Tyson and Eagles

Well the biggest event that has happened since my last blog is that Bev and myself are now grandparents. Kelly and her partner Matiu had a baby boy in early November.

His name is Tyson , and is a  cute cuddly solid little man and doing really well so far. He had his plunket visit today and he is 14lbs already. We are really enjoying being grandparents even though it's hard to accept the term "grandparent".
Life is getting back to normal again as I have been away for 2 months. I was working in Mid Canterbury this season and I hope that I am responsible for about 8500 pregnancies (cows). Bev came down to visit a few times as it works in well with her mother living at Rangiora. Joyce hasn't been well and has had to move out of her home and into a retirement home. She seems to have settled in now after a few unfortunate health hiccups.

 When my job finished I met up with Bev and we flew to Sydney for a weeks R+R.

The last time we ere in Sydney was 1979 so it was good to get back there again. We really enjoyed our 3 days in the city . We had a hotel room on Pitt st that was really central to everything and easy walking to the sights. Of course our main reason for being there was to go to the Eagles concert. It was amazing, fantastic , every thing we hoped it would be. 3 hours of nothing but great Eagles music. We also went to a stage show the next night called Jersey Boys. It is a show that tells the story of Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons. That was also really good and would recommend it even if your not into 60's music. What with the 2 shows and spending a lot of time listening to buskers around town we had a total musical experience for 3 days.
We then hired a car and took off up to the Blue mountains for a couple of days.

Here again we saw some great sights and enjoyed our time back out in the country.
From here our next stop was Leigh and Johns but getting there proved to be a bit of fun.
Without much thought we eventually left Penrith mid Friday afternoon only to arrive in Sydney's rush hour traffic armed only with some written instructions on how to get to L+J's.  I would say that for a couple of country bumpkins from Canvastown we did OK. The car wasn't damaged and we limited our swearing to a few curses so overall it was a unique travel experience.

Anyway we had a great time with the O'Dowd's.Saturday breakfast at the beach and the invigorating swim was fun. The girls tried to wear me out, but that didn't work. Better luck next time you two.

I thought Leigh might have forgotten that small incident where I nearly drowned her when  she was 5 , but oh no  she had to drag all that up again!!!!

 So all good things come to an end and we are home again and looking forward to Christmas with our slightly larger family. We have all our kids with partners here for xmas day .

If anyone actually reads this I hope you have a "HAPPY  CHRISTMAS" and that the new year is a good one.

Aussie Roadtrip part 2

Daly Waters is a neat old historic pub set back a couple of k's off the Stuart highway. At night they have some great entertainment, like the bloke with the rooster , and others that made for a memorable night. I had my 1st taste of Baramundi there and would love to go back and try and catch one.

From there it was a short days driving up to Katherine. We stayed there for 3 nights to have a bit of a break from driving every day. While there we checked out Edith falls where we did a long bush walk then spent the day swimming in the pools. A lot of swimming was in the pool pictured, and if you look closely you will spot the snake on the rock in the middle. Spotted him just as we were leaving.

We did the boat trip through Katherine Gorge with the necessary swim under a waterfall at the end. Saw our 1st croc's  as well.

Kakadu National park was our next destination . We stayed at the Aurora Lodge that's just passed Jaberu in the middle of the park. We had another 3 nights here and saw plenty of croc's , birds, rock paintings and scenery.

On the the way to Darwin we did the amazing jumping croc's cruise on the Adelaide river. It was amazing to see them get themselves so far out of the water trying to get the meat dangled above them. We also did the other tourist thing on the way and stopped at the Humpty Doo hotel and had a beer and bought the T shirt.

Darwin surprised us as we really enjoyed the city and our time there. We were lucky as the wet season had lasted a lot longer than normal and had cleared off about a week before we got there. This wave pool is just out of the city centre and we had a fun 2 or 3 hours there. The Sunday evening market on the beach was a highlight with plenty of different food, stalls and entertainment all made better with some BYO.

Geoff and me went out of Darwin harbour on a fishing trip and caught Jew fish (never heard of them before). They put up a really good fight and taste good as well. The next day it was back to reality, 21degrees at 6am Darwin to 5 degrees in Ch Ch.

