The most beautiful view in the world...

... was not on show when I went to see it on Monday. I was extremely fortunate to have to go to Milford Sound with work, but unfortuantely it rained heavily all day and the cloud was low, so the famed view of Mitre Peak (http://tiny.cc/6Q73l) was nowhere to be seen. However the water streaming off the valley sides was spectacular in its own right and probably far more useful for me to see as a hydrologist! And I did get my first ever ride in a helicopter.

Maybe I'll have to go back again, but take Ali and the boys with me next time. I've been very lucky to see so much of the country with work, but it would be lovely to share the experience with the family. Under the current arrangement, I'm charged with having to bring back a badge each for the boys, which Ali then has to sew onto their blankets. She gets the rough end of this deal!

Two weeks ago, we had another long weekend to celebrate our regional Canterbury Day. Friday was a statutory day off work at the end of 'Cup and Show Week', so we planned to go to the Royal New Zealand Show, which is held about two miles from home. Unseasonal gales and wind put paid to our plans and so we had a lazy day at home.

The good thing about Christchurch's variable weather is that the rest of the weekend had good weather. So on the Saturday we took the foot ferry across Lyttleton Harbour to Diamond Harbour and had a good day with friends walking and playing games. Then on Sunday we popped over the hill to our local beach at Corsair Bay. It's a lovely sheltered cove with a gentle slopeing beach and places to jump into deeper water further round. The perfect spot for a Sunday teatime.

That Saturday night also saw me and the boys cheering on the 'All Whites' from the comfort of the sofa as they won through to next year's football World Cup. Suddenly, this rugby mad country was talking about football. Normal service resumed last weekend as the All Blacks took on England at Twickenham and won. It would be telling to say who was cheering for who as we watched the replay during breakfast on Sunday.

Ali has continued to pick up some supply/relief teaching work at the boys' school, which is giving her some good experience. She enjoys being back in the classroom and the challenge of adapting her British resources for the Kiwi curriculem. Talking of school, Matthew brought home a lovely Maori-design fish hook that he'd carved from soap. He was able to tell us the meaning behind the different symbols he'd carved.

I joined Josh and the rest of his cub pack on Saturday for an afternoon's climbing up at Rapaki Rock on the Port Hills. A warm wind blew and the sun shone on a great afternoon where all the boys had a go at some quite tricky climbs. I spent the afternoon on the other end of a rope, belaying the intrepid boys. Josh gave it a good go, even trusting me to belay him on one climb! We then walked back down into the city down a valley that could easily have been in the Pennines. At the bottom of the vally, we were met by the unmistakably smells of that Kiwi institution - a sausage sizzle - that Ali and Matthew had helped set up.



We were all out with cubs again last night as parent helpers on a cycle ride to one of the local parks. It was like herding cats!

So that's an update of the last two weeks. It's been busy but fun. And thank you for those that have been asking for an update. It's nice to know that I'm not just writing for myself. Bye.

Hubble Bubble & Fireworks

It's been a busy couple of weeks. In the week after we got back from Tekapo, we all felt a bit down. Was it homesickness for the UK or just one of those lulls in the vibrancy of life. Something we've learnt is to take stock and find the real reason if things seem bad. It's so easy to jump to the conclusion that it's because we're in NZ and it's easy to forget that we all had bad days in the UK. But I'd be lying if I said that there weren't days when we miss people, places and things.

One thing that we certainly haven't missed has been Halloween. I always found it a dark period and hated the piles of tacky evil merchandise in the stores. Fortunately, Halloween was very low key here in Christchurch. There was hardly anything in the shops, a bit of a debate on its growing influence in the paper and (Hallelujah!) no 'trick or treaters'.

On Thursday, I was up in Rotorua on the North Island. Fortunately, the timing of my flight home gave me chance to have a quick look at the thermal pools in the city centre park. While the video clips will give you and idea of the sights, you are fortunate that 'smellyvision' isn't yet available. The eggy sulpherous smell around the park and at various other places in the city certainly leaves an impression. The only other time I've smelt anything similar was near a chemical works in Rotherham!



Bonfire night is celebrated here and we missed no opportunity to share the news that old Guido Fawkes was a son of York and had been baptised at St Mike's. Oh, why do we celebrate proximity to notoriety? Ali and the boys picked me up from the airport and we whizzed round to the beach suburb of New Brighton along with half of Christchurch to watch the City Council's firework display on the pier. It seemed strange to be walking along the beach to watch fireworks. The other difference is that we had to wait until 9pm for it to be dark enough for the fireworks as we are now in southern hemisphere summer.


Having settled me and the boys into work and school respectively, Ali got the chance to return to the classroom for paid employment this week. Having volunteered two days per week at the boy's school for the last few weeks, she applied to go on the supply teacher list and almost immediately was asked to cover Wednesday afternoon. A phonecall at 7.30 on Wednesday morning saw her teaching all of Wednesday and then again on Friday. Class and teacher survived!

Anyway, it's Saturday morning and there's a lawn that needs cutting, so I'll bid you farewell and look forward to hearing from you with your news.