Day 109 - New Year's Eve

At long last, a lovely bright sunny day to end the year.  The birds come out in celebration

and we finish with a lovely clear evening, a flax plant in flower framing the grey roof of the soon-to-be-completed homestead (estimated moving-in date April), echoing the beautiful hills behind.  These are the views we'll remember ....

So, new year's eve dinner

followed by some sparklers on the verandah (a special treat!).  

Auld Lang Syne with the midnight fizz of course (though regrettably Pete declined to don his kilt or fish his bagpipes out of storage) and a starry starry night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL (albeit toasted with pineapple juice!)

Day 108 - rain, rain, go away

The day started quite bright but, after a little early gardening en famille

the skies darkened on the hills and we could see that the rain was headed our way again for a while. So much for the promised 30°!! Could be worse though: both 1st and 2nd January are bank hols here (the latter presumably following the habits of the Scots settlers so I've no idea why it's snappily called "Day After New Year's Day" instead of Hogmanay) and this week is classically a family-getaway-in-the-sun week, so the papers are reporting sad stories of washed-away campers...

The local inhabitants whom the rain does not deter are the birds, including wax-eyes and cheeky chaffinches below (and fantails and bellbirds), some of which were drawn by Morag's sugar water.

Day 107 - lazy final HS Sunday

What else is Sunday for but relaxing (preferably in the Summer sun but you can't have everything!)

Pete (despite also suffering from the household cold) excelled himself by whipping up a fresh batch of bacon and corn savoury muffins before breakfast, providing (1) another example of culinary Kiwiana

and (2) a hearty start to the day; Morag and Duncan have meanwhile been conspiring to bolster my Vit C by force-feeding me pureed whole lemons steeped in boiling water (I protested of course for form's sake but am now secretly feeling the benefit a little)

STOP PRESS -  you'll remember the "airport" on Chatterton Road; well... see below.  I just hope he paid his $30 landing fee!

Days 104 to 106 - post Christmas (sadly mostly in the rain)

Regrettably the girls caught a nasty cold before Christmas and, by Boxing Day, most of us had gone down with it too (sniffle, sneeze, cough).  Added to which, the sun hasn't put in too much of an appearance since Christmas Day (apparently H.S. had the national temperature low!*) so we haven't felt inclined to head out and about too much, though hopefully we'll manage to revisit the magnificent Arthur's Pass before we leave.

Meanwhile then, we've been having a peaceful domestic time, punctuated by drinks party at the neighbours' (in their self-built log "cabin" - and much excitement when Duncan spotted a hedgehog on the verge as we walked up the lane), hosting Morag's family for her niece's birthday party, and many and varied games and Beatrix Potter stories... (hence the heightened Mrs Tiggywinkle excitement)

* though 30° promised for Monday

Day 103 - Christmas Day in Hanmer Springs

The day (a very hot morning - 30 degrees in the shade though it calmed down later on) started surprisingly late; we'd feared, when we surfaced at 8.45, that we might be holding up present opening but the girls were only just getting to their stockings!

But it soon started in earnest of course

A quite excellent turkey and Christmas pudding mid-afternoon feast

You're lucky we're not so full as to be snoozing on the sofa.  But a couple of crackers (literally) to leave you with...

What do you call an insect with a quiet hum?
A mumble bee

Which food gives you the giggles?
Tickled onions

Day 102 - Christmas Eve

A flurry of impromptu trampoline hairdressing (a girl has to be ready for the big day) ...

.. last-minute wrapping ...

... and preparation for the appearance of Father C (including putting out a tot of whisky of course at the bottom of the chimney and, somewhat less traditionally to our eyes, a plate of grass for the sheep pulling the sleigh)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Day 101 - a second trip to Christchurch

Today saw a return trip to Chch

with the main purpose of some last minute Christmas food shopping (though I've something very shocking to tell you about Southern hemisphere Christmas lunch.  Steel yourself, dear reader.  For all of the crackers, bread sauce, plum pudding, blah, blah, blah, ... sprouts aren't in season!  On the bright side, there's roasted kumara [sweet potato] instead, of which we've grown increasingly fond).

Anyway, back to the Chch whistle-stop. As you see, it was a beautiful morning

(yday having been a bit grotty - yes, we're getting used to the on/off sunshine habits of the early Summer weather!) so we had a lovely drive in and it was still nice when we got to Chch.  

