Home in Nelson

So its been a while since I blogged I know. Heaps has happened and I have finished my job in Queenstown and am now back in Nelson. Not sure yet what God has for me next but I trust Him to show me. He has been teaching me so much lately! Its great to be back home and great to see friends and family again! And its warmer up here too. Of course the day after I left Queenstown it snowed right down to the lake so I never saw it right down low. But I hope to go back sometime as I now feel like a little part of me is still in Queenstown and overall it was a great experience being there and in the job I had at Lakeland Park.

My Birth Place

Saturday was cold and overcast but i dragged myself out of bed, showered and ate and warmed the WRX up. 10:30 and I was off to Queenstown, picked a scottish girl up that i had met earlier and headed east for Dunedin. It was my first time down highway 8 from Cromwell. Went past the Clyde dam, bought some dried apricots in Roxburgh (couldn't find any fresh ones!) and around 2pm found ourselves in cold wet Dunedin. Went straight to Cadburys and had a look at the centre and bought some chocolates--king size bar of Turkish Delight. Then we went up the steepest street in the world, around the university, into the Octagon where we found a bunch of students hanging out in the rain with some sort of silent protest to legalize weed! Drove around a bit more and then it was time to get to the House of Pain! We didn't have the best seats but at least we had a roof over us and were pretty close to the ground. Although the Highlanders lost it was a fun atmosphere. Got out of the game to find a parking ticket on my car for being to close to an intersection--ridiculous! Anyway drove the 3 hours back to Queenstown, most of the trip with pouring rain and leaves and water all over the road. The road between Alexandra and Cromwell is very straight and wide and fast--well fast in a WRX anyway so she got a bit of a wind up! Then at Cromwell I passed a Ford Falcon just past an intersection. I waited until after the intersection to see if there were any lights in the car to signal it being a plainclothes cop. Couldnt see any so passed it and as I did I noticed the driver was wearing a yellow high vis jacket. I thought it was a cop but nothing happened so i sat on 110 all the way thru the gorge with him right behind me! Anyway was a fun trip and a good chance to see my birthplace, Dunedin. So glad I don't live there tho!

Family Smamily!!

Been an extra busy week as I got things sorted al Lakeland Park before my week away at the family reunion. A couple of the trust board members are looking after things for me but I'm still getting the emails and phone calls and trying to deal with that side of it from the sunny Bay of Plenty! We are not far from Whakatane at a small retreat centre. We have the place to ourselves pretty much. So far we have eaten lots, had some lively arguments, watched slideshows of each others family/lives, played Settlers of Catan until 2am each night, and played soccer. One whole wing of the dining room is a great computer network set up with 3 PC's and 4 laptops. All of them are on a network sharing internet and files or software!! Loving it!! I cooked dinner last night with help from my bro Jono and we cooked Chicken Fajitas. A few of us went to town to watch the league but that was kinda disappointing! Tonight we are going to the beach to have a bonfire. gotta go do dishes!

More snow but warm and sunny!

Sunday morning we had a bit more snow on the tops. Coronet Peak had snow on the top of the trails. It's been the most awesome sunny days here and the lake looks superb. Yesterday and today are around 20 degrees and I'm wearing t-shirt and shorts for the first time since I've been here!! Settling into the job well and getting heaps done. I have a huge list that I am working through and am excited about the challenges and the progress made. So far any spare time has been spent watching cricket or rugby or Lost (best drama currently on TV), usually doing some paperwork at the same time. I need to start making a list of things I want to do while I am here. Milford Sound for sure, Deer Park, walk around the peninsula, Jet boating, learn to snowboard. Have found a soccer team so off to my first training tonight, hope to get heaps of games in. Forgot to put in my last blog that on my way down here 2 weeks ago I saw a Hummer!! It would be the first Hummer I have seen in NZ. It was black and was heading north somewhere around Greymouth. Really looking forward to family reunion in 9 days time. I'm flying up to Auckland to meet up with everyone for a week in the Bay of Plenty. Miss everyone in Nelson and wish someone would come and visit me!! Well its lunch time and I'm hungry...

Queenstown gets snow!!!

Monday was a warm sunny day in Nelson so in t-shirt and shorts I left for Queenstown. The WRX was packed from front to back right to the ceiling with stuff! 800kms and exactly 8.5 hours later I arrived in Queenstown which was considerably colder. Then yesterday was freezing and I wore a fleece all day! We have had the fire going the past 2 nights. I'm just looking out my window right now at the view across the lake and the clouds have just lifted off the mountains up behind Queenstown and yes there is snow!!!! It arrived just this morning!!! So its not much but bring on winter festival!! Well I'm learning heaps about the job and last night started taking phone calls. I start for real next week. Am looking forward to upgrading the office systems with a new laptop and some specially designed software for all our bookings etc. I will also get a new digatal camera to play with and a new cell phone! Fun! I have a large 4 bedroom house here all to myself so I'm hoping to have lots of you come and stay sometime.

Queenstown is cold already!

Arrived here on Monday evening in shorts and t-shirt!! But its freezing cold here!! Feels like it should be snowing already. Learning heaps about the job--I start for real next week. The trip down was 800kms and it took me 8.5 hours with only 1 stop for petrol in Franz Josef. Petrol here was $1.43/litre!

Change!

Yay!! finished work yesterday. Packing up today yet again! Seems like I only just moved in here. It's a very rainy Good Friday here in Nelson. Going to be wet all weekend. Had a farewell BBQ last nite. Moving on Monday!!

