fires.
Even in the UK, you will probably have seen the harrowing images of the bushfires in Australia. I wonder though how any people really take too much notice. You see, I remember seeing the news reports about wildfires in Australia and California when I lived in the UK, and it all seemed so – well – distant.
This week – not so much. Because at the end of that day – it could happen here. We too carry the risk of losing our homes to bushfires. On my Facebook page – there are a number of friends, including me – who are glad to see it rain. Given that a lot of us come from a very rainy UK – you could be forgiven for thinking we have indeed gone barmy. But we need rain. The ground in the Wairarapa, and all over New Zealand is tinder dry. Our gardens are dry and brown, the paddocks are straw, and the wheat has the lovely golden colour. And it will go up in flames instantly is some twat lights a fire for “fun”.
There have already been 2 serious fires in New Zealand over the past month, as the temperatures soar: one near Nelson, and one in Hawkes Bay.
If that wasn’t close to home enough: we had two fires on the same day, just miles from our house, a while ago. One was contained fairly quickly. The other was a Scrub Fire on the hill in front of our house. Thankfully for us – there is a river in a ravine between us and the hill – but it was a bit too close for comfort. The fire was lit by the farmer who owned the land: he had been stripping back the trees and vegetation on the hill, I presume ready to plant something else. The fires were apparently lit to clear the rubbish, and then all of a sudden – the wind changed direction. What was a legitimate and controlled fire, became a fire that got into the woods and undergrowth, and took over 8 hours to get under control.
Fire teams from all over the area came out, and yes – we did have the Helicopter with the buckets flying down into the river (thankfully there was water in it at the time – not so much now). The fire crews (volunteers) work for free – the farmer pays for the helicopter! We spoke to one of the Firefighters afterwards; he told us that there were a huge number of problems they had in fighting the fire. The main one being lack of water and there is no mains access up on the hill. Water had to be tankered in – in exactly the same way as we do if we run of rainwater in our tanks here.
Coming to New Zealand for a new life is a fantastic idea, and I encourage anyone even vaguely thinking about it to give it go. Just be aware that while on the surface, life might be quite similar; sometimes it’s very different. Simply understanding that you cannot just light a bonfire when you want to; and that fire-bans can be put in place. Be aware of the rules, and don’t end up losing everything. And get your house and contents insured. Just in case.
No insurance company can replace what the people of Victoria have lost. It will, however give them something to start again with.
We need to get our butts off the couch (or from in front of the Laptops) and get ourselves a pump for the pool. Our best access to water is to get it out of the swimming pool: but buckets just wont do it. We have been meaning to do this since we came here – and just haven’t got round to it.
This month has been a bit of a wake-up call.
A Merry Kiwi Christmas.
Here’s hoping everyone had a very merry Christmas, and Santa’s elves bought everything you wanted and you had a fantastic time.
For us, we had a subdued one, as my family is still back in the UK this year, and this is out first Kiwi Christmas without them.
I have to be honest – I find Christmas in New Zealand to be a very odd time. I love Christmas; the lights, the fun, buying pressies for people, making way too much gorgeous food and not having to give a stuff about whether its healthy or not; and spending some time with the family. It was always the one time of year when we got spoiled rotten, and somehow, my brother and I always ended up with the coolest presents (mostly ray guns with lost of flashing lights and cool sound effects).
The problems I have here stem simply from the fact that it’s summer – and a hot one at that here in the Wairarapa. People still have Christmas trees with the lights; but who sees them when it doesn’t go dark till 9pm. And we don’t get the whole lights thing in the towns either – for that real Christmassy Late-night-shopping feel. I really miss the Worcester Christmas market, the mulled wine – and for some utterly bizarre reason – the cold weather.
I also seem to have a lot of problems with the whole Christmas dinner thing. I love cooking it – but here it seems to be an absolute nightmare getting hold of a fresh (unfrozen) turkey that actually is turkey. I didn’t do it this year, as there was only myself and hubby to cook for, and I have to say it was a nice change from having to go to Moore Wilsons to order a turkey and be old very snottily that they never order turkeys. They do – every year. And every year on the 22nd or 23rd of December they call us to tell us the turkey we couldn’t order is in! I have no idea why they get so snooty about it – they are fantastic the rest of the year! You know – I was once told by a guy in Meat on Tory in Wellington (a “butchers” selling top end (read expensive) meat for people in the city who really don’t want to cook, that it is impossible to get a fresh turkey at Christmas ANYWHERE in the world. I kid you not. I was gob smacked. I also found out that Tegel Turkeys (the main brand of frozen Turkey) is only 85% turkey. (15% water and sugar).
