Down at the Creek today.

It was feeding time down at the creek. The big fat old eel was coming up out of the water to take food out of my son's hand. You would almost think it was smiling.

Roses

Summer is on the way, the roses are in full bloom. After being here in NZ for 4 years, warm weather and Christmas are starting to grow on me. Although I don't think you could ever beat a winter Christmas, there is something very nice about eating Christmas dinner in the heat in the garden. When I think of Christmas here, for some reason I think of red roses. I don't know why, but one year I will manage to get my red roses in the garden flowering for Christmas.

The rose above lives in the beautiful garden of my friend Yvonne. Keriann and I had lunch there last week. I lovely relaxing break.

Daisy Update

For six months after I broke my ankle I had to take warfarin to prevent me from getting another blood clot. The side effects were tough going, I was cold all the time and tired all the time and my hair fell out.
Now the six months is up I am glad to have my energy back and my hair. The being cold side of it would have been good now that summer is here. But there is one strange side effect of taking warfarin. Not one that I had heard of before, my sense of taste was intensified. Everything tasted so absolutely, incredibly, wonderful. I thought, at first, that it was Peter's cooking. Until I stopped taking the warfarin and my taste buds returned to normal. It was a bit of a shock. No wonder I put on so much weight.
Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with the daisy. Well the answer is nothing. I just thought it was a great picture.

Bet you thought you would never see this!

Do you know what is happening here?

Where you right then? Yes, my eldest son is really taking a guinea pig for a walk. Peter bought me a guinea pig lead from my birthday. I really have no idea why he thought that a guinea pig lead would be something I would need. But I suppose it is the thought that counts. My eldest son thought he would give it a try. The guinea pig was a bit bemused and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Moving on from Daisy Hill to Elephant Hill

A few weeks ago Peter and I went out for lunch, with our friends Keriann and Ian, to Elephant Hill winery.

The setting is amazing.

And so was the lunch. Most of the food disapeared so quickly there was hardly any time to take any pictures to show you.

I managed to hold them back from the desserts almost. Lemon merangue pudding above and a chocolate something below.

Holiday Daisies

There is always a daisy or two to be found while on holiday. Even if they are on a rather blurry bottle of wine. I could not belive it when I found it in the supermarket. We just had to get a bottle. Can you tell what this is?

It is a door handle from a Christchurch tram.

These daisies were so beautiful at the side of the road, that I managed to reach home with one bag of shopping missing. I think I put it down to take the picture and then walked away without it. Hope somebody made good use of my two loafs of bread and a bottle of milk.

Kaikoura - On the way home

Stunning scenary at Kaikoura. The snow capped mountains were quite breathtaking. No whales though. I thought they would be there to see me, but no. Maybe next time.


The last of our holiday pictures. You really don't want to know about the ferry trip home!

Akaroa

You can't visit Christchurch with out visiting Akaroa.

Quite a long but very beautiful drive.

Akaroa is very pretty. But I think I expected more and was a bit disapointed. In all the guide books they keep going on about the French roots of Akaroa. Aside from the street names it did not come over to me as French, to me personally. It might have been the fact that I was cold and tired. Maybe on a warm day I might have been more inspired.

Christchurch

The cathedral.

Looking up the cathedral tower.

The view down from the Cathedral tower.

Pictures by Peter.

Stage Two - A night in Picton

We were all exausted with travelling by the time we got off the ferry. I was so glad we had this beautiful and luxurious apartment to stay in. A perfect place to relax and chill out.

Peter had his teabags and milk unpacked in minutes.

The view out over Picton. A real Kiwi sight.

And across the marina looking up the valley, looks great doesn't it.

Until you change the camera angle a bit. It was not too bad the apartment is double glazed and we did not get much noise from the workmen.

Some more views out over the Marlbourgh Sound from Picton.

So beautiful.

And so, so calm.

Starting our South Island Journey

We are just back from a trip to the South Island. After being here for four years I thought it was time we saw some more of New Zealand. So of we went on a very cold, wet and grey day. Our first ferry trip across the Cook Straight.

The scenary was brooding and grey and magnificent.

Peter stayed out on deck, being wind swept. Trying to stave off the sea sickness.

The sea was choppy but not too bad.

After what seemed like a long time the South Island and the Marlbourgh Sounds appeared out of the greyness.

And the sun started to breakthrough the clouds.

First sight of Picton our destination.

Peter soaking up the sun.

The first part of the journey almost over. We had booked into an apartment in Picton for the night, for a good rest, we all needed it. More of the south island tomorrow.

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung here. Lots of blossom and a lot of wet weather. I loved the way the petals have stuck to the sculpture.