Walk This Way

We watched this family of geese waddle down to the sea and go for a swim. There was lots of wildlife. We watched seals playing in the water and a small dolphin swam past me as I was swimming. 

Swimming

James swam all afternoon. I had a swim too. The water was quite mild. 

Beer in the Sun

Tumbledown Bay

The beach is a mix of white and volcanic black sand which makes interesting patterns in the wind.

Tracy and Tara

Tara is visiting to say goodbye before she returns to Scotland. We took her to Tumbledown Bay. Hopefully she will realise how mad she is to leave all this behind!

Kaitorete Spit

Summer is here so today we went to the beach. The southern bays are great for swimming and the view from the drive are great. This is Kaitorete spit which separates Lake Ellesmere from the Pacific Ocean.

The beach on the seaward side is Birdlings Flat  where we got the stones for our garden. 

Australasian crested grebe/kāmana

We saw this grebe nesting on the shore of Lake Lyndon. 

Fishing with Mum

James had a go with Mum. Although we didn't catch anything it was a nice day out. 

Lake Hawdon

Big James is a keen fisherman but there was nothing biting today. 

Fishing Trip

Today we are going for fishing up in the Canterbury high country near Cass. 

A & P Show

This is the view of the show grounds from the top of a ferris wheel. 

Bungee Jumper

There were loads of rides for the kids. James had great fun on the Bungy trampolines. 

Race

Actually the drunk guy in the sombrero is actually a Canadian lumberjack who holds the world record for pole climbing. He also has the unlikely but awesome name of Stirling Hart.

He and a Kiwi lumberjack had a race to the top. It was like watching a squirrel climb a tree. The Canadian won easily, He climbed to the top and dropped back down in 13 seconds. The poor Kiwi wasn't even half way up at that point. 

Pole Dancing

At the top (60 ft high) he cracked open a tinny and swayed around on the top and then dropped all of his climbing equipment. Then while goofing around he fell off and everyone gasped as he slid to safety tied to one of the guy ropes.

James thought it was brilliant. He laughed non stop.  

I'm a Lumberjack...

Another highlight was the pole climbing contest. This guy did a great act by staggering around pretending to be a drunk tourist. Then after being kicked out he sneaked back and started to climb the pole while the officials tried to talk him down.

Bullocks!

Shearing

Next we watched a sheap shearing test between New Zealand and Australia. It was taken very seriously by all involved. First we all had to stand while the Australian and then the New Zealand national anthem were sung. Next the four contestants (2 Kiwis, 2 Aussies) got down to business using manual cutters, no powered clippers here.

The officials were all in shirts and ties, electronic timers and scoreboards were used and a commentator kept us informed about the 'action'.

In the end the two kiwis won by a mile and the last  poor sheep that got sheared by the second Aussie was covered in nicks from his sloppy work! 

More Chopping

I could have watched this all day. 

Careful With That Axe...

I talked to a few of the competitors who let me hold one of the axes. They were polished shining steel with razor sharp edges. Not a bit like my cheapo axes from the warehouse. 

Wood Chopping

This was the highlight of the day for me. I never thought watching people chop wood could be so entertaining bit it was brilliant. This old guy looked must have been in his 60s (at least) but he couldn't half swing an axe. 

Drag Racing Tractors

Only in New Zealand.

These hot rod modded tractors have 1000 hp engines and drag giant concrete weights behind them as they race each other. The noise is incredible.

Tractor

This week is show week in Canterbury and for the first time ever I decided to visit the A and P show. I never thought it would be my kind of thing but I had a great time.

James loves tractors and there were hundreds of them.