Monday 28 January 2008

The Peter Pan of Poodle Rock

I love the smell of grass with live music.

Well, the Bon Jovi concert last night was just amazing. The man has still got it. That was proper stadium rock.

It was a strange crowd there though, a real mix. There were people who would have been fans in the eighties, people who are too young to have been fans in the eighties, and people who should have known better in the eighties. But whatever the make-up of the crowd, 30,000 people singing and cheering and shouting and screaming certainly makes for an awesome atmosphere. He really knows how to work an audience too. And coming out for the encore in a Crusaders shirt was a sure way to endear himself to Cantabrians.

The whole thing was just mammoth, and they were on stage for a full two and a half hours. As the man himself said New Jersey is a long way from Christchurch, he doesn't fly out till today and he had nowhere else to go. They played some of the stuff off the new album but plenty of the old favourites too and even threw in a couple of covers. All in all it was 150 minutes of proper entertainment. Well worth the entry fee.

And the support band weren't too bad either.

Oh, and Jon Bon Jovi must have a portrait in his attic back in New Jersey or something because he looks exactly the same as he always did. Ritchie Sambora, on the other hand, looks how Jon should.

The concert was a great way to celebrate our six month NZ anniversary. Is it really half a year since we landed in Auckland ready to begin the next chapter of our lives? 27th July 2007 seems like a lifetime away now. So much has happened since then. Oh hang on, we landed in Nuzziland on 25th July. Our six month celebration should have been on Friday and we missed it. Oh well.

Sunday 27 January 2008

Let's go fly a kite


After church this morning Joanne, Len, Val and I headed over to New Brighton. We'd booked lunch at the restaurant in the library building at New Brighton Pier. It's such a stunning setting. I never tire of going there. The food's not bad either.


There was another motive for heading over to New Brighton this afternoon though. Today was the day of the annual New Brighton Kite Day. It's quite famous supposedly, and another of the free things the city council puts on over the summer. I've always had a thing for kites so I was quite taken by the prospect of a walk along the beach having a look at all the kites flying.

The weather was perfect with a sea breeze and blue skies, and it all made for a remarkable sight. Hundreds of people gathered to watch, to join in, having fun. There were quite a few 'professional' kite fliers but it seems that every child with a kite in Canterbury was there too. You certainly had to keep on your toes wandering up and down the sand, watching out for plummeting kites and decapitating kite lines. It really does amaze me quite how much joy something floating in the breeze attached to a bit of string can bring, to child and adult alike.

Oh, and we couldn't go the seaside without having icrecreams now, could we?

We took the scenic route home, via Sumner, Lyttelton and the Porthills. I love that drive and wanted to share it with Len & Val. It really is stunning on a day like today. You leave the ruggedness of the Lyttelton harbour side of the Porthills, climb over the top and are confronted with the Canterbury Plains and the southern Alps in the distance. Words cannot do it justice.

Saturday 26 January 2008

Splish splash

This weekend we have Len & Val, Joanne's dad and step-mum, staying with us. It's the first time they've been down to the see the house so it's been very exciting showing them around.

Neither Len nor Val have ever been up to Hanmer Springs so we decided a nice trip up there would be good for a wander round and a dip in the thermal pools.

We drove up to Amberley, which is just short of halfway between here and Hanmer, and stopped at the Nor'Wester Cafe for lunch. It was a recommendation from Gabi at work and none of us were disappointed. The 'windjammer breakfast' was excellent (apart from the sausages being beef not pork, of course!) and everyone else seemed to enjoy their food too.

We continued our drive as and turned inland as the Canterbury Plains gave way to more rugged, barren land. We were all struck by just how dry everything is. This summer has been quite dry but now I see why I hear at work that farmers are bleating on about drought. It's quite amazing to see paddock after paddock of straw-dry grass before suddenly one lush, green, irrigated field flies by.

Did you know that the UK is ranked 51st in the world in terms of national population density with 246 people per square kilometre? In comparison, Nuzziland ranks 203rd with 15 people per sq km. Driving north for an hour and a half today I can believe that. Until we arrived in Hanmer, that is. Where everyone within a one hundred mile radius had congregated. Despite that the thermal pools weren't too busy and we had a very relaxing hour sitting in the water, par-boiling nicely, with the mist over the mountains adding to the ambience. I think I actually nodded off for a while too, which worried Joanne when she came back to find me slumped in the pool, eyes closed and stationary.

A slice of carrot cake and a wander round the town preceeded the drive back home. The sun came out too to give a whole different view on the scenery. I wanted to stop to take a photo of Frog Rock, but there wasn't anywhere to pull over.

