For the long weekend Steve & Michelle were heading away to Lake Tennyson and I went along with them (because, someone, who shall remain nameless, is working super hard on a course and doesn’t come out to play ;) heh,

Aaaanyway, it was a lovely weekend away. The highlights were: being somewhat lazy on the Saturday and reading lots of Hornblower (excellent books, highly recommend), and then going for a walk up to “Princess Bath”, a very nice corrie. Personally I think the princess could have chosen a warmer bath, but there you go.

This blob here is actually a mass of bees:

We had left a couple of beer bottles at the camp and when we came back, the (dark!) beer bottle had about 2cm of bees at the bottom of it. Steve, being the kind entomologist he is, warmed them up by the fire (but not too close) until they could fly away.

All in all a very nice Easter. Thanks Michelle & Steve :)

There is an island in the middle of Lyttleton harbour called Quail Island.

View Larger Topographic Map

There was a trip organised to go there by the local royal society, and I happen to be on their mailing list – so off I went. Had a nice day walking around, seeing the various efforts at pest eradication (reasonably successful, though one of the party were pretty sure they saw a rabbit – which they thought they’d cleared off)

Also heard about the leper colony which was there. Here you can see one of the dwellings and also the crockery etc. which was recently discovered down on the beach. It had all been dumped there when the colony was destroyed.

Then a wander around the rest of the island, seeing the various plants which had been brought back, even a native mistletoe carefully grafted.

Oh, you can also see the remains of the kennels and the wharf where Captain Scott got ready for his trips to Antarctica (1901 and 1910).

Had a nice trip off to the West Coast for a relax after the previous festivities. Stayed in quite a nice bach just outside of HariHari. Walks along the beach, lots of lazing, reading, very nice, quite needed!

There was the remains of a beach art festival at Hokitika which looked pretty fun.

Where we went for a walk, there was a monument to the first (mad) lad who made the flight from Oz to NZ. He didn’t tell anyone about it (as he knew it’d be denied) and just off he went. Crashed into a swamp just outside of HariHari. Good on him!

Finally, a picture quite a large honey extractor. For dad (who’s a beekeeper). I may have to learn the skillz someday, there’s little better than an unlimited supply of fresh honey. That said, I’m not partial to the stings.

We did have a day of rest during the ski holiday (after 4 straight days of skiing, or was it 6 and then a break..) anyway.. we went off to “do culture” ;) First stop was sushi ;)

I think it’s cultural anyway. Very tech. You chose what you wanted from the touchscreen, and then a little (bullet) train would zap out to you with the sushi on it.

Next – off to see the snow monkeys. These guys hang out in natural hotsprings all day. They must get ridiculously hot and headachey. There’s even a snow monkey livecam, should you wish to have a look yourself.

Then we took a trip to Obuse where we sampled some sake.. and walked to a temple (which turned out to be closed). Interesting rituals around the drinking of sake (first sip without using your hands – just bring your head down and sip – neatly incorporates a bow). Definitely tastier than the last time I tried it in Dublin!

Then more skiing for the next few days… before all too soon it was time to go back to ChCh. We just had the one day in Tokyo really, but visited “The Ninja Restaurant”. Honestly, I thought the ninjas themselves were a little lame (definitely more fun if you speak Japanese, as then you’d get the full experience, our waiter spoke very good English, but wasn’t super theatrical). That said, the food was absolutely delicious and very well presented.

Maaike and I, on the morning before leaving, had a wander around the outside of the palace.. such luxury of space in a place as densely populated as Tokyo.

All in all, a really excellent holiday. I definitely felt like my skiing improved a lot, and really, such a great group to be travelling with. Thanks to all, and especially Mark + Kate, for organising such a great trip.