Welly and Queenstoon

And so the story continues of our adventures in July!

After the Ski spectacular we headed back to Welly with two more bodies that we had left with - no we didn't do a Fred and Rosemary West - Clare and Lorna were coming to visit. ;o)

I did the whole tour guide thing with Lorna and Clare and we also got to visit Katie's work where Clare and I took on the might of Clint (a mighty Australian tennis coach who has worked with some serious players) and the Oman.

Oh, I never mentioned Chuck and Mariska from our Ski trip did I? Chuck and Mariska are also super tennis coaches (Chuck is from the US and Mariska from South Africa) well, they were at the ski place too and they were a riot - here's one of our many photos from our evening meal. Chuck and Mariska are on the left.



Anyway, more about them later - where was I ?

Oh yes, Tennis at Katie's work. Well I must say that the Tennis world got a bit of a surprise that day from a young Scottish superstar and you can check out some of the action here http://mcavoyandginger.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-07-31T08%3A57%3A00%2B12%3A00&max-results=2

Watch in amazement as I make the game look really easy almost as if it is no effort at all then I play an amazing winner. Andy Murray, if you need any advice just give me a call. ;o)

Anyway, the other thing that happened whilst Norma (Clare) and Johnathan Creek (Lorna) were in town was dinner with Chuck and Mariska. Unfortunately I couldn't make it but they went Mexican and Chuck decide they should all really go Mexican... Clare won the prize for the most Authentic Mexican costume after a fashion parade in the restaurant. Well done Clare.

So and then onto Queenstown - Clare, Katie and I took off for some fun down on the South Island. And it was amazing.

Here is the view of the Southern Alps from the plane (I took about a zillion shots for some reason - you've got to love digital photography)



Queenstown was a pretty special place and you can see all of our photos at http://www.flickr.com/katieandsteph88 as usual but here are a few quick snaps

1) We visited a wildlife park and nearly left with a few of the residents:




2) We ate at the legendary Fergburger (well we bought one and ate it down at the harbour)



3) We did a walk up to some of the Lord of the Rings locations (this is apparently the place (or near the place) where Aragorn fell over a cliff.



We also went out to a nightclub/bar where we started to all feel a bit old - we were tired, it was too loud and we were older by about 5 years than anyone else there. We did hang around though as we were entered into the competition for a $500 bar bill. The night could have been so different had we won but alas the Scottish D.J. didn't pick our winning ticket.

Probably for the best.

An interesting point to note about Queenstown to note for any single women out there (or gay men) - apparently in winter there is something ridiculous like an 80% higher amount of dudes than chicks.

Ok, I will leave it there for now but I still have to update you on Doubtful Sound, A big Icy Crevice and Christchurch so there is still some catching up to do.

I will leave you with a photo from the very beautiful Glenorchy which was a wee day trip away from Queenstown



Hope you are all well - missing all you lots.

SB

Ski time

I've already mentioned the ski trip but didn't go into detail really so here goes!

We travelled up towards Mount Ruapehu (the town we stayed in was Ohakune - which sounds hilariously like "oh I couldnae" in a West coast-ish accent. Ok, so you had to be there) to meet Iain and Lorna, Clare, Barry and Kaz - it was a long blinking drive but when we arrived we were really impressed by our accommodation and the sight of the fellow Scots. Twas a 5 bedroom villa with all mod cons - another good choice from Katie.

The ski hire shop was open until midnight so after a few drinks and a bit to eat we walked 5 minutes round the corner and got all of our gear for the next day. I was amazed at how cheap it was - we had borrowed gear from colleagues and friends but the shop would have hired us all the warm clothing for $25 for a day. (£10) The board itself (or skis) came with all the boots and bindings and that was only $25 too. Really cheap and really easy to organise.

It was off to the slopes the next day and again, it was all surprisingly easy - it was busy but really simple. We turned up, parked the car and headed to buy our passes - $90 (£36).

Katie tried boarding on the first day but didn't really love it ( fallin on yer backside and taking the board off every 5 minutes does get old fast) so opted for skis on day 2. I was boarding all the way, bruised bahookie and all - and, as I have always said, I feel a lot safer when my legs can't go on either side of a comedy tree on the slopes (I didn't see any of those by the way.) I once saw a video of a skiier falling down and his left foot hit him on the back of the head and his right leg hit him in the face, both legs snapped to pieces - can't really do that on a board.

Anyway, back to the action - my highlight of the weekend (although there were many) was when Lorna and I decided to throw caution to the wind and go all the way to the top. There we were at the top of the mountain at the start of a run called Vertigo - I was of course not frightened at all (aye right) but we both made it down and looked super cool in the process if I must say so.

In the next episode of "My 3 week winter holiday from school" - I will be giving you an hilarious report on our South Island visit with Clarey Doll. I will also be trying to seek out some ski video footage from Lorna - and some footage of me doing the best ever tennis smash.

Steph

back to reality again! D'oh!

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that we are back safe and sound in Wellington after a very exciting and enjoyable trip to the absolutely jaw droppingly stunning South Island in full snowy winter glory. We did Doubtful Sound, Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Franz Josef Glacier and various other bits and bobs including a wildlife park where the residents almost joined us on the road trip!

I promise I will write some more this week about what we got up to but I have posted a couple of photos here to show you we are both still having fun.

We also haven't even had a chance to mention Steve and Shona's wedding, meeting Ghyll and Morven from back home, going to Steve's 40th and other general chat but I will get on it this week!!!

Steph

ski

Hi,

We've been busy since my school term ended - we drove up to meet Lorna, Iain, Clare, Barry and Kareena up in Ohakune to go skiing and we had a brilliant time.

