Oh it's starting to fell a lot like Christmas......NOT!

It's almost the longest day and summer seems to be making itself at home here in New Zealand (with the odd cold Southerly blowing in just to keep you on your toes!)
I've spotted Santa wandering around Merivale Mall a few times when I've popped in to Fresh Choice for some more Salmon Keebabs for the BBQ! I'm sure he's sweating buckets under that outfit and his nylon beard.

Brendan, Steffi and Olivia arrived safely last weekend after their long journey from Germany. They seemed to have prepared fantastically for the time difference as they showed no signs of jet lag - lucky devils. So we got straight onto city tours and meanders around the botanical gardens - Brendan had to climb a few trees!


They appeared to have brought some Northern Hemisphere weather with them on the Monday as the clouds and rain rolled in - spoiling our planned afternoon on Sumner beach. Bren and Steffi braved a rainy walk in the Port Hills, nonetheless before we gathered along with Matt and Lou for a great family nosh up at Desmond Street.


The tourists have now headed off on a grand south island tour - planning on visits to Tekapo, Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford before heading back up the West Coast and joining us near to Nelson on Boxing Day for some beach-side camping in the sun.

The previous weekend, Maria, Sarah and I had spent a great day in Christchurch city centre watching the Festival of Cycling plus the Santa Parade. The former was a series of criteriums staged around a circuit along "the strip" in the heart of downtown Christchurch.
It was a really good event with some great cycling on show. The Parade was an annual feature that has been happening for years....a Christmas Carnival parade along Colombo street which seemed to attract even more crowds that the cycling!


We also went along to the Solid Energy (one of Maria's employers) family Christmas Party at Ferrymead Heritage Park last Sunday - before Bren arrived. Sarah had invited her friend Taylor along. It was an interesting few hours - riding vintage trams and trains and waiting for Santa to arrive on one of the aforementioned trams!

Sarah finished school on Tuesday - that's her done with Heaton Intermediate School - next February she starts at the Girls High School here in Christchurch. It's about 400 metres away from where we are living - so very handy and no need for a school run any more! The previous week, Sarah had attended the Heaton Leavers Party at the Chateau on the Park and she had a really good time. She looked very grown up in her little black number!


I went out for a bike ride last weekend with a small group of cyclist - we did the Short Bays circuit "in reverse" - which involves cycling up Evans Pass and then up from Governors Bay to the Sign of the Kiwi. This probably means nothing to most of you, but to those who know, it's a tough ride - particularly when you are on a heavy bike with high gearing, ie ME! All the others were riding with compact gears and left me standing on the hills....it was a real case of mind over matter just to not get off the bike at times! I think it almost compared to my cycle up Llanberis Pass with Painey a few years ago.

Maria and I have enjoyed a couple of more sedate cycles out to Sumner, the last one on Wednesday just gone after Maria had finished work. Sarah was away at a friends having a sleep over so we had the opportunity to get out for an evening ride.

Not much mention of Chris so far......well he's still working a few nights a week at MacDonalds and spending most days in bed.....great life!! He disappears off to his mates on his days off and we hear him clattering about on his return. His car is still broke and he's now starting to mumble that it was probably a mistake buying it because it's going to cost him money to fix.... Let's hope that he is taking all these learning experiences in!

We've had a nice relaxing day today - chilling out at home, in the garden and in the pool. The sun has been shining and the wind has been light (no nor'wester today). We have been trying out the "endless pool" - the switches were fixed this week - so we put the wetsuits on and did some swimming - though not for long - mainly floated about on inflatables. BBQ in the evening and Maria and Sarah have pitched a tent for a camp-out this evening - getting some practice in for next weekend at Nelson.

Deck the hall with boughs of holly.....

Hi blog readers....sorry about the 3 week delay since the last one. Time flies when you're trying to build a business!

So Ashley departed on the Sunday and Maria and I continued the long weekend by tripping up to Hanmer Springs for a day - enjoying a nice walm soak in the sulphur pools. Sarah was away at school camp over at Purau Bay doing interesting stuff like kayaking, rock-climbing and bush-skills - should prove handy when she's a celebrity and facing bush-tucker trials!

I had the pleasure of meeting a guy called Jason Barrell who had an amazing story to tell. A professional Rugby Union player who suffered a broken neck and then a brain tumour to add insult to injury. He's an inspiration to us all.