Lake Wakitipu on road to Glenorchy 

The view from balcony of my house in Queenstown--nice eh?--you better come visit! 

My cafe in Wanaka! 

the beautiful south

I'm in queenstown and have just driven out to Glenorchy for a look. Been drizzling and its colder than Nelson! Looked over the camp this morning and had an information overload on how to operate camp. I met one of the board members--Henk and he's great! He has just got the new website online and wants me to help get the camp admin systems all computerized and made simple yet professional. Yippee!! Just the sort of challenge I love! Also saw their church and yes they use powerpoint/multimedia. I may help them out with that too. But my first priority will be the camp and getting that all figured out. I'm off to Henks for dinner soon--venison sausages. Yesterday had a great drive down the coast in the WRX--will put some pics up when i get home. drove 830kms all up. Picked up an Israeli hitchhiker in Ross and dropped him in Wanaka where I had dinner before driving the Crown Range road to Queeenstown. This is a windier road but of course the sub loved it!! Then all of a sudden you get to the top and you are way up high and you look south and could see the lake and the lights of Queenstown. The sky was still light down thru the hills above the lake but had orange and colours in it. Looked awesome. Coming down the hill was fun--real steep and heaps of hairpin bends.

Queenstown!

Yep I'm off to Queenstown! I have accepted the position as temporary manager of Lakeland Park Recreation and Accommadation Centre in Queenstown. http://www.lakelandpark.co.nz This is while they find new permanent managers. I expect to move down there Easter weekend and be there for 2-3 months. I am driving down this Friday for the weekend to check it out and meet some of the board members. I did stay there last June so have seen it before. I'm excited about this but also a little nervous cause I don't know anyone and don't know too much about the job yet. After this weekend I should have a good idea tho. Opportunities like this don't come along too often! I'm looking forward to putting all my head knowledge and experience of camping into practice. It has been wasting away for the past 3 years now. Seems hard to get recognized in your community.

Touch!!

Tonight was the touch finals. We won our semi 5-2 and so came up against the same team we lost to in last years final. They have remained unbeaten all season. Gapesy had pulled a hamstring in the semi and Cam left for Bible College during the week so we were down on players a little. But what an awesome final!! It was the last game of the night (8pm) and so there were quite a few spectators on the sideline. They were pretty much all cheering for us! As the game progressed it became more and more intense. Both teams scored fairly early but by halftime they were ahead. Just before halftime I had run thru from dummy-half but my long pass to Scott in the in-goal area went to ground. Second half I felt like my body was ready to play and the intensity also picked up. Touches are now allowed to be pushes so temperatures were rising. One of the opposing players swore when he dropped a ball and the referee gave us a penalty for it. The 3 referees had a conference and decided that him and one of our players had to go to the sin-bin. Dan had been holding someone from the other team. Well they got the numbers mixed up and so I ended up going to the sin-bin instead of Dan! This meant 5 on each team and the crowd cheered me as I ran to the sin-bin! When I got back from the 1 minute in the sin-bin the adrenaline was flowing and the games extreme pace seemed to pick up even more. Then Eamon was holding someone and then argued with the referee and then got sent off! The other team all started laughing when he got sent off so we got a penalty! So we had to play 5 against 6. I was marking 2 guys on the wing and the winger just got past me and scored in the corner. The final score was 5-1. It was one of the best games I remember playing. Loved it!! Hoping they start a supertouch league so we get intense games like this more often.

We dont know how lucky we are!

Last weekend was a perfect reminder of why Nelson is the best place on this planet. Especially when its summer time and hot!! Its been extra hot here lately but there are so many ways and places to keep cool! Friday nite i finished work early (cause it was hot!) and went to my uncle and aunties place for a swim and then a BBQ dinner eaten outside. My brother Jono was still there on his visit and my sister jo and her family are still there too. Watched cricket and rugby 7's and then played games. Saturday I met Jono and Jo and family at Rabbit Island for a swim and we taught Nikki and Melanie to catch waves on the body board. Then off to play beach volleyball in the afternoon, then a swim at Tahuna beach which was like bathwater and hundreds of people there. 6pm and I'm still wet but now on my way to Rabbit Island again to meet up with Scott for a waterski. Had a waterski but after squashing my finger trying to get up on 1 ski I again went to uncle and aunties for another BBQ dinner, more rugby 7's and a game of Cranium. Home to bed again and then Sunday do it all over again!! Started with church, then up to uncle and aunties for another outdoor meal(lunch) and then off to play beach volleyball again. An awesome weekend in such a beautiful place!

Hot Hot Hot!

Its 11pm and still 29 deg Celsius inside. There isnt much cool air coming in the wide open window so will be hard to sleep again tonite. Today was the second hot hot day in a row. Over 30 deg with very very intense sun. Had 2 swims today after work--one at the beach and one up the river. for pics of the sports camp i went to on the weekend check out www.hopesportscamp.blogspot.com

Last Saturday afternoon at Kaiteriteri beach

Lunch at Moutere Hills Vineyard 

Lest we forget!

Me with the champion team trophy from sports camp 2004. 2005 camp is in 2 weeks! Bring it on! 30 degrees here today--went to the beach all day yesterday and been up the river today after church. BBQ's in the evenings and watching plenty of cricket. You can't beat summer in Nelson!

Wellington trip

Check out these pics from last weekends trip to Wellington. Was fun!!

The Lynx ferry shoots up some huge spray leaving the Marlborough sounds