Long time no update, so here we go...
So it's obviously been winter since our last update, a few more skiing trips to the Central North Island so Kerry has honed her skills and become a real pro! She even managed a black run with no dramas - although somehow a black run here doesn't quite equate to the same standard as elsewhere! Still, not a bad effort, even Ben agrees! And it's pretty cool skiing down the flanks of a volcano, looking over the plains to another volcano in the distance.
Bought a car not long after our last update, so it's now much easier for us to get around, and so now it's starting to get a bit more springlike we've been out and about exploring again.
Have done some nice walks in the Wellington region, in the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges. The Rimutakas are just over the harbour from Wellington so you get really good views back to the city. And we discovered a very impressive swing bridge in the Waiohine Gorge area, about 100m long, suspended about 50 m above the river...and pretty wobbly!
More recently we've been on a walking weekend with 2 friends, Heather and James, over a bank holiday weekend....rented a Department of Conservation hut high up a river valley in the Rimutaka range for a couple of nights. Had a very heavy walk in up the river (literally.....glad we've got some sturdy river-walking shoes!) carrying some nice food and board games for the weekend....and plenty of wine of course! We were planning on dropping off our heavy bags at the hut and then going for a walk further up the valley in the afternoon, but by the time the boys had collected firewood and got the axe to it all, and the girls had cleaned the hut and got the dinner on (we know, how stereotypical!) it was definitely wine o'clock sat by the river in the sunshine - lovely!
Had a late night of wine and Cranium (board game) but managed to drag ourselves up the ridiculously steep track to the top of Mount Matthews, the highest mountain in the area, and one you can see from Wellington waterfront. Was pretty hard work, pulling up on tree roots and bushes, but was beautiful weather and we had amazing views from the top across other parts of the range, Wellington harbour and over to the Wairarapa to the east.
NZ celebrates fireworks night (although think they're slightly unsure as to the link with Guy Fawkes and bonfires!), so we got a pretty impressive display over the Harbour last week.
Went camping for the first time since Easter this weekend, was still pretty chilly over night, but lovely warm and sunny weather during the day. Drove over to the near edge of the Wairarapa on Friday night after work and camped at a really remote site, no one else there, overlooking a river gorge. Was a really nice spot (apart from the mozzies!) and the starriest sky we've ever seen, could see a couple of galaxies and even a shooting star....shame we know nothing in the southern hemisphere night sky!
Went to Castlepoint on the East coast on Saturday, a really pretty stretch of coastline, with a towering 162m high "Castle Rock" rising pretty much vertically from the sea, and a lagoon protected by an uplifted reef.....so LOADS of fossils to keep us geology geeks entertained! Had quite a relaxed day pottering along the beaches, reefs and up to the top of the rock, and tried to visit some supposedly impressive sea caves, but it requires scrambling around the rocks at the base of some steep cliffs and a grumpy seal wouldn't let us past him....no alternative route and we were a bit wary of his growling and hissing - evidently they can get quite aggressive!
On
Sunday we visited the National Wildlife Centre where they have lots of breeding programmes for native NZ species - virtually all birds, we hadn't realised that the only native mammals to NZ are bats...strange when you see rabbits, hedgehogs, possums, deer e.t.c everywhere (well, mostly squashed by the side of the road, but it means there must be plenty of them!). Spotted a wild kaka (a large parrot) in the forest and also got to see the pair of kiwis they keep in a nocturnal house foraging for food, and a tuatara - a big lizard that looks like a dinosaur (was around at the time of the dinosaurs and is pretty much unchanged ever since)!
Have been getting into the rugby - both playing and watching! We both played in a touch rugby tournament for Ben's work in the annual Corporate Games....and were totally rubbish! We did win 2 of our 5 games...by default! Only cos the other teams didn't have the required number of girls so had to concede! Good fun, but a bit humiliating! Good job we weren't taking it too seriously! And we even managed 2 tries in our final game (we hadn't actually scored up until that point so it was an achievement!) We've been to support our local rugby team, the Wellington Lions, in their semi-finals of the cup, but suddenly the kiwis have become football obsessed about the "all whites" world cup qualifier against Bahrain this coming Saturday. It's being played in Wellington, all the tickets sold out within a day or two, and they're putting up a 40 ft screen on the waterfront to keep all the "fans" happy that haven't managed to get tickets....so should be a fun evening!
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