Leavin' on a jetplane

I've flown the coop. Well, temporarily. Jo and I flew back to New Zealand last night, to visit the family for two weeks, and it's my first time here in the summer - a VERY pleasant change from those icy winters. Not that they don't have their charm - i love a good fire as much as the next person. But it's nice to appreciate this place in all seasons. I say it every time i come back here - living in the city, you forget how many STARS there are out in the universe. Here, you can see them in all their splendid glory, thousands of them brightly sparkling in the sky, and its lovely.




Above mentioned family live in Westport, as you may know if you know me, which is a small town on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island - definitely some amazing landscapes in this part of the country. However, it's a 4 hour drive from Christchurch, where the plane lands, to Westport, where we need to be. Usually when we get a nighttime flight, we'd just stay in Christchurch and drive over the next day. But this time, Jo's brother Matthew convinced us that it would be a dandy idea to drive across straight away.




Never. Again. Is all i will say. Our plane was delayed just enough so that we didn't actually leave Christchurch till past midnight, and that, along with a disastrous search for an open McDonald's, meant it was close to five in the morning when I finally collapsed into bed. Still, we're here. It was a warm and sunny day today (even though i didn't get up till past 1 in the afternoon), so we went into town and took the Jacob and Lauren (Jo's niece and nephew) to the park. Back home, and Rochelle had prepared a huge spread for us to eat, all in the name of celebrating our engagement (I know. We've been celebrating this alot. What of it?). She is not one to do things half-heartedly either, so there were balloons and streamers and fairy lights decorating the house, and candles and flowers and a banner that said "Congratulations Jo and Nelll!" and music and chocolate dipped strawberries and muscato - now that's the kind of sister-in-law I'm talking about baby!




On another note - unforeseen circumstances in our little family meant that Valentines Day did not turn out as we expected. But to make up for it, Jo booked us in to one of our most favourite restaurants on Monday night, South. It's all Southern American cooking, New Orleans style - so plenty of Cajun and creole influences. One of the (many) thing we loved about New Orleans when we visited was the food, so we love eating here - gumbo, crab cakes, BBQ ribs, hushpuppies, blackened corn, coleslaw...topped off with pumpkin pie, thank you very much. Afterwards, we went to see the movie Valentine's Day at the Orpheum, which was very lighthearted of course. It wasn't Love, Actually, but it was still enjoyable enough. But the Orpheum - if you live in Sydney and haven't been to the movies here, you really should. It's a great old cinema, first opened in the 1930's, that still has it's gold, art-deco interior, wine bar and those heavy red curtains that open right before the movie starts... highly recommended.




Most NZ adventures coming soon, with pictures. Kia Ora!