Rangiora, near Christchurch

Just like home! Mother you'd be disgusted to see me walk in and flop on the sofa like I did but it was so lovely to be out of a hostel for a while and be made to feel so welcome!!

On Thursday I woke up later than planned. the bed was sooo comfy...guess where it came from....bloody cranham! can't go anywhere eh! Cyd said she bought it at an auction there with mum and Angie. ring any bells? I spent the rest of the day helping Cyd in the garden and doing the ironing. David came home to find me tangled up in the red currants earning my keep! After tea we headed to the beach with tiggy and jack which was lovely. this also have me the opportunity to show the Warners my excellent surfing skills. that evening I cosied in to my cranham bed and read a copy of cotswold life from 1998!

On Friday we pottered round the garden again and had a leisurely morning. In the afternoon we did a quick trip round the shopping centre before meeting David at the cinema to see Skyfall. Still brilliant second time round. On the way home we had fish and chips. I have to admit that the breaded fish was much nicer than battered like back home!
highlight of the day: trying to get parked was a challenge as it was so busy, we thought about going up to the next level but there was one of those height barriers, I said to Cyd 'hmmm how tall are you?' '5ft 2'. 'not you silly, the car!!'
luckily we found a space on the ground floor!

On Saturday I was taken on a tour of the danger zone. it's strange to see, I really can't imagine how it would have felt to have been in the earthquake. we went to a small town called Sumner where we had a nice brunch on the sea front. You could see clearly where the cliff had fallen away and houses were left hanging on the edge. We also went to Lyttleton aka Stroud-on-Sea! and to a beautiful secluded beach. David cooked us a delicious beef curry for tea, followed by the usual evening procedure; tv and gin. a proper home from home. perfic!!

Sunday. D is for Danger.
David took me for a lovely drive of which I yawned all the way there and back. it was the car, not his company of course! we went to a place called 'something' creek where we went caving which was fab. something I thought I'd never do but having done it twice since being in New Zealand I've really enjoyed it. there's no squeezing through cracks or ducking under water which might change my mind! when you first walk in it's about waist deep but the majority of the water is up to your knees. On the way home we stopped for a pie, pies are huge in New Zealand, in popularity, not size! I had a can of fizzy pop too, apple and feijoa. it tasted a bit like sweet euythymal!! not unpleasant, just unusual!!
I spent the afternoon helping Cyd prepare food for the Christmas Eve party at their house. i made some sticky toffee cupcakes, ill post a pic of the recipe. such a treat to be making proper, yummy food again!
For tea I had a boiled egg. it was delicious! I haven't had an egg since I left mid October!!

Monday morning I (semi) helped David with trimming sheep feet. mostly opening and shutting the gate!! the heat was just to much though so we only did about half. I chalked up the remaining ewes and let them out for another day. I don't know if David's seen his new barbie sheep yet, they have big pink hearts on their backs :-)
After showering and trying to make myself a tad more presentable, the party began at 2ish. David and Cyd have lots of lovely friends. one of the first to arrive was Roma, Gill's 90 year old mother whom David calls romatron, or the tron. she informed me that a tron is a creature from outter space that is indestructible and lives forever!! she has recently moved in to a retirement home that the warners call Auschwitz and when calling Roma ask for 'pensioner 230'!!
Brendan and Gerald came with the miniature schnauzer, Lucas, who was hilarious and adorable at the same time!
Pat and Helen bought their dog Sam who politely wore his bow tie for the duration.
I also met Julie who comes from Somerset.
The driving age in New Zealand has just recently gone up from 15 to 16. terrifying! a car load of children (16 at a push!) arrived in a bright blue mini which one of them had just finished renovating. David took me for a soon down the road in the bean can, no wine was spilt; I'd say that was more down to my balancing skills than David's driving. I think a weekend of James Bond and mini driving took him back to his youth!! in the nicest way possibly of course!

On Christmas Day I woke to find a stocking on my door. very naught dazzer and Cyd! I had some Australian dollars, New Zealand sweets, a waterproof poncho, a box of tissues and an orange! I was very surprised at how many presents there were for me under the tree having not expected anything! Tiggy and Jack gave me a kiwi bird luggage tag. I had a lovely elephant scarf from my family. Angie and co kindly sent me some new underwear and David and Cyd gave me a pair of possum and merino wool socks which I very much look forward to using back home, don't think they're waterproof though!

We went next door to The Saltons' for lunch. I was very grateful for the roast turkey lunch (which obviously won't compare to mums when I get home in feb!) followed by mountains of puddings! they also kindly gave me some Jade earrings. We came home after lunch for a nap. afterwards I made the most of my last New Zealand rays on the decking with a book.
At 7.30 Cyd and I settled down to watch the borrowers accompanied by some grove farm sloe gin. only a hip flasks worth unfortunately but it was pretty well travelled!!

the following day i debated staying in bed and hoping to miss my flight! I eventually got up and packed my bag then sulked on the sofa with David.
en route to the airport we went into Christchurch. they really have made the best of a bad job. the new town centre is being developed; the shops are now in brightly coloured shipping containers. it's really inventive and has a great atmosphere. we then went to Gill and Rodney's (and Roma) for a mousetrap lunch (tomato sauce, cheese ham and onion grilled) followed by the Christmas cake that Roma and gill made and Cyd iced and decorated. oh. and a large gin from Rodney!

I had a 40 minute delay at the airport so caught up on blogging. on the plane I had a whole row of seats to myself so got my feet up and had a snooze.

See you in Sydney!