Friday 25 January 2008

Bouncy bouncy

The 15th annual world buskers festival is currently on in Christchurch. I'm not quite sure why the world buskers festival is held here but it is, it seems. On Wednesday when I went to the driving range Tim mention that he and Christine had seen a few acts at the weekend and one he particularly liked was the piano juggler. It sounded quite entertaining and I found out he was on at lunchtime today in Cathedral Square so Joanne and I arranged to meet up.

With a name like 'the piano juggler' there were two possibilities for his act. One would be for him to be a juggler of pianos. The second would be for him to juggle on a piano. The guy's act was the latter of those two options. Which was a shame, in a way. It would have been mightily impressive to see someone juggle pianos, grand or upright, but he didn't.

His act was padded out with some normal ball juggling, some club juggling and some other stuff but the main, and most impressive, part of his act was when he bounced balls on his 'bounce piano', a keyboard on the floor. He sometimes 'juggled' up to five balls on this bounce piano and managed to perfectly play tunes, chords and all. He played some classical stuff as well as La Cucharacha and the Can-can. I'd seen some of his juggling stuff before, but the bounce piano was a new one on me. Impressed? I applauded wholeheartedly.

He also played Good King Wenceslas while bouncing on his pogo-mounted cello but that was just showing off, frankly.

Thursday 24 January 2008

Let your football do the talking

Just got back from playing 5-a-side. We lost 8-6 but played a lot better than last week. It was against the team of youngsters who've got a bit cocky against us in the past sometimes but they didn't tonight as we made sure they worked for their win. It got a bit tasty at times though unfortunately. Quite a lot of fouling, pushing and shoving and stuff. There's just no need for it, I reckon. I scored three and set up two more without playing dirty. Why do others feel a need to?

Wednesday 23 January 2008

Swinging

I went to the driving range after work tonight with Tim from church. He's played a bit before and so is an awful lot better than me. Having said that I did hit some good balls tonight. Considering I've not touched my clubs since my last lesson back in September I was quite pleased with how I did. Still a heck of a lot of room for improvement, mind.

We went to the new driving range at Ferrymead, the one that's just opened, the one that Shirley and Tom and I found in the Yellow Pages but couldn't find when they were down here back in August and that we spent almost an hour driving round trying to locate. It does exist after all. It is "the south island's first driving range with an automated pop-up ball system". Supposedly. It's in a spectacular location, just under the Porthills. I've spent evenings in worst locations, for sure.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Auction fever

I've learned tonight that some people get a bit crazy when bidding on auction sites. It wasn't us, don't worry. Joanne and I have been selling a couple of things we had left from the Buckley weekend on Trade Me, namely a dog-crate and a playpen. The playpan cost us around $180 brand new. It was used for one day and we hoped to get maybe a third of that back. I went for just over $100 so we've got to be happy with that. A fair price for buyer and seller, I'd say. The crate, however, is another matter. Watching as the closing time of the auction approached, the price just kept leaping up. $90...$100...$125... All the way to $155. It cost us brand new £158. The person who won the auction could walk in Animates and buy exactly the same item, but brand new, not used, for three dollars more than he will pay us. And we detailed the purchase price on the listing too so it's not like he didn't know. At least he lives in Chch and so won't have to pay postage too, eh?

Monday 21 January 2008

What's that noise?

I pulled up by Hagley Park tonight to play touch, turned off the car's engine and began to change my shoes. At that point I heard a buzzing, humming, whistling sort of a noise. The radio was off so it wasn't that. It didn't sound like it was coming from the engine. I hunted around inside the car trying to find what could be causing the noise. I opened the door and it got louder so it wasn't in the car. It was too loud and too prolongued to be a puncture though. What was that noise?

I got out of the car and walked over to where we meet to play and the sound got louder and louder. Under the trees it was the loudest. Then I figured it out. Cicadas. Hundreds and thousands of cicadas in the trees, all vibrating their timbals. How can an insect make a noise so loud? I remember sitting in Len & Val's garden the first time I came over to Nuzziland about six years ago thinking the very same thing. If you've never heard cicadas it'll be hard to understand what I'm going on about. But believe me, when they all go at it at the same time it is loud.

Saturday 19 January 2008

Over the other side

This afternoon Joanne and I headed over to Diamond Harbour with Simon and Rebekah. We had a nice walk along a path along the cliff, took plenty of photos and then stopped back at Godley House for a refreshing drink. I love the way that only half an hour's drive out of Christchurch can see us in completely surroundings.

