Hello again. I didn't really finish off our Queenstown adventure and wanted to bring that to a finale with our trip up the cable car to indulge ourselves on the luge! It's one of the highlights of the town, shooting down steep concrete slopes on a tiny bit of plastic with brakes that work in the opposite way to any norm! We love it and had 3 runs each. I'll try to upload a video later.....in fact I might try to upload a couple of videos. Never tried but, heh, ...

Hopefully the last fire update and the next blog will be about the fun we've had! We woke yesterday morning to a smoke filled cottage and ash falling on the outside vegetation. This was just too much for us and we decided that it was too dangerous. We spoke to the owners who have refused to refund anything of our 9 night booking as 'it's their busy time and they need the money'. Never mind that the accommodation is hazardous to health! We booked another cottage...

Thank you all for the well wishes. The night passed without incident. At 9 this morning everybody in the locality went to a meeting with civil defence, police and the national fire service. We were told that they had managed to get around the perimeter of the fire overnight, 22 miles and, with light winds forecast today, hoped to secure it with firebreaks and chemicals. So we headed off for the day and had a great time. As we drove back into the city it was obvio...

An update rather sooner than expected. As we were leaving Queenstown we had word that Nelson was in a state of emergency with bush fires. As we landed the fires in the hills behind the city were obvious. Shortly after landing, while we waited for our rental car, a new fire started.....right next to where our cottage was. Choppers could be seen heading there with those huge fire buckets swinging beneath them. This was taking firefighting away from the main area. W...

Been a while....sorry! I spent some of last week at Helen and Alan's and cycled so many kms that I felt I might lose all feeling in my ***. It was great to reacquaint myself with Nelson life. This mainly involves coffee and cake.....pretty much like Chorleywood life really but with amazing views and sunshine. Early morning walks are also a feature of life with Helen and Hetta. Actually, walks just don't quite cut it. Think route marches up vertical inclines at su...