Hi,
Last day of April, if you haven't noticed. I took the bus in this morning as the wind was gusting very strong and the rain was lashing against the windows. But, by the time I got on the bus, I have to say I just felt wimpy. Wished I was on my bike nearly the whole way in. When will I learn?
Mike is packed and ready for his weekend. I hope he's ok after feeling ill yesterday. He'll be coming in soon with his gear.
I'll head home after work and collect wee Toby. We're having a Friday night movie at home. I can't wait. I am a bit sleepy. I read until midnight. What was I thinking? Aidan T - it's all your fault. ;-) I'm at the pointy end of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I was too engrossed to stop reading last night. Aidan lent me the book, and now I might have to pop up to get the others in the series she has.
Swimming tomorrow morning. Then dinner with Vivienne and a sleepover at Ma and Pa's place for the Saturday night. Nice and leisurely.
Table tennis was good fun last night - I got a few good shots in from time to time. Ma reckons every 8th shot is a good one. Heheheheh.
Have a marvellous weekend. I'm off for a cup of tea now.
Love,
Angela
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Good morning on Thurs, Apr 29
Hi,
I really loved my ride in this morning - no idea why. I rode like the wind down the hill and had a big grin on my face as I arrived at the bottom.
Mike is off sick today. He woke feeling yucky, and it was hard to get him to move much. I have noticed if he is ever coming down with anything, he feels it harder at the start than I do. I think his asthma kicks in and makes his body generally more achey. He should be ok though.
Mike is off tramping this weekend, so I hope he improves quickly. It's a tough 'un too - a medium tramp in the Ruahines. Fingers crossed he doesn't have to pull out. It might be a good call to rest up today.
Mike took Toby to karate last night and I rode straight there from work. I got to see most of the class and they have a grading in a few weeks. I told Mike we shouldn't put Toby forward for it. Mike was keen though and asked me why not. I told him I found it nerve-wracking. He laughed and said he would sort it out this time.
Table tennis night tonight. Good. Although it certainly seems to come around very fast. What is it with that? My weeks are flying by.
Toby and I have a weekend together this weekend because Mike is away. Swimming. And not much else on. Relaxing.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela
I really loved my ride in this morning - no idea why. I rode like the wind down the hill and had a big grin on my face as I arrived at the bottom.
Mike is off sick today. He woke feeling yucky, and it was hard to get him to move much. I have noticed if he is ever coming down with anything, he feels it harder at the start than I do. I think his asthma kicks in and makes his body generally more achey. He should be ok though.
Mike is off tramping this weekend, so I hope he improves quickly. It's a tough 'un too - a medium tramp in the Ruahines. Fingers crossed he doesn't have to pull out. It might be a good call to rest up today.
Mike took Toby to karate last night and I rode straight there from work. I got to see most of the class and they have a grading in a few weeks. I told Mike we shouldn't put Toby forward for it. Mike was keen though and asked me why not. I told him I found it nerve-wracking. He laughed and said he would sort it out this time.
Table tennis night tonight. Good. Although it certainly seems to come around very fast. What is it with that? My weeks are flying by.
Toby and I have a weekend together this weekend because Mike is away. Swimming. And not much else on. Relaxing.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Good morning on Wed, Apr 28
Hi,
It came hosing down yesterday afternoon/evening and I got soaked riding home. But it wasn't too bad - not cold or anything. I did look like a drowned rat while I picked up Toby from school. I kept my helmet on - who knows what my helmet hair looked like!!??
Cooked up dinner when we got home and Mike arrived quickly. The 14 bus dropped him at the bottom of our street, and as he made his way to walk up in the pouring rain (with no jacket), a car pulled up and the man asked if he wanted a ride up the hill. The man and the girl in front chatted to him like they knew him. Mike wondered who on earth they were. But he got home dry and safe. Very funny!
Now, I remember something funny Toby said last night, but I'm blowed if I can remember the details. If I type while my brain flows its dribble of consciousness into the blog, perhaps it'll come back to me. Then again, maybe you'll just read more drivel than usual...
I am reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the moment and it isn't too bad. I can see why it might have garnered a bit of attention. It's heavy on the detail and I like that. I wonder what the movie is like?
Aha! I just remembered Toby's escapades. Right. So, at about 1.44am this morning, Toby comes into our room and says "Is it morning yet?". Of course, we groggily say no. So Toby asks if he can sleep in our bed. So I tell him to do a wee first. So off he trots. Then I ask Mike if it's ok for Toby to sleep with us. He agrees, so when Toby returns from the bathroom I say he can sleep with us. Then Toby says "Good. I thought it was morning when I woke up and I went straight into the TV room and watched television." "Wow", I said. "Did you watch TV for a long time." "No", says Toby. "How could you tell it wasn't morning? Where the shows different?" I asked. "No", says Toby. "There was Chowder, and Flapjack and Naruto..." "What!?", say his parents. "How long did you watch television?".
Needless to say, Toby slept in this morning. But I had Toby drop off duty and it was fine. We had a good morning - although short.
Karate tonight - Mike will head off for that. I wonder if Ma and Dad will come over for it...
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
It came hosing down yesterday afternoon/evening and I got soaked riding home. But it wasn't too bad - not cold or anything. I did look like a drowned rat while I picked up Toby from school. I kept my helmet on - who knows what my helmet hair looked like!!??
Cooked up dinner when we got home and Mike arrived quickly. The 14 bus dropped him at the bottom of our street, and as he made his way to walk up in the pouring rain (with no jacket), a car pulled up and the man asked if he wanted a ride up the hill. The man and the girl in front chatted to him like they knew him. Mike wondered who on earth they were. But he got home dry and safe. Very funny!
Now, I remember something funny Toby said last night, but I'm blowed if I can remember the details. If I type while my brain flows its dribble of consciousness into the blog, perhaps it'll come back to me. Then again, maybe you'll just read more drivel than usual...
I am reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the moment and it isn't too bad. I can see why it might have garnered a bit of attention. It's heavy on the detail and I like that. I wonder what the movie is like?
Aha! I just remembered Toby's escapades. Right. So, at about 1.44am this morning, Toby comes into our room and says "Is it morning yet?". Of course, we groggily say no. So Toby asks if he can sleep in our bed. So I tell him to do a wee first. So off he trots. Then I ask Mike if it's ok for Toby to sleep with us. He agrees, so when Toby returns from the bathroom I say he can sleep with us. Then Toby says "Good. I thought it was morning when I woke up and I went straight into the TV room and watched television." "Wow", I said. "Did you watch TV for a long time." "No", says Toby. "How could you tell it wasn't morning? Where the shows different?" I asked. "No", says Toby. "There was Chowder, and Flapjack and Naruto..." "What!?", say his parents. "How long did you watch television?".
Needless to say, Toby slept in this morning. But I had Toby drop off duty and it was fine. We had a good morning - although short.
Karate tonight - Mike will head off for that. I wonder if Ma and Dad will come over for it...
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Good morning on Tues, Apr 27
Hi,
What a lovely morning for a ride in - it's so humid though. I got wet from the inside out this morning. Last night Keas went very well, despite Toby moping when he couldn't shoot a basketball hoop. Mike had tea ready when we stepped in the door. Hooray!
Dad was discharged from the hospital and needs to have a check up with his doctor in 3 days time. I hope he progresses well. Hopefully last night he got a good sleep, away from nurses waking him constantly to monitor his blood pressure. Although he is swapping that for my mother's snoring. Hmmmmm. Heheheheh.
Tuesdays are homework night as we have nothing else on, and I look forward to the relaxing evening with nothing on. I just called home to ask Toby to get Dad to pick up my cellphone that I left there. Toby relayed this message to Mike and then asked me how I was able to make a phone call to him if I didn't have my phone. So I told him I have a phone on my desk. "Then why can't you just use that one?". Good question, Toby!
Ta to Sally and Andrew for the flowers for Dad. I think he was quite chuffed to get home from the hospital to find them waiting at the door for him.
Dad also said many nurses liked Toby's Get Well card he made for Gramps.
Time for a nice cup of tea.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
What a lovely morning for a ride in - it's so humid though. I got wet from the inside out this morning. Last night Keas went very well, despite Toby moping when he couldn't shoot a basketball hoop. Mike had tea ready when we stepped in the door. Hooray!