It was really nice to get out of Christchurch to see a different bit of Canterbury today. It really wasn't that far away but it was worth it. It just feels sometimes that it's non-stop "doing stuff". Shopping or getting stuff for the house or hanging up pictures or whatever or whatever. It was nice today to stop and smell the agapanthus. I can wash the cars tomorrow.

Friday 18 January 2008

Confusion

Following conversations with a couple of you it seems I have been unclear on our current canine thinking following the whole Buckley thing last weekend. The bottom line, just so that everyone's clear, is that we've decided it would be selfish of us to have a dog at all. (If that wasn't the case we most definitely would have kept Buckley as he was just the most wonderful little fella.) We're still settling in to life over here, have commitments at church and are still trying to develop friendships. Trying to fit a dog into that at the moment would not be fair on the dog. We probably should have realised that before we took Buckley home, but we didn't. But now we do know.

Football was frustrating last night. Quite a few of our players are on holiday, a few just didn't turn up and in the end we had to borrow someone from the team that played before us to make up a five. We lost 7-4 against a team we'd usually beat. And I got blisters.

Thursday 17 January 2008

Four seasons in one day

OK, so the Crowded House song is supposedly about Melbourne rather than New Zealand, but the Finn brothers are Kiwis so I think it's a valid title to use. And it aptly describes the weather here. I still cannot believe how fast weather can change. I went out at lunchtime and it was like walking around in a furnace. Easily over 30 degrees, it was, with azure blue sky. And now, the wind's changed direction, a southerly's blowing a gale, I can't see the Porthills for the clouds and it's not even 20 degrees. Mental.

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Time away

Joanne and I booked a bit of a holiday for ourselves today. In April we're going to drive up to Motueka in Abel Tasman by the inland route, have two days kayaking in Tasman Bay, before driving back to Chch by the coastal route, spending a night in Nelson and then a night in Kaikoura. I'm really excited about it. I've been wanting to do some ocean kayaking up there since we arrived and throwing in a bit of mountain scenery, the wineries of Marlborough, coastal scenery and some whale-watching means it should be a great five days.

So with Len & Val coming in a couple of weeks, Dad coming next month and the stuff I've got organised with him in Feb and March, Shirley & Tom coming in April and now this holiday it's going to be a pretty active few months. Oh, and Joanne's got a week in Oz visiting her sister on the Gold Coast in March too. We'll need a rest come May. Phew!

We're out to dinner tonight, at Simon & Rebekah's. It'll be good to catch up with them. It's been a while since we've had chance for more than a quick hello.

Tuesday 15 January 2008

It's oh so quiet

The house felt empty this morning. How could the little fella have made such an impact on us in two short days? I keep reminding myself of what someone said to me at the weekend. "It's easy to have a badly trained dog". Buckley deserves better than that and we weren't sure we could give him what he deserved.

Monday 14 January 2008

One plus one plus one equals two

Meet Buckley. He was only with us for two short days but he touched our hearts. He had big soft ears he had to grow into and a youthful enthusiasm for adventure. To him everything was new and exciting. But the time was short. There will however always be a spot in our hearts that is forever Buckley.

That felt like writing an obituary. It's not one but it felt like one. On Saturday we bought a puppy. A three-month old black lab who we named Buckley. He was perfect. Everything we could have wanted in a dog. But it turns out we didn't think it all through enough. I thought we had but it seems not. We couldn't do him justice. We couldn't give him the time and effort and stimulation he would need and, more importantly, deserve. We had to take him back. It was the responsible thing to do and the best thing for him. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life. We feel like we're grieving.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of sunshine and poop-a-scoops. We had lunch on Saturday at the Arts Centre in town and joined Tim and Christine to celebrate Holly's first birthday on Sunday at her party in the Botanic Gardens.

We had to go out tonight. Just to get out of the house. We went to see National Treasure 2. I hate it when films have car chases around London and pay more attention to cinematography than to geography. Yes, I know the shot looks good but St Paul's not just round the corner from Buckingham Palace if you cross over Tower Bridge!

I was thinking tonight about how things would be if we'd not move here because of St John's. Who would we know? A few people at work but that's it. And that got me thinking about friends at church. It's a hard time, having been here four months or so. Everyone has done their "welcome the newcomers" bit but what next? Everyone moves on to the next newcomers. I guess it's up to us then. We have to get out there and follow initial leads, so to speak.

