At the weekend Mhairi and I managed to get off to Rotorua, to do a little bit of climbing, and we also to see The Motorcycle Diaries about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara travelling about with his friend Alberto Granado – which made him the man he became. Good film.

On the way we made my first trip to a driving range.

Got a bucket of 100 golf balls and off we went.. I was pleasantly surprised every time the ball flew nicely.. which it did a bit actually. I think Mhairi was surprised. I don’t think it’ll ever be a game I get into – but it is something I could do from time to time – on a nice hot summers day (with no wind!!)

In fact,on Tuesday, Danny – the brother of Dean (one the members of Mhairis adventure racing team) and I went out for a round of golf.

155 strokes later I was finished on the 18th hole! Definitely happy with my first attempt.

And then Wed back down to ChCh. Flew out from Auckland.. I stupidly didn’t check if it was possible to fly into Whakatane… it is.. and only costs $5 more. Would have saved a nice 8 hour driving round trip for mb (thanks so much for the lift!)

It was great being up on the N.Island, really had a great time, and it was lovely to be warm again – and to see the sun! ChCh has been quite cold of late.

Came back to a very nice surprise though – and this (to me) is a classic example of how different NZ is. I came back to quite a few bills – and a letter from the IRD (inland revenue department). My heart sank. Until I opened the letter. They – the tax department – had written to me (without any prompting) telling me that they wanted to cut me a cheque for $440 .. if that was ok with me… Today I called up – and their totally automated telephone system (one of those ones you can talk to) took me through the process – and a cheque is on the way. Whole process of calling up -> hanging up took about 1 minute. Maybe I’m missing something.. but does it happen in other countries where the tax department writes you a letter to tell you that they owe you money – and make it so simple that it takes 1 minute to get the cash?!

I know, another pro-nz rave.. but there you go. I’m a resident now, have to be true to the cause.

During the week Mhairi works as a tennis coach by day

for the local tennis club. Lucky people to have such a great coach methinks. It was horrific. I went along one evening, and had a knock up against a 10 year old. Alec I think was her name. Fortunately we didn’t play any sets.. I don’t think my ego could have taken the crushing defeat. Amazing…. I’ll definitely be sticking to squash!

And by evening, or quite a few of them, she works with a fun bunch of workmates (and regulars) in the local Irish Bar – ‘The Craic’)

I’m not entirely sure how she managed to get the job, but that’s a pic of Mhairi and her boss Tony.

One evening – the night the Lions were beaten 19:13 by the NZ Maori team, we headed out for a going away party for Mikey – one of the guys who worked in the craic – but is now moving on to manage a country club!

He and the other guy in that pic Peter Paul said they’d dress up in the garb of their countrymen for the party.. and they did come as typical locals.. a nice new lions top vs ripped poly pro and Marino sweaters + jeans..

Great party.. even had a pool table. I’m totally getting one of them if I ever get a house with enough space. And a table-tennis table that I can put on top.. sweet!

So headed up to the N.Island for a week. As I am leaving NZ in August (though looks like just for about 6 months and then back again for another 6 or so..) I have quite a lot of work to do in order to hand over all my work to another company. I’m probably repeating myself here.. but hey.. indulge me ;)

So – I kinda had all this documentation to get done. And I kinda suggested that it didn’t really make any difference where I did it.. In fact, I suggested it might be better if I could do it free from distractions.. well.. a few anyway ;)

So this ..

was my office for the week… a mobile, a laptop, a stunning view from Jims house (a friend of Ms. Brown that she’s currently living with) and my trusty mp3 player.

perfect.

Well, it’s the queens birthday weekend – a bank holiday weekend. Last year it was off with Steve & Yvonne and Warrick and Michelle to Mt. Cook to do some rock climbing. This year, it was again denizons of the ‘Worzal Gummage Mansion’ (as Dave Aubrey has dubbed the house), off on another trip.

This time it was North – up through Lewis pass to go hiking to Lake Christabel.

We left on Saturday evening, and stayed the nights at a place called Sylvia Flats, just about 8km short of Maruia Springs. At Sylvia flats there are natural hotpools,

and there ended up being 10 of us soaking in the hot pools (nicely candlelit – with the stars coming out). A lovely way to spend the evening.

The next morning – Aroha, Luke, Esther and I were going to walk in a harder way – up over the mountains and down to the hut. As there’d been quite a lot of snow recently, and we weren’t quite happy enough with the conditions – we elected to walk into the hut the normal way (along the river valley). Not the most exciting of walks.. but it was pretty. Lots of cute birds.. ;)

And some pretty spectacular reflections in the lake – if only it had been blue skies. It’s a funny place really, there was a (massive) landslide – oh – a few hundred (at least) years ago – and it totally blocked off the valley – and formed this massive lake. The river itself has lots of logs all over the place. Warrick pointed out that the reason they’ve not been washed out (as they usually wood be ;)) was because the stream is fed by an underground outlet from the lake, so it doesn’t flood.

Then it was onto the hut. I was quite ready to be there when we arrived – I’ve not been finding the tramping as easy as I used to!! Dunno why. There were 6 others there.. coupled to our 8 (in a 10 bunk hut).. it was a good thing we’d brought two tents! It was funny, there were 14 of us – and I was the only non kiwi there. This is pretty unusual really – certainly never happened to me before. And I kinda liked it :) Maybe I am going native.

The hut book (which went back to the early 80s) had a pretty funny page in it – some ppl were complaining about the state of the track – and others were slagging them off..

Played cards in the evening – Beany – a favourite of Warricks. It was funny, I just won the last time we played (a year ago) and did again, by 5 points.. It’s a good game – quite like gin-rummi – except that anyone can play at any time.. fun game.

This pic of most of the group was taken at the lake on the walk out.

(L->R Warrick,Guy,Esther,Sue,Aroha and Luke)

It was great that we had pretty good weather on the way out – the sun through the mossy trees was spectacular. I’m afriad this pic does it absolutely no justice at all!

Another soak in the hotpools – and then back to ChCh. A fun weekend all in all.

YIPPEE

Today I got 2 new stickers in my passport. One saying ‘Residence Permit‘ and the other saying ‘Returning Resident’s Visa.

Which is kinda exciting.. so now I can come and go in NZ, work where I want, etc. etc. However, the visa is just for 2 years (though the residence rights are permanent) In order to get permanent returning rights I will have to be here for 6 months of each of the next 2 years (at least that’s my understanding).. who knows if I will, but at least I have the option.

It’s also a good day, as Mhairi on the N.Island (who I’m hoping to travel around a good bit of Asia with) found that even if NZ does decide to kick her out (visa expiring) she should get 42 days to leave the country.. (though hopefully the work permit will come through)… so that’s a wee bit of a relief I’m sure..

The day was tempered however, by loosing 6:0 to David at pool. Otherwise it really would have been a fairly perfect day.