This weekend we be takin’ a voyage of discovery over the seas (up the coast) to the little cove of Lake Daniels… Where there be pirates. And Rum. And more rum.

And no pictures of me… unless Steve posts one.. In the meantime, here’s a picture of Steve having eye-liner applied… and the pirate table .. AAARRRRR

Maaike was unfortunately unable to come – as she has started where I started… in a Contact Centre.. but by all accounts is enjoying it (except for having to work one day of the weekend…)

Saw some pretty stunning clouds on the way home – it had snowed (and one of the cars did a 180 on the way home… with a small collision)

What else… my work contract expires in 2 weeks so I have to apply for my job. So hopefully that works out… apparently I’ll get the word ‘Senior’ in my title.. cool eh. I’ll have to change the title of this blog to ‘Patrick’s Senior New Zealand Weblog’. Perhaps. ARRRRRRR

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR

It’s great being a pirate.

It was the queens birthday weekend here, and so a good chance to get away for the weekend. Traditionally it’s the weekend that the ski-fields open, but according to www.snow.co.nz none of the fields are opening until at least the 14th June… Still, with the way petrol prices are going hopefully snowpool will be a hit this year!

Anyway.. what else… so yes, Warrick & Hannah and Maaike & I headed up to Black Hill Hut. It’s only a 1 1/2 hour drive from Christchurch and also it was sheltered from the weather we were supposed to be getting this weekend.

It started off with a cuisey hour long mountain bike ride along a four wheel drive track..

Maaike did *really* well as she was on a commuting bike she had picked up from our friend David Bones (who may not have known his bike was going to be used for such things!!). Those Dutch definitely know how to cycle… I was wheeling my fancy dual suspension bike past things she was going for.. yes… I am a total wuss.

Anyway – after that it was just a couple of hours up to the hut…

If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of a 6 bunk hut looks like..

And from there it’s a short 15 minute walk to the top of the hill where you get a pretty excellent panorama out to the sea – and inland to the Cragieburn range…

And yay – received my invite to Warrick & Hannah’s wedding in October – can’t wait..

Mind you… I was slightly irritated with Warrick on the night in the hut. Not any more of course… but… well… I am – just a little – competitive. I don’t mind loosing tooooo much, ehem, but one does want to play ones best ;) Anyway, it was the boys vs girls at Tantrix… so much honour and glory at stake. Warrick and I were ahead – but not by much… and then Warrick decides it’s all just a bit mean and starts helping the EVIL opposition. Sigh. I apologised (later) for being moody ;) Still, we were all friends again after playing Beanie… An excellent card game – it’s quite like Gin-Rummy.. but with wild cards. Quite frantic – but fun.

Anyway – that was the long weekend… roll on the snows.

On Saturday it was time for the Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival. A showcase of lots of different (short) films with an outdoors / extreme sport bent. Excellent. Quite sad that one of the feature films was about ice-climbing…. in abandoned mines… because that may be the future of the sport in our warming / changing world. What interesting times we live in.

Maaike has been settling in – going through the joys of trying to find a job (which is never easy, no matter how experienced, when you’re on a working holiday visa!). I was dead lucky to get mine… If you’re thinking of moving here / coming for a while… I would seriously consider looking into getting residence *before* you arrive. I’m not sure how easy it is – but I think that’d be the way to go. That way you could work in your job until you get residence – and then head off…

Being a far more … cultured.. person than I ;) Maaike suggested we go to one of the University of Canterbury Platform Arts Festival gigs. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.. but we went to a Modern Jazz piece.

It was *weird*. It’s called ‘Cobra’… or something.. and is a game. Basically there are a series (about 20) cards which the performers can choose at any time by indicating to the conductor what it is they want. For example, touching their nose and making the number 3 means they want to play the card ‘Nose 3’… and the card Nose 3 may indicate that they players should:

• Play Faster/Slower
• Louder/Softer
• Players who are playing should stop, and those who are not playing should start
• indicate a particular player should continue playing (with other people or on their own)
• players should remember the current sound and start playing it again when it is recalled
• etc…

So yes.. all in all quite interesting really… I was *so* happy they explained what was going on – as otherwise I would have been really lost. Coupled to the weird game was that the performers could play whatever ‘instrument’ they wanted… e.g. blowing into a tin tan / rattling chains etc. Very odd. My friends Barry & Tom & James may have already played – if not I must suggest :)

So.. this week in Dublin a conference kicked off which will hopefully lead to the effective banning of cluster munitions.

My super wonderful (and irritatingly good at scrabble) cousin Thomas has been coordinating work on this for the past 3 years. You can read an article about it (and partly by him) on BBC news. Really hope it works out.

Update
Al posted a comment with a link to a six-one news 3 minute interview with Thomas. Awful haircut but the message was good ;)

Unfortunately no pictures of TWALK this year… my camera battery decided to die. Again. Long story… and not a happy one. Still, it was good. My legs just about held up – and Steve’s navigation was as excellent as ever. Great event.

And then on Sunday Maaike arrived back – which was great. Not too jet lagged (outwardly anyway)… now she has the joy of coming off the high of 10 months of uninterrupted travel, and finding a job/house/transport/visa… Always a fun time.