Hi,
What a wonderful weekend and so many people helped contribute to it. Thank you to Sally for looking after Toby (he had a great time!). Thank you to Yingjie for looking after Toby (he had a great time there too). And thank you to Mike for organising it (although the definition of "organise" could be interpreted in a different way by others less adaptable than ourselves, as you will see...).
So, we got up early Friday morning to take Toby to Jack's house at 7am and so we could zip down the hill tot he ferry terminal for the 7am check-in we had. That all went like clockwork fortunately. The ferry terminal was heaving with cars all trying to get into check-in, but Mike negotiated the queue well and we were soon boarding the ferry. It was the Santa Regina and we got a breakfast in the cafe and then found a good place to sit and read.
The weather was beautiful so we wandered around the decks for a bit, enjoying the scenery through Queen Charlotte Sound. The Interislander was following us so the views were often spectacular of it with the bushy coastline either side of it. The sense of scale was breathtaking. We even saw Common Dolphins swimming in our ferry's wake.
Into Picton by 11.45am and off to Blenheim. Turns out our wee green car was out of warranty so I made Mike call into VTNZ to pick up a WoF. While Mike was waiting I wandered into the town centre. very cute wee town. And so warm. Anyhow, would you know, this is the first time the wee green car has failed it warrant. But nothing too serious. Apparently the muffler may be leaking carbon monoxide and if we stuff anyone in the boot, they may suffocate! Right! Hardly likely given the size of the MX-5 boot. Our weekend bag filled it!
Mike collected me and we drove off to Motueka via St Arnaud and Tophouse road. We planned Friday night at Motueka at the Equestrian Hotel, followed by Sans Souci on Saturday night in Golden Bay. As we approached SH6 from St Arnaud I thought we should double-check the time the concert started. Just in case we had to go straight there instead of dawdling to the hotel or something. Mike leaned out the window and his cap blew off, so he pulled over to retrieve it and when he did that, he checked the tickets. "5pm start" he said. Phew! Plenty of time.
But, I wondered about the venue for some reason. So I dug out the tickets again, and noticed the concert was actually for Saturday night. The 18th. Not Friday, the 17th. Oh, I groaned. We won't be able to have a delicious dinner at Sans Souci. Mike thought the accommodation might still work - just a bit of driving for me afterwards. "Where is Waipara, anyway?" I asked.
We looked it up. Turns out Waipara is 40 minutes north of Christchurch. More groaning from me. A quick re-assessment of our options and we turned south on SH6 instead of north. At Murchison Mike rang the two accommodation places and cancelled our bookings. They were able to re-book others in so we were reimbursed! Amazing! Thank you!
So, now our plans were a bit more fluid and along the lines of driving over Lewis Pass and staying the night in Hanmer Springs. Then finding somewhere for the Saturday evening closer to Waipara. The Lewis Pass drive was incredible. The glorious weather meant the wee green car was a lot of fun. The scenery was wonderful. Mike and I had never been on that road before. We found a great place to stay in Hanmer Springs (Tussock Hill motel) and Mike took me out for a cheese board dinner. Yum! We chatted away for ages when we got back to the motel and I think I maximised my birthday by staying up past midnight!
Our route ended up as this:
Saturday was also a glorious day and we drove to Waipara to suss out the venue and then into Amberley to get some cash out. Mike shoved his card into a Westpac ATM only for the machine to swallow his card and ask him to contact his bank. Nice. Lucky I had my card still and there was no way I was going to try the Westpac ATM. Heheheh.
We drove back towards Hanmer Springs and stayed at the historic pub in Hurunui. After an afternoon reading (and Mike working) we headed back to Waipara for the concert. We got in just after 5pm and pulled up front row grass. Nothing between us and the stage. Mike fetched me food and we enjoyed the sunshine and people watching. Then Avalanche City came on at 6pm. Turns out we knew one of their songs. They were famous!
At about 7pm The Muttonbirds came on. When they played "I wish I was in Wellington" Mike insisted I ring our friend John in Southampton. Poor John got a noisy, garbled message that came through at 6.30am! The band was good though. We enjoyed it. Mike was in the moshing area by this stage and cajoling me to join him. Which I did.
So, for Gin Wigmore herself we were front and centre and surrounded by 10 year old girls and their mothers. Heheheh. It was great fun! Mike was moshing next to me and it was all good natured. Apart from one chap that got the mothers' noses out of joint as he was acting like it was a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert. Mike sorted him out and the bouncers certainly did too! All the mothers were so grateful to Mike after the concert finished. I was pretty oblivious to Mike's orchestrations at manoeuvring that chap out of the area with the young girls. Good on him!
We wandered around the car park for a while trying to find our wee car in the dark. We split up (what was I thinking) and I found the car as I sort of knew where it was. Mike had no idea and wandered around the massive carpark chatting to other people looking for their cars and singing! Heheheh.
We got back to the pub eventually and slept in! The room was $45 each a night and included breakfast. It was a little like Fawlty Towers in that one young chap was doing everything for all the guests. He cooked all the breakfasts and took all the orders. Very funny!
We drove north via SH70 inland to Kaikoura as Mike and I had never done that drive before. It rained all the way and Mike discovered the same leak in the rubber seal around the window that Aidan had discovered a few weeks earlier. Best sort that out. We got to Picton early and sat in a cafe reading until our 7pm ferry. And we read all the way over. What a great way to finish a great weekend!
This week is busy as well - Toby has school camp tomorrow and we need to get him to school for 7am! Yikes! Heheheh.
Have a great week!
Love,
Angela
No comments:
Post a Comment