Dunedin

I had a very enjoyable trip down to Dunedin. I never quite got the snow I was promised (that all arrived this week!) but it was bloody cold nevertheless. On Thursday Rach & I went for a walk to Lawyer's Head before we picked Alexander up from school. It was bracing to say the least, but we were rewarded with stunning views. 

Thursday evening it was off to Carisbrook for a rugby double-header. First up was the big local derby 1st XV match between Otago Boys (where Rich teaches) and Kings High. Otago Boys comfortably ran away with the match, but Kings took the prize for best school support. Their en masse haka behind the goal-posts was pretty awesome.

Next up was the NPC match between Otago & North Harbour. Again, it was another convincing victory to Otago. There was a bit of time to kill between the 2 matches, so we retired to the nearby pub to get a couple of warming(?) speights in. It was a freezing night, but I was nice & cosy under the blanket I had grabbed from the back of Richie's ute! 

 Friday afternoon Rich & I went for a walk around the new Dunedin Stadium. It looks pretty impressive. I wasn't aware that the roof was going to be permanently closed, I thought it was going to be like the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which can be open or shut.

The new stadium is conveniently close to the Emmerson brewery which we paid a visit to so that Rich could pick up some supplies for the evening festivities. That evening the Roes were hosting a 'Tui Club' gathering. I had better not give away too many of their secrets ('what goes on tour, stays on tour' etc. etc.) but be assured that 'A treasury of New Zealand Bird Song' was given an airing (I guess you had to be there...).

The challenge for the evening was a time trial of the Shape O puzzle. 

Young Alexander & I cleaned up this particular challenge, so to spare the blushes of the prized trophy gnome potentially heading up to Wellington, it was decided to have a second blind-folded round.

This round only involved 3 pieces, but it was surprisingly difficult, especially when someone (Rich!) specifically selects the nastiest of pieces... Anyway, trophy gnome remained safely in Dunedin.

On Saturday morning Rich & I went to watch Alexander play soccer. The park he was playing at was right on the beach.

The weather wasn't too bad for the first half, but it packed in at half-time. Luckily a park right next to the field came available, so we had front-row seats watching the second half from the warmth & comfort of the vehicle.

That afternoon I had bit of a tour of the property, checking out what had been done since the last time I was there. They have stunning views looking out over St Clair. Eventually they are quite keen to build another house closer to the cliffs, to take full advantage of the view.

On Sunday we checked out the Otago museum which had an exhibition of 50 years of Peter Bush's rugby photos which was very cool. On Monday it was on a plane & back to Wellington. I got a glorious sunset on the way home...

Will also got back from his travels on Monday. He had a lovely time catching up with his family in the UK, & then his conference in Dublin went well. It is very nice having him back home, especially when he arrives back bearing gifts such as a kindle, & Le Creuset soup tureens to add to the ones we already had...

The middle week of the holidays was nice & chilled. On Tuesday night Will & I went to a pub quiz at the Four Kings with a couple of my badminton mates. We did pretty well, coming in 3rd only 2 points behind the winners... I like having a clever husband who knows all sorts of stuff!!! I have also been getting a few gym sessions in. I have rediscovered pump classes which I used to do a lot of in the Waikato. I had forgotten how good they are. I was also pretty obsessed in the middle week reading the Stieg Larrson Millennium trilogy. I read the first one down in Dunedin (which, coincidentally, Rach also happened to be reading) and then I read the next two on my kindle. I thought they were great, I struggled to put them down until they were finished. 

This week has also been nice & relaxed. On Sunday night I had badminton in the afternoon, then my friends Geoff & Hiria came round for dinner that evening. Monday was FREEZING. It was Wellington's coldest day on record. I didn't see any snow, but some fell in neighbouring Karori, & it was also seen down to sea-level on Lambton Quay which is pretty incredible. I managed to venture out to the gym, but then spent the rest of the day huddled in front of the fire catching up on the Sunday paper!  

On Tuesday I had a good session in the garden. We are wanting to convert another bed into a vegetable garden. At the moment it just has some (admittedly very attractive) ground cover shrubs on it. Several hours of hard yakka with a spade later and... pronto, a vege bed! 

I was very proud that I managed to dig them all out by myself. I took them out with a big root-ball as we plan on replanting a couple of them around the section, plus a friend of mine is quite keen to have a couple. Now all I have to do is dig a bit of compost & some sheep pellets through the bed, & in a couple of months it will be ready for planting. Another of my holiday jobs has been to get the seeds started off inside, so in 6-8 weeks we should be good to go. 

That's about all my news... Not much of the holiday left, but is has been a good one.