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Bill Southgate again and we had another great lunchtime run in the Port Hills. It sounds like he's had a great few weeks travelling around the South Island and will take back some great memories. He's also been to few places I've not visited myself yet and I was interested to hear hie stories and recommendations.

We suffered some serious pool-algae due to me letting the chlorine supply run dry! The water was greener than the lawn and we've had to get the pool experts in to recover the situation! Good news is that we have now discovered that we have an endless pool with water jets at one end which mean we can do all the swimming training we want without having to venture beyond our front gate! I've also been shown how to operate the heat pump so it might become increasingly inticing to go for a dip!
The garden is looking quite nice now - looking forward to hosting some BBQ's when our visitors arrive.

Chris has bought himself a car - a Honda Civic shuttle. It's older than he is. And he's crashed it already!!! Some dendrites are hard to change.

There was a Christmas concert in Hagley Park last weekend - Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park - which Maria, Sarah and i ventured out to. We only joined the festivities for the last quarter of the proceedings but it was quite a good show what we saw of it. Very popular with the locals - which I guess includes us!

The night before, Maria and I had been invited to the Safe and Sound (Maria's employer) Christmas BBQ at the business owner's (Charles) place. I can honestly say that I have never seen a piece of fillet steak quite so large in all of my life that I witnessed on the BBQ. And when my slice was served up and consumed, I was of the opinion that I'd never before tasted such a succulent and tasty steak. It was delicious. And as for the cray fish and Akaroa cod........Yum!

We took a turn at hosting a Xmas party ourselves this week. My BNI group came around for eats and drinks. Everyone brought a plate and their own booze. It's a NZ tradition and it works fantastically. We collectively served up a feast.

Maria was due to do her 3rd triathlon tomorrow (Sunday) but she's not really been doing any training since the last one. She thinks that she had a virus when she competed in the last event and it knocked her back a bit - she felt tired and lethargic for the best part of a fortnight. It could have something to do with the 4-day weeks that she has been putting in, mind you!

She is enjoying walking around the Botanical Gardens though - we sometimes pop across the road after dinner for a brief walk around before they shut up for the evening. It really is a beautiful place.


Maria, Sarah and I ventured out to Bottle Lake Forest and New Brighton today - it was a lovely sunny day. We had a brief stroll through the pine forest before venturing along to the beach - watching the sand artists, the surf school, the kite-buggy racing.

It's also been the day for putting up the Christmas tree - though we're waiting for it to go dark before we can appreciate the full effect of the lights!

Chris turns 18 and Ashley Cooper rolls into town...

So at long last Chris has made it to 18 years of age! He can now legally go and buy booze from the off-licence - he's got ID!
Unfortunately for Chris, his birthday started at McDonalds on the night shift. He decided to stay up for the night - clearly eager to receive all his cards and pressies first thing. He was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a new car for him parked on the driveway. He also seemed a bit unimpressed with the tandem para-gliding experience that we had provisionally booked for him - so that was duly un-booked!

We eventually agreed on a course of action for the morning - breakfast at Cafe C1 and then a wander around town to buy him a watch. He chose a nice adidas model - which we hope he will get many years use out of!
He then decided that he needed his bed so celebrations were put on hold for a few hours...that is until Maria, Sarah and I headed into town to a couple of bars for late afternoon drinkies in the expectation of Chris joining us. But he never arrived - deciding to spend some time with pals instead and then settling for a take-away Hells Pizza for his birthday dinner rather than the planned posh-nosh in town! Ah well, his choice. At least we had a pleasant time on Oxford Terrace.


He had a few pals around at Desmond Street on Friday for a few beers and PS3 games before heading off into town to hit a few bars to celebrate R18.

Elsewhere this week, we enjoyed the presence of our first UK visitor - Ashley Cooper. In Christchurch on business, Ashley entertained me at the Addington Races on Friday with a gathering of the local aerospace elite.

I actually managed to come away from the event having beaten the Bookie!

Ashley stayed at Desmond Street on the Saturday after we had enjoyed a day out over in Akaroa.

The trip was made extra special due to the fact that we were lent a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow for the afternoon - compliments of Allan Jones, one of Ashley's team who is actually from Christchurch and has a couple of them sat in a garage just on the outskirts of town - as you do!

So it was a rather smooth ride over to the French quarter that is Akaroa - and we certainly received a few admiring looks as we purred through la ville.

