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.

Short entry.

Stayed in Takaka at Sylvia and Jualian’s parents (almost complete) house. It’s build on limestone rock – should have taken a pic.

Anyway.. here’s a video of a game called Face-Off we played. Mad.

Finally – on the way back had lunch at the Riverside Cafe (damn I love that place – even has the Wild Things..)

Finally – I thought this was hilarious.

Does nominative determinism apply to cars too?

Well, this may well be the second best New Years of all-time (note, this includes the potential of the future). Maaike couldn’t make it as she was meeting her mother in Auckland and is currently off exploring the North Island.

I have met a lot of really great people through the Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC), and I think my first tramp was with Sylvia – who organised this New Years along with her brother Julian.

Sylvia and Julian’s parents bought 1000 acres of bush and an old paper mill up in Takaka (Golden Bay) for $17 an acre in 1970. It is an awesome place. They’re still discovering caves there.

There was a great bunch of friends there – some (like Jana and Julian I’ve not seen in 2 years since they left to Germany)? The trip was spent exploring and playing games. For example, golf (with hokey sticks – playing balls off trees / buildings / tents etc. very much encouraged). Michelle (playing) was killer.

They have mobile lawnmowers (sheep). Some of them are self shedding. One of these was shawn by Mark Hooker. Can you guess which one?

So yes, exploring the bush and caves was fun. About 2km from their property is a 7km long cave (this pic is not that one).

Their water they get from a stream 100 (vertical) metres downhill. But they use a hydrostatic pump to get it up the hill. Basically (as far as my very ageing engineering brain can understand) you create a header tank (pressure) and then use this pressure to force a (small amount) of water through a one way valve. Effectively you use a relatively large amount of water at lower pressure to push a small amount of water at high pressure. And it works with very few moving parts and little maintenance. It is, almost, magic. And here’s a rubbish picture.

Steve & Mark shot a goat each (wild – pests here) on New Years eve.. so that was prepared for dinner. The fire was insanely big – considering bush all about. Luckily all the tents had been removed first ;)

The goat (backstakes) were grilled (on a small fire – honestly, a little tough – but the curry the following night was way better). We also toasted marshmallows on (very) long sticks.

There were so many little things that made the place groovy.. just two of which were their ingenious wood system. Basically there was a hole in the back of the kitchen cupboard that you could pull through from the wood pile outside. Very clever. And their toilet in use sign (blue hand) was also quite neat. Also a picture of Michelle looking happy as Steve enjoys taking out a splinter (too much wood chopping)

Also went for a really enjoyable scramble with Jana (yay to have her back for a visit!) and Lachlain (damn tough kiwi). Just scrambling around waterfalls and up block-strewn rivers. So much fun. And a pic of Al Wood, in a boat, on the 20m long pond.

All in all, an amazing new years (and good to be out of mobile reception for it too ;)

I am extremely fortunate to have an Aunt and cousins who live in New Zealand. This year Maaike came up with me to Palmy and experienced her first Christmas lunch with Turkey & Ham etc. (Dutchies are weird and don’t have that tradition).

Maaike was an immediate hit with the wee cousins.

I suspect the circus course helped. But when she tried slapstick and they wound up in hospital* it wasn’t so funny.

It was lovely seeing Mary (Aunt) and just relaxing.. a gentle?! intro to what awaits us in Europe when we visit our respective families (more details to follow – just as soon as all the flights are booked – but arrive into Dublin on the 2nd April)

Went to this old (for NZ) house for a bbq and drinks. Lovely place. They did have a real skull on the mantelpiece though. Which was strange (left over from anatomy lessons I think).

Also took in a quick trip to OTaki, spent far too much in the merino outlet store (if that’s possible) and went for a walk on the beach (above), saw my cousin Williams garden (very cool – has all the ingrediants for Mojito’s in a single tub (ok, Lime tree + mint). I think this is an idea to be copied.

All in all really good times.

*may not be true