Scout Float

Last weekend for the annual Autumn Festival the Scout group put together a float for the parade.  We did really well and ended up winning the "Best community float" prize which gave us $500 towards the group's funds.

The float was based around a camp scene with a rock climbing wall at the back, which we had 2 kids "abseiling" off.  We borrowed the rocks for the climbing wall from our neighbour who is a set builder for movies etc.  The float was completed with a fake camp fire with a smoke machine and a flying fox across the top.  One of the hardest parts was choosing only 1 kid for the flying fox and 2 for the abseiling!  They all had their hands up!

Greg supervising the final touches:

About half of the group involved with the float (about 1/3 of the whole scout group):

Jamie and Jak proudly displaying their abseiling skills

The group starting to walk, in front of the spectacular autumn colours that are the reason behind the festival

The front of the float - we thought the big scarf was pretty awesome - made from a sheet wrapped around novacoil, then a sheet of building paper spray painted the right colours to make the scarf itself.

Isla was pretty pleased to be the one chosen to dangle off the flying fox but her arms must have been pretty sore by the end!

Autumn at the Grove

It's been a while since we last blogged, and a bit has been going on around here!  Greg had surgery on his shoulder on the Wednesday before Easter so things have been a bit quiet in terms of things worth photographing.  We went for a walk this evening (the second short walk Greg's been able to manage since the surgery) down to Kelvin Grove (our wakeboarding beach) and the golf course, and Autumn has definitely arrived.

(Photos taken on a camera phone so not quite as great as they usually are)

Autumn evenings are typically clear and still, and tonight was no different:

They say that when the Rowan trees are well laden with berries, that it will be a long winter.  As far as we can tell though, there's hardly any difference year to year... but the red, orange and yellow leaves look pretty with the red berries!

The quintessential South Island Autumn shot of poplar trees..

And up close:

Cecil Peak looks different every time you look at it.  On Autumn nights it's crisp and clear like the nights are!

And sunset - not blood red or orange like some of them but gorgeous all the same.  Taken from the golf course.

First taste of Winter

This morning we woke to find a gentle reminder that winter is only just around the corner...

 The snow will probably melt by tonight but it was enough to put smiles on our faces! 

Proof is in the pudding !!!

here tis

Green Fingers

Firstly, last weekend was Greg's birthday and we went to Wanaka with some of the neighbours camping for the weekend. It was a great opportunity to test our new tent...    

 Our garden this year  has been a great success, with veges galore!
Peas and baby spinach have been and gone but we fed half the neighbourhood  for weeks.
We now have various types of lettuce

We are thinking of taking tourists for a one day tramp through our spring onion forest

 More marts than you can shake a stick at

Beans, beans, good for for the heart  

 Rhubarb crumble anyone?

Cherry tomatoes

 Leeks

 Beetroot

And finally, a good feed of spuds, including Maori spuds, which are the purple ones.   

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For the first time ever, we are having a self sufficient dinner.Thar sausages, spuds, beans, courgettes, salad, and finishing with rhubarb crumble. Its a hard life...

Tahr shoot

For the second year in a row, Greg headed off on his Tahr cull.  This year Dave (Andrea's brother-in-law) flew down from Auckland to join him, and the two of them were joined by Greg's friend and fellow Deer Stalker Andy.  Or should that be fallow deer stalker.  Excuse the pun.

The boys getting into the chopper South West of Christchurch (up the Havelock River):

The accommodation was slightly fancier than last year.  Yes that's a solar panel on the roof of the hut, supplying LED lighting and a mountain radio (the aerial is the long wires at the top).

The countryside was amazingly wide and open - not to mention steep.  You could sit and look at a hill for hours and hours and still not see the animals walking around.  So sit and look for hours they did.

As you can see, the camo clothing the boys wear works well.  This is Andy sitting in a bunch of tussocks with his spotting scope - hard to see at 6 feet away.  You might also notice the boys wearing orange blaze.  Most game animals are colour blind, and the blaze clothing has a camo print so they work equally as well as the traditional green and khaki colours - but obviously a lot safer when there are multiple shooters.

Some more of the fantastic scenery, with a few Mount Cook Lilies in the foreground.  This was one little side valley that the lads walked up off the main valley.  The Mount Cook Lilies aren't so surprising considering they were less than 50km from Mount Cook (as the kea flies)

And of course being so close to Mount Cook, there were numerous glaciers heading down into the valleys the boys were hunting in.  Pretty much every side valley and stream started with a glacier.  Making for yet more spectacular scenery.

And finally, success for Dave.  This is his third hunting trip down to the South Island with Greg and he finally has a trophy animal - something to be really proud of.  And the sausages taste great too - many thanks to the Arrowtown Butcher for the Tahr, sundried tomato and basil sausages.  

Winter?

For the third time in just over 2 weeks, we have snow on the hills.  Yesterday we dropped from about 24 degrees down to 4 in the space of about 4 hours.  A bit of a shock to the system really considering it's supposed to be the height of summer!  We're not exactly complaining though, Queenstown really is very pretty when there's snow on the hills - 15-20 cm of it today.  If it was winter we would have been hitting the slopes for a powder day...

We took all of these photos standing inside our house this morning!

Ben Lomond and Bowen Peak from our dining room

Cecil Peak and Walter Peak

The Remarkables from the spare room

Looking down the lake towards Kingston (also from the spare room)

And the one photo we didn't take from home - Coronet Peak (this photo shamelessly ripped off from the Gondola webcam).  Just like winter... without the snow base of course!

There was so much snow that there's still some on the hills now after a day of sunshine, but it will be gone by tomorrow night.