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Murchison for New Years was excellent. Really excellent. Here you can see me in the middle of one of the bigger rapids we went through.

It was kinda exciting to say the least. I wasn’t having an incredibly successful day really, took 2 swims when I didn’t manage to get my roll working…. more practice needed for sure.

New Years was great fun though.. it was lovely at the campsite, knew heaps of people from caving & tramping & climbing circles. Also, someone had caught a wild pig and donated it to the campsite! so we had roast pork for dinner. Quite yum (sorry to all the Vege’s out there). And just chilling out with the great friends I’ve made here, it really was an excellent way to see in the New Year… The one making the face is Warick!

p.s… that pic of ‘me in one of the bigger rapids’ wasn’t me – nor even of a river I’m going to be attempting for a very very long time – if ever. It was a trip that my friend Tim was on last year. Warick says it’s pretty ok.. but I have my doubts!

Headed back down to ChCh as I kinda want to get some work done as I’ve got a project which has to get finished before I head to Thailand, and I’ve got 2 irish friends arriving within the week that I really want to spend time with. Fun times :)

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Went over to Dinner with John and Maeve for dinner on the 29th (thanks – was yum) decided to go and do a few easy routes on the 30th..

So climbed for a couple of hours. Great fun, here you can see Maeve climbing with a broken arm. Now that’s dedication that is.

In the evening I headed up to Murchison to get a couple of days kayaking in and also to hang out for New Years.

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So Christmas eve took the day off work and headed up to the N.Island – to Palmerston North (Palmy) where my Aunt and family live. It’s just so great to be able to spend Christmas time with family. So ate lots, drank lots – the weather obliged by being quite overcast and dull, so I wasn’t super homesick at all :)

On St. Stephens’ day I headed across to the Coramandal to see my friend Yvonne..

Stopped in at Rotorua on the way – a thermally active town, steam comes out of everywhere and the ground is warm to touch.

That pic is of the bath house.. a lovely old building (as they go here). People used to come all the way from London to get rejuvenated, and also to see the Pink and White terraces It would take about 6 months to get there.. so it must have been incredible! However an eruption destroyed the terraces back in 1886, and Rotorua town was developed shortly after to keep attracting people to the area.

So yes, on to see Yvonne.. she used to work in the MED in ChCh.. her family live close to one of the good surf beaches in the area.

We also took in ‘Hot Water Beach’. This was kinda fun. There’s a thermal vein or something running right under the beach. So you dig down about 3 feet and up through the sand comes hot water.

It was also the day when we heard about the awful news of the tsunami in Asia. My first thought was of Maeve and Andy who I’d recently got an e-mail from, and it sounded like they might have been climbing at the place I’m (probably not) still going to. Fortunately they’d left 2 days before it struck.. Not really sure what my ‘holiday’ plans are any more. I think I’m going to get in touch with the Red Cross and see if any help can be done (if they want any). I have heard that people are already climbing there again – and while 1/2 of me thinks this is completely insensitive.. the other 1/2 thinks that they need to get their tourism back up again asap.. so not really sure what to do about the holiday – I can’t cancel it so will just have to see what’s happening on the ground when I get there I guess.

Finally the long drive back again – got some really excellent views of Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings)

I was a bit silly – we’ve had really bad weather lately, but I knew these days were supposed to be fine – I really should have left early and gone and done the Tongariro Crossing.. but I guess I’ll just have to do it next time, supposed to be one of the best (one day) walks in the Country.

Then it was back down to ChCh on the 29th.

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Work party tonight – lots of fun. My good friend and pool nemesis David is on the right in this photo. Bananas in Pyjamas..

It was fancy dress, I went in my toga costume.. twas fun.

But the best bit was absolutely my Chriskindle (or however you spell that) present.. Secret Santa they call it here… It wasn’t super secret.. but my not-so-secret santa (Juanita) was absolutely far too generous – and got me this great t-shirt (now my new favourite). In my opinion it totally sums me up.

Finally, Happy Christmas to all, (esp those who’ve mailed, sent postcards, left messages.. it really makes a difference!)

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Spur of the moment decision.. one of the people I know through climbing here is off to Krabi in southern Thailand. A place I’ve always wanted to visit – and climb.

I mean when it looks like this…

who wouldn’t want to go!… I think quite a few of the bond films have been made in the area. Anyway, so today I bought tickets and will be heading over from 16th Jan -> 1st Feb.. crazy I guess, but I need a holiday ;)

Also passed my NZ Driving test (well theory was all I had to do) If you’re here more than a year and haven’t got the license, then you can be fined $400. So that’s good.

But pretty excited about the climbing.. limestone sea cliffs.. excellent, prob get some diving in too if I can.. ahhhhh, ’tis the life.