While I was off doing the Queen Charlotte, Anna and Maaike took a trip to Australia to see their cousin Imke and family. A lot of fun was had, creatures great & small seen, birds listened to (Anna is now attempting her kookaburra…). Paddleboarding and lots of swimming too. Fun

Biking the Queen Charlotte really is my go-to for an “easy” bike trip to organise. I’ve been working half time for the last few months while a contract is coming in, and it looks like that’s about to happen so we’re going back up to fuller hours. This was a chance (while Maaike was off in OZ with Anna) to go on a trip. My climbing buddies Malc and Gabby were keen and hadn’t done it before, so, off we went.

It’s extremely easy to organise. We opted for camping (but, there is accommodation available close to where we camped each night).

Day 1 – Ship Cove to Camp Bay

We booked our water taxi with cougar line. They’ll ferry your bags for you and are very easy to work with on the phone. So they dropped us off at moreto / ship cove (marker for James Cook etc.), and our bags were taken on to Punga Cove resort (2 mins walk away from camp bay)

There were a few slips etc, but, nothing too awful. Harder work than I remember it.. possibly I’m less fit than I used to be? Surely not?!?!?

Nice to see the glow-worms at camp bay. There’s a wooden sign someone hung which was very helpful! The only major disaster of the weekend was that I’d brought a nice Camembert and blue cheese to share, and, I left them in the AirBnB. Dried crackers wasn’t quite as good.

Day 2 – Camp Bay to Portage

Hard work today, lots of up and downs (equal amount as you start and finish at sea level). Some stunning views along the way, getting to the viewpoints is worth the extra effort, especially “Eatwells Lookout”

Again we camped, but, that just meant we could splash out on dinner at The Portage. And a pint or two ;) I even had Crème Brûlée for desert. It was yum. You can still see all the slips etc in the area, it has really been munched in the bad weather we’ve had over the last few years..

Day 3 – Portage to Anakiwa

Unlike previous times, Cougarline now include your boat back to Picton in the ticket price (previously we’ve biked back, and I was very happy to skip that this time).

The easiest day by far, we were finished by about 1:30pm – maybe 2? It’s a lovely descent down towards Anakiwa, definitely an enjoyable part of the trip. Stunning views all round, just a very nice ride.

Very thankful to have the time and health and friends to do this with.

September brings with it lots of blossom, and Anna’s birthday – 7 this year. It’s amazing how fast it all goes.

Her birthday itself was at the (https://www.chchgymnastics.com/) where you can have the use of it for birthday parties. We opted to have some basic instruction too, and that seemed to keep the kids happy :)

We also bought her a desk on TradeMe… we’re hoping this will be a place for her to keep all her ever-expanding amount of “Stuff”. We shall see.

Well, Maaike spotted the leak, and we eventually worked out that it was that the “shower liner had become detached”. Apparently this isn’t covered under warranty (didn’t check, it should be a cheapish fix). The company that built the shower have been very helpful in helping identify and fix it, so, that’s good. Hopefully that’s the last of it for a while.

I’ve been getting out on a few walks while I’ve been half time (we’re waiting for some contracts to arrive, should only be another month or two hopefully… otherwise it might be a much longer holiday).

Anna’s football has finished up for the season. I think she really enjoyed it – Maaike did most of the work there (she’s thinking of becoming an assistant coach for next year now).

Lots of Te Reo at school. Anna practiced a bunch and was one of the kids picked to do her speech solo. Amazing stuff to be honest. Very gutsy.

The weather is improving a little, which is lovely. This winter has felt (for me at least), like it has gone on a while. It has also been quite wet. Maaike noticed an odd damp patch on the wall behind our bathroom…

… we have started chatting to the company which built the house (< 10 years ago), but, haven’t yet worked out what the issue is. Hopefully it’s not something major, and also hopefully it’s something which is their responsibility. We shall see.

My friend Albert very kindly made me a replacement bird-feeder for wingspan as my old one had disintegrated through too much assembly and disassembly. Very much enjoying the oceania expansion that Maaike got me.

I took Anna with me while I went to play squash with Warrick (as her school start was delayed until 11am).

It was a lesson in frustration for both of us I think. I was super annoyed she would continue to talk and ask questions during the game (and I struggle enough as it is against Warrick!). However, I should really have just reset my expectations. Yes, she needed to be quiet, but, yes she’s still only 6 and be reasonable ;) Very much a learning journey this parenting lark. Her game playing is getting better! Just started playing spit/speed and while there’s a long way to go, it’s fun! (other games: mastermind (she can do 4 no worries), uno, genius square, splendor, set, spot it (dobble)). Good times. I love having a captive game-player. Oh, and started doing https://lichess.org/learn which my friend Daniel put me onto. Very nicely put together that.

The city council put on a frankly gorgeous light show in the botanical gardens. Just lovely wandering around there in the evening. Anna got to stay up late which was extremely exciting for her. We went on “The octopus” ride. Absolute rip-off at $10/seat, and there was almost no padding so I came out fairly bruised. Anna… not really sure she enjoyed it. She did get through it though (for some reason closed her eyes for a lot of it and didn’t require vomiting, so, that was impressive!). It was very very spinny, more than I remember them ever being. Still, I’m sure we’ll be back for more.