Christchurch round-up

So, we're back. From holidays. Is there anything more depressing, for reals? But it's straight back into the swing of things, work today and busy-ness all round as usual.



To finish off our holiday, we drove to Christchurch via the Arthur's Pass. That meant taking the really windy road down to Greymouth, something i hate doing cause it makes me feel so sick when I'm sitting in the backseat. But it was such beautiful weather, at least, and the views and landscapes are amazing.

Once you get into the pass, it's basically a whole lot of nuthin' much for ages - beautiful nuthin',

but nuthin' nonetheless. So when the car started smoking, you can't blame me for having a total panic attack. Matthew and Jo, on the other hand, were non-plussed. "Nah, she'll be fine." "She'll cruise into Christchurch." "I'm pretty sure it's nothing." "Yup. Pretty sure."

You fill me with confidence boys.

The locals - a Kea!

Through the pass

We made it in the end, just in time to go see a movie - Shutter Island - which i quite enjoyed. Jo didn't like it much, he thought it was too predictable, and i guess it was, but i felt it was all about the atmosphere - you felt tense the whole way through, there's an eeriness about the whole place - the Island is a character in itself, and i kinda liked that about the movie.

The next day we headed out to Sumner, which is an area on the coastline of Christchurch - it was lovely out there, a good stretch of beach and all sorts of rocky caves and crags to explore.

We headed back to watch Kayla at her concert for school - she sang Lady GaGa's Paparazzi so well that we shall henceforth refer to her as Kayla GaGa, mainly cause it really annoys her, and that's pretty darn funny. (Sorry Kayla GaGa.) (What? That's not your name?) (OK. My bad. Sorry Kayla GaGa). Jo and I had dinner out on the town that night, Mexican, complete with Margarita's and Quesadilla's thank you very much.




On our last day, we relaxed! There are so many beautiful parks and gardens in Christchurch, so it was nice to just enjoy them.

Dragon lanturn for Chinese New Year

Punting on the Avon River

Jo, counting down the days until the Rugby World Cup (i know y'all are too...)

We took a drive up to the Port Hills to check out the views

That night we went to see the Crusaders play the Blues, which was totally awesome because through sheer willpower (i.e. by pushing small children out of my way), i got my picture with Richie McCaw. All Blacks captain, best player in the world at the moment AND totally gorgeous (not that i care about that sort of thing).

Scrum time

Matthew and Jo on the field

Me and Richie. I'm pretty sure our head touched, cause i felt his post-game sweat on me, and it was good. Also, we spoke at length, of course. I said: "Can i have a picture with you Richie?" He said: "Of course you can." The sparks flew. I'm expecting his people to call me for my number any time now.

Then it was off to bed, because we had to get up at 4am to catch our flight back home. That's right. 4am. It was not a happy day.

I'm watching the Oscars, and Ben Stiller has been the highlight. I haven't seen so many of the nominated movies, but a bunch of them are on my list - The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, Up, Crazy Heart and Precious. Gotta get around to it. Sometime.