Stunning New Zealand

Driving from Ohau to Omarama

The stunning Lindis Pass

Reflections somewhere near Twizel

Wanaka sunset

Back to reality and work this week and it's been full on. But, just for a moment I'm going to go back and bask in the beauty of New Zealand.

It was incredible. Sure we had some dodgy weather and not as much snow as we'd hoped, but you can forgive all that when these are the scenes you're lucky enough to see when the sun gets to shining!

We did have some brilliant days on the snow. We stayed in some beautiful places. We saw stunning countryside. We ate delicious food. We laughed a lot, particularly at NZ radio DJs. We almost got stuck there the day we were flying home as it snowed all day but it was not to be. So we are home sorting through photos, settling back into routines and feeling incredibly grateful to have been able to have the holiday we did.

Have you been anywhere exciting lately? Or, are you heading off somewhere soon?

What I've been up to lately....

Photo thanks to Kevin from Methven Heliski

Life is good!

More to come once I've settled back into the whole work thing necessary to fund such adventures!

Weekend madness and holiday goodness

It's come to my attention that we may be a little crazy. On Friday night we decided that we wanted to go to our friends' son's Christening on Saturday. Sounds reasonable, right? Except that it was in Victoria and we were in Canberra. No matter, we got up at 5:30 Saturday morning and started driving. We got there, met little T, went to his lovely Christening spent a couple of hours with friends, A and R, and then drove home again, pulling into the driveway sometime around 12:30am. It was well worth the trip but I don't think we'll do it again in a hurry!

One of the reasons we did such a flying trip is that we needed to, once and for all, get this chook shed built. So we raced back to Canberra so we could spend all Sunday building! The rate these chickens grow is incredible. Just two weeks and they were starting to get cramped in the nesting area that A created. So, we started at 10am. We hammered, nailed, measured, sawed, drilled, stapled and cable tied (what did we do before cable ties existed?) until it was dark. Then we got out headlamps and torches and worked a bit longer. At 8:30 we were exhausted and decided to call it a night. I could finish the final touches and make sure it was secure the next day.

What a weekend. Luckily though, the holidays have rolled around again. I spent the first day checking over our creation. It's not square and looks a bit amateurish but it is secure, has survived the crazy wind we're having and the chooks survived their first night in it so all's good!

I'm also happy to report that after a week long process of trial, error (and more emotional trauma than you would believe - chickens can be so mean) the injured chicken has finally been successfully reintroduced to the others. She's on her own now as we're heading off for a little holiday. If she's still around when we get back, I'm naming her 'Lucky'.

Back to the holiday talk, A also has some time off and we are heading away for some snow very soon leaving the chooks and cat in the hands of our trusty housemate. Anyone out there know a New Zealand snow dance? We've got plenty here but there's not much there yet!

Hope all is well!