Happy Birthday Your Majesty

It's hard to believe that over a month has gone by since my last musings and while time has sped by I am not quite sure where it has gone. Work has been work; enjoyable, fairly relaxed but also far busier this last few weeks than before due to staff changes and holidays. Tomorrow sees a new vet arrive which should hopefully lighten the load again. We have also discovered that the Canterbury Plains are not a year round rain free area as we had been led to believe by the blue skies that had been a near permanent fixture since our arrival. Winter is here and the rain hammered down for a week non-stop causing causing trickles to become raging torrents of water rushing to the sea. On the plus side this means that the hills now have snow and it truly was a spectacular sight to see the distant range coated a glistening white on the first day of blue sky after the downpour. Mount Hutt opens in a week now and we can hardly wait to hit the slopes.

As for adventures, the weather has slowed down our outdoor explorations but not before we chalked off the Warfdale track one weekend accompanied by Kat, a fellow foreign vet from the States. the beech forest sheltered us from the drizzle on the Saturday and after a cozy night in the midway hut we were treated to sun as the valley opened out and views emerged. This was all rounded off with a hair-raising drive along the exit road, perilous drop mere inches away. Kirsten was visiting from the North Island one weekend and so it was into town we ventured sampling some of the nightlife on offer in Christchurch before strolling around the Botanic Gardens and eating Eggs Benedict on Sunday. The following weekend plans of whale watching for my birthday had to be put on hold (yes, more rain I'm afraid) and instead we took the opportunity to educate ourselves and go to the theatre to see "The Seagull". Much to our surprise we both really enjoyed it!

And so to this weekend. It just so happens that the Kiwis celebrate the Queens Birthday, or at least use the excuse, and this weekend is a 3 day event. Setting off at 5pm on Friday we started the drive to Mount Cook National Park (also known by the Maori name Aoraki), making it as far as Lake Pukaki where we pulled over for the night. With no major settlements for miles, the stars that night were simply unbelievably bright and their numbers astounding. these clear skies also brought plummeting temperatures and in the morning as well as a thick mist and frost, we woke to a frozen sliding door on the van necessitating a scramble over the front seats to escape for some much needed bladder relief. The skies soon cleared and the mountain vista on the road into the park was alone worth the drive, rich autumn colours giving way to sugar coated peaks. With the forecast promising yet more rain the next day we wanted to make the most of Saturday and so wondered up the Hooker Valley to the lake and Glacier at its head before then driving to the Tasman Lake and marveling at the Glacier and icebergs. A night in a campsite meant that we could sit in the warm before retiring to the van, hot-water bottles essential, and sure enough the following morning dawned damp and grey. This gave us the excuse to head to the Hilliary Centre to learn some more about the national park as well as the man himself. By lunch the snow was falling thick and fast and so after lunch and no let up in sight we beat a retreat and drove home. Not wanting to do absolutely nothing, today we went to see the New Zealand film "Boy" at the cinema and can do no more than highly recommend it.

Having written this and about to publish for all to see I forgot to include our excellent weekend spent in Dunedin at the start of May. Parking up at the Moeraki Boulders Friday night (and failing to find Tims phone!) we then met up with our friends Emily and Andrew who took us on a fabulous tour of the peninsular. The highlight was Sandfly Bay which as well as providing stunning scenery was home to a number of Sea lions who had a bit of a domestic in front of our very eyes. I would have hardly been surprised had David Attenborough suddenly crept up and started whispering in my ear! This spectacle also means that all of the seals and Albatross are hardly going to get a mention!