Well, more to come, but after 6 years with blogger – they’ve changed the way they do things (no more FTP) and so I’ve moved to WordPress. It’s a move I’ve been meaning to do for a while. It automagically (well, almost) imports all the posts (except for video’s) but not comments.. though I may try to work on that.

Anyways.. enjoy – let me know if anything does(n’t) work that well..

Maaike and her mum arrived back down from swanning around Marlborough, drinking nice wines, having fresh Paua out of the ocean and other enjoyable things for my 31st birthday on the 21st Jan (Happy Birthday me).

The next day at midday we drove down to Mt. Cook for the weekend.

We did a few short walks – but they take you to some absolutely stunning scenery. This lake (the end of the Tasman glacier) used to be ice about a hundred odd years ago or so.

Mt. Cook is however, a serious environment. It really brings out the person within. And you don’t even have to be on the side of a hill for this to happen – as is demonstrated in the emotional highs and lows of our ‘Continuo’ Game.

It was one game each to Maaike’s mum and I, and then she viciously attacked me with a very sharp knife. So sharp it was *almost* like a needle.

But yes, all in all it was a great trip – and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. Hopefully Maaike and I will get back this year for a jaunt up to the Mueller Hut and maybe a climb or two at Sebastapol Bluffs..

Drove up to Picton on Friday evening to join Maaike and her mum for a few days. Stopped off just North of Kaikoura for a wee stretch of the legs at Ohau Waterfall seal colony (not too many seals about though)

It was lovely to meet Maaike’s mum – esp in advance of our trip in April (details to follow!) – she has a great sense of humour – and puts up with endless “Mamaaaaaaaaa’s” from Maaike. So we toured about Picton – taking in a Maori fort (Pa)

They had visited some Dutch friends up in Hawkes Bay – and they imported Dutch Cheese for their restaurant – so they picked some up. It was delicious – and not even Edam ;)

Now – Maaike’s mum (Wilmy) doesn’t really like heights much. Understandable I suppose coming from a country which is mostly below sea level, and sports a mountain with the dizzing – nay oxygen needing lofty summit of 321m. I can’t wait to climb it – hopefully unaided but we’ll see ;) Anyways.. that aside, we went for a cliff walk, and while I think Wilmy was mostly terrified, she did brilliantly.

This is possibly why I managed to claw a victory against the (mini)golfing talents of the Jongerius’. Fantastico. And apparently from(the 17 previous comments) Maaike hasn’t lost at family golf since after “that holiday in Denmark“. Aaaahhhh well.. I’m not one to gloaty gloat.

That said, they did get their own back at Boules later on. Apparently they have a set at home, so it hardly counts I think you’d have to say.

Oh, and we did some wine tasting too…

Then I took the coastal train back from Picton (no pics sorry) and Steve picked me up (thanks lots and lots) and Michelle cooked a yum dinner – and all in all it was an end to an excellent weekend.

Friends of the family from Oz (but living in Dunedin) were in town for a night. It was great to have a BBQ on the lawn and give them a tour of the house and garden. Ok, so this garden is kinda Mona Vale (the old (for NZ) house opposite – now city owned) – but still, it’s like our back garden as we have our own bridge into it :)

You can just about see our house hidden amongst the trees. I love this place.

Q: If a friend who is a helicopter pilot invites you to come with him when they fly 200km up the coast on a Friday morning do you:

• A). Say you can’t because you have to work
• B). Burn Airwolf and Ride of the Valkyries to CD, take the day off (and work it back on the weekend), fly up and hitch back?

Bit of a no-brainer really.

So.. Dom organised a lift out to the airport with a friend, and I messed about looking at Really Big Socket Wrenches and at the insides of helicopters while Dom got things ready.

Then, cranking on the Airwolf CD, it was time to take off.

It took about 50 minutes to do the usually 3 hour drive up the coast.. and I’ll just put some scenery pictures up. Seamus came along for the ride.

As we were coming into Kaikoura it was time for ride of the Valkyries…

Of course, then I was 3 hours from ChCh with no helicopter to take me back again.. so, I hitched. It took about 30 mins before I was picked up by two.. young gentlemen. One back from Afghanistan and thinking about becoming a private security guard (read mercenary) for about 20K cash a month. Still, they were good drivers, it was a new comfortable Audi, the dope they smoked (for lunch) didn’t impair their judgement (yes, I would have got out if I’d felt uncomfortable) and all in all it was actually quite fun.

So, a 500km round trip for $0.00. And in pretty good time too.

Thanks to Dom – brilliant.