It was lovely having Hamish (the one with the huge grin!) and Amy (yes, I should have waited to take a better picture) to stay before their trip to the ice. Amy has done 4? trips, or something, to the ice, and keeps a really great blog..

Above image shamelessly hotlinked from her blog.

Hamish is going along as a hired gun. Well, hired penguin-napper. Apparently they give some pretty decent bruises when you’re trying to stick ’em for blood etc. Fair enough, I think I would too.

Maaike and I also got away for a shortish hot walk – just trying to get back into the swing of tramping.. though high summer isn’t the best time to start back really. Can’t wait for slightly cooler weather in March and April for some decent tramps.

We were about Christchurch this weekend, partly for the Dr. Who 50th Anniversary Episode which was aired in cinemas over here. It was hilarious actually as there were all sorts of people dressed up – some in costumes of the weeping angels (my favourite episode by far)

Anyway.. took in a quick stroll around Mona Vale, our old house still standing (just)

There were some Paradise ducks there too. They’re terribly cute.

So yes, lovely to be there. I was… extremely touched when I saw this bench in Mona Vale..

The bench was put there by the Bennett family (I assume) in memory of their parents (my former landlords). What a lovely way to remember them by – perfect. I do miss them and the house / community sometimes. Silly earthquakes.

10 years ago I arrived in New Zealand with my friend Maeve. It seems like an age ago now, and I suppose it is, but in some ways the time has completely flown by. I’ve climbed, biked, caved, rafted, boarded, skied, paraglided, skydived, kayaked, ice climbing, mountaineering bouldering and even been canyoning. I’ve made lots of friends who have helped me through some ‘interesting’ times, not least of which were some very nasty earthquakes. I’ve created and built up (with lots of help from friends) a carpooling to ski fields website which I’m quite proud of. I have a lovely partner who helps me to get to the tops of very high windy mountains and is generally wonderful.

So yes, it has been a brilliant ten years really. Thank you to one and all who have made NZ such a wonderful place to be, and thanks to Glynn for getting everything setup, and for coming down to Christchurch with the lovely Jayne to celebrate it!

This is beyond ridiculous. One Post for all of October. Sigh, it’s been a busy month actually, with a rogaine (it was how Maaike wanted to spend her Birthday – she even got cake!)

It was an excellent event, at Castle Hill (well, in and around). Great to be back out on the hills – and our navigation wasn’t too shabby either :)

Next up, it was up to Wellington to celebrate Glynn being in New Zealand for 10 years. He arrived one month before my friend Maeve and I arrived and he had everything sorted for us (a house, internet, what more do you need?) Maeve has left back to Ireland so it’s great to still have Glynn in the country. Now that he’s married to the lovely Jayne and has two children, I don’t think he’ll be leaving NZ any time soon (woohoo!).

Hmmm, I seem to have ‘filled out’ in the last ten years – definitely need to do something about that!

Next, it was up to Arthurs Pass to hang out with Nick and Cecile. It was an extremely wet weekend (as expected) … even the Kea were sheltering from the rain..

We had a weekend of games (settlers of catan and Ticket to Ride) and a very welcome fire to curl up next to and read a book by. It was a lovely weekend.

Finally, I went to Tekapo for the ‘Starlight Festival’. Tekapo is home to the biggest dark sky reserve on the planet, apparently. Basically you’ve got awesome horizons and not too much light pollution. Anyway, off down there with Steve and Michelle. We even got to make (and keep) a Galileoscope which was pretty cool.

Other than that, not too much. I must try to be slightly better about keeping this blog more up to date!

Doesn’t look like very much does it? Well, on the way back from Golden Bay we were going to do a 3 day tramp to the Thousand Acre Plateau. Unfortunately it had been raining for the previous days and we decided, for the first time, not to cross a stream. The water looked fast, the crossing looked nasty, and the consequences… while not fatal, certainly wouldn’t have been nice. That, and more rain was forecast.

So home, via a night at maruia springs to polish off an excellent holiday.