A Trip down South

I'm quite lucky really...I got to travel around South Island this week and work paid for it :-)

My new boss started on Monday and on Tuesday she decided we should go to South Island on Wednesday to get a few things sorted out. So we had a mad Tuesday trying to get the arrangements sorted and we were on our way early Wednesday.

It was a fantastic few days! We drove to Wellington and then took the ferry across to Picton.

From there we drove down to Christchurch with a brief stop in Blenheim and also Kaikoura - to take pictures of the seals right next to the road!

We had a full day of meetings in Christchurch on Thursday and then on Friday we got up at 5.30am (yep, you have read that right!) to attend the Dawn Parade as it was Anzac Day. It was an amazing experience and well worth getting up early for. It was held in Cathedral Square in Christchurch.

From there we spent some time looking around Christchurch and then headed South in our wee hire car towards Dunedin. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the war memorials with the wreaths on them which was fascinating. Sometimes it was the smallest of towns that had made the biggest of efforts.

We stopped in Timaru for a lunch meeting and in other various places along the way including Oamaru to see some penguins, Moeraki to see the curious boulders on the beach

and Shag Point to see some sea birds and penguins.

We arrived late into Dunedin on Friday night and had a busy day of meetings on Saturday before flying back to Wellington late Saturday night and driving back up to Palmy. A very busy few days but it was good fun and a very inspiring trip.

Please note: Unfortnately blogger doesn't seem too happy about uploading all my photos tonight so two will have to do for now and I may need to try again in a day or two to get the rest up for you.

Baking - part deux (sort of!)

I went back to basics with the baking this weekend...chocolate cornflake cakes - yum! A throwback to my childhood. I remember making these with my Mum when I was wee...except I was too much of a weakling to break up the chocolate (same goes today - G did it for me). And for those of you who think that is Smarties on top - you would be wrong...they are pebbles - how totally wrong is that name?! Even so, they are very yummy and such a comfort food! The chocolate is Belgian style and delish. G refuses to take any to work to eat for morning tea but will happily eat them at home. I have no shame and will be taking one to work with my packed lunch tomorrow!

And here's another photo for you - from a walk along the river last weekend:

The dog actually run straight into the water for like the first time ever!It was nice and sunny and we had a good walk. Didn't get out this weekend for a walk though because it's been so cold. We put the electric blanket on the bed today - that's how cold it's been. Freezing....it seemed to change so suddenly and it's not been a great week weather wise (unless you like heavy rain and chilliness). It did give me the perfect excuse to curl up on the couch and watch a DVD yesterday afternoon though while Graeme was out getting muddy at the soccer.

Hoping for a good week coming up - it's all change for me at work with a new Manager starting tomorrow and also it's a 4 day week due to ANZAC day on Friday. Fantastic - I'm ready for a long weekend!

Nelson day trip

I had to travel down to Nelson this week for work. I hadn't been before but had heard that it was lovely so as well as lugging all my work stuff there I also took the camera.

I hadn't taken pictures from a plane before so decided this week was as good a week to start. Here's my first glimpse of Nelson. It was very green...

There is only 1 direct flight from Palmy to Nelson each day so I had quite a convuluted journey. I left Palmy at 7.10am and flew to Christchurch then had 20 minutes to get to the gate for my flight to Nelson. Coming home I had a 25 minute stop (and a long walk from one gate to the next!) at Wellington. The landing and take off at Wellington was pretty rocky (which it was the last time I landed there...I think it has something to do with all the wind they get there!)

You can see from this picture that the water was a little rough.

I also got some great views of the Manawatu going and coming back (Manawatu is the region where the city of Palmerston North is). In this photo you can see the Manawatu river winding it's way out to sea.

That's all I have for you right now! It's been a tough couple of weeks but we're working our way through it. Hope you are all safe and happy :-)

I used to be good at baking, dammit!

I had grand plans.

I found my lost recipe after 3 years of searching (sporadically), I shopped for ingredients, I even got up reasonably early considering it's Easter (10am - very early for me on a day off). I have been talking all week about the awesome chocolate cake I was going to make for Easter....and this is what happened....

A good workman (or work woman) never blames his/her tools so I am not going to do that (although I'm wondering if the oven needs a service!) but I am blaming the ingredients...I swear self raising flour does not self raise here in NZ as well as it does back at the mother land.

I couldn't even get one half out of the tin - which is why I left it in there and decorated it (if it could be called that) where it was. And don't even get me started on the butter icing that leaked everywhere!

And the biggest travesty of all?....wait for it!....they do not sell writing icing in New Zealand....that is just so wrong on so many levels!

Despite the fact it's quite possibly the ugliest cake that ever lived - it's actually quite tasty so Graeme's not complaining and yes, I did give him permission to laugh. He has been warned though - I will be baking all month in search of some decent ingredients that make me an attractive looking cake!

Wherever you are this Easter, I wish you a safe and happy one with attractive baked goods!

HAPPY EASTER!

PS - I did it! 40 days without chocolate - woo hoo! And yes, I did eat half the bag of mini eggs this morning to celebrate!

Lake Garda, Italy

A new addition coming to our house in the near future...

...I bet that title got a few eyebrows raising!



Here's is the first picture of the new member of the Stalham-McCrae household:

We won it on Trade Me today and are just waiting to hear about when it'll be delivered. And then of course - it's a matter of working out how it works...and using it!

This is all part of my plan to look good in a wedding dress!

Maybe the next post will show a picture of the dog using it...if we can get him anywhere near it!

Thailand January 2008 Slideshow

Some holiday's pics for you...

The sun is shining today in Palmy but it's been a strange week or so of weather. It's been chilly, lashing with rain, windy and there have been a couple of thunderstorms. We have definetly had more then 1 season most days! The grass is finally beginning to look green again (instead of dead yellow!) after the rain. We are enjoying the summer and I have managed to avoid any serious sunburn so far which is good!

And on to some holiday snaps which I promised weeks ago. I have quite a few up on Facebook but realised that not everyone is on Facebook :-)

This first one is Koh Phi Phi Island in Thailand. We got a ferry from Phuket to Koh Lanta and stopped at Phi Phi for a couple of hours on the way. It was beautiful!
This one is a view of Hong Kong skyscrapers taken from Kowloon Park. Hong Kong was very clean and modern.

And finally, some town houses in Malcescine in Italy. I love the mix of colours and sizes!

We had quite a varied itinerary looking back at these pictures! What a mix of places to visit. We didn't get any scenic pictures in England or Scotland which is a shame but we were busy spending time with friends and family instead and it was dark most of the time we were there!

How comes it already feels like so long ago that we were on holiday?!