Dad was discharged from the hospital and needs to have a check up with his doctor in 3 days time. I hope he progresses well. Hopefully last night he got a good sleep, away from nurses waking him constantly to monitor his blood pressure. Although he is swapping that for my mother's snoring. Hmmmmm. Heheheheh.
Tuesdays are homework night as we have nothing else on, and I look forward to the relaxing evening with nothing on. I just called home to ask Toby to get Dad to pick up my cellphone that I left there. Toby relayed this message to Mike and then asked me how I was able to make a phone call to him if I didn't have my phone. So I told him I have a phone on my desk. "Then why can't you just use that one?". Good question, Toby!
Ta to Sally and Andrew for the flowers for Dad. I think he was quite chuffed to get home from the hospital to find them waiting at the door for him.
Dad also said many nurses liked Toby's Get Well card he made for Gramps.
Time for a nice cup of tea.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
Monday, April 26, 2010
Good morning on Mon, Apr 26
Hi,
What a weekend! I was off early at 1730 on Friday and almost immediately cocooned in my First Aid immersion course. There was no cellphone reception or radio or television, so I was cut off from any developments in Wellington - of which there were some. But more on that later.
For me, it was straight into 2.5 hours of CPR on Friday night before bed. I had a restless sleep but felt ok the next morning. We had a full day on theory, practical and watching DVDs. Saturday night I had hours of good quality, blissful sleep. Ahhhh.
Sunday saw us acting our scenarios to cement in place the things we had learned over the weekend. The course was a well run event and the instructor was exceptionally good with years of experience to back up anything she taught us. Eventually we were good to go and packed up and left.
As I got into cellphone coverage and I prepared to ring Ma for her to collect me, I got a text from Mike saying Ma was sleeping in and he would come and get me. But I texted him back saying I had a lift home sorted. But as I got closer to town, I got a text from Karen saying something like "Do you know how Robert is doing?". Huh? What a odd text. So I replied saying it was a strange text and I had no idea what she meant.
Karen replied and said Dad had been taken to hospital in the night. Oh dear. Panic was starting to take hold, but I tried to keep calm until I saw Mike and he could explain. Turns out Dad has had the same reaction to his medication that he had a few years back. So yes - he is in hospital. But he is ok. And in fact, if they cut out this particular medication completely, hopefully he'll be even better than ever! That's my hope.
So I went around to see Ma as she had only got back home at 8am after a marathon effort at the hospital during the night seeing all sorts of nefarious Wellington nightlife filter through the hospital system. Mike was busy entertaining tramping club members keen on tramping with children so he had his hands full.
Ma was ok - a bit shaken still. So we planned to visit Dad and I went back home to see a bit more of Toby before going back to take Ma into hospital. Dad looked very good in fact. He was surrounded by 90 year old men, so I think he was feeling young and chipper! We're hoping he'll be discharged today with new medication that won't give his body so much gyp! Fingers crossed. Mum will take the bus in to see him this morning.
Mike and Toby had a full on weekend with parties, sleepovers and hosting afternoon tea for a multitude of people. I don;t know quite how they survived. Toby swam well. He enjoyed Jack's party. Mike relaxed with Sally while that was on. The Tabors visited (but we forgot to give Duncan and Emerson their present, although I do have to say, we did give them birthday presents back in January, so it wasn't a complete problem. They may be onto a winner here - birthdays in January and again in April. Perhaps I should investigate a similar method?) and then Mike and Toby relaxed at home Saturday night. Sunday Mike tidied and did the laundry (thank goodness - there was a mountain) and then put on a great afternoon tea.
Phew! Thank goodness for the bedlam of work. So much calmer.
Have a great week!
Love,
Angela
What a weekend! I was off early at 1730 on Friday and almost immediately cocooned in my First Aid immersion course. There was no cellphone reception or radio or television, so I was cut off from any developments in Wellington - of which there were some. But more on that later.
For me, it was straight into 2.5 hours of CPR on Friday night before bed. I had a restless sleep but felt ok the next morning. We had a full day on theory, practical and watching DVDs. Saturday night I had hours of good quality, blissful sleep. Ahhhh.
Sunday saw us acting our scenarios to cement in place the things we had learned over the weekend. The course was a well run event and the instructor was exceptionally good with years of experience to back up anything she taught us. Eventually we were good to go and packed up and left.
As I got into cellphone coverage and I prepared to ring Ma for her to collect me, I got a text from Mike saying Ma was sleeping in and he would come and get me. But I texted him back saying I had a lift home sorted. But as I got closer to town, I got a text from Karen saying something like "Do you know how Robert is doing?". Huh? What a odd text. So I replied saying it was a strange text and I had no idea what she meant.
Karen replied and said Dad had been taken to hospital in the night. Oh dear. Panic was starting to take hold, but I tried to keep calm until I saw Mike and he could explain. Turns out Dad has had the same reaction to his medication that he had a few years back. So yes - he is in hospital. But he is ok. And in fact, if they cut out this particular medication completely, hopefully he'll be even better than ever! That's my hope.
So I went around to see Ma as she had only got back home at 8am after a marathon effort at the hospital during the night seeing all sorts of nefarious Wellington nightlife filter through the hospital system. Mike was busy entertaining tramping club members keen on tramping with children so he had his hands full.
Ma was ok - a bit shaken still. So we planned to visit Dad and I went back home to see a bit more of Toby before going back to take Ma into hospital. Dad looked very good in fact. He was surrounded by 90 year old men, so I think he was feeling young and chipper! We're hoping he'll be discharged today with new medication that won't give his body so much gyp! Fingers crossed. Mum will take the bus in to see him this morning.
Mike and Toby had a full on weekend with parties, sleepovers and hosting afternoon tea for a multitude of people. I don;t know quite how they survived. Toby swam well. He enjoyed Jack's party. Mike relaxed with Sally while that was on. The Tabors visited (but we forgot to give Duncan and Emerson their present, although I do have to say, we did give them birthday presents back in January, so it wasn't a complete problem. They may be onto a winner here - birthdays in January and again in April. Perhaps I should investigate a similar method?) and then Mike and Toby relaxed at home Saturday night. Sunday Mike tidied and did the laundry (thank goodness - there was a mountain) and then put on a great afternoon tea.
Phew! Thank goodness for the bedlam of work. So much calmer.
Have a great week!
Love,
Angela
Friday, April 23, 2010
Good afternoon on Fri, Apr 23
Oh, hi!
Ok - I have been rather busy this week. The week has flown by. Last night was table tennis night and I swear I was just at table tennis two or three nights back. Anyhow, last night was Ma's first night back for the season and she was in good form. We were playing alternate rounds so I never got a chance to chat to her much.
This morning I was off to a Microsoft product launch event in town. Not too bad - I would love to start using Visual Studio 2010 for our development. Looks very nice. They gave me a DOS t-shirt for the sheer retro joy of it. Ok.
Then back into work and a few hours of frantic work before heading off for the weekend. I am doing an Outdoor First Aid course this weekend through the tramping club. Should be good. Mike told me it is supposed to be gory as. Not too keen on that aspect. Yuck. But I have the tramping club first aid kit to show the first aid trainers (and our hiking first aid kit too) and I hope I get some pointers about the contents. That's Mike's wish. That Mike - he's so proactive.
Mike and Toby have their own frantic weekend. Swimming starts back up. There are multiple birthday parties to attend. There is afternoon tea for the buggy pushers in the tramping club (at our house, no less!) and something else but I can't remember. I hope they have lots of fun.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela
Ok - I have been rather busy this week. The week has flown by. Last night was table tennis night and I swear I was just at table tennis two or three nights back. Anyhow, last night was Ma's first night back for the season and she was in good form. We were playing alternate rounds so I never got a chance to chat to her much.
This morning I was off to a Microsoft product launch event in town. Not too bad - I would love to start using Visual Studio 2010 for our development. Looks very nice. They gave me a DOS t-shirt for the sheer retro joy of it. Ok.
Then back into work and a few hours of frantic work before heading off for the weekend. I am doing an Outdoor First Aid course this weekend through the tramping club. Should be good. Mike told me it is supposed to be gory as. Not too keen on that aspect. Yuck. But I have the tramping club first aid kit to show the first aid trainers (and our hiking first aid kit too) and I hope I get some pointers about the contents. That's Mike's wish. That Mike - he's so proactive.