Friday 11 January 2008

Watching you watching me


As part of this whole blogger thing there's an 'analytics' section. (It's numbers and charts and stuff. Of course, I'm going to mess with it!) One part of it tracks where people viewing my blog are located. And I must say, there's some strange old places in there. The top five I can understand - the UK, New Zealand, the US, Australia and Romania (hello, Bints!). Even Bermuda, France, Austria, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong make some sense. But Canada, Serbia, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan?

And then there were four

Gabi and I started work about a month apart. When we started there were five other people in the marketing department - Alan, Helen, Erin, Kim and Lisa. Erin left to have a baby, Alan moved with the company to Perth and today was Lisa's last day as she heads off to start up her own company. Do you think Gabi and I should take it personally?

Walking along the river at lunchtime today I noticed two guys wading and cleaning as they went. I can't decide if a job where you get to wander up a river all day in chest-high waders chatting to your mate is a good job or a bad job. I guess it depends how many swans you meet, eh?

Wednesday 9 January 2008

Going to see a man about a dog

We found a dog on trademe that we thought we'd like to go and meet. Tag is an eight month old black labrador/whippet cross.
He's a gorgeous dog. Totally affectionate, just wants to lick you and be your friend before rolling over to let you pat his tummy. We'd have him in a shot, were it not for his jumping problem. He just jumps up the whole time. He didn't settle down in the half hour we were there. Sure, it's something we could train out of him, given time. But we have too many friends with children. He's a solid dog and any kid under ten is going to get flattened. I don't like the idea of having a dog that we have to hide away whenever we have guests. It's a shame, because he is totally loveable.

On a sort of a side point, it is weird over here how ebay virtually doesn't exist. It's non-existent. Trademe, on the other hand, has turned Nuzziland into a garage sale.

Tuesday 8 January 2008

Catching up

Keith & Ruth & Zack were back in Christchurch today, before they fly back to Sydney tomorrow for a couple of days and then on to South Africa. We met them for dinner at Le Cafe at the Arts Centre (the slow-cooked lamb shoulder was delicious, but the carrot cake was probably better at lunchtime). It was great to see them for a few hours and hear a bit about their travels around the south island. Sounds like they've had an awesome time, despite a few trials and tribulations along the way. I can't wait to see Keith's photos, once he's pared them back from the two or three thousand he currently has (and he's deleted loads already!) They're bound to appear on-line at some point.

This evening's not been all good though. I forgot that we now own an ottoman. I remembered in the dark as my foot tried to share the same space as it. And as any child who has studied maths but not reached fractions will tell you - two into one doesn't go.

Monday 7 January 2008

Up and then down

What a rollercoaster two minutes. I just got back to my desk following afternoon tea to find two emails from Joanne.

3:03pm - "She [Storm] is going to Dogwatch tomorrow!"

Enter a feeling of excitement.

3:08pm - "Dogwatch just rang. She's been rehomed from the pound"

Enter feeling of deflation, that stamps all over the excitement and laughs in its face.

Sunday 6 January 2008

Let's eat

We managed to catch up with Dan & Fizz and Tom & Sarah, the two couples we met at Sarah's on Wednesday, at church today and they were free so we invited them back to ours for lunch. A hastily knocked together salad with chicken drumsticks and some fresh bread followed by a huge bowl of fruit salad perfectly complimented the blue sky and warm temperatures.

It was so nice to have them over here and get to know them a bit better. They're both such lovely couples. As I said before, I really hope we always will be as warm and welcoming to newcomers at St John's as people were to us in our first few months. Having this home we can share with people is such a blessing. We must not forget that the Lord provides so that we are able to serve Him better.

This week is YLC week here in Christchurch. YLC is a week-long conference aimed at teaching people to better understand the Bible so that they're able to better teach it to others. It's explained more fully here and here. Joanne and I, because of work, were unable to go, but the reason I mention it is that one of the speakers at YLC this week is John Chapman and he spoke at the service this morning. I've read many of his books and heard him speak on tapes but never heard him preach in the flesh. It really was a real privilege to hear from an evangelist such as he who has done great things through the Lord's strength for the Kingdom of God. He is still as authoritative as ever and had every one of the congregation captured by his every word. Even into his eighties he continues to serve Jesus through his faithful teaching. Praise the Lord for people like Chappo. His answer to the question "how did you become a Christian?" was a gospel talk in its own right. All Christians can learn something from that, I think.

Ex-communicated

I feel cut-off from the outside world. Electronically at least. I have a gmail account but the email address I use comes from a website me and some friends run (although to be honest I've not physically contributed anything for a while now). Supposedly email sent to that address is forwarded to my gmail account. Only it isn't being forwarded at the moment. I have received nothing to that email address since Wednesday or Thursday. I've even tested it by emailing myself from Joanne's email and from my work email but still nothing. All these messages for me in cyberspace but no-one hears them cry.

