HAWKS VS ST MARYS

Riley's old team St Mary's came to Katherine on Saturday to play the Katherine Hawks as part of the Darwin football competition.
It was another very hot day and i don't know how those boys play in that heat, the game started at 2pm so it was very humid and hot.

The Hawks lost but they played hard against St Marys who is on top of the ladder and a very tight group but it was all needed experience and can only help the boys improve. Riley leaves for boarding school on Monday morning, i hand him back to his wonderful aunties to look after. It's been lovely having him around for the last 2 months, but time to head back to the salt mine, he will be back in 8 weeks so thats not too bad.

AUSTRALIA DAY IN KATHERINE

We dragged ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8am and by 9am Mia and i were at the Town Council for the Australia Day ceremony on the lawn, everyone was there and after the flag raising we all went inside to begin the awards service.
Mia's netball team won the Katherine Times junior sports team award which was fantastic, they were so happy, she collected the award with fellow team mate and friend Chicarnee. After a lovely feed of Aussie food put on by the council we adjourned later in the afternoon to the Sport and Rec club for an afternoon in extremely hot weather of races and games. This is always a hit with the kids.

Mia and some friends entered the lawn mower race and came second.

Then it was the egg tossing comp with most people ending up with egg all over them.

The tug of war between the girls and the boys saw the girls win the first round,and the boys who possibly felt humiliated by this, cheated and bought in more man power which saw them win the next 2 rounds.

The local fire truck showed up and squirted everyone which was lovely because it was so hot.

Diva and Rosie Horton entered the small dog race but didn't win. Diva is still recovering from her broken leg so she was not in top form but next year i think the dish licker trophy is ours !

A good day was had by all.

BALI

The children have recently been to Bali with their father while i was trying not to get lost in New Zealand. They had a wonderful time when the old man wasnt nanna napping. Mia hung on the beach looking stunning with her newly plaited hair do.
Riley attracted some birds, as usual they were the feathered variety.
Mia snagged herself a boyfriend, isnt he gorgeous ?
she was a hit with the birds.
They went snorkelling and saw lots of pretty fish

Riley hung at the bar with all his mates...........so cute

Mia had a pedicure with some help from her fish friends

Riley learnt to surf and ride the wave in without falling off.....so cute

Riley and Bruce managed to impress the girls with their funny hats....not really.

although this lady looks impressed,

and Mia did what you should do on a holiday in Bali, get your nails done.

CHRISTCHURCH

It rained all day today, i had to buy an umbrella to keep the camera dry. First off i walked into the city which took about 20mins and stopped to sit and study my map when a tram pulled up in front of me and the conductor jumped off and said $17 and you can ride the tram for 2 days, hop on hop off, sold, from then on he called me miss NT.
i rode the tram around the loop

Christchurch is full of flowers, it is so pretty.

my first hop off was the Art Gallery because i wanted to see the exhibition by this man which i had read about in the paper.

it was amazing. Life like sculptures, some were huge, a lot of them naked but absolutely fascinating, i loved it.

you were not allowed to take photos with a flash which is ok because i just put my camera onto landscape setting and the flash doesn't come up, but there was a bus load of tourists who didn't know how to turn the flash off on their cameras, no word of a lie i must have adjusted 30 cameras. It started because i helped a lady who was next to me in the line and next thing everyone else was asking me to do there's. an American gentleman asked me how much i charged ! he was serious. So funny.

i went on a wander through the museum and came across this replica of a house based on a real one in Bluff. The couple who lived here, Fred and Myrtle collected Paua shells. Fred used to polish them up and when he had no room in his shed he had a habit of leaving them on the lounge room floor. Myrtle eventually told him to pick them up because she couldn't vacuum properly so he started hanging them on the walls which soon became full. Word got out and people would call in to see all the shells, then bus loads would come. Anyway i watched a movie on them, they were married 72 years ! when they died the family loaned the collection to the museum who built the replica house to put them in. It was so lovely going through this house...did you go through it Clare ? gave me goose bumps.

some of their collection of Paua shells.

i then went on a walk through the Botanic Gardens and even though it was pouring rain it was still so beautiful, the pictures aren't great because I'm holding the brolly in one hand and the camera in the other and the camera is heavy.

below is the Avon river which you can normally take a Punt ride along but because of the rain they were cancelled.