Mike and Toby have their own frantic weekend. Swimming starts back up. There are multiple birthday parties to attend. There is afternoon tea for the buggy pushers in the tramping club (at our house, no less!) and something else but I can't remember. I hope they have lots of fun.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Good morning on Wed, Apr 21
Hi,
I had Toby drop off duty this morning. Bit of a sneak really, as it meant Mike could fix the things I broke last night just before I left work. So I just got into work now, and everything is running smoothly. Shame I had to hit it with a sledgehammer to sort it out, but computers sometimes need a bit of heavy handedness. Lucky Mike has the finesse (well, and access - that helps) to coax everything back to life. I wonder if Mike feels like a Dr Frankenstein when a monster server starts working correctly after being dead for so long?
Last night Toby and I walked to the dairy for a lolly and met Mike on the way. Lovely evening for a walk. Toby just had a long sleeved t-shirt on. It was dark, but there was no wind to speak of.
Today was very fine drizzle on the ride in. So fine that the roads were mainly dry. But it is supposed to come nice later today. Toby and I had a nice morning with Weetbix, books and Pokemon.
We should see Ma and Pa today. Mike will be heading home early for karate and I am hoping we can get a magnificent dinner cooked by Mum. I have my fingers crossed. Mike will have tramping club to attend as well. And I'll be home just a little late as I need to get lots of work done.
Fun!
Radio station was winding Mike up again this morning. Making him grumpy and happy to stay in bed cursing the presenters inane gabble. So it backfired this morning.
Ok. Better get stuck in.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
I had Toby drop off duty this morning. Bit of a sneak really, as it meant Mike could fix the things I broke last night just before I left work. So I just got into work now, and everything is running smoothly. Shame I had to hit it with a sledgehammer to sort it out, but computers sometimes need a bit of heavy handedness. Lucky Mike has the finesse (well, and access - that helps) to coax everything back to life. I wonder if Mike feels like a Dr Frankenstein when a monster server starts working correctly after being dead for so long?
Last night Toby and I walked to the dairy for a lolly and met Mike on the way. Lovely evening for a walk. Toby just had a long sleeved t-shirt on. It was dark, but there was no wind to speak of.
Today was very fine drizzle on the ride in. So fine that the roads were mainly dry. But it is supposed to come nice later today. Toby and I had a nice morning with Weetbix, books and Pokemon.
We should see Ma and Pa today. Mike will be heading home early for karate and I am hoping we can get a magnificent dinner cooked by Mum. I have my fingers crossed. Mike will have tramping club to attend as well. And I'll be home just a little late as I need to get lots of work done.
Fun!
Radio station was winding Mike up again this morning. Making him grumpy and happy to stay in bed cursing the presenters inane gabble. So it backfired this morning.
Ok. Better get stuck in.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Awful radio stations
Yes, our radio station is awful. In a bone-grating, fingernails-down-the-chalkboard sort of way.
Trouble is, between our old, analog radio and the plethora of stations in Wellington, the only two stations powerful enough to drown out the ones around them are the National Programme and this station. And I'm not quite old enough yet to wake up to the National Programme - plus we tried it, and calm, quiet, soothing voices weren't exactly effective to get us out of bed.
So we need to buy a new clock radio - maybe with a digital tuner, maybe with an iPod, maybe with internet radio. My dream? To slipstream the station we used to listen to in London and wake up to it on 12-hour delay.
Anyways, Toby was good this morning, he got ready very quickly and happily and helpfully. He made his honey sandwich and slipped three chocolate biscuits into his lunchbox when he thought I wasn't looking.
The only drama was a crisis with his 'Donkey'. A work colleague has given us a set of balls and rods that you can join together a bit like those chemistry "model a molecule" sets you get in high school. And he loves it. Yesterday he made a Donkey out of it, which was a triumph of abstract art. But today - the Donkey's head fell off, and Toby couldn't get it back on in a way that achieved the sublime aesthetic of yesterday. He was very upset. Tears ensued. But I got him calmed down eventually and we planned and rebuilt the donkey better than before. Only problem now is the camera has a flat battery so we can't capture its majesty.
Trouble is, between our old, analog radio and the plethora of stations in Wellington, the only two stations powerful enough to drown out the ones around them are the National Programme and this station. And I'm not quite old enough yet to wake up to the National Programme - plus we tried it, and calm, quiet, soothing voices weren't exactly effective to get us out of bed.
So we need to buy a new clock radio - maybe with a digital tuner, maybe with an iPod, maybe with internet radio. My dream? To slipstream the station we used to listen to in London and wake up to it on 12-hour delay.
Anyways, Toby was good this morning, he got ready very quickly and happily and helpfully. He made his honey sandwich and slipped three chocolate biscuits into his lunchbox when he thought I wasn't looking.
The only drama was a crisis with his 'Donkey'. A work colleague has given us a set of balls and rods that you can join together a bit like those chemistry "model a molecule" sets you get in high school. And he loves it. Yesterday he made a Donkey out of it, which was a triumph of abstract art. But today - the Donkey's head fell off, and Toby couldn't get it back on in a way that achieved the sublime aesthetic of yesterday. He was very upset. Tears ensued. But I got him calmed down eventually and we planned and rebuilt the donkey better than before. Only problem now is the camera has a flat battery so we can't capture its majesty.
Good morning on Tues, Apr 20
Hi,
What a lovely, gorgeous morning. My ride down the hill was perfect. There were 5 tuis chatting away to each other above our garage as I got my bike out. They chortled away and then flew off to go about their business.
The boys were all in fine form. Mike was up early because he hates our radio station and it is becoming a passionate thing for him. Certainly it was this morning. But he doesn't want to switch to another station in case he loses track of the latest music and he is stuck listening to 80s dross for the rest of his life (his choice - not mine!). Toby was awake but luxuriating in his warm bed and not looking like he was going to leap out of bed. I got a nice goodbye kiss though.
Keas went well. Mike came to help me out as Wally was going to be late and I had decided to bake ANZAC cookies with them all. What was I thinking? However, with Mike to keep them busy while I got ready in the kitchen worked well. Ta Mike. And the cookies came out very well. And Mike told them lots of stuff about ANZAC.
Tonight is a evening to ourselves. Unless Ma and Pa want to pop over. :-)
Toby has a new Pokemon toy - courtesy of his Nana. It is called Buttonmon and is very cute. It has pride of place next to some puffles where Toby will be eating his Weetbix on the dining table. I think that is why it is lined up there. Toby is being punished for a misdemeanour at the end of last term at school and has no computer or electronic games for all this week. So he is reading and playing with toys like mad.
That's it. Busy at work. I'm settling in to my new location.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
What a lovely, gorgeous morning. My ride down the hill was perfect. There were 5 tuis chatting away to each other above our garage as I got my bike out. They chortled away and then flew off to go about their business.
The boys were all in fine form. Mike was up early because he hates our radio station and it is becoming a passionate thing for him. Certainly it was this morning. But he doesn't want to switch to another station in case he loses track of the latest music and he is stuck listening to 80s dross for the rest of his life (his choice - not mine!). Toby was awake but luxuriating in his warm bed and not looking like he was going to leap out of bed. I got a nice goodbye kiss though.
Keas went well. Mike came to help me out as Wally was going to be late and I had decided to bake ANZAC cookies with them all. What was I thinking? However, with Mike to keep them busy while I got ready in the kitchen worked well. Ta Mike. And the cookies came out very well. And Mike told them lots of stuff about ANZAC.
Tonight is a evening to ourselves. Unless Ma and Pa want to pop over. :-)
Toby has a new Pokemon toy - courtesy of his Nana. It is called Buttonmon and is very cute. It has pride of place next to some puffles where Toby will be eating his Weetbix on the dining table. I think that is why it is lined up there. Toby is being punished for a misdemeanour at the end of last term at school and has no computer or electronic games for all this week. So he is reading and playing with toys like mad.
That's it. Busy at work. I'm settling in to my new location.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela
Monday, April 19, 2010
Good morning on Mon, Apr 19
Hi,
It's Vince's birthday today - happy birthday Vince. And a reminder that it is nearly Michael's birthday too. How exciting in Shona's household in April, eh? I hope everyone has a great time.
We all had a great weekend. I had Friday night to myself, enjoying a dinner of toast. I read and fell asleep very early. Mike was off to Ruapehu to lead a tramp up there.
