This Easter weekend happened to coincide with Sam’s rostered weekend off, so we got to go away. Yay! And where do we go? Why, Thames of course. We headed over Friday morning and ended up going the scenic route due to dire motorway traffic. It was cool actually – we went through a whole lot of new places I’d never been before, and it was all very picturesque. We passed through Clevedon (about an hour before there was an horrendous accident there), Kawakawa Bay, Kaiaua and Miranda, which previously I had only seen as signposts on the usual boring way to Thames. Highlights included really windy-ass roads, ducks crossing the road, a bunch of swans, hippy caravan communities and dad’s amazingly bad rock-throwing aim. Also, we had icecream. I completely failed to take pictures of any of this, but picture like… NZ coastal / farm / bush scenery and you’re 90% there. Seabird Coast anyone?

Even though Friday and Saturday were beautiful, we didn’t end up going down to the beach. Because SOME fatty mcfatterson would probably have had a coronary trying to get back up the hill. This compressed lungs thing ain’t so fun. We did pootle about in the forest for a bit, but the weekend mainly featured reading and naps and general laziness. See?

I am a lost cause though. I can’t relax (or sleep) with the cats around because they are precious attention-demanding spoiled little cretins, but I can’t relax (or sleep) when they’re not around because I’m apparently retarded. So despite having a relaxing long weekend I am still incredibly tired. Oh wells. Dad and Diane were industrious little bees however, dedicating the weekend to the production of lavender oil. Since I personally didn’t do anything exciting, here’s a little photolog of their endeavours.

Behold, lavenders. A teeny bit past it maybe, but all good.

Behold, worker bees. In theory I could have helped here, but they were kinda cute and cottagey industry-y about it and I didn’t want to mess up the vibe. Maybe next summer when they’re in full and scary production mode. I did my bit by saving a mantis from getting turned into oil, so I still get to go to heaven.

Dad made a still. It’s still a still. Still a still still actually, since it doesn’t move while in use. Ohoho, the humours.

Yes, it is a pressure cooker with random pipes and tubing attached. I don’t think he’d be nearly as happy with an off the shelf purpose-built contraption he didn’t get to tinker together himself.

Lavenders go in. MOOSH MOOSH.

Behold, pristine laboratory setup. Featuring dad’s very sweet coffee machine, which Sam covets.

We have oil! It was a very exciting moment. There was glee. And hydrosol, which is not as exciting as oil, but far more plentiful and apparently good for spraying on your sheets as you’re ironing them. Because you do iron your sheets, don’t you?

See? Glee! Who’s a proud daddy? The weekend ended with about 100ml of oil and many many bottles of smel… scented water. I dare say we shall see a fair bit more of this carry-on in months to come! It was actually fascinating to watch though; speaking as someone who grows lavender primarily so she’ll have something to swear at every few weeks when it takes over the path. Can’t wait to see the post-oil creations!

Fin! Must be time for a nap…