The A&P Show

We went to the show and had a good nosey round. The boys spent lots of money on the sideshows and we mosied round the food stands. My personal favourite was the chainsaw carving - WEEEEAWWWWWWEEEAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!! The sort of spectacle where you either need to deaf to watch it for long or be wearing earmuffs. There did not seem to be the same amount of trouble as usual so the alcohol ban must have worked.

We had a visit from Don and his powerful tractor and mulcher on Monday. For the first time since moving here we can walk across our paddocks in a straight line without have to walk round large stands of thick grass. It took him 2 hours to tame the wilderness and we hope that the sheep will be able to keep on top of it in future.

The last picture is not of Patrick asking for more food, but of our Friday night tea, rustled up almost entirely out of home-grown ingredients: omellette topped with spinach (and cheese), potato salad (and mayo) and a tomato salad with basil dressing. Yum yum!

Bak 2 skool

Well we have been back at school for a couple of weeks and for the first Friday night since then I am not so knackered that I just need to crash out as early as possible. A blog update is called for.
Putting up holiday photos has taken ages, so we have a few weeks of holiday and then the last few weeks of school to report back on.
We have some photos of various events that may or may not be posted up.
We had a good 3 weeks between coming back from holiday and starting back at school. We held a "Bak To Skool" party on the last Sunday for friends, colleagues and neighbours. A big part of this was killing 2 more sheep. We despatched tagless - an awkward ewe who we decided we did not want in our breeding flock. She was expertly(?) butchered by us this time and went from running animal to pieces in the freezer in the space of 3 hours. Now that we are eating her bit by bit, I realise that the art of butchery needs practise to master. Our technique of hacking up carcase into chunks was mostly successful, but overuse of the meat cleaver instead of careful knife use to cut up at joints results in chippings of bone in the meat that end up breaking our teeth. (Revenge of the tagless!)
A week later Ewe 14 went the same way, but she was hung overnight in the toolshed to set and then we chopped her into 2 at the waist on Sunday morning and spit roasted her. She took about 6 hours to cook but went down very well feeding about 35 adults and numerous kids.

School started as a rude shock to all our systems. I know I will get no sympathy from readers who work regular hours with 4 weeks holiday a year, but teaching is the most intense job I have ever done. Today I fronted up to 5 classes of kids of varying levels of interest, compliance and ability. I did a morning duty and took care of a house group of 20 pupils in the morning and afternoon. I stayed after school for 11/2 hours more to put things straight, but I will have to spend a few hours on Sunday back at school preparing for next week's lessons and marking homework collected today. The contrast between being in full flow as a teacher and being in full chilled out mode on holiday is massive. It takes several weeks to relax to the point where I do not think about teaching every 1/2 hour. So it takes a while to crank the old body up to required manic pitch. Nuff said!

Other news: We have 5 little chicks down the bottom, barred rock types. Another 2 hens are sat on 14 eggs between them. I am trying to rationalise the hens because we had an overproduction of eggs this year and were giving away far more than we were eating ourselves. Big project at the mo is to create a fenced paddock on the hill leading up to the race so that we can push the sheep into there and then get them into the race more easily. That is the theory anyway. We went down to Don and Ivy's tonight to help them catch a ewe that needed drenching and then bringing up to ours to get familiar with our ram. She went round the paddock evading our efforts to catch her then she decided to try and squueze through the wire fence. That made her easy to catch as her head was caught. I wish that ours were as easy to catch!

Human news: Chantelle is back at work having fun with her little people. She is getting into sewing stuff and has been knocking out some good stuff. Eric is getting used to his new school. Patrick and Stuey are still going out to Pamapuria on the bus.

Local news: The A&P show is on tonight and tomorrow. It is a big local event. Agriculture and Produce is what A&P stands for. Tonight is when the teenagers all go and get pissed and have big pitched battles. It was pretty bad last year so the police have declared it alcohol free this year. My kids at school were getting amped up for it this afternoon. School could not finish too soon. We will trot along tomorrow when the carnage has finished and look at the cows and sheep and the rides and tractors and stuff. If you are lucky there might be a report on here with pics.
LaterG as they say in these parts.

More pics

Still on holiday - but not for long!

And then we broke down

Here we are again! First pic shows us at the camp hut at Lake Ohau. Probably the most uneasy night's sleep of the holiday (even more uneasy than with the cars crashing into the tent at Blenheim and the earthquakes at Wellington!) . There was a strong wind blowing into the hut in gusts. Plus a constant barrage of suicide sandflies attacking any exposed skin. We lit a fire and all camped on the floor. I was happy to get up at first light and to climb up the hill by the hut into the meadows. Apart from the stunning views (pic 2) and alpine flowers, I found several riflemen in the beechwoods.