Toby flew back into Wellington (first time unaccompanied) on the 10.20am flight from Dunedin. I left it quite tight for time and got to the luggage place at 10.10am only to read that the plane had landed at 10.10. I rished off to the gate and it was empty when I got there. Slight panic. But the ground crew were keeping the unaccompanied children back to let off together at the end. So I had just lined myself up with the view down the sky bridge when Toby walked up and saw me. He ran to me and I got lots of kisses. So I set about the important task of spoiling him rotten for the rest of the weekend.
We drove home and dropped off Toby's bags and bike. Then we collected Brennan and took him off to see Train Your Own Dragon (in 3D). After some quick lunch at Maccas we watched the movie and I had an absolute ball. What a great movie. Loved it. Toby had seen it in Dunedin with Granddad, but I wanted to see it, and we had the 3D option here. Brennan came back home to play for a while before we took him home (and I had a cup of tea).
Toby and I then bought some stuff for dinner (Toby got chicken schnitzels) and we had a lovely evening eating and watched a movie.
Sunday morning I cooked pancakes for Toby (he had them on the camping trip and loved them!) then we went for lunch to the Bichans and caught up with everyone there. Toby loved playing with Anthony and it was hard to coax him back into the car.
Then we drove to Waikanae to see the Tabors for some afternoon tea that turned into a superb dinner of hamburgers on the BBQ. Yum!
Mike was home when we got home at 8.15pm and we caught up with the news from his weekend and then all fell asleep into a coma. Phew!
At work now and on a new level (14) with new views (a blank wall) and with slightly different people around. Should be here for 6 months or so on this new project. How exciting!
Have a great week!
Love,
Angela
It's Vince's birthday today - happy birthday Vince. And a reminder that it is nearly Michael's birthday too. How exciting in Shona's household in April, eh? I hope everyone has a great time.
We all had a great weekend. I had Friday night to myself, enjoying a dinner of toast. I read and fell asleep very early. Mike was off to Ruapehu to lead a tramp up there.
Toby flew back into Wellington (first time unaccompanied) on the 10.20am flight from Dunedin. I left it quite tight for time and got to the luggage place at 10.10am only to read that the plane had landed at 10.10. I rished off to the gate and it was empty when I got there. Slight panic. But the ground crew were keeping the unaccompanied children back to let off together at the end. So I had just lined myself up with the view down the sky bridge when Toby walked up and saw me. He ran to me and I got lots of kisses. So I set about the important task of spoiling him rotten for the rest of the weekend.
We drove home and dropped off Toby's bags and bike. Then we collected Brennan and took him off to see Train Your Own Dragon (in 3D). After some quick lunch at Maccas we watched the movie and I had an absolute ball. What a great movie. Loved it. Toby had seen it in Dunedin with Granddad, but I wanted to see it, and we had the 3D option here. Brennan came back home to play for a while before we took him home (and I had a cup of tea).
Toby and I then bought some stuff for dinner (Toby got chicken schnitzels) and we had a lovely evening eating and watched a movie.
Sunday morning I cooked pancakes for Toby (he had them on the camping trip and loved them!) then we went for lunch to the Bichans and caught up with everyone there. Toby loved playing with Anthony and it was hard to coax him back into the car.
Then we drove to Waikanae to see the Tabors for some afternoon tea that turned into a superb dinner of hamburgers on the BBQ. Yum!
Mike was home when we got home at 8.15pm and we caught up with the news from his weekend and then all fell asleep into a coma. Phew!
At work now and on a new level (14) with new views (a blank wall) and with slightly different people around. Should be here for 6 months or so on this new project. How exciting!
Have a great week!
Love,
Angela
Friday, April 16, 2010
Good morning on Fri, Apr 16
Hi,
I was mystified this morning to hear some strange noise outside. Turns out it was raining... hard! So the weekend is starting in fine form - with rain and a drop in temperature.
Last night I went to Pompeii with Roz and really enjoyed it. There is lots of reading - but also a lot of archaeological finds and a great 3D movie. I spoke to Toby when I got home, and he really wants to see it. So long as he doesn't see anything about volcanoes. Hmmm. Might be a bit difficult to achieve.
Toby sounds like he is having loads of fun down in Dunedin. Nana has made a Pokemon soft toy for him, called Buttonmon. He's a lucky wee boy! And I get to see him tomorrow. I can't wait!
I had table tennis for the first time last night and had a ball. I am rusty but it was still lots of fun. My new bat is disappointing though. No - not because I can't land the ball on the table consistently (although that is a problem!). Because I unwrapped it last night and found the rubber is puckered on the black side. If they don;t swap it for me, at least I have an excuse for some wild shots this season.
Mike is off tramping this weekend to Ruapehu. He's all packed and ready to wander down to the train station at 5pm today. I hope the weather is ok for him. He's not tramping on the mountain, so it should be ok.
And I have a Friday night to myself. Hmmm. I wonder if the Lewises would consider a Friday night takeaway special if they have nothing on, for a lonely Gilbert. Heheheheh.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Angela
I was mystified this morning to hear some strange noise outside. Turns out it was raining... hard! So the weekend is starting in fine form - with rain and a drop in temperature.
Last night I went to Pompeii with Roz and really enjoyed it. There is lots of reading - but also a lot of archaeological finds and a great 3D movie. I spoke to Toby when I got home, and he really wants to see it. So long as he doesn't see anything about volcanoes. Hmmm. Might be a bit difficult to achieve.
Toby sounds like he is having loads of fun down in Dunedin. Nana has made a Pokemon soft toy for him, called Buttonmon. He's a lucky wee boy! And I get to see him tomorrow. I can't wait!
I had table tennis for the first time last night and had a ball. I am rusty but it was still lots of fun. My new bat is disappointing though. No - not because I can't land the ball on the table consistently (although that is a problem!). Because I unwrapped it last night and found the rubber is puckered on the black side. If they don;t swap it for me, at least I have an excuse for some wild shots this season.
Mike is off tramping this weekend to Ruapehu. He's all packed and ready to wander down to the train station at 5pm today. I hope the weather is ok for him. He's not tramping on the mountain, so it should be ok.
And I have a Friday night to myself. Hmmm. I wonder if the Lewises would consider a Friday night takeaway special if they have nothing on, for a lonely Gilbert. Heheheheh.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Angela
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Good morning on Thurs, Apr 15
Hi,
Being on a course makes my blogging patchy. Heheheheh. We're off to see the Pompeii exhibition tonight after work at Te Papa. Mike is then off to a play with Kara and I'm off to the first night of table tennis for the season. Cool!
Busy at work and I'll be shifting floors on Monday to work on a project for 6 months or more. Cool. Change is like a holiday!
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
Being on a course makes my blogging patchy. Heheheheh. We're off to see the Pompeii exhibition tonight after work at Te Papa. Mike is then off to a play with Kara and I'm off to the first night of table tennis for the season. Cool!
Busy at work and I'll be shifting floors on Monday to work on a project for 6 months or more. Cool. Change is like a holiday!
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Good morning on Tues, Apr 13
Hi,
Well, we walked in again this morning and took a Gilbert shortcut that added 5 minutes to our walk. Heheheh. Doesn't seem likely, but the watch doesn't lie!
Toby is faring well in Dunedin. It was a marae visit yesterday and given he went to a marae visit the last week of school, he should have been very prepared. Mike talked to him and by his account it was good. The food was especially good.
I went out to dinner and a movie with two work colleagues. The movie is a NZ one called "Boy" and set in 1984. It was very good. Maori one set on the East Coast somewhere.
That's about it. Lots of things to get done tonight (clean up from the week's holidays and more washing!) and Mike has tramping committments to prepare.
Have a great day.
Love,
Angela
Well, we walked in again this morning and took a Gilbert shortcut that added 5 minutes to our walk. Heheheh. Doesn't seem likely, but the watch doesn't lie!
Toby is faring well in Dunedin. It was a marae visit yesterday and given he went to a marae visit the last week of school, he should have been very prepared. Mike talked to him and by his account it was good. The food was especially good.
I went out to dinner and a movie with two work colleagues. The movie is a NZ one called "Boy" and set in 1984. It was very good. Maori one set on the East Coast somewhere.
That's about it. Lots of things to get done tonight (clean up from the week's holidays and more washing!) and Mike has tramping committments to prepare.
Have a great day.