Saturday 5 January 2008

Doing porridge

Joanne says she can't stop thinking about Storm in her six by three concrete cell.

That's Storm in the cell by the way. Not Joanne.

Two plus one?

A fairly quiet planned Saturday ended up being a bit busier than scheduled. A trip to the gym first off was always on the cards and somewhere in the day we planned a trip to the place we got most of our furniture from to pay for a painting Jo picked up yesterday for the living room. The trip to furniture shop ended up with us ordering an ottoman, a cd rack and a mirror as well as bringing home a rug and a cushion and a tabletop sculpture thing to see how they look and for the colours and stuff; we took a drive out to New Brighton and had some lunch at a lovely little cafe at the library by the pier; and we headed back home via Mitre 10 at Hornby to get a couple of sun-longer/chair things for the garden. Oh, and we went to see a man about a dog.

Dogwatch is a great place here in Christchurch where abandoned dogs are rescued from the pound in order to re-home them. I had heard about the place from someone at work so we thought we'd go and check it out today. There were a couple of dogs that we liked the look of, a border collie called Dixie and a collie labrador cross called Lass. However we were advised that due to us being out all day they'd probably get bored and we'd suit a dog that is more happy to look after itself. Also, which was news to us, we were advised to go for a dog that little bit older rather than a puppy. This was a surprise to me, I think. I'd always assumed we'd get a pup. It does seem a shame to miss the puppy stage but I can see where they're coming from, I guess.

Those two dogs were pretty much all that was really suitable for us but the people at Dogwatch advised us to check out the pound which was only just round the corner. They had a few more dogs there, and some of them really were looking sorry for themselves. One that attracted us though was a 2yr old black lab called Storm. She was just lovely. We were able to take her out for a bit of a walk on the land surrounding the pound to get to know her a bit. I think we both liked her and she seemed to like us.

It's such a hard decision though, you know. If we take her from the pound it's an all or nothing decision. One bit of good news is that Dogwatch have had a few dogs taken this week so far so have room for others from the pound and Storm is on the list to be moved. Fingers crossed for this. It would work out perfectly if she is. Dogwatch have a period where they keep the dogs to watch over them, to have them properly vaccinated, to assess their character and needs and to make sure they're socialable with people and other dogs and stuff. Also they have an initial one-week trial period for a dog in its new home. This would be great for us as it means we get to have Storm here and we get to see if she's happy here and how the fit is. Much better having a trial period than simply a yes-no thing and then no come-back, I think. So, watch this space. We'll contact the pound and Dogwatch on Monday and see what's happening. The good thing is that the pound is closed till Monday now so no-one else will get to see her before Monday.

Ooh, and happy birthday, Dad! Looking forward to seeing you next month.

Wednesday 2 January 2008

Last day of freedom

So, the last day of my Christmas holidays. Back to work tomorrow. Not for Jo though. She's off until Monday. It's going to be strange being back at work. It's been less than two weeks since I was there but I feel I've forgotten everything already. It's also going to be interesting over the coming months seeing how everything shapes out following the structural changes. But yeah, my last day on holiday and it's been a busy one.

Following a second successive most enjoyable lie-in Joanne and got up and headed out to Lyttelton for lunch. I do like this idea of having the 2nd January as a public holiday. It kind of eases you gently back into the New Year of work. Going to work on the 2nd Jan always came as such a shock back in the UK. Although it does mean that finding a place open for lunch that wasn't a chip shop was tricky. And then they had the gall to stick a 15% public holiday surcharge on the bill. Cheeky.

So, Lyttelton, yeah. It's a strange place, kind of caught between trying to be a seaside town and trying to be a port. It kind of falls somewhere between the two - a port with a seaside feel. There were way too many tourists to be a bonafide port. It's a nice enough place, I guess, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it, apart from visiting the timeball if you're into marine chronometry and that sort of thing. Much nicer than Lyttelton are the succession of little bays that surround the harbour. Of course, they were all very busy on a public holiday in summer but probably worth a visit another time instead of the fly-past we gave them today as we drove home.