We had a great time out on the Akaroa Jet Boat experience - despite it being a bit choppy out on the water and suffering a few salt-water facials!


Looking forward to going again on a still day when he can really open it up - so just waiting for the next visitor to arrive!

We had a drive out to Sumner for breakfast this morning (Sunday) and a stroll along the esplanade.

We drove back along the summit road before heading back to town and a saunter around the botanical gardens before Ashley had to bid his farewells and head off on the next leg of his round-the-world business trip; next stop San Francisco.

Earlier in the week I'd managed to catch up with Bill Southgate from Rolls-Royce who is over here on holiday, staying with friends over in Governors Bay. We met up for a run along the Harry Ells track in the Port Hills and then enjoyed a pleasant cuppa tea and jam scone at the Sign of the Kiwi. He and his wife have headed off to the Abel Tasman National Park for a few days and I hope to catch up again some time next week for another run before his stay in NZ comes to and end.

So Cup and Show Week has come and gone here in Christchurch and it's now the run in to Christmas! Sarah goes off on School Camp tomorrow for 2 nights and Maria and I are contemplating a trip out to Hanmer Springs or the West Coast for an over-nighter - it's been a holiday weekend here, so why rush back to work!

Birthday Time

Sorry all you blog-fans(!) - it's now a 3 week gap since last update rather than the usual fortnight. So what have we been up to over the back end of October? Looking forward to my birthday, of course!

Just in case you missed out sending me a card this year, get it entered in your 2010 diaries - it's the 5th Nov - same date each year - easy to remember, remember, the 5th of November....etc!

We thought about going to the Firework display over at New Brighton but instead our fantastic landlady Nicky gave Maria and I a couple of complementary tickets to a wine tasting (Sauvignon Blanc) and charity auction evening at the Christchurch Casino - very enjoyable indeed

Maria and I have managed to get out on our bikes a few times - we took on Dyers Pass Road to the top of the Port Hills one Saturday morning a few weeks ago. Let's just say we had a few recovery stops along the way - it's a steep climb, especially when you've not done any hills for some time!

Maria also completed her 2nd NZ triathlon last Sunday (1st Nov) over at QE2 stadium. The distances were a bit longer than her first one - they build up again for the 3rd one in the series at the start of December. .
She did very well. The conditions were a bit more pleasant this time around. Steve Frodsham's wife Viv also competed in the Duathlon event.

I've managed to get a couple of longer rides out to Tia Tapu from Christchurch with a couple of different cycling pals. I think we are building up for something called the Long Bays which is around 70km of ride with a few hills along the way.

Sarah's school held aTwilight Fair last week which Maria and Sarah made some cakes for - Sarah and I did our bit manning the stall for a while - before Sarah subsequently disappeared off with her pals whilst Maria and I headed to the bar and then went listening to the live band - very Rock 'n Roll!

Maria and I enjoy walking around the Botanical Gardens - which are on our doorstep. There are some fantastics plants and trees - some quite grand!

Sarah's had a couple of sleep-overs over the last 2 weeks - first one was an away fixture, then one at home. This weekend her pal Frannie stayed. The weather was really great here and the girls made the most of the swimming pool - despite the fact that I've not cleaned it for Summer as yet!

Maria and I enjoyed a trip over to Akaroa a couple of Saturdays ago - when Sarah was sleeping away.

What a beautiful place. My previous experience of the place had been at the end of the recent NZ national relay champs - when it was cold and grey - plus I only really saw the inside of a pub next to the finish line and the inside of the mini-bus. On a warm Summer's day it's very peaceful and scenic. A must for our visitors.

We went along to the Christchurch Girl's High School last week for a New Entrants evening - it's where Sarah has a place for next February. She'll have had 3 different schools in 6 months - that's quite some change! She's doing well to deal with it all, really.

Maria's been working at least 4 days per week recently - one was a 5 day week too. She's doing her best to keep us solvent at the moment. It's a bit tough on her - she's getting quite tired at times - missing her cat-naps! Hopefully she won't need to work quite such a full week once I start to earn some money.

On that front, I have secured my first clients here in NZ. They are individuals wanting personal coaching - which is really great news. Still a long way to go before I "break even", but it's a start. I also took part in another seminar last week - this time with a couple of others who also wanted to "showcase" their own businesses. The set up seems to work at the moment, so I'm hopeful that we will all benefit from it. We are currently planning on monthly events in Christchurch.