Love,
Angela
Monday, April 12, 2010
Good morning on Mon, Apr 12
Hi,
We know we're back in Wellington because the sky wasn't clear blue this morning. Heheheh. Mike got home early yesterday night so we got a good sleep and decided to walk into work. Took 50 minutes. Phew! I vote for getting my bike gear sorted out tonight!
Wee Toby seems to be fine. We spoke to him last night. Apparently because I told him we'd ring morning and night he stayed up to 10pm on Saturday night waiting for our phone call. It never came. But now we're home we'd better keep to it.
Ok. Time to start the week. I have a pile of work to get through.
Love,
Angela
We know we're back in Wellington because the sky wasn't clear blue this morning. Heheheh. Mike got home early yesterday night so we got a good sleep and decided to walk into work. Took 50 minutes. Phew! I vote for getting my bike gear sorted out tonight!
Wee Toby seems to be fine. We spoke to him last night. Apparently because I told him we'd ring morning and night he stayed up to 10pm on Saturday night waiting for our phone call. It never came. But now we're home we'd better keep to it.
Ok. Time to start the week. I have a pile of work to get through.
Love,
Angela
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Long Easter trip to Central Otago Rail Trail
We've just got back from a fantastic trip down south, to Central Otago - Alexandra, Naseby and the Otago Rail Trail. There were nine of us on the trip - us three, plus Lesley, Wally and their four children. We knew it was going to be fun - but it was really, really fun.
First, how to get four adults, five children, eight bikes, a tag-along bike and two cars there and back? After much pondering we'd figured out a cunning plan and booked this months ago. Wally and Mike loaded the two cars - our Corolla and their Kia people-mover - up to the ceilings with bikes and luggage, and in the wee hours of Thursday morning took them over on the ferry and down the 4-5 hour drive to Christchurch. The rest of us flew down to Christchurch on Thursday evening, to meet the boys and the cars...
I left work on Thursday and found Toby very happy and excited after the end of term. It turns out that Aunty Sally and Uncle Andrew were off for an adventure too, and were flying to Nelson around the same time as us, so we caught a taxi together to the airport (we picked them up from the Beehive on the way). But first, some last minute fixing-up. Toby's bike had been left behind, and our new bike rack had turned up from Torpedo7.com a day later than we'd expected (be bought it at the very last minute!). So Toby and I wrapped the bike and ordered the taxi. Worked out perfectly.
Toby and I selected a Wishbone butter chicken meal at the airport and ate that with Sally and Andrew while waiting for the Sampsons to arrive. It was a great idea for a quick meal before the flight. Then Lesley arrived with the kids and they all checked in. We waited to see if Hannah could make the flight, and she did! She was off on camp and coming back into Wellington that same evening - it was going to be very, very tight for her to get to the airport in time. But Lesley's Mum picked her up and dropped her off at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.
The flight down went very well - it is only 45 minutes. Mike met us at Christchurch and we drove quickly to Rakaia Gorge to the campsite for the night. Wally and Mike had set up camp for the evening. But, Mike had only pitched the tent inner for the Gilbert Tent! He swore that it couldn't possibly rain in the night and it would be much better like that. I was very dubious. But it worked well enough and we had a good sleep.
Next morning we were off bright and early - well, sort of. Getting nine people out of bed, fed, and packed into cars along with tents and luggage is never quick. The Sampsons' Orienteering competition kicked off in Roxburgh around 3pm, so time was tight, and we were cutting it quite fine by the time we got to Cromwell (we went via Tekapo and had lovely views of Mt Cook). You can imagine our dismay when we were almost to Clyde through the gorge when the Sampson's lovely new car broke down! Aaarrgghh. A quick re-assignment of cars meant Wally drove our car to the event, with me, Hannah, Jessica and Brennan. The others - Mike, Lesley, Toby and Chelsea - all stayed with the big car to wait for the tow truck.
The Corolla made it to the Roxburgh orienteering venue in plenty of time for everyone to compete. This was held in Roxburgh East over the Clutha in the Fulton Hogan quarry. I enjoyed watching everyone head off on their sprints. In spite of being in a quarry, the area was really lovely! By the time we all finished and headed back to Alexandra, Mike and the others had everything sorted in the Alexandra Holiday Park - on the highway out of Alexandra towards the rail trail. The Towie had brought the Sampsons' car right to the Holiday Park, so they had been able to unload it before it went off to the garage. The Sampsons had a cabin and we pitched our tent right outside. Perfect. The place was rammed full of people (but not at capacity yet I suspect) and it was very pleasant - but decidedly odd. The bathroom facilities reminded me of concentration camps! - all concrete block and purely functional. But clean, anyway!
Saturday was another competition day at Bannockburn, and the Gilberts stayed back to put on a clothes wash and buy some provisions for the week. The Kia dealer gave the Sampsons a replacement car for Easter, and they ended up with a Nissan double cab 4WD ute, to Wally's delight! So they were off to their day of competition after getting a lift for Hannah with other competitors (the ute was one seat short of accommodating all the Sampsons). After the washing, we Gilberts went into town to look at the dead rabbits from the Central Otago Easter Bunny shoot! There were hundreds, and boy, were they stinky all lying out there in the park in huge rows. We also saw stoats, possums, turkeys, magpies and one wild pig with the shell casing in its eye and a bleeding ear. Toby was impressed! Mike was more amazed at the vehicles they use to shoot from! All sorts of old vehicles with large chunks of metalwork cut off and extra bits welded on to attach seating on the roof and bars to lean guns on.
This was the only day we got a bit of rain - just in the late evening, and it was all over by the time Mike came to bed in the wee hours, after a marathon card game of 'Five Hundred' with Lesley, Wally and Hannah.
Easter Sunday dawned and we ate a lovely breakfast with an impromptu story about Jesus. We decided everyone would add a sentence to the story starting with the youngest (Toby), then the oldest (Wally - so nice it wasn't me for a change!), then second youngest, then second oldest and so on until the story was done. It seemed to work ok. Then it was all about the chocolate! Another day of competition nearby (Earnscleugh), and the Gilberts took the day to visit Mike's Dad at Dunback for the day. It took us 1.5 hours to drive down SH85 from Alex to Dunback and it was a lovely drive. We ate lunch there (after the obligatory walk to the swing bridge and shop) and headed back in time for tea. Tonight we heard the loudspeaker at the campground being used to sing someone Happy Birthday. And later on, an announcement for people to refrain from removing light bulbs from the toilet block. It was a strange place.
Monday was the last day of competition. It was based around Naseby, which was also going to be our base for the Rail Trail, so we all packed up our stuff and relocated to the Larchview Holiday Park. Us Gilberts checked in first and we pitched our tent. There were people still packing up when we were there, and they were certainly struggling to get all their stuff back in their cars with their kids caterwauling in the background! So we held back on pitching the Sampson's tents, and just left them to it.
We had two sites in a corner of the motor camp on our own. This campground was really pleasant in a way the one in Alex hadn't been. The setting was lovely, if a little cold and shaded at this time of year in the mornings and evenings - when the sun went down we all froze! The showers take a one dollar coin to turn on the water for 7 minutes of bliss (the added benefit of getting clean is sometimes a distant second to being nice and warm).
After putting on another wash and hanging it out on the shadiest clothes line I've seen in a long time, we drove down to find lunch and got waylaid by the lovely pub in town (Royal Hotel, because a royal visitor stayed there once - supposedly. Mike thinks it was someone 63rd in line for the throne!). The Sampsons finished their competition and joined us at the pub. Then we headed back up to the motor camp and finished putting the tents up. A quick walk up the hill showed us the swimming dam and everyone thought it looked lovely (but too cold by that time of the day). The campground was surrounded by kilometres of mountain bike trails and we decided we had to give some of the trails a go before we left. Back down to cook dinner and get some sleep. Because...
Next morning was Rail Trail Day! Hooray! We were a bit slow converting from orienteering brains to biking brains, but eventually we got away and headed to Lauder for our first effort. It was 9 kms from Lauder to Omakau and nice and flat. I thought it made a good first ride so we could see how well the kids did. If they managed that, we could continue on from Omakau to Chatto Creek (another 11 kms further). Due to complicated car arrangements ( we were dropping off a third car for other people we knew doing a longer bike trail day than us) I set off from Lauder with all the kids, and Mike, Wally and Lesley would follow on their bikes after doing the car drops. Toby was on his bike and Chelsea and Brennan shared the tagalong. Hannah and Jessica both hooned along on their bikes without any bother. Turns out we blitzed the pack. We made it to Omakau (where we were scheduled to have lunch) before anyone caught us. We'd been there easily 5 or 10 minutes by the time Mike turned up.
