Update

Goodness, it is the end of March already. Daylight Savings ends this weekend. :-( I am going to miss my evenings but, I have to admit, in a lot of ways I am looking forward to my winter 'break'.

I am updating this at work *GASP - shame on me* but in fact the LAN has been down all morning and, since all my work is on the shared drives, I am a bit stuck.

So, what has been happening in my world? Well, I bought a new camera at last. It was a bit of an impulse purchase as it came up at 40% off for one day only. I really like it although I am not completely convinced about the colours. A really good function is the continuous shoot which is really useful for looking at jumping technique.

 Some Pics from the new camera:

Speaking of which, I have been doing lots of jumping with Spyke and he is going really, really well (although he did throw in a dirty stop at the forest the other day -grrrrr). I am now looking for some show hunter training days or competitions so I can get us out and about.

Jumping:

Galloping

We did a dressage day in the weekend. I have dropped back to prelim (HC) for a while to re-establish some of the basics before trying novice again. We did 2 prelim tests and a Prix Caprilli, which is a dressage with a couple of jumps in it. In the prelim tests we would have got a third and a second so I was happy with his marks, although I was a bit disappointed with a couple of comments that indicated that he is back on the forehand again. :-(

The Prix Caprilli test was great but he was VERY slow (I wasn't wearing my spurs and it SHOWED) but he was obedient and popped the tiny jumps just fine. He got first equal in that test. :-) He is a good boy really.

Prix Caprilli

The dogs are great. This weekend (Easter) is the Bernese Mountain Dog Garden Party in Midhirst. this is always a good weekend and I am looking forward to it. I have costumes organised for the first time too. My buddy Kristina, who owns a sewing machine and actually knows how to use it(!!!!), came and helped me sew a costume for Brina. The wagon decoration comp will be sponsored (for me) by Hell Pizza. I approached them about getting some boxes to decorate my wagon as a Hell pizza delivery wagon and they were BRILLIANT!!! They sent me boxes, vouchers, merchandise and a hat!!!! Big ups to HP!!!!!!

Since the wedding

The most interesting thing to happen in the family since the wedding was that Ma and Pa blew up their car. And, no, I do not mean cooked the engine, they BLEW UP their car:

Different eh?

More pics of the car can be seen here

Apart from that Spyke has been lame :-( He has a big crack in his hoof which has made him quite sore so he is now sporting a metal plate screwed onto the out side of the hoof to hold his foot together. He has been sound since the metal plate.

Oh and then there was the tsunami (cripes!!! No wonder I'm knackered) Last weekend there was a HUGE earthquake in Chile which meant that we had a tsunami warning. Of course it was on the day that Robert and Moira were planning to head to Kelly Tarltons........on the waterfront....below sea level....... needless to say they didn't get there as no-one seemed to answer the phone when they tried to ring.......ya think????!!!

The Wedding

The second part of The Big Holiday was spent in Hawkes Bay in preparation for the wedding. I was really, really tired when I arrived in HB but it was lovely to see Andrew and Maree.

I was expecting to have a very busy time in the lead up to the wedding, but in fact, Maree had everything pretty much in hand. On the first day we went to the hire company to double check that everything was all inhand. While there I began to feel a bit unwell. I had a bit of a sore tummy button at the end of the SI part of the holiday. I think it was from all the driving. I know that sounds weird but I was sitting in a driving position a LOT!!!! Anyway there was a tiny split in the skin and then when I arrived in HB (and was exhausted) it became infected and by the time we got to the hire company I had the beginnings of a fever so off to the doctor we went and I came out with topical ind internal antibiotics - quite a hefty dose.

Practising the charleston :-)

I wasn't a LOT of help to Maree for the next two days while my temperature came down but by the Wednesday I was feeling a LOT better.

On the Wednesday night Maree's family, the happy couple, their dance instructor and I all went out to dinner at Soda in Taradale. Once a month they have a themed dinner and I can't even remember what the theme was but the food was delish!!!