Tomorrow is my last day in New Zealand, did you know the Dutch gave New Zealand it's name ? Sealand, land surrounded by sea. I fly out at 4,30pm and i will be sad to leave. New Zealand is beautiful, extremely clean, the best accommodation i have ever stayed in, well organised, they think of everything, a very easy and relaxing place to drive around and explore and the friendliest people, i would love to come back.

Ciao from lovely Christchurch.

BANKS PENINSULA

I spent a very enjoyable day exploring the Peninsula and a lovely town called Akaroa. It's very French, street names and themes, buildings, all set on the waterfront with lots of art and craft shops and food. I had a lovely lunch Al Fresco of fish and salad with some mushroom and asparagus, really nice.
Of course i spent the day driving up and down mountains, the little car only does 40 on the hills so i had to often move over when i could to let the 50 cars behind me pass.
These were taken in Akaroa

Akaroa from above, i moved over to let the cars behind me go and decided i may as well take photos while i waited for them to pass....it took awhile.

I am starting to think that the woman in the Navman GPS thing i have, is trying to kill me. A few times today she said " turn right in 300 metres " i was driving over a mountain and to my right was a sheer drop to the South Pacific ocean, she tried to get me to turn right a few times. Sometimes it pays to ignore her.

i ended the day on the beach in Christchurch looking at the South Pacific. Weather was perfect today, no jackets required but not hot.

Ciao from Christchurch. Only 4 more sleeps then it's back to reality.

MOUNT COOK TO CHRISTCHURCH

I left the beautiful Mount Cook today and drove to Christchurch. The drive was pretty uneventful. I stopped on Lake Tekapo to eat and read the paper, just look at that sky, it was amazing. The papers here are full of the Brisbane flood...poor buggers.
The entire drive today was so windy, the little car was being pushed across the road and i had to grip the steering wheel, very cold wind. My Navman navigated me right into Christchurch to the motel which is within walking distance of the city centre and the Botanical gardens which will be handy when i hand the car back.
from my room i had this gorgeous sunset, almost looks like it's on fire.

I have rung the kids and they are having a ball in Indonesia, Mia has a head full of tiny plaits and Riley is learning to surf, Mia said she is also really good at bartering ! Tomorrow i explore Banks Peninsula. Ciao from Christchurch

MOUNT COOK, HOOKER VALLEY WALK

My goal to walk 7 trails today was reduced to one because i slept in, and by the time i got going it was nearly 11am...oh well. I drove out to the campground which is the start of the Hooker trail and look at the view from the carpark, stunning.

I am so stylish. 5 mins into the walk i came across the memorial to all the people who have died climbing Mt Cook, there is a lot of them.

This is an idea of the terrain that i had for the walk, not hard going, only a few steep bits but very rocky and gravely, you had to watch the ground and not the scenery or you would trip which i did a lot.

This was the first of 2 swing bridges. I try to time it so that I'm the only one on the bridge because with 2 it really does swing which i don't like.

This was the 2nd swing bridge further up the trail, the path clung to the cliff.

About this point i heard a man behind me say " are we there yet " his kids told him to cut it out, so funny.

We had a board walk for a little of the way but i found this harder to walk on because my boots kept catching on the gap between the planks and i would trip.

this is a hut that the hikers who over night use, there are lots throughout the park

It's right beside a lovely creek.

The path got very narrow at times.....it cant be far now !

and there it was, ice bergs and lots of them, all different sizes.

they were floating on the murky water under a blue sky and it just looked really strange.

some floated close to the bank and we could touch them. they felt like.....ice

the glacier covered in moraine. This is a different one to the one i saw yesterday even though they look similar.

the walk up here was hot in the valley but when the path climbed up we got a lovely cold wind

my boot on a piece of glacier ice.

i ate my sandwich here and lingered for about an hour then noticed that the weather was changing so i headed back. I left at 11am and got back to the car at 3.30pm. My left heel is painful but other than that i had a gorgeous day.