Many Kiwis seem to have Ham for dinner, or just do a barbie. I still like a British Christmas dinner, when I can treat myself to things I don’t normally eat (Like crunchy roast potatoes, and bread sauce).
We have made some new Traditions for the family since moving here. Christmas dinner is now at 4 or 5pm, so its cool enough to sit outside, and on Boxing Day – we head to the beach. Riversdale Beach has 2 busy days of the year – Boxing Day and new Years day, but its still almost empty by UK standards. We pack up a picnic of leftovers in the chilly bin, and head off for a day of lazing, reading books, and swimming. Its bizarre – but – we try our best .
There are too many migrants who get their knickers in a twist over those of us who struggle to adapt to the Kiwi Christmas. Or anything else for that matter. But you know what? It really doesn’t matter. I’m probably never going to enjoy Christmas here the same way I did back in The UK. I’m probably always going to prefer a winter Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I am any less entitled to live a new life here in New Zealand. It doesn’t mean I’m a “bad migrant”, and it doesn’t mean I have failed to integrate into my new life. It just means I prefer a winter Christmas. I will never understand why some people insist you have to like anything and everything your new life throws at you in order to be considered a successful migrant.
Trust me – you don’t. Preferring a winter Christmas doesn’t stop me hitting the beach for our Boxing Day Picnic, or jumping in the pool while I’m waiting for the (fresh) Turkey to cook.
We have nothing left to do this Christmas except relax, head to the beach a few times, and wait for the New Year.
Hope you have a good one.
Kiwi Ingenuity – make a cool sunlounger out of a bath.
Filed under: Beaches in New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
This is, as most people know, a very “outdoorsy” country. Well, I’m not one for tramping round the forests and lakes thanks, but I do spend much more time outdoors than I did back in the UK.
I’ve spent ages looking for some sunloungers to go round the pool, that don’t cost a small fortune. I managed to find one last year in the sales but it still cost over $200, and it’s pretty basic. Most of the ones I looked at and liked were well over $500 each.
So what do you do? You hit Trade Me!
Where I found this incredible idea for a sun lounger – made out of the same materials that you make baths with. 
These are made by Classic Baths in Taupo.
SO, we ordered some, and toddled off to Taupo to pick them up in a Friends MPV. (We were going to hire a van, but a local company claiming on the internet that their prices were from $60+ daily wanted to charge a whopping $300+ – so I told ‘em how unimpressed I was!)
Well, it’s a good 5-hour drive to Taupo, and then you have to get back – so It needed to be worth it. And as we headed over the Desert Road – a not-quite-desert-like-torrential downpour started. It didn’t stop till we got to Taupo.
After we collected the loungers (for reference – you could fit 6 in the back of an MPV quite nicely), we headed back, and stopped near the shores of Lake Taupo at a small beach picnic spot. We opened the back of the van, and had it open to the lake, and then gave the Loungers a bit of a try out. And I can happily report that they are very comfortable. I actually managed to curl up in one and fall asleep.
The loungers retail at $395 each, and I have to say – they are well worth the money. They were also worth the 12 hours it took us in the end to pick them up and bring them home. I drank a huge amount of coffee to keep going I can tell you.
Move to New Zealand – and get a Swimming Pool.
One of the most amazing things about our life in New Zealand is that we now have a chance to own a pool. Not only could we afford a house with a pool – we also have the most fantastic summer weather in which to use it.
Only – never having had a pool before – we didn’t have the faintest idea how to look after it – and within a few short weeks of moving out – our beautiful crystal blue pool had turned a disgusting shade of pond-scum-green.
So here is what we SHOULD have known – but didn’t.
1. The filter on the pool should be run at least 8-12 hours every day.
We have ours on a timer for 8 hours at night.
