Summer Returns to Christchurch

Everyone has been mentioning how bad the Summer has been this year - I've not really noticed apart from the few dys of rain that have come in now and then - but that's par for the course where I'm from. But this weekend has suddenly kicked back in with some scorching Summer heat. We've spent today lazing around the house with Ted and Sheila - who even ventured into the pool at one stage!

We also had a trip over to Hagley Park mid afternoon to take in the "Lazy Sunday" live music in the Botanical Gardens. Some great blues/jazz guitaring to accompany an excellent chanteusse.

Jack and Eve are on tour at the moment. They headed northwards last Tuesday to Kaikoura and then onto Nelson and the Abel Tasman. I think they had a few damp days heading up there but the past few days around AT will have been fantastic weather for them. I think that they are heading to Hanmer on route back to here - possibly arriving tomorrow.

Ted and Sheila enjoyed their own tour around the south of the South Island last week. They stayed at Dunedin, headed to Te Anau, did the Milford Sound experience and then had a couple of nights in Queenstown before witnessing the spectacular Mackenzie Country on their journey back to Christchurch. They didn't bother with the bungy!

I held my first i2i Open Course last Thursday and Friday. It went very well - I received some good feedback and have now scheduled my next 2 events - in March and April. The lectures at the Football academy are also going well and I've also been offered some lecturing work at the University of Canterbury - it's starting to get busy!

Sarah has settled in well at the Girls High School - despite her initial insistence that she would not like it! Seem to have heard that one before somewhere? She is off to school camp tomorrow so she's busy getting all her stuff together - and pestering me to go and find her a torch.

Last weekend we were treated to the NZ Coast to Coast Race staging it's cycle-to-kayak transition at the bottom of our garden (almost) - due to bad weather conditions in the mountains causing Plan B to be enacted.
It was great to see the chaos ensuing on the banks of the Avon as tired cyclists searched frantically for their launches - and then headed off towards Sumner. Maria and I also cycled out to the finish to see some of the athletes completing on the beach - giving me lots of inspiration for my own attempt at the challenge sometime in the next year or three! Best get some training done.