Who's Driving?

James and Emma share the driving duties.

Two steering wheels, now how's that going to work?!

What Big Teeth You Have!

This guy (the runt of the pack!) stalked up and down above our heads the whole time, dripping saliva on our heads. I wasn't going to argue with him.

Hmmm Humans....

These cats are not hand reared and are not even remotely tame. I could tell they regarded us as food. It was quite an experience being so close to a huge hungry carnivore. The guttural sound the lions made as they waited for food was quite unnerving.

Lion Encounter

Big James treated us to a 'Lion Encounter' which means we got in this cage on wheels and drove into the lion enclosure during feeding time.

Very Jurassic park.

Emma Makes a Friend

Feeding the giraffes was a highlight.

A Day at the Zoo

Orana park is a lovely zoo. We had a great day out.

Trashy

Tracy's sister Julie and her family are visiting. And where do I take them after they have travelled halfway round the world? The council tip of course.

Actually, we were on the way to the zoo and just needed to drop something off on the way, but it is worth a visit. The staff obviously have too much time on their hands and have built all sorts of interesting things out of the stuff people throw away.

Dandelion

A close up of the dandelion fountain in Victoria Park.

Clever Mum

James and Dad are very proud of you.

Joe Bennett

My sister will get a kick out of this. Joe Bennett is an ex-pat who lives in Lyttelton and writes humorous articles for the Press. He has written several books detailing his hitch-hiking trips around New Zealand and England. They are very funny and well worth a read but be warned he is the archetypal grumpy old git and he almost put my sister off from visiting here!

Joe was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony and he was absolutely brilliant. A typical joke - "Advice is like an STD, everyone enjoys passing it on but no-one wants to receive it".

Autumn

Today Tracy is graduating for the 4th time! She has just passed a certificate in adult teaching which she took as a part time course.

The ceremony was at the town hall and while we waited for the ceremony to begin James had a play in Victoria park. The leaves have just started to fall and he got to kick the leaves up for the first time.

Congratulations

Today is James and Sandra's 40th wedding anniversary so we celebrated with a lovely meal at Bon Bolli.

Kea in Flight

I love kea. They are the most intelligent species of parrot but they are not the most colourful. They are a drab khaki-green colour but under their wings is a flash of orange. I have been trying to catch this on film for years. This is my best shot to date.

Otira Gorge

This is the start of the climb through the Otira Gorge. The narrow pass through the mountains was surrounded by waterfalls, most of them temporary ones caused by the rain.

Otira River

The rain was still full on as we travelled back to Christchurch. Arthurs Pass is at its best in heavy rain. It makes for some spectacular sights.

Nikau Palm

I think I like the Nikau palm almost as much as I like ferns. This is New Zealands only native palm and in the south island it is mostly found on the northwest coast. It looks a bit like an inverted shuttlecock.

More Rain

Thats my boy, a bit of rain doesn't stop him. Actually we had real trouble keeping James and Annabell inside, they both wanted to play in the rain.

Ferns

Couldn't resist another photo of some ferns. The west coast is covered in 'em. They like rain.

The Pororari river lies at the bottom of a steep sided limestone canyon. It is real prehistoric looking. The BBC filmed 'Walking With Dinosaurs' here.

Porirari River Track

By afternoon the rain had eased a tad so we risked another walk along the Pororari river.

Last time we were here Tracy was very pregnant. This is a special place to both of us and it was great to share it with James and our friends.

It has been good seeing John and Tami again. We had a great couple of weekends together. James and Annabell got along really well. We will miss you guys!

Another Mural

For lunch we drove to Westport for a look see. Not much to report except this rather nice mural on the public toilets depicting a mining scene. The west coast was big for gold mining and still produces a lot of coal. I am very fond of murals.

The drive there and back was great: torrential rain and waterfalls pouring into the sea. The west coast at its wildest.

A Walk in the Rain

This weekend we caught up with John, Tami and Annabell at Punakaiki. We woke to torrential rain.

Oh well that's the west coast for you. We took the kids for a walk round the rocks and all got soaked, but they had a blast. James' wellies were full of water so it was all back to the apartment for some dry clothes.