2. Run the filter for about 1/2 hour after adding any chemicals.
3. You should backwash the filter every few days or at least once a week.
This cleans the filter and the water goes to waste (usually somewhere in the garden).
4. Do NOT backwash the pool for 3 hours!
Usually a few seconds is all that is needed (depending on the filter – there should be a “sight glass” – on ours it’s near the back of the filter near the handle – when backwashing you will see water running through it and it goes from mucky to clear – that means the filter is clean)
Backwashing for a long time leaves the water level low and air gets sucked into the filter. This is bad.
5. Make sure you have the following:
A vacuum (we have an automatic one and a manual broom type – I really only use the manual one),
A leaf rake for getting crud off the bottom
A skimmer sieve for getting crud off the surface.
You only really need to vacuum when there is dirt on the bottom
6. Running a hose and pointing it in the corners is a good way of dislodging dirt from areas that the vacuum can’t reach.
We have a “patent pending” devise to make this easier – we taped the hose to a broom handle so we could direct the flow.
7. When the filter is on – if you gear a “gurgling” noise – that means you need to add more water to the pool.
8. Using a Floatron cuts down on the amount of chlorine you need.
A floatron is a solar powered device that sits in the pool and produces copper ions. Having copper ions in the pool stops algae from growing, and keeps the water clean. I was very sceptical about this – but I’ve now had one for 2 years and it really does work brilliantly. You need to clean the floatron every so often to remove build up, but it’s pretty easy.
9. Salt water pools still chlorinate
Bottom line – you have to have the same amount of free chlorine in the pool whether you use “Chlorine” or salt.
10. If your pool smells of Chlorine – it doesn’t have enough chlorine in it.
The smell comes from Chloramines – not free chlorine, which is the disinfectant. If you have enough free chlorine – chloramines don’t form, and you don’t get the smell.
11. Get a pool cover and a roller for it.
Pool covers do 3 main things:
They keep the pool temperature a few degrees warmer.
They cut down on evaporation from the pool so you need fewer tops up in summer (which is a must if like us you rely on tank water in a drought area)
They also stop quite a lot of debris from entering the pool.
12. You have to balance 4 different chemical reactions in the pool.
PH, Total Alkalinity, Chlorine and Cyanuric acid.
If you are worried about the effect of swimming on your hair – then make sure the pH and alkalinity are at the correct levels.
Cyanuric acid is there to help stabilise the chlorine (sunlight breaks down the chlorine without it and makes it useless).
If you use a floatron – you need a lot less chlorine in the pool – but you do need some.
You can get dipsticks that tell you the levels of all 4 chemicals in the pool within 15 seconds.
13. Find yourself a friendly pool supply shop.
When I first moved in to our house – I found that the local pool shop was invaluable in helping me learn the ropes. And they didn’t once laugh at me when I turned up saying my pool had turned green.
14. If your pool turns green don’t panic.
It’s easy to fix – you just add a packet of “Shock Treatment Chlorine” and run the pump for 24 hours. Then add some Algaecide and run the pump for another 24 hours. You will probably need to do a big Hoover and lots of backwashing – but that’s about it.
15. You can winterise the pool.
This basically means adding a bottle of winteriser to the pool when you know you won’t be using it for a long time.
Winteriser basically dumps a whole lot of copper ions into the pool to stop algae growing. You probably don’t need this if you use a floatron.
16. Floatrons don’t seem to work quite so well if you use them with a cover in place.
Basically this means that over winter – you just need to pull the cover of and check the pool occasionally. I have found it best to leave the cover off over winter and then the Floatron works perfectly. I just put the cover back on at the start of October to warm the pool up, ready for the summer.
17. If you have plants around the pool – take them out.
Plants near a pool are your enemy. They dump leaves, seeds and petals into the water – which you have to get out and it adds to the work tremendously. If you want plants near the pool – choose plants like Aloes and Agarves which don’t dump stuff into the pool. (Roses and Flax are especially bad!)
18. Maintaining and looking after a pool is really not that hard.
I possibly spend about 15 minutes a week looking after the pool. A quick check of the chemical levels – adding some chemicals if they are needed, and a Hoover every few weeks and we are done. I spend a lot more time IN the pool having fun.
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
