Honestly – getting away from ChCh next weekend – come hell or highwater. Or Earthquakes more likely I suppose. Funny really, living in a country that wants to tear itself apart.

Anyway – Saturday… croquet in the morning for me. Was *so* annoyed … not that anyone cares. Sigh. I’ll tell you the story anyway.. more ‘cos I will eventually get this printed out for my own amusement. So my opponent had a handicap, of two (quite low = good player) and I was playing nicely – right up until I tried to run the wrong hoop. Twice. And then lost composure (sigh) and the game (double sigh).

After that – off to friends Berit and Mickels flat warming party – and what a flat. Unbelievable view. There are 4 of them living in the flat.. for $575 a week. At current rates that’s 264 Euro (split 4 ways). Check out the view..

Really good party… interesting election results with a swing to the right. The National party are in now… not quite sure what that’s going to mean yet – I imagine my job is safe but sure we’ll see..

Next day drove on from Sumner to Lyttelton and had brekkie there in this lovely coffee house… They had some excellent artwork – including scary typewriters..

Then met up with the lovely Graham and Myra and took the ferry (interestingly part of the bus network!) to Diamond Harbour, and thence up the hill towards Mt. Herbert.. didn’t get all the way, but it was good to stretch the legs!

Slightly lazy weekend – well, not away for the night – not quite the same thing I suppose :)

On Saturday played Croquet (crushed my opponent, at 70 odd she didn’t have a chance). Actually, that’s not strictly true, I’ve been beaten by 80 year olds before ;) HOWEVER!! croquet is still an excellent excellent game, and one of the most vicious, tactical and skillful games I’ve ever played. So there.

After that it was out clothes shopping with Maaike. I would rather be out bounding over mountain tops, bashing my way through thick bush, or indeed chilling out with a nice bottle of wine in a hut somewhere in the exact middle of nowhere, but sometimes (once every three years or so) new clothes need to be bought. Clothes shopping is, however, one of Maaike’s favourite things to do. This was the first weekend I gave in though.. constant pestering gets to one eventually ;)

Still, there was something to look forward to in the evening – out to friends (Volker and Ivor’s) housewarming.

Sunday managed to get out of the city (woohoo) and up to Castle Hill. It’s a magic spot that I’m sure I’ve mentioned lots of times. According to the Dalai Lama it’s the Energy Centre of the universe. Certainly has a really good feeling, even if you don’t believe in energy centre’s…

It’s a funny place though, the boulders don’t always give you what you need to get up them. Well, not easily at any rate – sneaky no good two faced (well, multi faceted) boulders. Often with slopey holds (called… wait for it… slopers) at the top.

Here’s another of Michelle, this time improvising brilliantly (with the help of the ever gallant Steve) to reach the top.

So yes, all in all a really great day… will definitely be making a new trip up there soon I hope.

Twas a lovely weekend all told. Warick and Hannah – married. Crazy. The night before the wedding Warick’s friends Philly and Tracey had people over to the Bach (holiday home) they were staying in. It’s in a place called Taylors Mistake.

It was a really beautiful little getaway to be honest.

According to this link Oysters aren’t, in fact, aphrodisiacs.. so not sure if that will have helped Warick as much as he would have liked ;) I’m kidding… they caught the oysters (and Paua) just metres from the bach.. honestly.. what a place!

The next day we headed up to The Sign of the Bellbird – a lookout over Christchurch, with about 15 kayak paddles in the back of my van.. Warick wanted the path to the place they were having the ceremony lined. No pictures unfortunately.

Hannah was utterly radiant, and managed to make it all the way through without dissolving – though I think Warick was just as emotional – Psych nurse that he is.

Then it was on to the The She Cafe which was a really excellent little venue just over the hill in Governors Bay. Originally known for it chocolate – their wedding cake was made from chocolate truffles and profiteroles… no pics unfortunately as the unruly mob had descended ;) (ok, not true – I had enjoyed possibly one too many of the delicious Saltram of Barossa, Mamre Brook, Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum.

There was Irish Moosic and Dancin’ a plenty, sure the craic was only mighty and the tappin of feet was enough to waken the dead. Or something ;).

Another sterling title eh :)

So – had a call from a friend Shan whom I met sea kayaking with Dad on doubtful sound… She has returned, like all sensible people do, to New Zealand for a years visa. But one hopes she will stay :)

Also, Mum and Dad went back to Uganda to the University that they helped found. Dad was given (I believe) an honorary professorialship. I think they loved being there for the first graduations..

Then last week for Maaike’s Birthday we headed up to the Lewis Pass, and stayed in Maruia Springs – lovely place. Had lots of fun driving up (well, I did anyway) as I hadn’t told her where we were going so had lots of doubling back and wrong turnings going on to throw her off the scent. Unfortunately it would be true to say she had the last laugh as I let her drive the last part – and she refused to take the turn in and we had to continue a good 3/4 km up the road before we could turn back. Oh, and leaving the lights on too.. so we had a flat battery.. I was well and truly done!

However, revenge was sweet as Maaike lost her first game (so she says) of Mini Golf since she was 12 on the way back. Happy Brithday ;)

Unfortunately I have many wonderful friends in New Zealand.. and coupled with my intrinsic laziness, I haven’t really needed to be able to practice my navigation skills as I could (and can) just rely on them. However, some friends leave travelling, some get married and have babies and generally it’s a good thing to know.

So… I decided to try and put this to right – and signed up for a mountain skills course (for the princely sum of $100!! beat that) for a weekend. Maaike decided that she didn’t trust my navigation before or after course and ought to learn it herself too..

The main difference thing was unlearning what I had learned in Scouts. There was this catchy phrase

“From Grid to Mag add – from Mag to Grid get rid“

Now, that’s all well and good in Ireland, but in New Zealand it’s the exact opposite. Which kinda explained why when I first tested to see if my old technique worked ended up with me pointing 46 degrees away from everyone else. Sigh. Still – got it now.

Headed up on the Friday night – staying at Lake Pearson (which saved a ridiculously early start in the morning)

The next two days were spent learning how to relate a map to the real world – and understanding and taking account of where True North is, and Magnetic North – what they mean, and how to use them. Here’s a nice image of Magnetic Declination from wikipedia and how it changes over time

Every so often the poles flip.. so North becomes South… wonder what happens to birds when that happens?

Anyway – we did various exercises like navigating through thick bush following a bearing to see how accurate you could be. We were aiming for this corner – and came out about 5m from it (after 360m of going through the bush – not too bad at all)

And yes, lots of map and compass work.. All in all an excellent weekend. Now all that’s left to do is to head out and start using it. If this is my last post – it probably means I’m 44 degrees off over a cliff somewhere. And yes, I am allowed to joke about it. And no, writing it here isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference! In fact, it might make me remember better. So there.