So we had lunch when we were altogether, and rode on to Chatto Creek. This was a lovely long descent into Chatto Creek past many people puffing their way up to Omakau. We picked apples on the wayside and generally had a lot of fun. We did 19 kms on this day. Then Mike and Wally raced back on their bikes (taking only 36 minutes to get back to the car at Omakau and adding another 11 kms to their daily total) and came back with the cars. We drove back to the campground and had a lovely evening.
Next day everyone has sore bottoms (not me!) and we drove to Oturehua and did one of the lovelier stretches of the Rail Trail through to Lauder. We went through two tunnels and one big viaduct. Very lovely. Toby shared the tagalong today but easily did another 15 kms on his bike once more. This was our longest day at 23 kms. We found that 20 kms was about the kids limit. The weather was beautiful once more and the ride through the gorges was superb! I loved this part. Lesley and I waited for the cars at the Lauder pub and we enjoyed Sprite and hot chips. When Wally and Mike arrived, Toby rode his bike out to the front through the narrow gateway and clipped his jaw on the gate post. He has a nice scabby mark under his left jaw now. Must have been quite sore but he didn't fuss. We stopped off at St Bathans and the Blue Lake on the way back. This is where the iconic Vulcan Hotel is and I had never been there before. Wally and the kids paddled in the blue lake and we took lots of photos. Nice diversion.
The tired kids and sore bottoms meant we suggested a day off for Thursday and that was gratefully received. Bright and early, Lesley and Wally took the ute and went off in search of their car! Turns out it was a great idea because as soon as they got into cellphone range (only thing bad about that campground was the lack of cellular coverage) they got messages saying their car was ready for pickup in Queenstown. So off they went. Meanwhile we went to the pub for lunch and then off to the dam for a swim. Toby impressed Brennan by jumping off the diving board into the cold, clear dam - twice! Brennan did it once, just to save some face. Hannah also plucked up the nerve to do it - the cold being the disincentive! No way was I going near it. I rode up so I could check out some nearby MTB trails.
After the kids swam for a while, we wandered back to the campground. Chelsea and Toby decided to come on a trail with me. So we set off. Chelsea was unsure where we were headed so stopped on the trail. Toby rode right at her, over-corrected and headed straight for the water race! I was sure he wasn't going to stop in time (braking isn't a strong point of Toby's riding yet) and Chelsea was yelling "Stop Toby!". Toby was making "uh oh" sounds and just managed to stop with his front wheel hanging over the edge. I thought even then he was going in the drink, but he kept it all under control. His wee heart was going flat out though! We continued on the trail with the kids loving the muddy puddles. We rode for about 4 minutes and then turned around. Unfortunately Toby spotted a great trail heading off to our left with muddy puddles and just stopped to ask if we could go down there (you have to be joking - it was too scary for me let alone Chelsea and Toby!). Chelsea rode right into him and clipped Toby's leg and elbow and she then fell off her bike onto her bottom. Manic! We all dusted ourselves off and rode back to the campground.
Then Mike, Hannah and I went for a wee ride ourselves. That was great fun but being clipped into cleats off road is another thing entirely! I was scared! We got back and started tea. Lesley and Wally got back and also had tea and then off to bed.
Next morning was the last rail trail day and we went from Wedderburn to Oturehua. Unfortunately this was a steep uphill (as far as a rail trail goes) and was single track, with large rocks and deep gravel and Toby got cross with his lack of progress. So it was slow alternating between Chelsea on the taglong and then Toby when he was too cross. But we got up to the high point on the trail, took photos and Toby rode the rest of the way. This was our shortest day as I didn't realise it was only 11 or 12 kms from Wedderburn to Oturehua. Hannah, Lesley and I added 4 kms on to complete the wee section from Oturehua to the Idaburn Dam where we started on Wednesday.
So now we have done Wedderburn to Chatto Creek. http://www.otagorailtrail.co.nz/ All good fun and we'll do it again when Toby is 10 years old and up to an adult bike size. I felt sorry for him on the steep uphill out of Wedderburn. He has to pedal like mad to get his wee wheels up the hills. And even coming down the other side, he pedalled the whole way. Whereas I had to only pedal occasionally to keep up with him. But he did very well.
Instead of staying Friday night in Naseby, Mike's parents suggested we stay at Dunback to make it easier for getting away Saturday morning and for them to collect Toby easily. So we took up that offer and struck the tents in record time (1 hour) and headed off to Dunback. We stopped off to see the Dead Horse Pinch plaque with a photo of oxen wagons on the same spot as the current SH85. Then back in the car to Dunback and time to cook tea and sleep in the warmth! We all crashed in our sleeping bags on the floor and on top of beds. Thank you, Nana and Granddad! Such a pleasant way to spend our last night with Toby for a week!
Up the next morning to pack up. Toby took everyone to see the swing bridge and to the general store to buy lollies. Mike's parents had arrived to collect Toby. We all waved goodbye to the Sampsons as they headed north at 10.45am and we packed up our car and said our goodbyes to Toby and Mike's parents. By this stage (as Mike had correctly guessed) Toby was happier to be staying in Dunedin without the lure of the Sampson children to distract him. He didn't even bother coming down to wave goodbye to us. He was content with shouting goodbye to his Dad from the lounge! Fortunately his Dad went in for a goodbye hug!
We caught up with the Sampsons at Moeraki and then drove in convoy to Ashburton, staying at Coronation Park in two cabins with ensuites and soft beds! Luxury! Room for 8 in each cabin, and yet it only cost $208 for the two of them. Bargain!
Up early Sunday for the drive to the airport and a text from Granddad saying Toby had a serene morning eating pears and toast. Mike and Wally dropped us off and we caught an easy flight to Wellington. Mike and Wally headed straight to Picton and just managed to get on the earlier 3pm sailing rather than their scheduled 7pm sailing so they got in nice and early Sunday night! Hooray.
What a fabulous week. Economically, the Rail Trail has done wonders for the region. No wonder the business leaders wanted to create a nation-wide cycle path. They see it working miracles down here and assume (rightly or wrongly) that it'll do the same in other places. Well, maybe. Time will tell. But the towns and pubs and accommodation down here are doing a booming trade. There were cars with bikes on the back all over the place. There were many tour operators driving people and bikes around. All the pubs and shops on the route were full of cyclists supping coffee. Naseby is not the derelict town I remember from 15 years ago. There are mountain bikers all over the place and the pubs are busy. And we had the best weather you could imagine. No rain. Lots of sun. Not too hot though. Perfect conditions.
Wee Toby is now quite good at cycling. We need to get out to the Hutt River trail when we visit Aunty Sally and Uncle Andrew and perhaps do the Rimutaka Incline with Toby too. He needs to be able to stand up on his pedals and change gear when he needs to. Yes - he did the riding on the trail in 2nd gear the whole way. We can't get his bike into 1st gear very often. So 2nd it is. Always. So Toby does have to get better at it all. But now we know he can do it, and I think he quite likes it.
We've put some more photos up for you to have a look at, too:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrgilbe1/EasterOtagoRailTrail#
First, how to get four adults, five children, eight bikes, a tag-along bike and two cars there and back? After much pondering we'd figured out a cunning plan and booked this months ago. Wally and Mike loaded the two cars - our Corolla and their Kia people-mover - up to the ceilings with bikes and luggage, and in the wee hours of Thursday morning took them over on the ferry and down the 4-5 hour drive to Christchurch. The rest of us flew down to Christchurch on Thursday evening, to meet the boys and the cars...
I left work on Thursday and found Toby very happy and excited after the end of term. It turns out that Aunty Sally and Uncle Andrew were off for an adventure too, and were flying to Nelson around the same time as us, so we caught a taxi together to the airport (we picked them up from the Beehive on the way). But first, some last minute fixing-up. Toby's bike had been left behind, and our new bike rack had turned up from Torpedo7.com a day later than we'd expected (be bought it at the very last minute!). So Toby and I wrapped the bike and ordered the taxi. Worked out perfectly.
