The Deep South

As a pre-christmas break we decided to join our friends Max and Fin for two days at the Catlins. It was great to get in the sea again, as we hadn't seen the ocean since our last trip to the Catlins in February. We met up with Max and Fin in Riverton where they had been staying the night before and travelled in convoy down to the Catlins. The day was very clear and we were able to see Stewart Island in the distance.

Once we arrived at the Catlins the cloud burnt off to a beautiful day. After unpacking etc and relaxing on the deck of the crib at Curio Bay (bach if you're a North Islander) we decided the sea was too inviting and headed in for a swim/surf/boogie board. The sea was a little chilly, but no worse than Lake Wakatipu, and the surf was great. Even if it did manage to dump Andrea on her head once or twice - no noticable damage (Greg says she's always been like that). After Fin and Andrea headed back to the crib, Greg and Max were joined by a pod of Hector's Dolphins (much to the girls' disappointment!) which proceeded to jump out of the water and dive under their surf boards as the boys floated behind the breakers. The girls went for another swim the following morning to try and entice the dolphins back but just missed out again.

It was great to have a relaxing break after finishing work and before heading up for the hustle and bustle at Christmas. It really gave us an opportunity to just "switch off".

More pretty lupins

I know we already posted some pretty lupins but I (Andrea) drove past this in the Cardrona Valley today and couldn't resist a photo!



Pretty much the whole Cardrona River is lined with Lupins at the moment, making the drive even prettier than normal!

One week to go!

Sorry no photos this post!

Another busy weekend just been. Saturday morning Greg and two of the guys from our street headed out at 6.30am trout fishing near Glenorchy. They towed the boat down there and then fished in front of all the major rivers - the Dart, Rees and Greenstone. They came home with 4 rainbow trout, and released a number of browns. On Saturday evening we headed out to a BBQ for some people that we met at our street party - we were only intending on staying for a short time but ended up getting home close to midnight.
On Sunday morning we again put the boat in the water, this time for wakeboarding. It was beautifully flat and we stayed out from 8.30 until 11.30 - and wondered where everyone else was! We were still the only ones out when we came back in. Then everyone came back to our place for brunch. After brunch we started preparing the lamb shanks for dinner as our friends Max and Fin, their baby Morgan and Max's parents were over for dinner. They arrived at about 5pm and a great dinner was had by all (complete with the first strawberries from Fin's garden - which were the only sweet juicy strawberries we have had in Queenstown, they were great on top of the Pav!). They headed home at about 9pm and we collapsed into a heap!

Friday is our last day of work for the year and it can't come around soon enough. On the weekend we are heading down to Riverton and Curio Bay with Max and Fin etc which will be great. You can't get much further South than Curio Bay, meaning we will go from the bottom of the South Island to almost the top of the North in a matter of days. And it also means more beach time for us, and hopefully by the time we get to Auckland we will be nicely relaxed. We haven't been to Riverton before so looking forward to that. Good surf around there apparently, and hopefully the Hector's Dolphins will be back at Curio Bay.

We'll come back late on Monday night, which gives us all day Tuesday to clean the house and put away personal papers etc in preparation for the family who are staying in our house whilst we are in Auckland. They are the extended family of one of our neighbours and have 4 children. The eldest daughter has recently suffered a concussion injury so it will be good for them to have a quiet place to get away from the younger ones. We are slightly nervous about letting our house out but we figure what's the worst that could happen..... touchwood.....

Fairy Lights!!

The street BBQ on Friday night went really well. Everyone had a good time - all the kids left at about 11pm and the last of the adults left at about 1am. A lot of nice food was consumed, with way too many left overs!

Saturday evening was Andrea's work Christmas function, which also went well and was enjoyed by all. We really enjoyed the luging up the Gondola and the food is always good. The weather was awesome with a spectacular sunset to top it all off.

This morning (Sunday) we got up bright and early and headed out trout fishing. We brought home 2 rainbow trout and released a number of brown trout and quinnat salmon. We went further than we have gone before and came across this waterfall.

We also saw a number of whitetail and red deer - right down by the lake having a drink, some only 20 or 30 feet from us. In all cases we weren't quick enough to get a photo before they bolted back into the scrub.

This afternoon (after a bit of a nana nap!) we decided to continue Christmas-ing our house. We got the idea on Friday night when all the kids took a special walk to go and have a look at one of the houses in the next street that is all lit up. So our first lot of fairy lights have now been installed around the verandah. We're considering leaving them up all year so we can turn them on when it snows :-)

Busy Busy Busy!

Sorry we didn't update last weekend - and sorry in advance because we probably won't get around to it this weekend either!

Last weekend we had Greg's work Christmas Function on Saturday, which involved fishing for the boys during the day (our boat and the boss's boat) including a BBQ lunch on the other side lake and then a dinner which the partners were invited to. The fishing turned into an impromptu competition between the two boats, which we are pleased to report resulted in a 7-1 hiding dealt out by the younger boys on our boat. One trout was brought home and the rest were released. The dinner was at a restaurant called Brazz on the Village Green - this was the first restaurant we went to in Queenstown (on our first night in town, a week to the day after our wedding).

The following day we had free tickets to the Cromwell Races courtesy of a client of Greg's which included free entry and then a day in their corporate tent, with food and drinks all provided. We've decided we would be better off burning the money spent on the horses in our fire place in winter - it would be a better investment. We didn't bet a lot - and got even less back. i.e. not a cent.

From the races Greg headed back to Queenstown and Andrea headed down to Dunedin for work (she was there until Tuesday night).

This coming weekend isn't looking to be a whole lot less busy. Tomorrow night (Friday) we are hosting the Larch Court Christmas Family BBQ. Current tallies are running at around 30 attendees. Everyone is bringing their own meat and drinks but we are providing the majority of the salads, desserts and nibbles. We're sure others will turn up with some food but we don't want to count on it... so..... Andrea is taking tomorrow off work (having already worked 40 hours this week) to cook and clean.

Saturday night is Andrea's work Christmas Function, which consists of an hour's unlimited luging and then dinner (buffet) and drinks up the Gondola. One of her workmates has bought another workmate a bungy jump for her birthday, which he kindly booked for the night of the Christmas Function, so that will be good for entertainment too!

Sunday we plan to collapse in a heap!

With the BBQ being Christmas themed we have put up our Christmas tree. It is rather a busy looking tree with old decorations from both sides of the family dating back years and years.