Volunteering in Invercargill

One of the things I wanted to do when we got back to Invercargill was to help Chris Rance with a makeover in her bathroom. Chris does so much for the community through the Community Nursery and the Otatara Landcare Group (as well as many other organisations) that it is nice to be able to do something for her.  Link: for the Nursery and some of the work Chris does.

So last Tuesday we made a start by stripping all the old wallpaper off and preparing the walls. Stephen helped with the removing of fittings etc and then he was able to help with the painting of the ceiling and trims. As we were working on hardboard it was recommended to paint the entire room with a pigment sealer which as well as taking time, was extremely smelly!!!  For a bathroom it was quite a large space and took exactly 5 rolls of paper.  As I don't do papering on a regular basis I am quite slow but I also like to be particular so it took me the best part of two days.

  

              

As well as decorating the bathroom their hot- water system decided it had had enough so on Friday morning, Stephen and Ray attended to that. In the end it needed a new valve fitted which fixed the problem.
We are all very pleased with the results and Chris and Brian now have a refreshed bathroom that should see them right for several years to come.

We celebrated our efforts on Wednesday evening with a shared meal of roast duck and all the trimmings.

Stephen also did his own voluntary work - this time in the form of helping his parents. The spoutings needed a good clean out and it is no effort for him to get on a ladder and do that. He also managed to make some necessary adjustments to a problematic toilet cistern for them so they are also happy customers.


Of course not to be outdone at our own place we had a bit of a planting day before we left. The piece between our neighbours on our west needs a lot of restoration work. A very large pine tree had been taken down a year or two back and it had left a very big space. It is quite a challenging site as it is particularly wet. We have made plantings on previous occasions and have worked out that cabbage trees, mingimingi and flax fare the best so it was time for some more. So before we left on Thursday morning we put in another 16 plants, all sourced of course from the Community Nursery.