The wonderful Kate & Mark organised a trip for us all to Lake Daniells up in Lewis Pass. It’s a place we’ve been a bunch of times before, as it really is ideal for young trampers. The hut also has the best toilets of any DOC hut I’ve been to. No kidding, they’re really good!

The kids did well, no real complaining and we made decent time. Even went for a dip in the lake. It’s ridiculously shallow for a really long way!

We’d booked the entire hut out, and there weren’t any campers, so we had the entire place to ourselves. Quite rare and really lovely!. Marshmallows were toasted, drawings were made on the massive blackboard which is there. Ice-creams were eaten on the way home. A lovely weekend.

Had a fun play about on the beach with Ian and Ali and Amelie. They have a Blokart which is a kind of land yacht. Super fun.

Had a nice catch up with Glynn who’s in town with his family. Always delicious food when we meetup (and they’re cooking!). My offering was Pimms.

And a couple of outings for Anna and her friend Thor, as Thor (and Mikkel, Berit and Freyer) are heading back to Denmark for a year, perhaps more. They’re certainly going to be missed.

And then it was time to head back to ChCh. It’s a pretty nice drive down the coast and with Maaike’s encouragement we stopped off at Ohau point along the way. It’s a spot where a small stream comes in and the young fur seals like to play.

Also obligatory playground stop to let off some steam.

From Te Mahia we headed to Anakiwa to stay at a friends bach (holiday home) for a couple of weeks. I’m lucky enough to be able to work remotely, and, while the internet wasn’t great there, it was just good enough. I worked 1/2 days (mornings) and then in the afternoon took over from Maaike who worked some of the afternoons. Worked out pretty well.

Had a lovely time, swims, bikes on the queen charlotte (just the free part back towards Te Mahia – route below), once you go past the marker you have to purchase a track pass to use the private land.

We were there for Christmas, and it was pretty fun, there were carols in the dining hall at Outward Bound

And Santa came on a boat on Christmas day and lobbed lollies out from the boat and onto the jetty. No drownings from kids chasing after the sweets (some of which fell in the water)

We walked to Davies bay for Christmas itself. We were lucky enough with the weather as it lashed rain the following evening. I admit I’d been feeling lazy, but, Maaike gave us a push and it was actually a really lovely spot to spend the evening. Million dollar view for $25 for the night for the three of us… just brilliant.

We did a day trip to Moturara Island with Eko Tours. We cruised about on the sound for about an hour or so, having a look at various species (king? cormorants, blue penguin and sheerwaters) on our way to Moturara Island.

On the Island we had a nice footle about and up to the viewpoint for a look about

I did find the cairn at the top very very colonialist in nature… uncomfortable reading.

On the way back, the kids on the boat were allowed to steer! (very exciting for them)..

And we were lucky enough to have the very rare Hectors Dolphins come over for a play