Aarrggghhh!!!!!!!!
Out in Kendal last night at shooting I popped out to get some fuel from asda
Plonked in 45 litres 60 quid exactly,
Put the nozzle back and realised I'd just filled up with petrol not diesel
Rang AA who don't cover for misfuelling (full green flag apparently do) and 3 hrs later and £300 lighter I was on my way home
¥@$@!!?!@&?!@!!!!
:-( :-( :-( :-(
Birthdays
Happy Birthday Doug, Gethin & Douglas.
Only one cake to cook this year.
We had a meal with friends. Douglas's mates are supposedly organising something for him later in the week.
Douglas is very keen to get behind the wheel. He can get his L licence now he's 16. He just has to do some studying and take the theory test. He has to be on his L for 6 months before he can take his 'restricted' - so his target is to get his restricted by Christmas.
We're also going to bring the Mini down from Dunedin to restore.
Kayak or canoe
Thursday is a busy night
We all troop down to Thirsk (1.5hrs drive) and go canoeing or kayaking. Or both.
We have joined hambleton paddlers on a family membership and are taking our 1star grade. Kayaks feel really unstable when you have not been in one for 45 years! But at least you are sitting down canoes kill your knees
What a great club we have found. It's so friendly and what a change from swaledale outdoor club ( who basically told us to get lost!). The whole family love it. Two hours on the water passes in a blink of the eye.
SI Schools Orienteering & a Goon
Douglas was in the South Island Orienteering Schools Champs this weekend.
There were two days of competition.
Friday was the "Short Course", held at Waioroa Scout Camp, near Dunedin.
Saturday was the "Long Course" held in a forestry block near Henley, south of Dunedin.
Douglas was an "Intermediate Boy" which meant he did 'Orange' courses.
On Friday, Douglas re-injured his knee, which had given him some trouble on the final day of the Routeburn over Easter.
Orienteering
This is quite topical really, following on from Douglas's discussion with Rob about navigation.
A couple of Sundays ago, Douglas and I went to Invercargill orienteering.I
It was at a little area near Bluff called Mokomoko. Joe Sherriff was organising the day. It was a club day, and Southland Orienteering Club are quite relaxed about things.
More competitions - our first outdoor comp
Isis and I were persuaded to enter another clubs open Easter competition. This took place the day after the clubs Easter shoot
This was over two distances of 50m and 100 yards. And Martin and Mike the two club coaches had offered to take the guns down for us
It was just as well that they were there as we would not have had a clue what to do otherwise.
The weather was glorious sunny with light winds.
Easter competition
Isis, Jerusha and I entered the clubs Easter fun shoot competition on Good Friday.
The competition took place at the club range over 25m. The playing field was levelled by making everyone shoot with a club rifle, not allowing any practice shots, not allowing any sight adjustment and no scopes either, oh, and using club ammo so no advantage for high quality bullets!
Theoretically this should mean the best natural shot in the club should win!
There were two competitions,
A bit of fun where you shoot at a Polo mint and have to try to through the hole!
Back to the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland
Vivien herniated a lumbar disc on our skiing holiday in France and has not been able to work for three months; however Labrador Grenfell health were so keen to have her back in St. Anthony that they offered me a job so that I could carry her bags.
School Camp (upcoming novel!!!)
I promise that I will get an article on school camp up. It's going to be either very long or very short. We'll see... there will be no pictures, as I didn't take a camera, and it might also mean that you have to come to NZ to see the beauty. Not trying to sell anything...
Just another day in the office
Some times I quite enjoy my work.
This guided trip was a heli-hike, with a longer heli part than usual.
The attached map shows roughly the route we took - though the GPS lost signal a little in the Milford area due to the steep valley walls. The blue route is the "commute" from Te Anau to Queenstown. The purple is the route we took with the clients.
We flew from Manapouri airport to Queenstown. Met the clients, and flew to Mt Tutoko - the highest mountain in Fiordland at 2750m.