This afternoon, while Joanne did a bit of weeding, I thought I'd take advantage of the good weather and head out on my bike. There's a place called Tai Tapu about 10km south of us that I thought was a decent distance away so off I headed. The ride down there was easy, a nice tail wind meant that I set a decent pace and was still able to take in the stunning view, the hills to my left, the plains and mountains to my right. Once I arrived in Tai Tapu and turned around though it was a different story. The wind today was blowing from th north. It only seemed like a small breeze as I cycled south. As I headed north with it blowing in my face head on the whole way home I realised it was a stronger breeze than I thought. Canterbury is flat and when you have a head wind there is no let up and no shelter. The 10km home took twice as long as the outward 10km. But still, it's all good exercise, eh? And if I hadn't intended to raise my heart rate a bit I might as well have stayed at home.

No rest for the knackered though as as soon as I got home there was time for a quick shower before we had to head out again. James, a guy who a few years ago was in our Christianity Explored and follow-up group is in Nuzziland on holiday and today we had a small window of opportunity to catch up. The joy of Facebook. We wouldn't have known he was in NZ if it wasn't for that. It was great to see him and say hi and found out how his hol is going and how he's doing generally. Plus he brought me in some of the good stuff from home - five packets of Airwaves Blackmint - just enough to see me through until my dad arrives in Feb!

Just time for a quick coffee and a bit of people watching with James in Cathedral Square before we had to head over to Sarah's house. She'd invited us for a barbecue. She may be Scottish but she's becoming very Kiwi ;) Also there were two English couples quite new to Christchurch and St John's - Dan and Fizz from Ripon who've been here about five weeks, and Tom and Sarah from Canterbury (the Kent one) who've been here about ten weeks. It was really great to get to meet them and have a chance to get to know them a bit. Sarah's so great at welcoming new people and having them round to her place and stuff. She does a great job. I was saying to Jo on the way home tonight that I'd love to have the guys we met tonight over for lunch to ours after church on Sunday. When we first arrived at St John's everyone made us feel so welcome and really opened up their homes to us. I'd really like to learn from our experience and make sure we are as warm and as welcoming to new people we meet.

Tuesday 1 January 2008

Robots in disguise

Joanne and I just watched the DVD she bought me for me birthday - The Transformers. I wish I'd seen it at the cinema. All those special effects really aren't done justice on the small screen. Still a great film though and well worth a watch, especially if you're male and grew up in the 80s. They actually stick a decent story in there with all computer imagery too. (My review: Amazing CGI. Superfluous comedy moments. Does the cartoon proud.).

30th December

Sunday saw us having another day out doing touristy things before we flew home. I am a big fan of aquariums so the chance to visit Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World was something I could not say no to.

What a great way to utilise dis-used sewage storage tanks. It was quite a spectacular place actually. Feeding time in the ray tank was amazing to watch (I don't know how the guy stayed calm as the rays surrounded him and climbed us his back and his front and all over) and I always like watching the seahorses. And the penguin bit was impressive too (other than the woman who hogged the window the whole ray round meaning I couldn't get any photos). I always thought penguins were little fellas but some of those king or emperor penguins or whatever they were were quite tall.

Following Kelly Tarlton's we headed over to the Viaduct for a late lunch. One relaxing lunch at Portofino (four seasons pizza followed berry cheesecake for me, chicken risotto for Joanne) with a bit of people-watching later we headed back to Len and Val's to get packed before shooting off the the airport.

And so, that was it. Our first New Zealand Christmas. Well, my first and Joanne's first for ten years. Our first together. It was difficult at times being away from my family but good that Joanne was back with hers. And I could not have been made welcome by the new side of my family. Summer Christmasses are going to take some getting used to, but if they're all like this one it won't take too long. Although next year I a going to insist on white sauce with my Christmas pud!

29th December

On Friday evening Len and Val received an invite to join some friends of theirs, Pat and Diana, the following day on their boat for a trip round Auckland harbour and a bit out into the Hauraki Gulf. The invitation was extended to include Joanne and I so our plan to walk up Rangitoto was postponed for a later date ("the volcano will still be there next time we visit Auckland").

The trip started with a little jaunt round the harbour taking in the skyline and having a closer look at the Russian tall ship currently moored at Princes Wharf before we headed out past the various parts of Auckland, past Rangitoto and out into the gulf. We stopped in a quiet bay for a spot of lunch before we headed out further. I had my new camera with me so was loving getting to take lots of shots. I don't know how people managed before digital cameras and the "snap loads and hope one of them looks perfect" photography methodology.


