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 such speed that conversation becomes a threat to life! We went ratting (rats are a threat to the indigenous birds) but I didn't get too involved in emptying the traps. Matt...sorry to mention the dreaded 'i' word in connection with birds!

We went to Rabbit Island for a long walk and time of peace and contemplation for there has been great loss for all of us. The terrible storms that have caused such destruction in the area have, sadly, taken their toll on the island too. The sewage plant nearby has caused massive contamination of many of the picnic areas. When I think back to last Christmas and how well used these were it is sad. The beach is fine but there are large amounts of driftwood washed ashore. This being a creative part of the world, people have made amazing sculptures all along and turned a natural disaster into a thing of great beauty. The council are saying that it will take 10 years to repair all the damage from the storms. Everywhere I look I see land slips and mud.

Then I moved into Hetta's. One night I went out to Glenduan to stay with Gill and Bernd. They have also had horrendous consequences from the storms locally but their own property was not damaged. We had dinner on their balcony overlooking the sea and watched the sun set sipping champagne. I slept in a mossie net for the first time in my life! We've been in some pretty tropical places but it took a night on the beach out of Nelson to require a net!

On Saturday, Dom came to pick me up and take me to Blenheim for the weekend. I have had THE best time over there with him, Maggy, his wife, and their two billiant boys, Xavier and Raphael. Maggy's parents were also there and it was such a time of fun and relaxation. We played tennis and cards, walked and talked for hours. I was so sad to leave this afternoon and head back on the backpacker bus to Nelson. I challenged myself again because it's a pretty hairy drive over the mountain from Blenheim to Nelson and Dom had suggested I sit on the side away from the road edge but when I got on I decided to take the side with the views (and the sheer drops). Some members of my family will know that road and how scared I am of it....say no more!

Now I'm back at Hetta's but the gang are all away for the week so I have space and time to myself to read, swim, walk, cycle and just be. I'm looking forward to it. I'll put some photos up tomorrow at the internet cafe (more cake) but until then.....I miss you all 'in a good way' as someone put it to me recently. More when I get back to Oz next week.