Welcome to Stewart Island & Sails Ashore +64 3 219 1151 tait@sailsashore.co.nz

So What do We do in Winter ??

It’s a regular question from our guests.  We suspect they have visions of tropical beaches, hammocks and pima coladas.

Well winter is when we catch up on chores. With three gardens and the growth we get on Stewart Island that involves a fair amount of .weeding, chopping, power saw work and pruning. Iris isn’t big, but she’s a veritable demon when it comes to those chores. And I’m well trained… Yes dear. Only a couple of trailer loads this year she said. This one is number 5, and I can see at least another couple …. sigh


But I have to say the 3 gardens do look much better for the haircut and tidy up.

 

Lazy Lawn Mowing

But one thing we don’t have to worry about is our lawns. Both Sails Ashore & Kowhai Lane have a robotic lawn mower. And, like all good robots they have names. Psycho for us, and Okie for Kowhai Lane. There is a story of course.

Psycho is named for the contractor who mowed the school playing fields where I went to secondary school. Psycho had a small tractor and a gang mower. He mowed at speed…. high speed. He mowed the grass, he mowed the jerseys, the shoes, lunches, cricket gear. Even our very proper head master referred to him as Psycho.

Okie amongst other things is the Islands surface man. Looks after the road maintenance, other things the county need, and he mows all the roadsides and the village lawns.  And he does a great job and is a good friend. Though he is threatening to send me a bill for all the work his namesake does at Kowhai Lane.

Psycho & Okie really do earn their keep. Lawns would have taken probably 4 hrs a week back in the day. Now a button push every couple of days…. daily when things are growing well. And our lawns look great all the time, not just a couple of days post mow the old way.  And very quiet, an extra bonus. 

Ah !!   Robots.

Lawn mowing is not the only robotic chores.  A few years ago Anne decided a robotic vacuum cleaner might be a good birthday pressie for Iris. A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse, and I’m quite prepared to follow where I’m led, so she also got a robotic mop. Wonderful. These have been seconded to Kowhai Lane, and we now have a combination. And yes, they have names. Dobbie & Mrs Mopp for the two at Kowhai Lane, and “Sadie” for our one.  Sadie is a couple of years “younger” than the older two, and it’s very noticeable as to how much more intelligent she is. The technology is advancing very quickly.

Iris is hanging out for one that makes beds. But I don’t think I’ll show her this video 

It’s not all work though, We are not up and doing quite so early as in summer. Not unusual to open the eyes well after 0800. Time to read and for me designing and making new figures for mobiles. Iris took herself off to a local crafting class … Thank you Julie …. though Iris did say she has yet to receive her invitation to join the master basket weavers guild.  I on the other hand was quite impressed.