Chris is still enjoying his career at McDonalds. His hours went a bit thin for a week or two but seem to have filled up again this last week - I think he's worked 6 nights running up to tonight including a few shifts where he has been called in at short notice due to no-shows of others. He's looking forward to turning 18 this week. He keeps telling me he wants to buy a car with the money he is expecting to receive from relatives! He has high hopes!

I have joined a BNI networking group to help to develop my business - it's a way of generating and receiving referral business. It seems to be very effective and is paying dividend already (see earlier comments!). One of my BNI colleagues is a real-estate agent and she invited me to a property auction last week - it was really fascinating - though I think it will be some time before I will be going along with my cheque book!

We've had a lovely weekend of weather here this weekend and I finally got around to cleaning down the BBQ and getting some sausages sizzling. Yum yum!.


It's Show Week here in Christchurch this week. It's like Royal Ascot without the Royals. For many, it signals the start of the Christmas Festivities! There seems to be lots of parties being organised over the next month or so. I've been invited to the Races on Friday where Ashley Cooper will be hosting a marquee full of Christchurch-aerospace movers-and-shakers - I'm looking forward to talking about engines after 6 months out of the industry! Just hope I remember which end is which - actually, I'm not sure I ever really knew anyway!

Back to Kaikoura...

Well another fortnight has whizzed by since my last posting and so much to tell you about!

Maria is now settling into her permanent part-time role of Occupational Health Nurse at Solid Energy and seems to be enjoying it. I think she has been given the task of organising the company's entry into a local Corporate Challenge Event - a running competition of some sort - which is a novel part of the job description!

She had a couple of days off last week as it was her birthday last Tuesday. We went cycling out to Sumner on the Monday and had a pleasant relax in the Rock Cafe once we had arrived - it was a head wind all the way - quite tough - but much more fun heading back with the wind on our backs.

Maria was treated to some birthday pampering at the local BeautE salon and then we wandered into town for some champagne in the sun - sitting in a bar on Oxford Terrace watching the world go by - very continental indeed. Indeed a great novelty for October.


I had been running the previous weekend - taking part in the "iconic" Takahe to Akaroa relay race - which was the NZ National Relay Championships this year. It was a 80km race in teams of 8 - I ran for the Port Hills Runners - and just like a few weekends ago, I went off too quickly and really hurt for the second part of my 10.7km leg. I did a time of 42 mins 15 secs which was OK under the conditions - of me being seriously exhausted!

I've continued with more networking over the past 2 weeks. It's a hard job I currently have! I also hosted a free seminar last Thursday which seemed to go down well with those who attended. I have another one planned for Nov 4th with a couple of other guys I have linked up with - the subject is "Committing to Excellence". I'm really looking forward to it - it should be a bit easier than going solo and hopefully there will be a few more people coming along to listen to what we have to say.

We also took possession of a campervan this week. Maria's brother - Brendan - is visiting in December and he has decided to buy and then re-sell a vehicle rather than simply rent whilst he's here. So I guess I'll be doing a bit of touch-up over the next few weeks trying to get it ready for his tour of NZ. Might even give it a test-out one weekend - possibly nip back to Akaroa with Maria when Sarah is on school camp in November?

Last weekend, Maria, Sarah and I ventured back to Kaikoura. This time we had been invited to stay at Shearwater Lodge by Nicky, our landlady. She runs Kaikoura Wilderness Walks which is based on the Puhi Nature Reserve at the Lodge. It's an hours drive from Kaikoura into the hills - across lots of unsealed roads and river fords - followed by a 5 hour "tramp" up into the mountains.

The lodge is at around 3000ft. It's in total wilderness - but 5-star luxury! It's amazing. The weather wasn't at its best, but we still had a great time. We didn't manage to get up to the 5000ft peak that is usually the destination of the Day 2 walk due to low cloud - but there's always next time! The walk out was a bit wet, to say the least and was made worse by the fact that we knew there were some fantastic views just through the clouds! And those small fords that we crossed on the way up there.....well they were now raging rivers on our return journey and it made for an interesting time! But we managed to get out - and cannot wait for the cahnce to go back again.
Take a look for yourself at: www.kaikourawilderness.co.nz

Sarah's back at school after here 2 week Spring Term holiday. She seems to be more settled and is loking forward to a few extra curricular activities this term. There is a "twilight fayre" next week that she will be helping out at - I think we have voluteered our services too.