I will write more later but for now have a look at the wee video of Katie skiing and some of our photos!

Next week Clare, Katie and I are off to Queenstown for another sightseeing road trip - hopefully I will get a rest when I get back to school ;o)

Steph

Sparkly Sparkler!

Hi all,

We thought you would like to see some pics of the engagement ring! Again, a bit of a whirlwind as we didn't plan to get it so soon, but just before my birthday we decided to have a 'browse' for rings at a Jeweller in Wellington called the Village Goldsmith and only went and bought one! We looked at lots and then sat down with the designer (who was the owner) and he takes your ideas to draw and then make it from scratch. We thought this would be quite a long process and were quite thankful as hadn't worked out how to pay for it but to our surprise it was ready within a few weeks. The best bit (or most worrying) is we don't actually own it! They do an option here that if you are leaving the country even for a weekend you can purchase tax free which as you can imagine was quite appealing as the tax back just about covers the cost of a holiday! So basically, we hand the ring back 2 days before going on a flight, they clean it and send it to the airport where you pick it back up before going through departures. All sounds quite straight forward and by that time we will have saved enough to pay for it!

Anyway, we wanted you to see the ring and hope you like it! I think its really beautiful, exactly as I had imagined when describing my ideas to the Jeweller.

I love it!
Bye xox

Flippin' heck

Flippin' heck!

It's July! And i am back on holiday - well off school at least so should give me a chance to get myself more sorted and should give Katie and I a chance to get some more photos from some fun times.

We bid a fond farewell to Vicki, Adrienne and Kirsty this week - Vicki and Adrienne put us up in Melbourne and we returned the favour here in Welly. We cannot believe that it was back in November that we stayed with them in Oz - where does the time go?

Staying with people you know makes life so much easier - you can get a proper wash and get your clothes cleaned and dried. Not sure our house was much warmer than their camper van but at least they had cooking facilities. (And Adrienne is a fantastic chef) We hadn't met Kirsty before but we now love her as she pretty much completed the Wasgij for us. For those who don;t know a wasgij is a jigsaw where you don't have the final picture on the front of the box you just have a clue. Wasgij is jigsaw backwards but it's not really a backwards jigsaw if you know what I mean and it's pronounced Wasjig but spelt Wasgij. Crazy. Here was the result though for posterity:



They stayed with us here in Welly on route to the rest of the North island. Was great to see some familiar faces and it was also great to have an excuse for midweek drinking and going out to the pub! Good luck to the girls for the rest of their trip - we're so jealous now that we are stuck in one place again but the good thing is we know we will be moving around again really soon.

Katie and I are planning on going skiiing with Iain, Lorna, Barry O, his girlfriend Kaz (who is also working in NZ just now) and Clare Young from home. We are also planning a trip down to Queenstown and Milford Sound etc in the South island so all in all a busy old time as usual.

Questions on my mind this week:

1) Is anyone reading this blog anymore?
2) How much can I cram into 3 weeks off when I don't have a car?

Hope everyone back home is doing well, I will definitely be scheduling some get in touch time this week now that I am off during the day. So expect a phone call some night this week - I will be trying to get round as many people as possible!!!!!

Thanks to my Dad who sent me through a new Rangers top as requested - thanks Dad.

All the best everyone,

Steph

Our birthdays in New Plymouth

A few photos from out recent birthday trip - more to follow on flickr.

All Blacks

Hi,

Just a quick one - I managed to get some All Black's to our school this week. Luke McAlister, Conrad Smith and Isaia Toeava.

When I introduced them to the year 8's I was so intent on getting Isaia's name correct I screwed up and called Luke McAlister, Luke Wilkinson. I would be embarrassed if I knew who the hell these guys actually are. Sometimes it's good not knowing!!! ;o)

By the way, in case you didn't know - New Zealand were beaten by France here at the weekend and that was a shock result. Luke and Isaia were two players who made a couple of big mistakes - so perhaps they can forgive mine!

I think seeing myself next to these guys I might have to get myself down to a gym sometime really really soon.

All the best,

SB.

Famous ex pupils

Just a quick one - I was delving about the internet today looking for interesting things and found out that an ex pupil of St. Mark's is doing rather well for himself. Lord of the Rings and the new Star Trek movie to name but two.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Urban

Sickness

Hi folks - I am off work today having finally crumbled under the weight of the avalanche of germs primary school pupils carry with them. They aren't the most hygienic of creatures and it seems like all of them have some sort of illness at the moment - forget swine flu - Wellington Cough seems to be the fashionable illness at the moment and I have it.

To tell you the truth I have actually been trying to get rid of this cough for a good number of weeks but have finally decided that enough was enough so I went to the docs ($60 for 10 minutes) and got some antibiotics ($20). and I am staying at home today in an effort to recover in time to drink beer this weekend. ;o)

Things are still going well here (apart from the illness) and we are gearing up for our next big holiday - not sure exactly what the plan is yet but Clare is going to arrive in a few weeks from Sunny Scotland and we will be trying to cram lots in during her stay. Exciting stuff.

The photos above are from our trip to New Plymouth - katie's camera is having a wee illness of it's own at the moment so these photos were taken with my mobile phone. Photo 1 is of the bread capital of New Zealand (what's the bread capital of scotland? Anyone know?) and the second one is of Mount Taranaki - which was really stunning. (Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings.)

Right - I am off to get lunch and get back to bed - will write more later - hope everyone at home is doing well! Stay healthy people and remember.....you're better off healthy and in bed than struggling out to work and becoming a swine flu statistic just because you didn't want to let anyone down at work. Eat well, exercise, get some sleep - stay away from primary school pupils (for legal and many other reasons too) and you should be able to avoid any pandemic coming your way. (and the police)