The weekend in Christchurch

 Hi,

It's been a few days since I posted last.  Dunedin was lovely.  And on Thurs night Mike and I gathered the parts of the van from the loft into a pile to throw into the van on Friday morning.  Mike's mother was surprised to see we had done that - saving her the job.  The loft is looking pretty empty now.

We left Dunedin at 3.30pm and headed north on SH1.  It was wet most of the way to Christchurch - but it was largely uneventful.  There was a red warming for heavy rain in place - but due to start early Saturday.  Lucky we missed it because Sunday saw the SH1 impassable due to flooding.  Several bridges have washed away on surrounding roads too.  Not good.

We got to Little Poms and met Toby, Tessa, Sam and Steph at 8.10pm for a lovely meal.  Everyone looked good.  Didn't know Steph was changing jobs soon - that was exciting.  

Fell into bed at the B&B.  Garden room.  Same room as last time.  Happy about that.  Oddly, there were other people staying in our house this time.  :-p

Northern motorway out of Dunedin

Little Poms

Up early Saturday for a run along the Avon with Toby.  Such good fun to run with him.  We did 4.55km.  But there might have been a bit of walking involved.

We had brekkie after a shower at Little Poms.

Iced chocolate for Toby and Tessa

He looks happy

Then off in an Uber to Riccarton mall to buy some things for Toby.  A rain jacket for one.  He will definitely be using that now.  Turns out he doesn't like getting to lectures and sitting there sopping wet.

Also got him some new running shoes.  He is running a few times a week and going to the gym 3 times a week.  Good on him.

I took him for a driving lesson in the van after that.  We got some diesel and then found a quiet suburban road in Parklands and Toby went around a big block.  He avoided parked cars and on-coming buses.  Indicated.  Turned.  All useful driving things.  He was a bit buzzed after that as it was his first on road driving.

Back to a pub session and a meal for the 4 of us.

First stout

Went to bed early and up for a grocery care package run for Toby (bought him shaving cream and a meal for 2 from Tulsi and some other treats) and then Little Poms for brekkie with him and Tessa.

Mike and I checked out and we were on the road by 10am.  Avoided all the flooding as we drove north.  The rivers were swollen but not too bad.  Down south - completely different.  Devastating floods.

Little Poms again

Driving north to Blenheim

First blue sky

Sunshine just north of Kaikoura

Got blue skies briefly north of Kaikoura.  Called into Iona and Col (and saw Shelley) and got some lunch (mmmmm) and left the van outside their house.  Played bananagram before Iona dropped us at the airport.

Cats happy to see us.  Or are they just cold and want to share body heat?

Easy flight home with Soundsair.  And the cats were happy to see us.

More rain today - and freezing at work with the heating off for the day.  Oh dear.

Have a great week.

Love,

Angela