Chris is still holding down the night shift job at McDonalds. We don't see that much of him when he's working - out all night and sleeping all day - at least we know where he is! He's just spent a bit more of his "car savings" on a set of surround sound speakers for his room - that'son the heels of him investing in a PS3 a few weeks ago. I think it may take a bit longer than he expected to get that car after all? Though he does keep mentioning the fact that it's his 18th birthday soon!

How could I forget McLean's Island?!

Well, somewhere back in September (Sun 13th to be precise) Maria, Sarah and I visited McLeans Island for an enjoyable hour or so on trial bikes cycling around the forest tracks.
It was really good, and we got to see the Waimakariri river too - the watercourse used on the NZ Coast to Coast race.

I became frustrated at not having a bike, so I went out and bought a Giant Trial bike (not a big one - that's the brand) and subsequently went riding over the Port Hills as a pre-seminar warm-up. Fantastic weather for the ride, bizarrely followed by a severe hail storm (fortunately) once I had returned back to base. It really was a "4-seasons in one day" day!

My seminar went well. People turned up and listened politely. Sometimes they smiled a bit too! I guess it's something to build on. I got some good and useful feedback from the attendees.

I also attended the Champion Canterbury Awards evening at the Christchurch Convention Centre on 24th Sept. A black-tie do - mine was still in the container so I had to hire a suit for the evening. I met some interesting people there and had a very pleasant evening all round!

On Sat 26th, I competed in my first event since the Derby 10K back in April 2008. This time it was the Port Hills Running Club's Annual Road Championships, held at Rangiori. A flat 8K course saw me finish in 31 mins and 11 secs - a very pleasing result given so long out of competitions and still way off any decent level of fitness! Sarah and Maria came out to cheer me on - which was very much appreciated.

Maria was offered a permanent job with Solid Energy (the NZ Coal Board) - to work 12 hours a week providing their occupational health needs. She's really pleased as she says it has a good feel about the place. She can still work other temporary hours around this post giving her flexibility on total hours worked during the week.

The main event last week was the arrival of our belongings from the UK - 13 weeks to the day of our arrival here in NZ. It's amazing how long you can last with the bare essentials! A week later and there's not too many boxes still to unpack - we managed to get most of it sorted quite quickly.

It wasn't long before Maria and I headed off for a long awaited bike ride on the road bikes. We headed off westward along the Avon to New Brighton - not the most scenic of places, but a beach and a nice cafe was all we wanted. It was another gloriously sunny day as the Nor'Wester blew across the Canterbury Plains sending the temperature into the mid-20's. We spent the (Friday) afternoon lunching with Di Illston (her 60th birthday celebration) and then campervan testing for Brendan.
On the way home we stopped off for a post-work drink at Aikman's bar with the Frodshams (at least Steve had been at work!). Most of Merivale were at the pub with us - there was a great summer-buzz about the place.

Sarah has been on school holidays last week and has had a friend (Franny) around a few times. They have even ventured into the swimming pool - despite it not having yet been cleaned or heated. Still, they didn't seem to care!

Chris has been working the night shifts at McDonalds and he has treated himself to a PS3 with his first few weeks wages. I'm not sure how well his saving up for a car is going, but I do know he has now opened up a separate savings account and is transferring some money across on a weekly basis.

Last weekend, Maria competed in the PhysioMed Womens Triathlon here in Chritchurch. Despite not having had much bike practice, she performed magnificently in the challenging conditions - it was fair cold at 8 am on the Sunday morning!

Maria, Sarah and I headed off to Kaikoura for a night on Monday, to catch Nicky's (landlady) art exhibition and to see what else the place has to offer in the school hols! We stayed at "Judes Place" - a pleasant seaside bach on South Bay owned by Jude and Ian - pals of Nicky.

The weather wasn't great - it was a bit wet on the Monday and cold and windy onthe Tuesday - but we still has a good time. We managed to see plenty of seals - including some seal cubs playing around in a waterfall stream about 20 mins drive north of Kaikoura - it was amazing! We visite Fyffe House on the Kaikoura Peninsula, but didn't do the Peninsula walk as it was a bit too cold and windy. The mountains at Kaikoura are particularly stunning, especially as they had received a fresh "dusting" of snow.