We headed further south towards Wanaka and climbed over the Lindis Pass. This was too much for poor Daisy (the van), who leaked coffe coloured liquid from her innards when we stopped at a little settlement to refuel. After a short period of engine inspection we decided that the liquid was the radiator fluid and that we needed AA assistance. 2 hours later we were still waiting. patrick amused himself by making plaster casts for his legs. Stuart amused himself and others by doing a magic show round the tables of the cafe. Daisy was hoisted onto the towaway truck and taken off to Wanaka. Stuart had his first experience of hitching as there was not enough room in the truck for all of us. The mechanic at Wanaka diagnosed a rusty radiator and faulty fan and suggested that we replace it all. We took our chances with his repair and headed west into the hills hit the Coast.

For the next thrilling instalment tune in again in a few days .....
In the old days people used to bore each other by inviting their friends round to look at their holiday snaps, which would arrive 2 weeks after the holiday had finished. It makes me feel old to remember doing that. Nowadays we can edit our pictures immediately after taking them, deleting the mistakes and blurry ones. we can take video and share it with the world the minute we get access to our computer. WOW! What will be doing in another 20 years time. Going on virtual holidays with each other. Instead of suffering all the inconvenience of actually going to South Island and the tedious journey involved getting there, we will go on a virtual holiday. Load the program, sit in a special chair, stick on a few touch pads and goggles. We will be transported to wherever we want, complete with sight, sound, smells, movement and tastes. The adventurous will be able to virtually bungee jump, or experience minor or major setbacks to their holiday so that they have something to share with their friends e.g. getting robbed at gunpoint or having food poisoning. You could go on holiday with anyone you wanted and have chats round the camp-fire with .... Jesus, Hitler, the Pope, David Beckham (yawn) , Richard Dawkins ... wow! I bags this idea in case anyone from Microsoft is reading this blog "Virtual Holidays Company" CR 2007 Mike Bryan

The Southern Alps

Some more pictures from our holiday. It is retreating rapidly into the past as Summer grills on. Here we have Stuart with a fish that he did not catch on New Brighton Pier. He was modelling it for the fisherman! Then you see the road that leads from Christchurch to the Southern Alps. Snow covered even in high Summer. Check out the beatiful lupins that line the road for mile after mile. And all the tourist buses coming the other way. The 3rd pic shows the campsite near Lake Ohau where we spent one night. It was my personal favourite because we were in the midst of such fantastic scenery. I had a dawn walk up the hillside and got to see my first ever Riflemen. These are the smallest NZ birds and are similar to a goldcrest in the UK.
The 4th pic shows paddy bringing his gear over to camp. We were surrounded by sandflies which were a bit of a minus (to put it mildly). Paddy did not complain !
Finally Stuart (again! - he manages to worm his way into most of our pictures) shows us Aoraki (Mount Cook) in the distance over an impossibly glacier coloured Lake Pukaki. Just a few days 2 japanes climbers were killed trying to climb this mountain.

Stunning comet.

If you go to the link provided ,you will be able to see what the buzz over here in NZ is at the moment.
This stunning comet really does look this good ,with the naked eye. it's so long and clear ,when you wathc it you can almost see it move.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10420247

More on the holiday

We have switched to the Google version of Blogger and I hope this post works out OK. A week ago today we were still driving in the dusk towards Okahune having left the campsite on South Island in the morning and caught the ferry across to Wellington. It feels like more than a week, mind you the camping gear that is strewn all over the house waiting to be put away is a constant reminder that we have not long since returned.

These 5 pictures find us pushing South into new territory, down the wild Kaikoura coast where there were lots of campsites squashed in between the huge hills and the wild crashing sea. Perhaps it is not always wild there, but I would not fancy spending 2 weeks being buffeted around. We made it to Christchurch to a very pleasant and surprisingly quiet campsite in South New BRighton. It was only 20 minutes from the city centre as we discovered when Paddy split his head open in the playground that first night and we had to go to the 24hr doctors in the city centre. Fortunately he just needed some glue. His brothers were most impressed by the plasma tv in reception - where people often have to wait for several hours to be seen - which had just started showing LOTR as we sat down! They were disappointed that Patrick was seen to within 15 minutes. Very efficient friendly clean and all for $45 .

The next day we went back to the cente to spend lots of money, to await the opening of the UK shop (which didn't) , to enjoy the range of shops - second hand books, magic shop, sushi etc. We enjoyed the buskers in Cathedral square and the giant chess was very dramatic too.

The first picture is of me fishing. I am having a very poor run of fishing at the moment, having notched up some 16 hours of fishing in about 10 different places using a variety of techniques, baits times without catching anything big enough to eat. The picture shows me trying at Blenheim, but I also tried Brighton Pier, Okarito Lagoon and today we went back to Tokerau Beach. The water has warmed up and I have been hearing other people talk about catching fish around the place so I was mildly optimistic. Instead the sea was full of red seaweed that clung to the line and bait and made it impossible to fish. Perhaps I should see how long I can go without catching anything even though I am trying my hardest.