 

I hadn't really appreciated from our visit a couple of weeks ago quite how widespread or long-lasting is the devastation wrought by the earthquake, nor how much rebuilding is still going on. In some places, it resembles a warzone

The recently-opened "transitional cardboard" cathedral is pleasant, cool and airy; and, being completely different from the late-lamented mid-19th century stone building, you have to hope that it isn't expected to compete.

(though we didn't really too much of a chance to look about; they ushered us out in preparation for the Nativity With Animals service...)

The Re-Start shopping centre, constructed of huge steel containers, is sleek and well-maintained; I shan't be surprised if, like the cathedral, it evolves into a permanent feature and becomes part of the landscape.

The trip was unexpectedly extended when the car refused to start in the multistory carpark but Morag's father, Euan, came to our rescue and very kindly swapped his car for us to get back to Hanmer. Three cheers for Euan (and the tow-man).

"On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me :

Eleven pukekos prancing,

Ten Richies rucking,

Nine salmon swimming, 

Eight sausies sizzling, 

Seven sheep a-singing, 

Six seagulls squawking, 

Five keas a-cackling, 

Four possums playing, 

Three cows a-cuddling, 

Two pavs a-cooking,and 

A kiwi in a palm tree."

Days 99 and 100 - oh the hustle and bustle of Hanmer Springs...

Day 100 - no no no, it can't be. We prefer to think of it as ages still to go

A nice quiet weekend. After Sunday lunch, we went for a short drive along Chatterton Road via the "airport" (well, there's a sign from the main road and that most definite and conclusive of indicators : a wee windsock!) There's also a tiny hut which apparently contains (a) a logbook and (b) an honesty box into which you put your $30 landing fee when you drop in.  After over a month of regularly travelling along Chatterton Rd though, I have to say that we've never seen a plane arrive! Maybe the occasional sheep on the runway puts off pilots...

The weather, as you see, was distinctly better so some celebratory 100 days scenery

Getting close...
"On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me :

Ten Richies rucking*, 

Nine salmon swimming, 

Eight sausies sizzling, 

Seven sheep a-singing, 

Six seagulls squawking, 

Five keas a-cackling, 

Four possums playing, 

Three cows a-cuddling, 

Two pavs a-cooking,and 

A kiwi in a palm tree."

* Richie McCaw, All Blacks captain and national demi-god

Day 98 - Hanmer Springs Christmas parade

You wait your whole life for a sunshine-y Christmas parade and then two come along at once.  The long-awaited Hanmer Springs extravaganza kicked off at 6pm, after a 30 degree-plus day (famine or feast on the sunshine front)

The anticipation mounted...

 ...the crowds were expectant (and the crowd was pretty much all of HS!) ...

...pipers, cyclists, llamas, majorettes...

...the mighty Hanmer Springs Rugby Club (who should clearly have won float of the day)...

...and lastly the great man himself

We congregated under the monkey puzzle tree and the warm-up uni-cyclist turned out to be a man of many talents

All of which leads to the next line

"On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me :
Eight sausies sizzling,

Seven sheep a-singing,
Six seagulls squawking, 
Five keas cackling, 
Four possums playing, 
Three cows a-cuddling, 
Two pavs a-cooking, and 
A kiwi in a palm tree."

Day 97 - rainy day in Hanmer Springs

Apparently, it's going to be 25° tomorrow (just in time for the Hanmer Christmas parade) but it's only 14° today, and drizzly; not NZ December weather at all (I've asked for my money back!!). Perfect though for staying in and finishing off those Christmas decorations (I'm a dab hand at making paper-chains now) for the last touches to the tree...

A few days back, we passed through a village which was holding a "Who's got the wackiest postbox?" contest...

And the Christmas countdown continues : 

"On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me : 
Seven sheep a-singing,  [only seven?! This is NZ after alll]

Six seagulls squawking, 
Five keas cackling, 
Four possums playing, 
Three cows a-cuddling, 
Two pavs a-cooking and 
A kiwi in a palm tree."

Day 96 : Lewis Pass near to Hanmer Springs

Another peaceful day; when the weather improved in the afternoon, we revisited the tail-end of our route along the Lewis Pass from Monday evening (better visibility today and we were considerably less preoccupied this time)

The press here is covering the accident and it sounds as though the wee lad is making a good recovery : http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11174001



Meanwhile of course time ticks ever onward ...

"On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me : 
Six seagulls squawking, 

Five keas cackling, 
Four possums playing, 
Three cows a-cuddling, 
Two pavs a-cooking and 
A kiwi in a palm tree."