If you read the Dog post then you will know we are heading down to Christchurch (or ChCh in local speak) this weekend. The plan is to go down the East coast road, through Blenheim and Kaikoura (where they have some big seal colonies so we will be stopping by there and get ourselves some pelts and free burgers). The reason for the trip is, get this, we have bought ourselves a boat. Oh yes, can you believe it?! I'm not safe to captain a birdseye fish finger never mind a sea bound vessel! Anyway, for those of you with a technical bent its a 5.6m aluminium cuddy cabin with a 90HP 2 stroke outboard. It can apparently take 6 adults and will be getting used for some fishing, exploring the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman park, some diving/doughnuting/snorkeling and generally mucking around in. Its the kind of size thats easy enough to launch/trailer so we will also be taking it up to the Nelson Lakes Nat Park for a raz now and again.
I'll put some pics on Flickr when we have some but suffice to say we are very, very excited. And before you send in e-mails of concern worry ye not, Lisa already has me booked onto a course to learn about tides, weather and which side to wee off.
All aboard.
Hmm - not sure if this is going to lead to anything but we are going to look at a pup this weekend down in Christchurch. It's a Basenji (look them up on the net) and Lisa is pretty smitten. We are sure we want a dog, I'm just baulking at the immediacy of it all. Anyway - I think one would make a good pet, they sound fun/friendly/intelligent/clean etc and there is no shortage of good walks on our doorstep (as well as cats for it to chew on). I'll keep you posted!
We finally made it up to Rainbow ski field last weekend, and jolly glad we did before the season finishes. Rainbow is about 100km from Nelson, 2hrs drive. It’s a small ski field with 5 or 6 pistes and lift access to quite a bit of off piste for those with a bit of skill.
We basically went up to just have a look around and see what the deal is for next season – do a bit of sledging with B Dog, throw some snowballs etc.
You can drive right up to the slope if you have a 4x4 so we ventured on up the dirt track, ignoring all signs to fit snow chains, and got up just fine in the family wagon. The worst thing was me having my shorts and sandals on (it was 70 degrees in Nelson) and having to slide around to the hire shop looking like a total tourist. Ah well.
We ended up having a brilliant day – it was really relaxed and unpretentious, very Kiwi, with everyone wearing whatever they had and making doo. The snow was great, 4 meters deep, the sky was blue and we had some great sledging fun.
2 hrs after leaving we were down by the beach in Nelson basking in glorious hot sunshine – can’t be bad.
Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since the last update. Things here have been a bit hectic – we have had two visits from overseas friends, a computer that ate my last update (and my desire to spend 1hr typing it all up again), lots of biking and a new job to contend with. It’s a tough life.
Anyway – here goes (I suggest you get a brew on, this might take some time!)
We have been having some pretty crazy weather here recently. It is the middle of winter so that is to be kept in mind but we have had 200kmh winds (snapping off hundreds of trees in the local woods), torrential rain showers (and 4m of snow in the hills) all wrapped up in some of the most beautiful clear crispy days I have seen. It definitely helps keep things interesting. Nelson, renowned for being sunny when nowhere else is, is living up to its reputation. It’s not uncommon for the whole of NZ to be shrouded in cloud and rain and for us to be basking in 15 degree heat and clear blue skys – I’m not complaining though). The high mountains that ring us do a great job of collecting or diverting any rain, with only the wet weather from the north ever really getting through.
Last weekend we had Gaynor and Michel (Lisa’s mates from Yorkshire) over to stay. They flew into Christchurch from Melbourne and drove up through Kaikoura where they did some whale watching and stopped off at one of the huge seal sanctuaries (well, beaches just off the main coast road) for a night. They had planned to go and visit the Franz Joseph glacier or Hanmar Springs but both passes were closed with snow so they cruised up around the coast (and didn’t see a cload for about 4 days!). It was great to see some friendly faces and Lisa took Monday off to go for a walk with them to ‘the centre of NZ” – a hill in the middle of Nelson that is dead centre of NZ and has superb views over the bay to the mountains.
Last night (Tuesday) Simon, my brother in law, was over from Melbourne where he, my big Sis Wendy, and their daughter Jasmin, have just moved. Again, it was great to catch up, and a bit weird having him round for a meal and a beer. Simon flew out the next day to Auckland but we will be taking up his invitation and going over to Melbourne for a visit asap.
Nelson is starting to gear up for ‘summer’ now, with tourists beginning to get here mid September. There is a whole raft of events planned by the council all summer, from arts festivals, carnivals and concerts to sports of pretty much every kind imaginable. I’m looking forward to getting down the beach a bit more often and am just considering my summer business wardrobe (shorts and long socks like a true colonial maybe?).
Bike wise I have been getting out pretty regularly – 3hrs or so on Sunday with a pretty fit group (including some yank who insists on riding a fully rigid or single speed- he gets up the hills quick but gets a schooling on the way down from me and my monster machine – once I catch up that is) and 2hrs on a Wednesday night with a group from the MTB club. Riding at night in the woods is pretty crazy – luckily one of the guys is an electrical engineer so he has hooked me up with a mega watt daylight brining torch setup. It’s funny, your cruising around the woods, thinking your all alone, when you see lights on the other side of the valley, up on the other hills, down by the river – everyone out here seems to embrace the chance to do some night riding and just gets out there. You regularly see possums and hear pigs rummaging around and we even came across a glow worm grotto the other day. All very David Belamy.
This weekend we have a kids birthday party, maybe a bit of pig hunting and on Sunday might head up to the snow (I’ve been saying that for about 2 months now!).
That’s about it for now – I’ll make an effort to keep things a bit more current in future.
Hope your all well
The Jennings 3