Aussie Roadtrip

In May, Bev and 3 other girlfriends chartered a yacht

from Hamilton Is and sailed around the Whitsunday

Islands for 5 days. They sailed through the day

exploring the many waterways and landing on some

of the islands and then tying up to a mooring for the night.

They had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the experience.

And yes in case you were wondering I was really pissed off

it was a girls only trip.

I flew to Airlie beach with a mate ( his wife was sailing with Bev) and we met up with the girls when they finished their charter. Our planned trip was to drive across and up to Darwin over about 2 weeks. Loved Airlie beach and would like to go back some time. From there we got a bus to Townsville that's about 4 hours drive up the coast. The next day we picked up our hire car and began our road trip.  We enjoyed Townsville too and one night there wasn't enough. Richmond was our 1st  destination where as you can see I took the opportunity to practice my A.I skills.  Dinosaur fossils are about the only interesting thing there. 

Our next night was at Julia Creek where there's not much but we had an interesting night at the pub. I thought my local , the Trout, at Canvastown  was "unique" but the Creek pub was a really unique experience.

The next day was on to Cloncurry where we went to the flying doctor museum. On to Mt Isa and did a tour of the mines which is a massive operation . The next day was our biggest drive of 660kms but we found driving really easy compared to NZ. Just put the car into cruise control and once into the Northern Territory set it at 130kph . Long straight flat roads mean bugger all for the driver to do.

Passing a road train needed plenty of free road . We were surprised at how few cars there were on the road. Quite a few grey nomads though. We spent the night at a truck stop at 3 ways where you meet the road coming up from Alice to Darwin. We tuned left here and shot down to Tennant Creek to have a look but again there is not much there. From there we turned around and headed north for our next stop at Daly Waters.

End part 1

                                                           

OK. So it's been 6 months. We are busy people.

I'm not sure what we are busy doing ,but here are

some photos of us being busy.

In October/Nov I went down to Temuka and inseminated

about 6500 cows (that's busy). Bev came down a couple of times

and on my time off we explored south Canterbury.

This was at the Mt John observatory near Tekapo.

The drive around the Hydro lakes is really scenic.

We got up as far as to Mt Cook village but unfortunately

Cook was behind the clouds.

We had a Christmas eve party at home with kids

and partners , drank far too much , then got up  early

Christmas morning and drove to Rangiora to spend the day

with Bev's mum.

We went camping over the summer out in the sounds.

Caught some cod and kahawai of our kayaks.

It's hard to beat the scenery on a nice day.

In march we biked the beaches at the top of south island

to the Kahurangi light house.

In April we had some time in Northland with

J+D.  We had a day out on one of their friends

boats fishing. I wish we had fish like this in

Queen Charlotte.

We caught up with some Auckland  friends on their deer farm

at Wellsford.

In Ak we met up with friends and flew to Vanuatu.

We stayed here, at the Moorings.

Climbing up the waterfall is fun, then a dip at the top.

We flew down to Tanna island and stayed one night there.

We had been told that the trip up to Mt Yassa

volcano was an amazing experience and it certainly was.

I don't think there can be too many places in the world

 where you can stand on a crater rim looking down at an

erupting volcano. The explosions are enough to make

 your fillings rattle and molten rocks are biffed hundreds

of feet in the air and land only 50 metres in front of you.

It was a really rough 2 hour 4wd drive to get to it

but well worth it.

.

Port Villa on our way home.

Whats been happening

I know it has been a while but I find using blogger

difficult. But thanks to those of you who gave me

some tips, I think I might have the hang of it. Bev has

given up on blogger and has gone to facebook as it

is easier to use. It has been a few months since my

last blog so here are a few photos of what we have

been doing. Bev had her 50th in June and I organised

a surprise party for her. She didn't want one but

there you go, what comes around goes around.

Any way we had a good time.

In July we took the Transalpine train from Christchurch

to Greymouth with some friends. As you can see there was

plenty of snow about and the 20 minute stop at Arthurs

Pass ended up in a big snow fight. We stayed the night at

Greymouth and back to ChCh the next day on the

train again. It was great for me for as a teenager I

travelled on the railcar to Arthurs Pass many times

to go tramping so it was really good to see it all again.

In August we flew to Singapore with a group of our

friends. We had a couple of days seeing the sights

then we boarded the Star cruises ship Virgo.

I was a bit worried about being jammed in with 2000

other people on a boat but was pleasantly surprised.

