A few days off

Posted on Thursday 22 November 2007 at 07:15 - Post Comment

Today is the final day of leave for me.  I've had the last 2 days off too, as Mum and Dad are now back from their NZ tour, and we have been having fun and frolicks as we build up to their departure back to the UK on Monday.

Yesterday we spent the entire day on the Tranz Alpine - a 4 hour train journey from ChCh over the Southern Alps to Greymouth on the West Coast.  Coincidentally it was the service's 20th anniversary that day, and so the place was flooded with reporters and cameras and the like.  It was pretty exciting!

The train spends an hour travelling the Canterbury plain to get to Springfield (no, The Simpsons don't live there!) where it then starts a one hour climb up to a height of over 700 metres above sea level to reach Arthurs Pass - the highest station in NZ.  The views were stunning, and I find it hard to comprehend how harsh it must have been for the gangs that built it - especially in the depths of winter.

After Arthurs Pass it is all downhill for a couple of hours to arrive in Greymouth in time for lunch.  A quick feed and then 1 hour later we are back on the train for the four hour trip back to ChCh.  For a long day it really passed quickly - and it was just briliant. 

This is the view on the way up to Arthurs Pass:

The train on it's way into one of the 8 tunnels:

And us on our arrival in Greymouth, on the river bank.  The sign that visitors see (behind us)?  'Sewage Outlet - don't swim or fish here'.  Nice! :

The weekend before mum and dad arrived was a long weekend as Friday was 'Canterbury Day'.  We went to Addington races on the Friday which was a great laugh.  Didn't win anything but it was a great relaxing day and we really enjoyed spending time with a few of Toni's work friends and their partners.   After the races we headed back to ours for drinks and a BBQ, and had a great time chatting and relaxing.  Just what the doctor ordered:

T, at the races and lookin' gorgeous:

Then on Saturday we went to the Drag racing at Ruapuna raceway.  A first for me, it was absolutely mental.  Periods of bordeom pierced with short jolts of pure adrenaline.  As well as the top fuel dragsters (which were mental) they had slam doors and all sorts of other stuff.  You even got to walk the pits and chat to the crews.  Talk about dedication!  Poeple put their fortunes and lives into the 6 seconds it takes them to do a 1/4 mile at speeds over 300kms/hr.  Some of the machines there cost over $1000 just to start them up, let alone get a run out of them! 

Anyway - here's a couple of the ones I liked most.  This one did the 1/4 in less than 8 seconds. That is QUICK!

And I love biking, but after watching these nutcases, you won't catch me on one of these any time soon. Massive rear tyres, in excess of 400hp, nitrous and a long wheel base, make drag bikes about as stable as Michael Jackson.  I'll take circuit racing any day!

Saturday evening and we were off to Christchurch Casino again - this time to catch Op Shop.  Again - for free!  We got there and the place was jammed.  Making use of Kiwi politeness I 'excuse me'd' and 'sorry, can I just squeeze through'd' our way through the throng right to the front!  And I have to say, the band were great.  They had played at Addington Raceway while we were there the day before, and I had had a chat with all four of them on an autograph hunt.  Sound blokes, and a great vibe.  The place was absolutely heaving when they got underway, and we had a good old boogie whilst they did their stuff.  Much fun!  Here's lead singer Jason doing his thing:

Then on Sunday we went out to Rolleston to inspect our new fence, and go to a 'Pot Luck Lunch' being held by Gary and Justine.  This is when you take either a starter, a main, or a desert, at your own whim.  This means that once everyone has arrived you can have either 10 deserts and no mains or vice versa.  However, this time it was a good balance with some great food.  Yummy!  The weather was fantastic, and we were all running around the place playing rugby and frisbee etc.  After the food etc came the icing on the cake - almost literally.  Just by chance, an ice cream van turned the corner and Gary grabbed fortune by the throat and invited it to join us - so it drove onto the section and we all queued up.  Bizarre, but very welcome!

After all of that, it was a welcome break to go back to work for a couple of days!

Now it's Friday again, and we are tonight going to my work Christmas do whilst Mum and Dad head up to Hanmer.  We will be joining them early doors tomorrow, and are looking forward to that.  Then it's back home and prepare for their departure on Monday.  Can't believe they've been here 6 weeks - how time flies!