To add insult to injury Eric took my swimmers having decided that he did actually want to have a swim and then he left all the towels next to my fishing bag, just before a large wave came in and swept everything up the beach. I have to say that I was in quite a bad mood after that! Trying to salvage something I spent 20 minutes untangling the stunt kite that Uncle Nick and Aunty Kala (spelling dodgy?) had bought for Stuart many moons ago. We figured out how to build it and it was ace, ducking and diving in the strong wind with its 20 foot long tail. All the boys had a go and Eric was the best at keeping it aloft. It was nice to do something that they all enjoyed and made up for the other disappointments.

The boy's

The boy's.

Cute as

Well here he is ,our new addition to our family. And in honour of our trip south we have named him .......Picton. The name is just right for him. He is the brother of dearly loved posy. He has both the same mum and dad as Posy. And he is just as silly as posy was. Picton has settled in well ,Mo is not so sure ,Jo is ok, he tried to hiss at him ,but he found it too much effort and stopped. Zephyr doesn't know what to do with him ,he licked him, and poor Picton nearly took off. Bless him

Crossing to South Island

Our second night's camping was at a lovely site next to a municipal park in Upper Hutt, a short distance to the Interislander ferry where we were due early the next morning. We enjoyed walking round the park in the evening and discovered that our tent was next to the Wellington Fault. There are periodical pieces in the paper warning that Wellington is well overdue for a major earthquake. I slept slightly uneasily that night.
There are some pictures of activities in Blenheim. We spent New Year's Eve there on a pleasant enough camp-site that had a swimming pool and a lovely clear stream. We liked Blenheim with its surrounding vineyards and horticultural enetrprises. The town has single sex schools only which is interesting. The New Zealand Falcon was as close as we got to the species in the museum. I did see a few possible wild ones but did not get the views necessary for positive identification.
The train was running in Blenheim even on New Years Day so we had a pleasant trundle through the water meadows into town and back. There was lots of wild fennel growing.

First set of holiday pics showing our transport: called Daisy. First campsite at Turangi and snow capped Ruapehu whose crater lake did not collapse releasing a deadly lahar down the mountain-side. The first of many natural hazards that we avoided!

We've all been on a Summer Holiday ....

..... and we got home an hour ago!
Camping holidays are good for making you appreciate things that you spend the rest of the year taking for granted:
- a roof that will not let in the rain
- a wall that is designed not to let flood-water in
- places to dry clothes
- electricity to run kettles
- tv and video players
need I go on?
We travelled a long way today, from a place at the south end of Lake Taupo called Okahune all the way back home. The weather was pretty rough, rain that was torrential at times and a gusty wind. That did help to keep Daisy's radiator cool. The boys were ecstatic to get home and puppy dog was pleased to see us back. The cats showed their appreciation in typical feline manner by bringing us a half paralysed rat!

Anyway we have taken about 400 pictures of our voyage and when they have been downloaded, some of the cream of the crop will find their way onto this blog.

In the mean-time you can try to put together the information above into a prediction of how our holiday was.

Documentary evidence

For those who like visual evidence click on the link below to see the Christmas Day swimming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU4hZ561CfE

Christmas Day Part II

We are now at the end of our Christmas day. In keeping with the spirit of reinventing the tradition which we started by opening the presents at Midnight. Our church service was at the Salvation Army, then we went round to Mike and Rissy's for food. And what food! No turkey, brussels, and roast potatoes. But BBQ steak, ham, chicken under a gazebo on the lawn next to a swimming pool where we all had dips at various points during the day.
There was also shooting practice, sunbathing, stories, trampolining and puddings.
Very nice and thanks for the invite.
The evening has followed a more traditional route of wall to wall TV of dubious quality (Brotown, My name is Earl, a UK drama about a woman who has 4 autistic boys, and the history Channel: the worst jobs in the world).
There you go our second Kiwi Christmas.
Suggestions for what Chantelle might be saying by email please.

Christmas Day

We are into Christmas Day here in the Southern Hemisphere. Seasonal greetings to all our readers around the world and hope you have good years in 2007.

We let the boys stay up until midnight last night and they had the countdown going on the computer.
Presents were opened at midnight in a break from tradition and to take the pressure off this morning.

Eric is going to add a few words:eric
"For many years i have been buying toy guns NOT THIS TIME! ......"
Stuart says:
"Mine is dad's old gun. We will be shooting for many years!"
Patrick says:
"Nah"
Chantelle says:
"Happy Christmas to you all"
The rabbits and possums in Church road are trembling.

See y'all and have a good day

Posy

Posy was a joyful bundle of black cat. She spent alot for time either sat on the deck with Zephyr or sat on top of the chicken coup counting the chickens.
She cracked us up when she scaled the great heights of the net curtain on the ranch slider , and gave us a giggle when she hid in the blinds of Mike and Chantelle's bedrooom, then absailed on top of their heads whilst they were asleep.
Best of all is that you always came out of the cat flap when we arrived home ffrom work and school.
Posy was killed on the road on the night of saturday the 9th of December.
We loved Posy.