Home

We are now back home now but is it our home these days?

Meeting with Preeti

Liz and I met preeti at her apartment we met Ray and her 2 kids Naomi and Neil.

We had lunch out and stayed for tea as well also we did a little walk to the Botanic gardens and fed the fish in the lake

Preeti

Well Liz spoke to preeti again for the first time since 1988.We are going to her house tomorrow when we check out of our hotel and we are having lunch and tea there.

Marina Bay

I dragged Liz out to see the merlion at marina bay

Christchurch To Singapore

On the way to the square to catch our shuttle to the airport we bumped into our old flatmate Minzekatze (Which was cool)

 

 

 

After 10hrs and a bit and being starved we arrived safely in Singapore.

On the way we flew over the southern Alps towards the west coast and could see some of our favourite locations from the sky like Lake Tekapo,Arthurs Pass,Mt Cook,Mt Tasman and even good old Fox Glacier and Lake Matheson.

We are now in Starbucks in Raffles city writing this funny we were here same place last year but heading the other way starting our adventure!!.

Liz is hoping to meet Preeti tomorrow

My 32nd Birthday

Well today is my birthday plus last full day in Christchurch and NZ

We went out and got some last minute photos of our fave haunts:-) Had a last coffee at Escarto our fave coffee place in Cathedral Square!

Mark got me a glass necklace and a lovely birthday card. Got Marks mums cards also, lucky they turned up in time!!

Next time we update we will be in Singapore.

Worn out boots

As you can see my boots are so worn out from all the walking we did I left them behind and so did Liz because her sole came off her boots.

Last Quiz Night

Tonight we did pretty well at 1 part of the quiz we were joint first but in the end we came sixth against 12 teams (beat a load of dumb Americans they were last and they had 6 people)

Dave and Sandra gave us a little present for our last night a box of choccies.

Restaurant Tram

Tonight we are going on the Restaurant Tram for our 6th wedding anniversary.

We had a great time. We had champagne as a welcome drink with bread and dips. For starters we had bbq chicken with chizoi cubes on kebabs and a glass of merlot. Then Rib eye steak for mains with another glass of merlot. Chocolate cream pie for dessert with dessert wine.  Lastly cheeseboard and cup of tea

A Poem I wrote when got home

What Is Like To Be Drunk

I am drunk
I see lots of things

Twinkley lights a plenty
show me the way home

Can hardly type a word
without a spelling mistake

My head around in circles
full of dizziness

Try not to fall asleep
at least till I get home

Sober me up quickly
before I am sick

 

Mark wanted me to post it:-)

Beers

We have compiled a list of all the Beers we have tried in New Zealand

monteiths Beers Monteith's New Zealand Lager golden winter summer black original Celtic Radler Canterbury cd steinlarger pure tui lion red lion brown green man london porter challenegr honey dew twisted ankle dux de lux (Various) Emersons (various)

Speight's Beers gold medal distinction old dark summit pilsner porter flame tasman export gold macs gold sassy red db glenorchy ale the moa killkenny

Last big shop

Today was a bit sad we did our last big shop at Countdown

will miss shopping here and Pac ‘N’ Save and going on the free shuttle.

Update

Just got back from the Regent cinema we watched (A FILM WITH ME IN IT)

also when we were in Hanmer we were speaking to a nice Austrian couple who had just stayed at Ivory Towers where we worked and they thought the staff were unfriendly (have to say this put a BIG smile on our faces)

Hanmer Fun

We are now back from Hanmer Springs. We stayed in a great backpackers called Hanmer Backpacker the owner Edwin was great only 5 weeks in to his new business.

We went to the hot pools it was so much quieter this time so was great we stayed in them for 2 hrs.

Today we did 4 different walking tracks and crazy golf which Liz WON!!!                        

 

We also went on one of these on the Road

Good Day

Today was very good

we went to see our friends at the shop and also posted home some posters.

Just back from Quiz night came last again!! We had an extra team mate called Claire for 5 minutes then she went to another team ha ha missed  out on the free beer.

