Its just gone midnight here in New Zealand We are nearly back in Te Anau having been to Dunedin to pick up Gethin who had to work Christmas Eve. Douglas was left in charge of Stockings, as we knew we wouldnt be back before midnight. He decided a carrier bag was more appropriate for him ! Best Wishes. Ho ho

Parts of my work definitely has a plus side Yesterday, I collected a client at his high class lodge, where we boarded the helicopter and flew the ten minutes over the lake to Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track. The original plan was to simply walk down the hill from the hut to Brod Bay, where we wolud get the water taxi across the lake to where the vehicle was, and then drive to Queenstown. However, the client wss fit and able, and very keen to got up to the top of Mt Luxmore, so the hike got extended by a couple of hours! The weather played nicely (though the wind was chilly on the summit)

11:15 pm.

The power goes off.

Te Anau goes to bed

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pealing.nz No - must have a brew first & get water ready for first brew of morning :D

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We are having a bit of a strange spring.

Last Sunday for isis's 16th and Jerusha's 14th birthdays we had trip to Blackpool zoo We had a really nice time I was a bit surprised really as I am not too sure about zoos, however we had a good time The lions -not as big as I thought , probably as the size of our dogs! African elephant being bullied by Indian elephant over food Tree climbing porcupine very odd - looked like birds nests And of course the sea lion show Good day out and finished it off with a meal out. Hello! Andrew tells me I should not be allowed to "edit" your post!!!

Just so everyone is aware and on the same page so to speak!!!! I had some tests done during September, that showed I have a few pesky cancer cells lurking in my uterus! Nothing to get overly morbid about.....just level 1 (apparently you can get as high as level 4 or 5!!.....I never have been any good at computer games!!). The 95% successful way to deal with this level one is to take out the uterus containing pesky mutants, plus remove ajoined falopian tubes and ovaries........just to prevent mutants invading anywhere else.

Jacqueline and Isis have caught up with the rest of the family.. On Saturday morning they got up really early (8:30 is really early for some ;P ) and drove to Boroughbridge to join a group from the club for a river trip and 1* assessment. After a mile paddle upstream and a short stop before returning and completing the assessment the were awarded their certificate and driving back home. It was not a first choice thing for Isis to do on a Saturday ( or any other day for that matter) as she doesn't enjoy it at all!

Over the last few weeks I have done a lot of kayaking. It all started about 2 weeks ago when I spent two days coaching at the Cape Breton Paddlefest. It was based in St. Peters, a place I am familiar with having worked there for the last three winters. I was so busy paying attention to my pupils I took no pictures, I have stolen a few from Facebook and if you want to see more there is a Facebook page.

It's official I qualified for my Club Pilots licence last night with 85% . ~This means I am able to get my own glider and fly when I want without the instructor. Quite a harrowing exam - I had to drive down to Pateley Bridge and me and 5 others sat in the back room of a pub (!) to take the exam. There were 6 sections and need to achieve 70% in each section with some questions being an automatic fail if you got them wrong! Finally got back home at 1:00am!

Nicky & I went to a wedding on Saturday. Friends from Te Anau got married in The Church of The Good Shepherd on the shores of lake Tekapo. It's a tiny little church; seats about 60. There are no stained glass windows - when you look at window behind the Altar (main image) you understand why; though the picture from my phone doesn't do it justice.