Had a lovely weekend. Started on the Friday with a trip to see an excellent band play (Trinity Roots). They were excellent, and played for 3 hours straight. I think I was more knackered at the end of it than they were. Honestly, this continuous learning & holiday thing really takes it out of one ;)
Saturday Maaike had some kayaking on?! I think?.. honestly it all fades so quickly! But I headed to close to Akaroa and hung out with Shelly and some of her friends at her parents place. They’d collected mussels in the kayaks so we had a delicious dinner.
On the Sunday went for a paddle out in the sea. It was flat calm heading out..
.. but the wind really got up for the way back and there were some decent waves. I was actually a little scared.. there were just two of us on the way back – and neither of us could have properly rescued the other (I think).. and I’m not sure what my roll would have been up to. Time to get some more practice in.. fun and bleedin’ games! I was *very* happy to reach shore again. I’m sure it was perfectly safe, but yeah.. I definitely found it a little scary.
Anyway, Shelly’s parents have sold their farm and bought (well, are building) out on the peninsula. It’s a beautiful place – this is the view from their front door. Completely stunning.
Had a lovely time (except for the scary bits)! Thanks Shelly!
After finishing up with the MED it was straight up to Kaikoura to spend the evening with Val and Dom. It was great to see them again, Val just back from guiding in the Arctic. Very cool. Well, very melty I suspect.. :( I wonder how long it will take before the human race will look back and think that sticking flags under the ice and getting very excited about the oil & gas prospects was just a tad short sighted.
Anyway, ehem, the next day drove up to Picton and met the wedding crew at the train before getting a boat out to Ships Cove (where cook first landed in NZ). The plan was for the younger guests to bike/run from Ships Cove through to the wedding proper at Furneaux.
It’s a very steep ride out of Ships Cove and most of us pushed our bikes quite a bit. While I look completely relaxed in this photo I was, in fact, utterly utterly knackered.
Mike and Heather would have to be probably the most relaxed couple in existence. Just before their wedding (5? days, a week after Heathers’ mum broke her foot) they were told they had to get out of their house immediately. Such is the wreckage of Earthquakes. Anyway, a work party was ushered in, and all was well. But they took the news magnificently! I suspect they were very happy to get away to the sounds and just relax (as much as a couple can before getting married!)
They had put a huge amount of effort in. Everyone had a bag with goodies from either the US / New Zealand themed around a national park, lots of puppets from the animals you would find there too. Here is Michelle with a Praying Mantis.
And a picture of Maaike and Sylvia.
All too soon it was time to leave and bike out again.
Congratulations to Mike and Heather – best of luck for a long and happy future together. I’m quite sure that if they can get through the stress of being evicted whilst in the maelstrom of organising a wedding that there’s should be little to daunt them now.
So, today was my last day with the MED. It’s definitely with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I’m moving on. They have been a really great bunch of people to work with.
I was going to send this poem around (as a joke!) but was a little worried that some people might not see it as a joke. Here I’m safe though ;) And I honestly think that the people I have worked with are *not* reflected in this poem.
Mike Carrigan is one of the wickedest kiwi’s I have met. Excellent fun and a truly excellent sense of humour, how he managed to convince the lovely Heather to marry him will forever remain a mystery ;)
Mike and Heather would have to be one of the most relaxed couples I have met – and a damn good thing too. Just before their wedding (a week?! before) they were told they had to leave the house they were renting and move out immediately because of earthquake damage. A work gang was pressed into service and most of the moving was done in an evening. They _seemed_ quite unphased… I was so impressed.
Anyway, a week before the wedding was the stag night – and I thought, for all Mike’s wickedness, he came through remarkably unscathed. The suicide curry was pretty damn hot (I tried about a teaspoonful – and could hardly taste anything for an hour – Mike managed a good 3 mouthfulls (before succumbing to hiccups for about an hour)
The next day it was off for a tramp to a hut where there was laughter and merriment and a reasonable amount of drink consumed. All in all it was an extremely pleasant experience! Much better Glynn’s stag where I ended up in hospital ;)
This weekend, while Maaike was off doing the Spring Challenge, I went to Mt. Olympus to go snowboarding, and we both had excellent weekends.
Neil and Ruth picked Mike and I up after work and we headed off to Olympus on the Friday night. Big winds forecast and looking like it might just be the Saturday on the field, but still, worth getting away from the thousand or so aftershocks that we’ve been having. Honestly, if there’s one take-out from all this earthquake business, it’s that it’s the aftershocks which are the real psychological killer!.
Anyways… up we headed and I had the best days boarding of the season. Lots of deep snow to fall into and just a great time.
Some of those pictures are Neil & Ruths. Neil was experimenting with his new IXUS (Canon) camera. I’m quite jealous and am now hanging out for my one to break ;) It also has some weird features, like being able to take pictures when you’re smiling and a fisheye effect. I think Neil had to force the camera to take this picture of Mike and I, as we were resolutely trying not to smile.
And finally, a video of me trying out my latest trick – the full speed faceplant.
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