Also made over $500 when we sold our sleeping bags on Trade Me

booked our trip to Hanmer Springs going this Wednesday

Shopping

Today was great nice and sunny again!! We went to the local market I bought Liz a nice NZ made coat and also we bought a nice photo print of Christchurch.

Tomorrow is Quiz night so wish us luck.

We might be going up to Hanmer Springs this week to spend 1 night there and do some walks.

20 degrees

Today was really warm not that sunny but we had this north westerly warm wind.

Just enjoyed sitting outside The Bog having tea at 6pm with the temperature at 20 degrees.

Found out our quiz friends lost against the other pub on Thursday night

Kiwi vs Israel

Today was well hot so went to the beach and on way back we sat in the square with our kebabs when this kiwi showed up with his sign

some Kiwis have a real problem with israelies as you can see!!

He was kicking the Jewish Bible around saying it was S**T (all this in front of israelies who are on holiday here)

Last Again!!

Haha, we came last again in the pub quiz. But this time we got 4 free pints as Mark fixed the guys computer. :-) We are natural born Losers! And we are drunker than usual today, but we will come back on BUNAC visa for a yr and will try our best to get sponsorship. NZ and Christchurch is the BEST!!!

Hot Rods @ The Square

Today was terrible rain and hail all day but I noticed there was going to be a hot rod rally to the square so I dragged Liz out to see them!!

Rain due to clear tomorrow which is nice we have had plenty of snow on the south Island this weekend but we haven't seen any!!!

Anyway tomorrow is quiz night YEAH FREE BEER

Fire Drama

We were walking home when we saw a big black cloud of smoke round the corner from where we live. We decided to go investigate and discovered it was someone's house on fire as we walked down 3 fire engines came past us. Mark took some photos then we came home. He is emailing them to the press.

Napier Under Siege

Don't know if this on the news in UK

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2393477/Fresh-gunshots-at-siege-scene

Snows Coming

We had a gorgeous day today but not lasting very long we have snow due tomorrow down to 700m.

Quiz Night

We entered quiz night for the 3rd time and came last as usual. We called ourselves The Usual Losers'  but aswell as free pint we got some nut selections as I(liz) won rock paper scissors :-)

Tekapo Short Break

Well we are now back from Tekapo.

We had a great time we went to the hot pools and watched the sunset also I finally got Elizabeth to Kayak on a lake

she is proud to get over her fear

We wanted to see our friends we worked for but they were away over the weekend.

Movie

Today the weather was a bit miserable so we had a few coffees and went to see the “Boy in the striped pyjamas”

Tomorrow we are having a little break in Lake Tekapo for 2 nights.

Air Force Museum

Well today the weather has been great.We decided to go to the air force museum which is free entry and to be honest was really good they had loads of planes and also a house as it would of been in the war.

These planes have been restored to exact plans of the originals with real engines and all the work is done by volunteers.

The war house but look closely liz’s bag doesn't exactly fit with the times!!

After this we went to the Hub shopping mall which was pretty rubbish so we went for a Kayak on the Avon river again.

Quiz Night

Well again the Team second to last once again won the FREE beer!!!!.

We are against teams of 4-6 players but then coming anything below 3rd gets you nothing so at least aiming for last gets you a beer.

Sunny Day

Well today summer decided to come back!!! We did not do much but we got outside as much as possible and enjoyed some of the street entertainment.

Christ College Tour

This morning at 10am we went on a tour of Christ College for an hour. It was really informative and the architecture was really good.

This evening we are going to the cinema to watch 'The International' with Clive Owen.

Sumner

Well today we got some nice weather so we headed down to the beach.Met up with Ian again he was driving his bus so we chatted with him for about an hour.

Great day going to cinema tonight to watch The Reader

Quiz Night

Tonight we went to quiz night at the Irish pub the Bog.

We came second to last after blitzing the movie round but because the guys who were last left before the end we got there FREE PINT for being last.

So next week we are going to call ourselves second to last and aim to be last then we get FREE PINT !!