On the Thursday night we had a takeaway picninc down at the waterfront in Napier for anyone that was around and felt like joining us. It was LOVELY.

The big stuff started to happen on the Friday as the hire company finally completed the marquee. The wedding party had all arrived by then so there were plenty of hands on deck to set the tables etc. In the evening everyone was invited to go to Shed 2 down at the port in Napier to meet up and have dinner. It was a great evening although we didn't stay late. And guess what we had.....fish and chips......again!!!! (And they were LOVELY) :-)

The wedding day itself dawned fine and warm. I spent the first part of the morning setting out the chairs over at Maree's parent's place. Then  I showered and concentrated on not getting hot so that I wouldn't undo the hair and make up that were the next thing to happen. We (the 'girls') took over the top floor of the house and had a fab time. We had drinks and snacks while we were waiting for our turn for hair and face.

Once we were all made up we got Maree into her dress, finished ourselves off and then did the official photos. It was quite a fun and he got some STUNNING shots. They can be seen at tim.co.nz. It was a very sunny day so the photographer needed some shade for the photos which he found under a tree in the paddock across the road. :-)

The wedding went swimmingly (although it was very, very hot!!!) and everyone looked amazing in their deco gear. The canapes were visually beautiful and tasted delicious. The reception was fab too and once again the food was DELICIOUS!!!! Maree and Andrew did a SUPER first dance (The Charleston) and it was just a really, really lovely day all round.

The day after the wedding was great too. Everyone was invited up to the house for 'brunch' and LOTS of people showed up. Steve and Andrea 'did' the BBQ which meant Andrew was able to spend the time catching up with people. After brunch, a group of people went down to Napier to see the Gatsby Picnic and came back EXTREMELY enthusiastic about going again next year. I stayed back at the house to help pack up. I have to say that it took a LOT longer than I expected and I was pretty pooped afterwards. But it was good to get it done.

On Monday morning Tina and I headed back to Auckland after and AMAZING couple of weeks.

There are more pics here: More pics

South Island

It has been a long time since I have posted and there is a LOT to write about.

On February 5th The Big Holiday began!!!! I started the day off by getting the car serviced, my hair coloured and my hair cut before beginning our journey. At lunch time Robert, Moira and I headed for Hawkes Bay. Poor Robert had the short straw as he got to share the back of the car with a couple of snugly dogs, which is not ideal in the middle of summer. :-)

We had a very pleasant journey down and got there at about 7 pm. Hell pizza for dinner was the order of the day.

Early the next morning we headed to the airport and began the South Island part of the holiday. We had a really good flight down to Christchurch, picked up the hire car and got on the road to Queenstown. It was a very cloudy morning and there was not a mountain to be seen (Typical!!!!! Last time Robert and Moira were over they never saw Taranaki either).

We stopped in Geraldine for a pie, chips and an ice cream and got straight back on the road as it is a loooong way to Queenstown. At about Fairlie Moira commented that she could see a bit of blue sky and about a minute later the cloud completely vanished, leaving us with magnificent blue skies which were to stay with us for nearly the entire week.

The drive was fabulous!!!! There is nothing quite like the first glimpse of the amazing Lake Tekapo and its turquoise waters. We decided that, even though we had a long way to go, we would stop at all scenic opportunities as we were very aware that the magnificent weather may be absent on the return journey.

We arrived in Queenstown at about 6 and found the cottage (after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing). Mum and Dad were already there so we grabbed them and headed into Queenstown for a fish and chip dinner (we ate a LOT of fish and chips while on holiday!!!!!)

Link to pics: Drive down

Day 1

After a really busy ‘driving’ day on the Saturday I was quite keen to not go too far on the first day, especially as the plan was to head to Milford Sound on the Monday, which is a really long drive. So on the Sunday we went to Arrowtown, drove the Crown Range, had lunch at the iconic Cardrona Pub (yum yum) and went to Wanaka. It was really, REALLY hot in Wanaka and we all ran out of steam at about 4 o’clock, had a coffee and headed home.

