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.

One Year On

I've just noticed that it's 1 year to the day that I started this blog - so Happy Birthday!

I've just been looking back over the blogs and I've got to say that I am absolutely amazed at what we have packed in to this last year - but then, I've not had work getting in the way!!

I really do think that everyone should be given the chance of having a year off to go and do everything they've ever wanted to do. It's such great fun! It's just so sad that it's taken me so long to get on and do all of these things.

Will I still feel the same in another 12 months when all the redundancy money has been spent and I'm having to work to pay for my entertainment?......you bet I will!

No room at the Inn!

Sorry for the delay in update....it's been a hectic month!

Maria and I were straight back into busy-busy working once our Tasman holiday ended.

Whilst we were away, Chris had off-loaded his car to the local breaker's yard - realising a $730 loss on a $800 "investment" after 4 weeks of ownership!

Brendan, Steffi and Olivia popped back into Christchurch for an evening before heading off to Akaroa and the Banks Peninsula for a couple of nights and then we had Jack and Evelyn arrive. We celebrated their first night in NZ - and what we thought was Brendan, Steffi and Olivia's last night in NZ - by hosting a BBQ - also inviting Matt and Lou around. It was a lovely evening.

To our surpise, Brendan, Steffi and Olivia were still around at breakfast the following morning! They had been unable to board their 6am flight due to not having the correct visa for a 10 hour stop-over in Sydney - and there was not customs staff to process one for them. So they were to have an extra day here in Godzone.

It took a few days for Jack and Eve to fully acclimatise and recover from their jet-lag. The weather was not particularly great for their first few days, but at least it wasn't too much of a climate shock for them. Maria and I had a busy week working - I actually held my first all day course - or at least a Day 1 from my 2-day i2i course. My audience were 7 of my BNI group who had been keen to experience what it was I actually did! They all seemed reasonably impressed with the experience - at least no-one cancelled coming to the 2nd Day (see later!).

We had arranged to head off to Wanaka for the last week of the school Summer holidays - staying at our landlady's (Nicky) skiing chalet - with Jack and Eve. Chris had managed to get some time off his work this time around - though not the whole week! - so he joined us for a couple of days of fun.

We spent the first night in Tekapo - staying at "The Chalet" - where we had stayed 3 years ago on our first trip. It's positioned on the lake edge and has fantastic views across the water and of the surrounding mountains. The weather was beautiful and the sun cast some fantastic shadows and different colours across the slopes as it set - whilst we sat chilling on the verandah. We then sat star-gazing as the night sky seemed to become alive and you could almost touch the Milky Way!


The following morning we headed up to the Mount John observatory to take in the great views across MacKenzie Country then departed south towards Wanaka - with the obligatory photo stop at the Mount Cook viewing point. The peaks were a bit overcast today - but we were to get some clear shots when we called in again on the return journey north later in the week.

We had a fantastic week in and around Wanaka.

Maria, the kids and I had a go at quadbiking up near Cardrona - which was great fun and very amusing when Chris got stuck in a swamp and had to be towed out! Of course, no trip to Cardrona is complete without calling in to the Cardrona Hotel for lunch.

We enjoyed a trip over to Queenstown and a gentle steam across the lake on the Earnslaw to Walters Peak and back. AJ Hackett's Karawau Bridge bungee site was re-visited once more - but this time I resisted the temptation! I guess it didn't seem as appealing without having the pleasure of seeing Mike Guyomar putting himself through the mental torture of preparing to jump just ahead of me!

Further nautical adventures were to include Sarah and I taking a catermaran out onto Lake Wanaka for a very enjoyable sail Maria, Sarah and I taking the River Clutha Jet Boat experience along NZ's biggest river (by volume flow); plus Sarah taking her water-hating grand-father onto Lake Wanaka aboard a very dangerous and life-threatening pedelo.

Sarah and I also visited Puzzlingworld whilst Jack and Maria went off cycling towards Lake Hawea. The next day, we were all to head over to Lake Hawea for an afternoon's lazing on the beach and a picnic. It is a beautiful place. But then, so are most places around and about!

The local beach at Lake Wanaka - heading towards Peninsula Bay - saw a visit from us most evenings - for a late dip in the water or an open-air dinner.

At the end of the week, Jack and Eve headed off further south in the campervan - Milford Sound was their ultimate destination - and we headed back to Christchurch.

