Domhnall and Glynn are two great friends from college. Domhnall now lives in Hobart, and Glynn in Wellington, so we don’t get to see so much of each other. For Domhnall’s last birthday, his partner Gill suggested a present of a trip to meet up with Glynn and I (what a brilliant idea ;) ). We scratched our collective heads, and decided on the Queen Charlotte. It’s a trip I’ve done before, but perfect for a long weekends adventure. Not so hard as to be un-doable, and with accommodation and watering holes along the way and the fact that bags can be transported it was the perfect trip for us.

So, I drove from ChCh, Domhnall flew in from Darwin I think it was, and Glynn from Wellington. Domhnall had a magic GPS watch, so was able to create some quite nice maps:

You start at Ship Cove, where Captain Cook hung out when he was exploring the area (looking for the Great Southern Continent, and observing the transit of Venus)

It’s very much a grunt up the first hill and it was slightly slick from the day before’s rain, however, things dried up and we basically had perfect weather for the whole trip.

It was really lovely hanging out with Domhnall and Glynn, we’ll definitely make this kind of weekend happen again, every 3-4 years or so. I do have great friends in NZ, but, there is something very special about friends from Ireland who you went through college with (or at least, the climbing club anyway).

So, well done Gill for providing inspiration for the weekend to happen and I’m already looking forward to the next one, wherever it’ll be!

I have been somewhat slack on the blog front, but then, there’s a reason for that too – namely planning 13 months of travel (and packing everything up)

First off though, Steve’s stag.. it was a great weekend, the main event being rafting (which my go-pro seems to flatten out a bit – it was quite scary I can tell you!)

Then the wedding the following weekend… lovely trip down via Mt. Cook in all its glory:

Unfortunately, while I hear the wedding was excellent (how could it not be, such excellent folk getting married – and down in the stunning surrounds of Lake Ohau), I was, extremely ill. Somewhere I picked up a very nasty 24 hour D&V bug, so I was completely knocked out. Lost some weight though, so that was great ;)

Finally, 5th Nov and we had Guy Fawkes at Rachels place. They’ve bought a do’er upper over in New Brighton… it’s uninsured as-is-where-is… so, it’s a risk if there are more earthquakes, but I must say, I loved the house.. it had such a nice feel to it, big rooms, stunning view..

Nice view for the fireworks too!

Right – up to speed. Next post will be about leaving NZ for travelling. I am excited about it, but I am also looking forward to being on the plane and having all the faff of moving out behind me. Maaike is being wonderful organising everything, and putting in countless hours in the garden… but wow there’s a lot to do. Selling the van too, and kayak… and and .. it does make me a little sad to be honest. The van has been going well of late, and it seems a shame to sell it.

Hey ho, one door closes and another opens… :)

(first world problems or what)

Our friends Candace and Dan were away, so (Maaike) had offered to dog-sit their dog Tabasco. Very much her initiative – but it was almost like a mini holiday – a change is as good as a rest!

They also have chickens who had just started laying again after winter (who knew they stopped for winter?! I didn’t anyway!). Those eggs got turned into chocolate mousse:

4 eggs
200g Dark Chocolate
Coffee/Rum essence

-------------
Separate Eggs
Beat Egg whites until firm
melt chocolate
beat egg yolks with essence

slowly add choc as you beat essence-> until all choc is added

give egg white another whisk

gently fold in egg white to mixture - keep air - use whisk.
place in fridge overnight.

Then this weekend we headed to Arthurs pass for Paul Thompsons 40th. It was a lovely weekend, amazing the amount of kids & babies that have popped up in the last couple of years – definitely different sorts of parties – a 40th vs a 30th!

Did get away to Temple Basin for the Sunday… had excellent conditions again, 10cm of fresh and just a perfect day. It does take extra effort to get to Temple, but that effort is well rewarded!

This weekend it was up to Palmy to see my cousins, especially as my cousin Thomas was over from the UK. It was a lovely weekend, managed to sneak in a few games of Settlers, eat lots of lovely food, see quite a few netball games (Hannah’s kids play a lot in the school leagues)… yes, lovely trip.

Also, after many many years in the country, I got around to getting Citizenship. It was a nice ceremony and I did like how they said that you should bring your culture to NZ not renounce it (in marked contrast to the way some other countries want it)

There isn’t really much of a difference between permanent residence and citizenship in NZ. I already have the right to vote, work and stay indefinitely, but it does mean I could legally work in Australia (I don’t particularly want to), and it does mean I could run for public office (I don’t particularly want to).

Also, I got a native plant (a cabbage tree) as part of the ceremony, which was nice :)

I do love the sunsets we get in Christchurch. And I do love the timelapse website I put together… happpy days.

Anyways, the TPPA, the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement… they call it a “Trade” agreement, but there’s certainly a huge amount of overreach in it. NZ has a right leaning government in power, and they would certainly like to sign it if they can (it seems). The main thing I do not like about it is the ISDS clauses which basically allow foreign corporations to sue *governments* in offshore tribunals for lost earnings. E.G Australia passed a law making cigarettes be sold in plain packaging, they are currently being sued for this. We can expect more of that if the TPPA is passed. But it’s the insidious nature of the thing I don’t like, what laws would a country not even try to put in place because of the fear of being sued. It’s a horrible provision and there are many other things which I think are a bad idea (longer copyright terms, software patents (which we don’t really have in NZ))… so no, shouldn’t sign. Went protesting:

In the rain. Our prime minister who I have very little time for, dismissed the tens of thousands who protested, as “misinformed”… well, of course we’re misinformed.. the text of the TPPA is secret so we don’t actually have any idea what is being negotiated. Also, the government has, in my opinion, been deliberately misleading as it does NOT openly say that the TPPA is signed by cabinet and not run past parliament. So yes, lots of reasons to protest.