So, a couple of things happened this week that I’ve not mentioned yet.. firstly my sister Liz had another baby.. hopefully she and Tim (who live in Minneapolis) won’t treat Ciara quite as badly as they do Fiona (in this first pic)

So yes, it’s quite exciting to have another niece. That makes two nieces and one nephew that I’ll not have seen until I get home. I’m really getting very excited about travelling now – I will totally miss NZ, and will be back in Febuary, but yes, looking forward to seeing the family (a lot)

That pic is of Liz and Fiona and Ciara..

So yes, the bad thing of course was the 5 bombs in London.. Luckily, it seems all my family and friends there escaped completely.. but it is shocking all the same – sometimes home feels quite removed from NZ, but things like that bring it all back..

On a happier note – Mhairi has arrived for 12 days (of training for her next adventure race ;) I think she’s really enjoying seeing all her friends back in ChCh again.. it’s certainly great having her visting!

WARNING.. THIS POST CONTAINS NUDITY

So, My friend Domhnall has been visiting with his girlfriend Linda – both of whom I hope to catch up with in OZ soon enough. It was unfortunate that the timing clashed with Lorcans trip – ahh well! Good times though… headed out and played pool on Friday night. I seemed to do well against everyone – except Domhnall.. which is kidna annoying seeing as I play all the time and he doesn’t… :)

Then on Sat – we headed up to Arthurs pass to climb at castle hill.. unfortunately – as has been the case for the last week or so – the weather wasn’t good enough.. still, here’s a pic of Domhnall..

and one of Linda…

We headed up to Maruia Springs that night – to stay the night.. it was a really lovely place to stay the evening. I’d tried to … use my gentle persuasion on the receptionist to get us a cheaper room. See it’s all studio units.. $150 for a 2 person room.. the conversation went something like this:

Maruia:Hello, welcome to Maruia Springs, how can we help you?
Irish Cheapskate Hello, just wondering how much rooms are
Maruia:$150 for a 2 person studio room.
Irish CheapskateWow, that’s a little more than I was expecting.. see I have a couple of backpacker (not exactly true, they’re both qualified doctors) friends and I was hoping to show them Maruia as it’s so much nicer than Hamner Springs (always slag the competition off) and, if it was possible for us all to fit in one room – we have sleeping bags – then that’d be just wonderful…
Maruia:I’ll have to ask about that one…

In the event, we were going to get a $15 discount per head if we took one room – an ‘executive room’ – whatever that is… we ended up getting two seperate rooms.. which was a good move.

I do love the place though – if you’re staying the night – then there’s 24 hour access to the pools – so we brought down a couple of bottles and settled in. It was a really lovely evening.. then a quick(ish) game of scrabble.. which Linda kicked ass at.. (even with me knowing all the sneaky 2 letter words!!)

The next morning Glynn, Domhnall and I took a quick dip in the segregated (naked) baths… it was *slightly* embarrasing taking this picture.. I didn’t care (and neither did the others – who’s permission I have to put this up).. but at exactly the moment I was taking it… in walks a cleaner … it was *slightly* embarrasing to say the least – standing in the doorway taking pictures of the lads..

Back to ChCh, out for the last test match (All Blacks won the series 3:0).. and then many many pints.. haven’t been out drinking until 2 in a long time.. I know.. weak.. but there you go! :)

Linda and Domhnall left today for Queenstown – where they will be spending the next week learning to snowboard.. hope they get a good dumping of snow! Great to see the Big Man again though.. looking forward to Perth now..

Lorcans trip – Went up through Lewis Pass, down the coast, through Wanaka and back again.

So that was pretty much it, good to see him … hehe, There will be a Special Guest Entry coming from Lorcan on his take on the trip – but probably not until he is back from his 2 weeks in OZ..

Yay, just back from a week travelling around the S.Island with Lorcan (Special Guest Spot post from Lorcan coming soon…) but yay – Steve&Yvonne;&Warick;&Michelle; are going to go climbing in Thailand for 3 weeks – meeting on the 15th Nov… So excited.. I’ll prob just join for 2 of the 3 weeks.. but it’s just so great.. any Irish climbers tempted to come too ;)

So on Friday we launched a piece of software I’ve been working on for the last couple of months.. (when I’ve not been holidaying somewhere ;) It’s a system for logging calls in the contact centre – classifying the call with respect to ‘what the call was about’ ‘who called’ ‘what was done with it’ etc.. and then if there’s follow up action to be taken it’s easy to log a request..

Aaanyway – it seems to have gone well and that’s kinda satisfactory..

Then my college friend Lorcan arrived. No rest for the wicked… arranged a party in his honour.. pretty much ;) well, good excuse anyway. Mulled wine + mince pie – my favourite. Really fun night – though I’m not sure how the next morning was for everyone ;)

At the party my friend Marcel said he was heading out sea-kayaking in Akaroa – and Lorcan got an invite. Lucky thing… well, I think after 2 hours paddling back against the tide he wasn’t quite sure how lucky he was…. :)

I was planning on tidying the house and getting ready for a road trip – but easily persuadable as I am.. I headed off snow boarding with Dave, Emma and Sarah.. lots of fun – once I managed to get the hang of nut-crackers again .. I spent about 30 mins – at least – trying to grab on and falling onto my bum.. still, once I got the hang of it again I was happy enough on the slopes. Though I do seem to have issues going from toes -> heels.. ahh well, will get there eventually.

This pic was off castle hill as we drove by..

Then back to watch the lions loose again – though a much better match. And now, off in the BMW again – up through Lewis Pass, and back down via the glaciers and Wanaka.. well.. that’s the plan anyway!! :)