Another busy week - including the 2nd day of my 2-day course - and then it was the turn of Ted and Sheila to arrive. Jack and Eve returned too, after a weeks touring the Fjords and a revit to Tekapo to take part in a star-gazing experience at the observatory.

So this weekend we've had a houseful. We enjoyed an evening of classical music in Hagley Park on Friday and then Matt and Lou invited us around for a BBQ at their new house yesterday. Yesterday, I delivered my first lecture to the boys at the Asia Pacific Football Academy - which went very well. There may be hope for me yet!

Happy New Year Holidays

So 2010 has arrived. I hope you all had a great festive season and were not troubled too much by the freezing conditions (for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere or in Antarctica). Christmas arrived towards the end of a busy working week for both Maria and I (though Maria was the only one who got paid!). Good news is that I have secured some work at the Asia Pacific Football Academy starting in February - really looking forward to it! I also managed to secure some additional work with a lean "consultancy" starting in the new year - so a great Christmas week all round. Mike Guyomar called in for an evening on his way down to Dunedin where he was to pick up "his girls" on route to his in-laws for Christmas. Needless to say, plenty of vino was quaffed in support of the BBQ fodder - a sign of things to come!
After an afternoon in the swimming pool and last minute present wrapping, we wandered into town, to Victoria Square, on Christmas Eve for the Carols by Candlelight concert plus a picnic and another bottle of wine! It was very popular with the locals indeed - standing room only around the edges. Christmas Day was spent mostly over at Corsair Bay, by Lyttleton, with Di, Geoff and Sighle Illston. Another picnic and, you guessed, more wine (sparkling this time trhough) saw us through until Christmas dinner in the evening (though not traditional fare). We had a great time chilling - or in Chris' case, roasting - plus took to the water for a bit of pre-food and wine swimming. Geoff and I finished off the afternoon with cycle over to Godley Head and then back to our respective homes. Boxing Day saw us head North towards Nelson for our summer camping expedition - but not before Maria and Sarah had ventured out early into Christchurch to snap up some Boxing Day Sale bargains! We were booked in at Mapua Leisure Park for a week or so. The Park used to be a nudist camp and still has a clothes optional period in February and March. Must remember to stay away during those months! Bren, Steffi and Olivia met up with us too for a few nights before they headed off to walk the Abel Tasman Park Track. We spent a day around Kaiterteri and Stephens Bay - dodging a few showers but mainly on the beach and in the sea. Brendan was to return the next day to Stephens Bay and go diving for green lip mussels which he served up as a delicious dish at camp supper. The lure of the Abel Tasman meant that we then arranged to take a water taxi up to Anchorage Bay for an afternoon lazing on the beach. This was to be where Brendan, Steffi and Olivia would be staying after their first day of walking into the Park, on New Year's Eve - and what a fabulous place to be celebrating the advent of 2010 in. Lucky people! At this point in the week, my drinking pace-maker, Mike, arrived with his family - Fiona, Isabella and Florence! We visited nearby Rabbit Island with its lovely sandy beach where the girls attempted to build a raft to sail out to sea on. Unfortunately it did not survive the launching! The town of Nelson featured on a few days, with trips in for various provisions and camp necessities. We also (foolishly) bought an inflatable dinghy for the girls which was to result in the need for a rescue boat being sent out to retrieve the 3 of them from the mercy of the raging Tasman Sea (that bit was a slight exageration of what really happened, but they did need rescuing!). New Year's Eve saw the hiking party depart camp and head off on their 5 day trek through Abel Tasman. Maria, Mike and I accompanied them for the first couple of hours before stopping for lunch and then turning back to civilisation. Some pleasant walking with great views across beautiful bays of golden sand and aqua blue sea. Much more pleasant without a 21kg back-pack, believe you me! The rest of the holiday involved a few visits to local wineries - for wine tasting and for lunch stops - further trips to local beaches (though without further dinghy episodes) - fish and chip suppers from Mapua Smokehouse F&C Shop plus the consumption of lots of beer and wine from Mike's rather large Chilly Bin. Must buy one! The highlight had to be the lunchtime Jazz and Blues session at the Woollaston winery, where we were entertained by the Mike Garner Band with 2 and a half hours of great music whilst quaffing a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - fantastic stuff! So that was that. It soon became time to go home so we all packed up the tents and headed our separate ways. We did stop off for some fresh cray fish at Kaikoura on the way home though. A great view from the restaurant.

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!