So back to Christchurch....Maria's back at work for a couple of days, I have a few more networking events in my diary plus I'm preparing for next week's seminar #2, Sarah is arranging shopping trips with Franny to Riccarton Mall and Chris is preparing himself for a run of late shifts.

"How our behaviour is driven by our thoughts"

Apologies for the delay in the latest blog - must have been very busy - we'll see!

Well Chris has started his shifts at McDonalds and has tended to be on a late or night shift. It means he gets to spend most of his day in bed (Nothing new there then) and he spends his waking hours earning money - plus spending some of it on Angus Burgers at break-time! One major plus he has discovered is that the restaurant has a huge plasma TV showing Sky Sport throughout the night - even though the restaurant is closed (except for drive-through) - so between building the burgers and cleaning the equipment he gets to watch all the sport he can take! He texted me at about 3am this morning just to let me know that Michael Owen had scored the winner against the dirty Blues. My annoyance at being woken at that time soon passed once the news actually registered!

So we've not seen that much of Chris this last fortnight - maybe the odd sighting around meal time when he ghosts on through getting ready for his depart to work. Though he's already moaning about not knowing where his money is going and is starting to show concern that it won't be that easy to save up $10K for a car before Christmas!


Christchurch remains in the grip of a very warm and dry spring - it's hardly rained during September (apart from Friday night - just as Chris was cycling home from work!).

The blossoms out around the Park and there seem to be Magnolia trees everywhere you turn. It's glorious.


Sarah had been due to go on a skiing trip last Friday with the school (and Maria as a helper) but high winds over the mountains put an end to outing. Shame really - both of them were really looking forward to it. Not sure whether there will be any more trips to the slopes this "winter" - it's getting towards the end of the season and the centres will be closing down.

Sarah also spent Saturday morning at the Girl's High School sitting some tests with the rest of the Year 9 intake - they are for streaming purposes. She felt she did OK - except for the Mauri language test where she didn't have a clue what was being asked of her!!

Maria had a 3 day trip up to Wellington the week before last - attending the NZ Occupational Health Nursing Annual Conference. She spent a couple of pleasant nights with the Guyomars in Lower Hutt - leading them astray (according to Mike, that is) insisting they drink lots of nice Sauvignon Blanc during the week.
The trip proved very useful for Maria from a networking perspective and looks encouraging for future work opportunities.

I too have remained busy on the networking front - especially last Thursday when I spent 3 hours clambering around the Adrenalin Forest (Go Ape) Park at an event promoted by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Despite it not sounding like work (by the way it was quite tough up in them trees!) I met some good people and again it looks as though some opportunities may come out of it.

I've booked a venue to host a free seminar tomorrow evening (22nd Sept) - the first i2i event in NZ. The title of the seminar is "how our behaviour is driven by our thoughts". I'm really looking forward to it - and will no doubt make comment in a future blog.

I've had a bit of a cough over the past week and had to ease back on my running with the Port Hills Runners. Fortunately, the rest of the family weren't affected and have been fit and well.

Yesterday we went around to Matt and Lou's for a BBQ with a few of their pals. It was another gloriously sunny day - just perfect for siting out in the garden drinking beer and wine and eating barbequed steak - yum, yum.

Dream building at the Boat Show

Another sunny week here in Christchurch - when will my bike turn up? Latest forecast from "The Moving Co" is 15th September. Bring it on. Have just bought a helmet, lock and lights to enable Chris to use one of the "House bikes" this week for commuting to and from work. The restaurant opens tomorrow (Monday) after a week of cleaning, sorting, stocking, testing, etc. He gave me a tour of the place last night when I picked him up after a long days work. Enjoyed a brief chat and glass of wine with the franchise owner, Bruce. Seems a good guy and he said that Chris has been working hard - so that's a great relief!! His initial shifts are not great - he's doing night shifts to start with - 10pm to 6am! till, it's a start and it should help him to save his earnings as he'll probably be in bed for the rest of the day!

Maria had a couple of days work this week with Medica and a few days off - so I think it was more to her liking! We had a trip over to the Port Hills on Thursday morning and had a run along the Harry Ell track from the Sign of the Takahe to the Sign of the Kiwi. It was lovely and sunny with great views back across Christchurch - if you stopped to take a look, that is! Maria has now entered a series of 3 "triathlons for women" running October to December so she's back in training - she's out running around Hagley Park as I type this. We also went to Jellie Park on Friday for a swim - getting serious! I've picked up a bit of a chesty cough so I'm easing off for a day or 2.