Random

Well today I happened to be looking through some of our old photo’s from last year

This was taken our first week here.Then today I noticed the Guy’s jacket with the red and black sleeve, I thought I know that guy I used to talk to him all the time when I worked at the Gondola funny that a picture with random people then turns out to be people you meet and get to know. Like Ian the Tram driver when we first came to New Zealand in 2007!!

Weather has been a bit dull the last few days we are hoping it will clear soon so we do a hot air balloon over the plains.

Road Trip

Today we went on a little road trip on the Banks Peninsular with Mel and Alan.

We went to Governors Bay where there is a chocolate coffee shop called SHE we had chocolate mochachino’s with 4 truffles.

We then drove down to diamond harbour and shared chips and wedges and had a beer.

They leave on Friday so we are having a little drink with them tomorrow.

Minzekatze

Today we saw the cat from our old house!! He jumped straight into Liz's lap was a lot thinner now hope the other housemates are feeding him properly.

The cat in our old room last year

Sugar loaf to Mt Caverndish

Today was a great day weather wise. We decided to walk from the TV mast to my old work top station at the gondola took us about 4hrs all together.Had great views and it was good to see the alps with snow on them again.

Sugar loaf hill in the distant with the TV mast

Cow enjoying the view as well!!

We also met up with our friends Mel and Alan who are due to fly home next week.We were supposed to go and have a beer but they have some weird Easter law that they cannot serve you beer without you eating plus they were charging 15% more so we got drunk at starbucks!!!! meeting up again tomoz to find real beer.

Kayak on the Avon

Today we hired a Kayak on the river Avon for 1 hr and slowly paddled through the park.

Finally got Liz in a Kayak!!

On the way back we stopped in the square to listen to the Wizards advice on women

The 3 rules to find the perfect women according to the wizard

1.women shouldn't talk too much but will say I LOVE YOU (but men must not say this back)

2.must open legs without being asked

3.Women will get purse out of handbag and pay for everything

Riccarton Market

Today we went to the market and bought some cheap onions, avocados and apples. Mark bought a whistle that makes various animal noises!

Watching F1 tonight hopefully Button will win

Chch

Today we met some old friends got a free ride on the Tram again.We have settled into our new house

Also went to the beach and just relaxed

New Home

Today we moved into Urban Sanctuary.A house just 3 doors down from our last one.

We are both pretty happy now.Its good to have a base and address again going to save some money being here and then hopefully travel the last month.

Lochmara Lodge

Today we took a 15min boat ride to the lodge where you can chill out and sit in Hammocks and enjoy quiet time in a peaceful bay.

Mark enjoying a good Beer

The Lodge

Me and Liz in a hammock

The Wharf

Today we went down to the wharf again after doing some housework for our hosts.

While we were there we spotted these clouds

Maybe a Sting Ray

A dragon

Then on the way back we spotted a real Sting Ray swimming under the bridge we were crossing

This is the first time we have seen one its real environment cool eh!!

Lazy Day In Picton

Today we chilled out at the Wharf and had a picnic there and also a beer and coffee.

We also went to the little cinema which is inside the local aquarium and watched Slum dog millionaire.

The Echo Cafe ship

Mark cooking on the BBQ

Mark Birthday

Today was my birthday.Liz had treated to me a guided boat adventure on the Mahau Sounds.

It was a self drive boat with a little 10hp engine the same we had on our  old boat but the power was pretty good because the shell was so light

We went to so many different sounds it was fantastic we were the only ones on the trip and also the only people in the sounds most of the time.

We had lunch here all on our own VERY NICE!!

we also did a little walk where Leicester would meet us at the other end with our boats and we would set of again

Leicester above meeting us with our boat!

After the adventure we went out for tea and had Mussels,T-bone steak and apple pie and a beer and coffee

Pretty good day wish all birthdays were this GOOD

Ship Cove Queen Charlotte Track

Today we did a day walk on the Queen Charlotte track starting at ships cove where captain cook parked his boat when he discovered NZ.We then walked to Furneaux Lodge where our boat picked us up to take us back to Picton.

Monument to Cpt Cook and some mussels

The Lodge

On The way we came across a large colony of dolphins which was cool