Pics: Day one
Day 2

A BIG day!! We were on the road by 7 heading to Milford. We had an excellent drive down, stopping for coffee at Te Anau. I love the drive into Milford, the scenery is just incredible!!!! We had a fab boat cruise. Being on a smaller boat was really friendly and Moira and Robert even had a go at the helm.

The underwater observatory was really interesting, it was amazing to see all those fish in their natural environment just doing what fish do. We stopped for dinner in Te Anau and went to the same place that we had coffee that morning. The poor people were on a skeleton staff and were inundated with customers so it took a very long time to get dinner It was worth the wait though as it was delicious. We got home from Milford at about 11 that night, it was a very long but very enjoyable day.

Pics: Day 2
Day 3
 
We all took a bit longer to get going on this day. We all went into Queenstown and split up to do our own thing, meeting later in order to head up the gondola. I dropped everyone in town  and then headed off to try and find a park for the car but as I was a driving I saw a sign that said "Glenorchy 44km" and I thought "Why not? So I headed off to Gelnorchy for lunch. :-)
 
It was a fabulous day and the drive was beautiful. The road winds up the side of Lake Wakatipu, which is a LOT bigger than it looks. There is a "Wow!!!!!" moment on the drive where the road goes around a bend and you are faced with an incredible mountain vista. It is STUNNING!!!!!
 

Glenorchy was lovely and I had a nice lunch before heading back to Queenstown. I stopped at the lake on the way back and had a paddle. I took a photo of my feet in the lake and the water is so clear you can't actually see it at all.
 
Back in Q'town I caught with Moira and Robert for a beer by the lake and then we caught up with Mum and Dad and headed up the gondola. We ALL (except Dad who was quite keen but the 'scenic track was really bumpy and his back wouldn't have coped :-( ) had a go on the luge which was SUCH fun!!! Mum took FOREVER to get to the bottom but she made it in the end with a huge smile on her face.
 

Pics: Day 3
 
Day 4
 
Wednesday was a fairly quiet day. Mum, Dad and Robert went and had a swim at the local leisure center and then Mum and Dad had a wee lie down so Robert Moira and I headed into Q'town to the Wildlife centre to see some kiwis (and some keas since they would turn up in Milford). It was very interesting, especally the 'Conservation Show'.
 

On the drive back to the unit we took a wee detour and stumbled across the Shotover Jet which was very cool.
 

Pics: Day 4
 

Day 5
 
We had a wee drive to Cromwell. We stopped at a VERY busy fruit shop on the way back and got some delicious cherries and some other fruit. We saw Roaring Meg and we stopped for lunch at the Gibbston Valley Winery for lunch.
 

Robert and Moira spent the evening catching up with some Kilmacolm buddies in Q'town.
 
I think we were all feeling quite tired.

Pics: Day 5
 
Day 6
 
Our last full day inthe South Island. Mum and Dad went out on the Earnslaw (it was a lovely day for it!!!!) and Robert, Moira and I headed to Glenorchy (the wow moment was still 'wow'). Then we went to the Caddyshack and played mini golf (it was REALLY hot in there) and had dinner in the iconic Cow restaurant (yummy pizza).
 

Pics: Day 6

Day 7
 
On the Saturday we dropped Mum and Dad off at the airport then headed back into Q'town for a last coffee. Sooooooooooooooo glad we did as there is a FABULOUS craft market, where we saw some beautiful things. If only I had money!!!!!
 

We had been forcast rain for the Saturday but weather (as always was stunning). We did the Crown Range again and had lunch at the Cardrons (yummy again) and then hit the road for Tekapo.
 
The 'motel unit' we had booked at Tekapo was FABULOUS!!!! It was right across the road from the lake, with STUNNING views and was very, very comfortable. We had (quite a lot) of chinese takeaway for dinner followed by (for me anyway) the BEST night's sleep. I could have stayed there for a week to just chill.
 

We got up the next morning, had a huge breakfast and headed to Christchurch where I leapt on a plane and Robert and Moira headed off for the next part of their South Island adventure.

Pics: Day 7