WOF

Warrant of Fitness, something all vehicles in NZ need to legally be on public roads. Only some licenced places can do the testing and issue the stickers.  The further one is from a population centre the harder such places are to find.

Remarkably there is such a place in Rai Valley, which can't exactly be described as a population centre. The rural engineering place that does WOFs is opposite the cemetery - nothing else remotely urban to be seen in any direction.

Farmers use this place.

Maybe they eventually get buried in the cemetery too.

Rai Valley is miles away and the engineers were kind enough to give me a pointer for a place in Havelock. Said place hadn't appeared on an internet search for WOF testing garages so I was grateful for the directions.

A nice man called Tim is currently doing the medical exam on the rattly van down in the port area while I am making a coffee last as long as possible in a main road cafe and waiting for my laundry to finish it's cycle at the opposite end of the village. It is important to use trips into town for as many things as possible.

Messages from a hardware store in Blenheim advise the spouting(guttering) for the cabin has arrived in store.

It's raining again (or still) - which reminds me I forgot to empty the rain gauge this morning - I'm torn between putting up spouting (and collecting water at last) and continuing indoors on the linings. At least it is dry indoors.  I don't mind wet but I don't have anywhere to hang up dripping clothes and umbrellas, and wash away mud.

I hope the van passes it's medical.

The cafe displays art by local creators.  I am rather taken by some cyanotypes here and would like to see more of this artist's work. Unfortunately her website is a form of social media that I'm not registered in (and don't want to be) so tracking her down is going to be an old-fashioned challenge.

Weird angle to avoid strip lights reflections.

Also on the walls these interpretations of Marlborough landscapes are vibrant and appeal to me.