I did have a good start to the week on the exercise front, though, having a great workout with the Port Hill Runners on Monday night. We were running for an hour and 20 mins with a tough middle section of around 11km - 3 x 3.75km negative split laps for those interested! Sore legs on Tuesday.

On the work front it's been quite busy again - though still looking forward to receiving a payment! Have engaged someone to re-design my web-page and I've had some brochures printed. I've also booked a venue to host a couple of seminars in the next month or so - it gives me something to focus on and direct my marketing and networking towards. Should be fun.

I went to an "Evening with Steve Venables" on Thursday - hosted by the NZ Alpine Club. He was the first Brit to climb Everest without oxygen tanks. It was a really good event. Some interesting stories of triumph and near disaster. Some great photos too.

Sarah and Maria spent Saturday afternoon visiting the Museum and wandering around the park whilst I went off to watch Woolston Tech in the semi-final of the South Island Football Cup. They were winning 2-0 when I left and I've not yet heard the final score. We all went out for dinner in the evening (Saturday) - Steve and Viv Frodsham invited us around to their place. Another pleasant evening of good food, good company and good wine!

Chris was back in work today (Sunday) helping the final preparations for tomorrow's grand opening. Maria, Sarah and I went along to the Boat Show at the local WestPac Arena. There were some great boats there to help inspire me to generate some positive cash-flow! Not long now....

Feels like Spring's on its way

Well, what glorious week we've had this week. The temperature has started to rise quite markedly - brought about by the warm Nor'Westerly winds from over the Tasman Sea!

We started the week quite soberly after our excesses last weekend! Maria had a few days of work in her van - one of them was travelling north of Christchurch along the coast - which she said was a nice way to spend the working day.

Sarah wasn't feeling too good at school on Monday and had to come home - she had a couple of days off and then was back into the swing of things again. She's been on a "Mathletics" challenge this week - trying to generate lots of points for her class at Heaton by doing maths tests on-line.

Chris has been kicking his heels this week as he's waiting to start his job at McDonalds in a couple of weeks. At least he got paid for his training hours last week and was quick to draw out some money and spend it as quick as he could! He went to rugby training again, with the 3rd XV, who were preapring for their play-off final this weekend against Sumner.

We went alsong to Christchurch Park on Saturday afternoon to watch Matt in the final. It was a lovely sunny afternoon - probably not ideal for playing rucby in - but it brought a small crowd out to see the hosts (Christchurch RFC) prevail 23-0. Despite not featuring, Chris did his best to join in the post-match celebrations and sank a few beers with the boys in the changing rooms!

Maria and I had a pleasant walk from the Sign of the Takahe up to the Sign of the Kiwi along the Harold Ell Track on Thursday morning. It was a bit windy, but again, nice and sunny and the views across Christchurch were great. I think it will be one for the grandparents when they visit after Christmas!

We also had a nice stroll around Mona Vale with Sarah on Sunday afternoon - stopping off at the "Homestead" for a cream tea - very naughty but nice.

Maria and I had a run-out on Saturday morning through Hagley Park. The Park had a wonderful feeling to it with lots of activity. There were young kids playing rugby and football matches, canoists and punters out on the Avon, artists painting around the boting lake and a BBQ party was well under way. We even spotted the French Boules courts - Jack and Eve will be pleased! It's amazing how much life there already is around the Park compared to the first time we wandered through in our second week here. A sign of things to come, no doubt.

We were invited around to dinner on Saturday evening to some friends of the Guyomars who live close by - who we had been introduced to when Mike and Fiona were down here in the school hols. Mark and Cathy were our hosts and we had a really nice evening in their company - along with fellow guests, Justin and Karen. Amazingly, Justin is from Bramhall - it's a small world!

I've had a busy week continuing to follow up on contacts that I had made at a few networking sessions the previous week or so. Have started to meet some really good people who I hope I can work with in the near future. I realise that starting up the business will take a lot of patience and persistance, but I'm encouraged with the response that I'm getting when I meet with people and explain what I am about. Once it kicks off, there'll be no stopping and I'm going to need that army of Jedi's who are waiting in the wings!!!