There seemed to be heaps of room  and at times

wondered where every one was. It was probably good

that there was a casino down in the belly of the ship

and a fair number of passegers spent most of their time

down there.

About to board.

The pool area with 4 spas and hydroslide looking down

from the bar. A bad combination.

The boat cruised at night and pulled into a port in the

morning. Our first stop was Penang where the highlight

 was riding elephants and for some getting up close to

monkeys. Don't be fooled by the smile on my face, I hate 

the little sh!ts as I was bitten by one in Bali a few years

ago. I don't trust them. Bev was in her element.

The next day we turned up at Phuket where again we

hired a man with a van to show us around.

KL was next.

We had 6 days on the boat and really enjoyed it.

I'm sure we will cruise again. Back in Singapore

we said goodbye to our friends for a couple of days

and stayed with Blake, Adrianne and Flynn.

They have a really nice appartment in a complex that has

all that you need.

Blake showed us some of his watering holes

Flynn posed with the tourists. No not us, A group

of Japanese almost kidnapped him and fought each

other to have their photos with him. He enjoyed it

though. A bit like his father maybe.

Adrianne and Flynn showed us the gardens .

On our last day we had a Singapore sling in the long

bar at Raffles hotel. We only had one,they were

$26 each . Ouch .Should have asked first!!!!

We havn't done a lot since our Singapore trip.

Just getting through the last of the winter.

I'm about to start work next week down in

Canterbury inseminating cows. Looking forward

to having some regular work again but the down side is I'm

away for about 6 weeks.

Who knows maybe my next blog might have some

action shots of me at work.

Watch this space.

HELP !!!!!!
I need help with my blog.  I have been trying to write a blog for weeks now but I am getting more frustrated
by the minute. I am trying to change the format of my blog to a layout the same as Julie's , Bec's etc. where the photos are all vetical (one under the other) with a space under each to write something about it. No matter what I do it all turns to shit (frustation showing).
Can anyone out there help me please. I promise to write flattering things about you and not publish terrible photos of all  those that help.
Dave

Catchup

Hi. Time again for another catchup. Now that winter is here we seem to have a lot more time on our hands. It has been 12 months since we moved off of the farm , but has gone by really quickly. It is weird but neither of us give farming a thought any more, it's like something that happened in another lifetime. Having a year off has been great but we are starting to get a bit restless again and need something to get into (as in part time work or some sort of business) .

Tim is still working for Toyota in Blenheim , but I think he will be away soon. He has just come back from Surfers with a lady friend (casual travelling companion only). I think he will try to wear his snowboard out this winter and then head to Aussie to meet up with some mates. Kelly is living with us again as she is between flats and boyfriends . I have to pick her up from the airport tonight as she is returning from Sydney. She has been there with her work mates and boss from the hair salon she works at. That girl never has much luck. She just text ed me, she is still sitting on the plane at Ch Ch and isn't allowed off yet as another passenger has swine flu like symptoms and they can't move until a doctor has given the OK.

Hayley is flatting in Blenheim still. She is working at a hotel housemaiding in the morning and has some part time work cleaning at the hospital at night. Last years coarse in travel and tourism has only produced a large student loan so far. She is still young though, plenty of time to increase the debt !!!!.

Over the summer we have been on a few trips mainly around the top of the south island. This one was on the coast above Westport at a place called Mokihinui. We biked along where an old bush railway used to be from Seddonville to Ngakawau. The ride was about 4 hours through typical west coast bush with some amazing scenery. Of coarse a bonus with riding on the coast is that there is normally a great pub right there at the end of your ride. Doesn't get much better then that.

In all we spent 4 days there biking and exploring and will definitly head back there again.

Fishing with our neighbour

Another adventure I went on recently was down to southwest Fiordland where I have a mate that has a commercial white bait business on the Cascade river. The only way in is by Jet boat or flying. That is another amazing part of the country that is worth a trip to. I spent a few days exploring, fishing ,and doing what comes naturally on the coast ( you know what), then flew out in their whitebait plane. The photo above was taken the day we flew out, you will notice that the water falls are are actually going up . Not good flying weather. Also notice in the next shot that the only seat in the plane is for the pilot. So I spent most of the flight somewhere between the ceiling and floor.

I have trouble with this blog layout so I hope it turns out all right.

Dave