After a bit we pulled up, dropped anchor and broke out the rods. Time for some fishing. Diana went for a dip while we were getting set up (beautiful blue water but still a little cold for anything more than my feet I thought). I've only done it a few times but the more I do it the more I enjoy fishing. It was a more successful time than when I was out with Tom back in July too. Pat caught three small snapper and one big enough to keep, Val caught the same I think (although I was impressed with her managing to bring up two fish at the same time on the same doubled-hooked line), but Len didn't catch anything, not even a small one to be thrown back. I had a successful day too, catching four fish in total, three snapper (only one was big enough to keep) and a huge trevally. Well, I say huge. It was quite big. The biggest fish of the day, that's for sure. I hope Pat and Diana had a good dinner out of it.

The weather all day was just perfect. I love tripping round on a boat, a bit of fishing here, a bit of kayaking there, and a whole lot of relaxing.

Pat and Dianna dropped us on Waiheke Island so that we could get the ferry back. They were staying out on the boat for a few more nights. The trip in on the ferry was just awesome. As the sun went down the sea, the islands and the distant Auckland skyline made for some beautiful photos.


We arrived home at about 8:30 and after quick showers all round we were out of the door again before 9, changed for dinner. We headed over to One Tree Grill, one of Len and Val's favourite restaurants and I can see why. The food was just perfectly cooked, perfectly flavoured and perfectly presented. We all agreed the best meal we've had in a restaurant for a long time. I had pork belly roulade with roasted yams, broccolini and pernod-scented apple sauce, followed by sticky prune and walnut pudding with amaretto butterscotch and vanilla bean icecream. Joanne had the pork followed by chocolate mousse with a plum granita. I'm drooling sat here just recalling what we ate.

It was nice to go out for a meal to a nice restaurant. So far here in Chch it's been difficult to enjoy nice (more expensive) restaurants. Most of the friends we're making are either younger couples or couples with children or in both categories. I'm not saying that they don't like nice meals out or enjoy going to 'posh' restaurants or that other 'non-posh' restaurants don't do great food, just that they tend to have different priorities for their time and their spare cash, if that makes sense. Whatever. It was nice to go to a nice restaurant and enjoy an exquisite meal.

28th December

Much of the day was spent at Sylvia Park, a relatively new shopping complex on the outskirts of Auckland. We got there early so it wasn't too busy but it was getting a bit manic by the time we left. It actually was quite nice to have a wander round a decent-sized mall. One thing about Christchurch is all of its suburban malls, each one reasonably big but not that big really. There's no Lakeside or Meadowhall type mall down here. There's a Nandos at Syliva Park too, so that's a huge redeeming feature.

In the afternoon we headed into the city. One thing I was determined to do while up north was head to the Imax where they were showing Beowulf. I had heard mixed things about the 2D version of the film but great things about the 3D version so definitely wanted to see it in its original format. I wasn't disappointed. It was visually quite stunning, a classic story and not "just a cartoon" as I had heard it described. Definitely go and see the 3D version if you can though. Some of the shots and movement and cinematography will look a bit weird in 2D I would think. Oh, and one bit of advice though, if you go and see it in 3D, sit centrally. Sitting off to the side gave me a massive headache from the images of the screen almost-but-not-quite focussing. It was worth it though. A great film (My Review: "Visually stunning. A proper story with loads of action. Got to be seen in 3D."), a big thumbs up all round from me, all apart from the accents. There's Irish in there, and Welsh and Scottish and some dodgy old ones, but not a lot of Danish.

27th December

On Thursday Joanne got up at a quarter to six to join Len and Val at the gym. I decided this was a silly idea so stayed in bed.

The rest of the morning Joanne and I spent with Val. We headed to a garden centre to check out ideas for flowers and plants and water features and the rest for our garden. It was my idea. I suggest going to a garden centre. I still can't believe it. I just thought it would be a good idea to draw on Val's expertise in that area.

We also spent some time trying to find an open tile shop to get somes tiles that Val needed for their front door step. This was harder that it should have been though. Lots of NZ trade places (and indeed smaller shops) seem to just close down for at least a couple of weeks over Christmas. I guess it does make sense but having summer holidays and Christmas holidays coincide is something else I am going to have to get used to.

In the afternoon Joanne and Val headed off to the city - they wanted to check out the sales at Smith and Caughey while I fancied a bit of fresh air and to stretch my legs so I went for a walk in Cornwall Park and up and around One Tree Hill. I never tire of the view of Auckland you get from up there, with the Sky Tower, the CBD, the Harbour Bridge, all the volcanic peaks and craters all there for all to see.

26th December

Boxing Day morning and a fine and sunny day after the rain and greyness of Christmas Day. Nigel (the surfer) and Claire, Joanne's uncle and aunt, drove us down to Len and Val's on their way back home to Taranaki, which was nice of them. Following some freshly made becan and feta muffins we had a relaxing afternoon and evening sat around at Len and Val's not doing much at all. Which was nice.