Toby and I selected a Wishbone butter chicken meal at the airport and ate that with Sally and Andrew while waiting for the Sampsons to arrive. It was a great idea for a quick meal before the flight. Then Lesley arrived with the kids and they all checked in. We waited to see if Hannah could make the flight, and she did! She was off on camp and coming back into Wellington that same evening - it was going to be very, very tight for her to get to the airport in time. But Lesley's Mum picked her up and dropped her off at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.
The flight down went very well - it is only 45 minutes. Mike met us at Christchurch and we drove quickly to Rakaia Gorge to the campsite for the night. Wally and Mike had set up camp for the evening. But, Mike had only pitched the tent inner for the Gilbert Tent! He swore that it couldn't possibly rain in the night and it would be much better like that. I was very dubious. But it worked well enough and we had a good sleep.
Next morning we were off bright and early - well, sort of. Getting nine people out of bed, fed, and packed into cars along with tents and luggage is never quick. The Sampsons' Orienteering competition kicked off in Roxburgh around 3pm, so time was tight, and we were cutting it quite fine by the time we got to Cromwell (we went via Tekapo and had lovely views of Mt Cook). You can imagine our dismay when we were almost to Clyde through the gorge when the Sampson's lovely new car broke down! Aaarrgghh. A quick re-assignment of cars meant Wally drove our car to the event, with me, Hannah, Jessica and Brennan. The others - Mike, Lesley, Toby and Chelsea - all stayed with the big car to wait for the tow truck.
The Corolla made it to the Roxburgh orienteering venue in plenty of time for everyone to compete. This was held in Roxburgh East over the Clutha in the Fulton Hogan quarry. I enjoyed watching everyone head off on their sprints. In spite of being in a quarry, the area was really lovely! By the time we all finished and headed back to Alexandra, Mike and the others had everything sorted in the Alexandra Holiday Park - on the highway out of Alexandra towards the rail trail. The Towie had brought the Sampsons' car right to the Holiday Park, so they had been able to unload it before it went off to the garage. The Sampsons had a cabin and we pitched our tent right outside. Perfect. The place was rammed full of people (but not at capacity yet I suspect) and it was very pleasant - but decidedly odd. The bathroom facilities reminded me of concentration camps! - all concrete block and purely functional. But clean, anyway!
Saturday was another competition day at Bannockburn, and the Gilberts stayed back to put on a clothes wash and buy some provisions for the week. The Kia dealer gave the Sampsons a replacement car for Easter, and they ended up with a Nissan double cab 4WD ute, to Wally's delight! So they were off to their day of competition after getting a lift for Hannah with other competitors (the ute was one seat short of accommodating all the Sampsons). After the washing, we Gilberts went into town to look at the dead rabbits from the Central Otago Easter Bunny shoot! There were hundreds, and boy, were they stinky all lying out there in the park in huge rows. We also saw stoats, possums, turkeys, magpies and one wild pig with the shell casing in its eye and a bleeding ear. Toby was impressed! Mike was more amazed at the vehicles they use to shoot from! All sorts of old vehicles with large chunks of metalwork cut off and extra bits welded on to attach seating on the roof and bars to lean guns on.
This was the only day we got a bit of rain - just in the late evening, and it was all over by the time Mike came to bed in the wee hours, after a marathon card game of 'Five Hundred' with Lesley, Wally and Hannah.
Easter Sunday dawned and we ate a lovely breakfast with an impromptu story about Jesus. We decided everyone would add a sentence to the story starting with the youngest (Toby), then the oldest (Wally - so nice it wasn't me for a change!), then second youngest, then second oldest and so on until the story was done. It seemed to work ok. Then it was all about the chocolate! Another day of competition nearby (Earnscleugh), and the Gilberts took the day to visit Mike's Dad at Dunback for the day. It took us 1.5 hours to drive down SH85 from Alex to Dunback and it was a lovely drive. We ate lunch there (after the obligatory walk to the swing bridge and shop) and headed back in time for tea. Tonight we heard the loudspeaker at the campground being used to sing someone Happy Birthday. And later on, an announcement for people to refrain from removing light bulbs from the toilet block. It was a strange place.
Monday was the last day of competition. It was based around Naseby, which was also going to be our base for the Rail Trail, so we all packed up our stuff and relocated to the Larchview Holiday Park. Us Gilberts checked in first and we pitched our tent. There were people still packing up when we were there, and they were certainly struggling to get all their stuff back in their cars with their kids caterwauling in the background! So we held back on pitching the Sampson's tents, and just left them to it.
We had two sites in a corner of the motor camp on our own. This campground was really pleasant in a way the one in Alex hadn't been. The setting was lovely, if a little cold and shaded at this time of year in the mornings and evenings - when the sun went down we all froze! The showers take a one dollar coin to turn on the water for 7 minutes of bliss (the added benefit of getting clean is sometimes a distant second to being nice and warm).
After putting on another wash and hanging it out on the shadiest clothes line I've seen in a long time, we drove down to find lunch and got waylaid by the lovely pub in town (Royal Hotel, because a royal visitor stayed there once - supposedly. Mike thinks it was someone 63rd in line for the throne!). The Sampsons finished their competition and joined us at the pub. Then we headed back up to the motor camp and finished putting the tents up. A quick walk up the hill showed us the swimming dam and everyone thought it looked lovely (but too cold by that time of the day). The campground was surrounded by kilometres of mountain bike trails and we decided we had to give some of the trails a go before we left. Back down to cook dinner and get some sleep. Because...
Next morning was Rail Trail Day! Hooray! We were a bit slow converting from orienteering brains to biking brains, but eventually we got away and headed to Lauder for our first effort. It was 9 kms from Lauder to Omakau and nice and flat. I thought it made a good first ride so we could see how well the kids did. If they managed that, we could continue on from Omakau to Chatto Creek (another 11 kms further). Due to complicated car arrangements ( we were dropping off a third car for other people we knew doing a longer bike trail day than us) I set off from Lauder with all the kids, and Mike, Wally and Lesley would follow on their bikes after doing the car drops. Toby was on his bike and Chelsea and Brennan shared the tagalong. Hannah and Jessica both hooned along on their bikes without any bother. Turns out we blitzed the pack. We made it to Omakau (where we were scheduled to have lunch) before anyone caught us. We'd been there easily 5 or 10 minutes by the time Mike turned up.
So we had lunch when we were altogether, and rode on to Chatto Creek. This was a lovely long descent into Chatto Creek past many people puffing their way up to Omakau. We picked apples on the wayside and generally had a lot of fun. We did 19 kms on this day. Then Mike and Wally raced back on their bikes (taking only 36 minutes to get back to the car at Omakau and adding another 11 kms to their daily total) and came back with the cars. We drove back to the campground and had a lovely evening.
Next day everyone has sore bottoms (not me!) and we drove to Oturehua and did one of the lovelier stretches of the Rail Trail through to Lauder. We went through two tunnels and one big viaduct. Very lovely. Toby shared the tagalong today but easily did another 15 kms on his bike once more. This was our longest day at 23 kms. We found that 20 kms was about the kids limit. The weather was beautiful once more and the ride through the gorges was superb! I loved this part. Lesley and I waited for the cars at the Lauder pub and we enjoyed Sprite and hot chips. When Wally and Mike arrived, Toby rode his bike out to the front through the narrow gateway and clipped his jaw on the gate post. He has a nice scabby mark under his left jaw now. Must have been quite sore but he didn't fuss. We stopped off at St Bathans and the Blue Lake on the way back. This is where the iconic Vulcan Hotel is and I had never been there before. Wally and the kids paddled in the blue lake and we took lots of photos. Nice diversion.
The tired kids and sore bottoms meant we suggested a day off for Thursday and that was gratefully received. Bright and early, Lesley and Wally took the ute and went off in search of their car! Turns out it was a great idea because as soon as they got into cellphone range (only thing bad about that campground was the lack of cellular coverage) they got messages saying their car was ready for pickup in Queenstown. So off they went. Meanwhile we went to the pub for lunch and then off to the dam for a swim. Toby impressed Brennan by jumping off the diving board into the cold, clear dam - twice! Brennan did it once, just to save some face. Hannah also plucked up the nerve to do it - the cold being the disincentive! No way was I going near it. I rode up so I could check out some nearby MTB trails.
After the kids swam for a while, we wandered back to the campground. Chelsea and Toby decided to come on a trail with me. So we set off. Chelsea was unsure where we were headed so stopped on the trail. Toby rode right at her, over-corrected and headed straight for the water race! I was sure he wasn't going to stop in time (braking isn't a strong point of Toby's riding yet) and Chelsea was yelling "Stop Toby!". Toby was making "uh oh" sounds and just managed to stop with his front wheel hanging over the edge. I thought even then he was going in the drink, but he kept it all under control. His wee heart was going flat out though! We continued on the trail with the kids loving the muddy puddles. We rode for about 4 minutes and then turned around. Unfortunately Toby spotted a great trail heading off to our left with muddy puddles and just stopped to ask if we could go down there (you have to be joking - it was too scary for me let alone Chelsea and Toby!). Chelsea rode right into him and clipped Toby's leg and elbow and she then fell off her bike onto her bottom. Manic! We all dusted ourselves off and rode back to the campground.
Then Mike, Hannah and I went for a wee ride ourselves. That was great fun but being clipped into cleats off road is another thing entirely! I was scared! We got back and started tea. Lesley and Wally got back and also had tea and then off to bed.
Next morning was the last rail trail day and we went from Wedderburn to Oturehua. Unfortunately this was a steep uphill (as far as a rail trail goes) and was single track, with large rocks and deep gravel and Toby got cross with his lack of progress. So it was slow alternating between Chelsea on the taglong and then Toby when he was too cross. But we got up to the high point on the trail, took photos and Toby rode the rest of the way. This was our shortest day as I didn't realise it was only 11 or 12 kms from Wedderburn to Oturehua. Hannah, Lesley and I added 4 kms on to complete the wee section from Oturehua to the Idaburn Dam where we started on Wednesday.
So now we have done Wedderburn to Chatto Creek. http://www.otagorailtrail.co.nz/ All good fun and we'll do it again when Toby is 10 years old and up to an adult bike size. I felt sorry for him on the steep uphill out of Wedderburn. He has to pedal like mad to get his wee wheels up the hills. And even coming down the other side, he pedalled the whole way. Whereas I had to only pedal occasionally to keep up with him. But he did very well.
Instead of staying Friday night in Naseby, Mike's parents suggested we stay at Dunback to make it easier for getting away Saturday morning and for them to collect Toby easily. So we took up that offer and struck the tents in record time (1 hour) and headed off to Dunback. We stopped off to see the Dead Horse Pinch plaque with a photo of oxen wagons on the same spot as the current SH85. Then back in the car to Dunback and time to cook tea and sleep in the warmth! We all crashed in our sleeping bags on the floor and on top of beds. Thank you, Nana and Granddad! Such a pleasant way to spend our last night with Toby for a week!
Up the next morning to pack up. Toby took everyone to see the swing bridge and to the general store to buy lollies. Mike's parents had arrived to collect Toby. We all waved goodbye to the Sampsons as they headed north at 10.45am and we packed up our car and said our goodbyes to Toby and Mike's parents. By this stage (as Mike had correctly guessed) Toby was happier to be staying in Dunedin without the lure of the Sampson children to distract him. He didn't even bother coming down to wave goodbye to us. He was content with shouting goodbye to his Dad from the lounge! Fortunately his Dad went in for a goodbye hug!
We caught up with the Sampsons at Moeraki and then drove in convoy to Ashburton, staying at Coronation Park in two cabins with ensuites and soft beds! Luxury! Room for 8 in each cabin, and yet it only cost $208 for the two of them. Bargain!
Up early Sunday for the drive to the airport and a text from Granddad saying Toby had a serene morning eating pears and toast. Mike and Wally dropped us off and we caught an easy flight to Wellington. Mike and Wally headed straight to Picton and just managed to get on the earlier 3pm sailing rather than their scheduled 7pm sailing so they got in nice and early Sunday night! Hooray.
What a fabulous week. Economically, the Rail Trail has done wonders for the region. No wonder the business leaders wanted to create a nation-wide cycle path. They see it working miracles down here and assume (rightly or wrongly) that it'll do the same in other places. Well, maybe. Time will tell. But the towns and pubs and accommodation down here are doing a booming trade. There were cars with bikes on the back all over the place. There were many tour operators driving people and bikes around. All the pubs and shops on the route were full of cyclists supping coffee. Naseby is not the derelict town I remember from 15 years ago. There are mountain bikers all over the place and the pubs are busy. And we had the best weather you could imagine. No rain. Lots of sun. Not too hot though. Perfect conditions.
Wee Toby is now quite good at cycling. We need to get out to the Hutt River trail when we visit Aunty Sally and Uncle Andrew and perhaps do the Rimutaka Incline with Toby too. He needs to be able to stand up on his pedals and change gear when he needs to. Yes - he did the riding on the trail in 2nd gear the whole way. We can't get his bike into 1st gear very often. So 2nd it is. Always. So Toby does have to get better at it all. But now we know he can do it, and I think he quite likes it.
We've put some more photos up for you to have a look at, too:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrgilbe1/EasterOtagoRailTrail#
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Good morning on Thurs, Apr 1
Hi,
Mike is off driving down the South Island as I type with Wally in convoy. He rang this morning from Blenheim's Maccas all safe and sound on the other side. Toby and I will see him around 8.30pm tonight after our flight to Chrsitchurch.
Toby and I had a good morning getting ready. I caught the bus in on time (my bike is in the South Island, remember) and saw my boss, Andy, running for the bus a few stops later. He managed to get on. Lucky, eh? He's feeding the cat (and the fish) in our absence as we have relied on Vivienne too often for the cat sitting. We did it for him over Christmas (and even then we had to ask Vivienne to step in while we were gone - she was feeding our cat and his cats!!) so Andy is returning the favour.
All our goods are in the car with Mike. I am waiting for a bike rack that was supposed to arrive yesterday - but didn't. So Mike has all the bikes inside the car. Mine, Mum's, Toby's tag along, and his bike on the back. Lucky there was enough room for all our stuff!
I just spoke to our mail chap and he said the bike rack has arrived. So I will be checking it in tonight on the plane hoping it is not too heavy. At least it'll be easier with all the bikes on the back!
So, this is the last blog for a week while we head south for our fun - in the sun! Yes - the weather forecast is sunny every day next week down there! Can you believe that? Woo hoo! Wee Toby is staying down there an extra week with Mike's parents for some grandparent bonding. He enjoys that time - I think the undivided attention of grandparents lets him bask in the spotlight. Unlike his busy parents. My parents also do quite well with him when they look after him!
Speaking of which - Dad cooked me and Toby a glorious meal last night. Toby's favourite (chicken schnitzel strips) and it was yummy! Ta Dad!
So, have a wonderful time during the school holidays - whatever you get up to.
Love,
Angela
Mike is off driving down the South Island as I type with Wally in convoy. He rang this morning from Blenheim's Maccas all safe and sound on the other side. Toby and I will see him around 8.30pm tonight after our flight to Chrsitchurch.
Toby and I had a good morning getting ready. I caught the bus in on time (my bike is in the South Island, remember) and saw my boss, Andy, running for the bus a few stops later. He managed to get on. Lucky, eh? He's feeding the cat (and the fish) in our absence as we have relied on Vivienne too often for the cat sitting. We did it for him over Christmas (and even then we had to ask Vivienne to step in while we were gone - she was feeding our cat and his cats!!) so Andy is returning the favour.
All our goods are in the car with Mike. I am waiting for a bike rack that was supposed to arrive yesterday - but didn't. So Mike has all the bikes inside the car. Mine, Mum's, Toby's tag along, and his bike on the back. Lucky there was enough room for all our stuff!
I just spoke to our mail chap and he said the bike rack has arrived. So I will be checking it in tonight on the plane hoping it is not too heavy. At least it'll be easier with all the bikes on the back!
So, this is the last blog for a week while we head south for our fun - in the sun! Yes - the weather forecast is sunny every day next week down there! Can you believe that? Woo hoo! Wee Toby is staying down there an extra week with Mike's parents for some grandparent bonding. He enjoys that time - I think the undivided attention of grandparents lets him bask in the spotlight. Unlike his busy parents. My parents also do quite well with him when they look after him!
Speaking of which - Dad cooked me and Toby a glorious meal last night. Toby's favourite (chicken schnitzel strips) and it was yummy! Ta Dad!
So, have a wonderful time during the school holidays - whatever you get up to.
Love,
Angela
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