Ooh, we did have time to open presents though. From Len and Val I got a book called 'A Cook's Tour of New Zealand' by Peta Mathias which intersperses recipes with descriptions of locally-grown produce and culinerary hidden gems, be they farmers' markets, wineries, restaurants, delis, chocolate shops etc etc. I think I read most of it on Boxing Day. I also got another book, 'Yates Garden Guide' which bills itself as "a book that moves beyond the world of garden enthusiasts to help every New Zealand homeowner." Joanne and I need all the help we can get with the garden and garden ideas and how to look after a garden and stuff and this will prove an invaluable gift, I'm sure.

25th December

So I left you at 1pm on Christmas Day with me heading up to lunch. Lunch was more towards a typical English Christmas dinner than what I'd been lead to believe was a typical Kiwi barbecue on the beach type thing. Roast turkey etc etc followed by Christmas pudding. Lovely. There was talk of Christmas next year being held down here. Suits me, I'd be happy to cook Christmas lunch a la Andy.

In the afternoon most people slept off lunch while I sat amazing the mother-in-law of Jennifer (my step-sister-in-law, I guess) with Google Earth zooming in to show her her house and stuff.

In the evening, after turkey rolls, we all sat and chatted for a bit and then later on I phoned everyone at home. I spoke to Sarah and Ellie, and then Dad and then finally Mum. I think it was only speaking to them that really made it hit home that they were back in the UK having Christmas with out me. Up till then it hadn't really been as clear as that. Other than the one Christmas I'd spent in Madrid and the Joanne and I spent in London with Melanie I'd spent every Christmas of my life with my family. OK, so recent years have been more tricky, sharing time between parents and stuff, but I'd still spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day (almost) every year surrounded by family. It was good to phone them though and let them know I was missing them.

That's not so say Christmas wasn't good, of course. Just different. It was good to spend Christmas with Joanne's family. It was a great first Christmas in New Zealand. And I am enjoying meeting and spending time with new family. I now have all these new aunties and uncles and cousins and (step-)sisters I've never really met or spent much time with before. One thing though, I do need to educate this nation that Christmas pudding should be served with white sauce, not custard, and Christmas cake without marzipan and icing is in actuality just a nice fruit cake.

The day was finished off with fireworks, although we only set three off as Tom didn't want to disturb the neighbours.

For good order's sake

Because I don't want to miss journalising (is that a word?) anything important, because we did some special things and because I have some great photos I want to post up here I am now going to attempt to account for the missing days 26th through 30th December. Hopefully by the time I get it all down it will make some sort of sense.

Happy New Year

I wanted to get on here before 1pm so that I could do a Happy New Year from Nuzziland in 2008 while the UK was still in 2007 but sleeping in late and then tidying up the house after last night's little get-together meant I didn't manage it. But anyhow, happy new year everyone.

Well, the party seemed to go well last night. It wasn't quite on the scale on previous London ones (10 people made it along as opposed to the 40 or so we've had along to previous ones) but it was a select group (Steve & Lisa, Simon & Rebekah, Kirsty, Anthony, Blair & Amy, Sarah and Gabi) and at least we now have laid the foundations for future years. We've a big house and we want to fill it.

There were a couple of big differences we noticed last night between UK NYE and NZ NYE. Firstly, and it's more a general cultural thing rather than a specific NYE thing, but in the UK if you invite people over at 7:30pm there is kind of an expectation of some sort of supper being served. In Nuzziland, if you invite people over at 7:30pm they eat before they come. Hence, we over-catered. We had over-catered, as usual, but seeing that no-one came hungry, we over-catered in a big, big way. The second difference concerns the countdown to midnight, specifically the countdown on TV. In the UK every single channel has some sort of countdown, be it Beeb1 and ITV's mainstream countdown, Channel 4's alternative countdown or even Jools and his hootenanny on Beeb2. They all countdown to the new year. And then there will be fireworks galore, both outside and on the TV. Here, last night, for a brief moment we thought we had the wrong night. There was no countdown, just Elton John's birthday concert and the concert for Diana, some films and the usual late night TV stuff. Not a countdown or a firework in sight. Even outside we struggled to see more than a bit of a flash off in the sky in the distance to indicate someone else somewhere was celebrating the arrival of 2008. Thus we had we make up our own countdown which was definitely late as we struggled to get a concensus on the actual time. But 2008 arrived all the same, so it wasn't a world-ending problem. I just needed some sense of order and to be told when to cheer by some grinning couple on television.