Peel Forest

Last weekend we finished work early, picked the boys up from school and preschool and headed 2 hours south of Christchurch to the Peel Forest. This is a Dept of Conservation area with lots of tracks to walk, with some heading off into the mountains above. It is near the Rangitata river which is good for salmon fishing and was used for some of the Lord of the Rings scenes.

After dinner at the village pub we headed to a bach (holiday cottage) we had rented for the weekend.
It was a rustic cottage set back from the road in the bush, completely secluded by the surrounding trees.
The view from the deck

 The house nestled in the bush

 

The next day, after messing about near the bach we set off on one of the short treks nearby. The tracks are all well signposted and give generous approximate times next to each walk so we can pick one suitable for all the boys.

 All smiles as the boys head off on a trek

 Negotiating one of the river crossings as Cameron has safely made it to the other bank

Cameron picks his way across another stream

 Emily Falls (renamed Cameron Falls after a less than successful river crossing!)

 Cameron taking in the nature

Later we went to another part of the forest for a short stroll along the Big Tree walk that took us to, strangely enough, a big tree, a Totara.
The big tree

Then back at the bach the boys played in the garden, down by the river and up in the treehouse while we relaxed and watched the Bellbirds, Waxeyes, Fantails and others that flitted around the garden.
Ewan makes his way up the treehouse

 The rest of the boys at the top

 A Waxeye grabs a bite

 

The next day we headed off on another walk in another part of the forest. This one started with a long stretch uphill but Finlay was determined to do it all himself even if some of the steps were almost as big as him. At the end a short walk up a river bed brought us to another waterfall.

The boys make their way up the stairs

 Finlay charges up the riverbed

 A well-earned rest

The last few months

It's been quite a while since the last update. We haven't been as active over winter but here's a few things we've done in the last few months.

Christchurch's main rugby stadium, having just had a $60 million upgrade for the rugby world cup, was damaged beyond repair by the earthquakes. So a new stadium was built for this season's rugby at a site not far from us. They held an open day back in April which the boys went along to.

The boys cast an eye over the stadium

 Finlay puts in a tackle on the playing surface

 

Christchurch is home to the Antarctic operations of several countries and has a visitor centre near the airport.
The kids watching some swimming penguins

Finlay chilling out

Then finding somewhere a little warmer

While his brothers enjoy the ice slide

In June we had a large dump of snow in the city closing schools for a couple of days.

Other than that we have just been getting on with life as the city slowly gets back to its feet. So far that has mostly involved demolition with very little building going on but with all the empty spaces being left there is room for some clever people to have some fun.

With all the vacant spaces in the central city parking is no longer a problem!

The boys playing on a digger playing piece on a huge Monopoly square

An bronze artwork of two bulls on top of pianos adds a bit of the surreal to the surrounding rubble

An afternoon at the beach

Making the most of the last of the summer we went to the beach last month

Sydney

Last week I went to a conference on human genetics in Sydney. It meant a 4am alarm call on a Saturday morning followed by 5 days mainly in a conference hall. Hard going but a really good conference and it was in Sydney!!

On the Saturday we (there were 5 of us from Christchurch) wandered around Sydney then got a ferry across to Manly.
Sunrise over the cloud filled valleys as we left NZ

 On the way to Manly

 Manly Beach

The Conference was in the convention centre in Darling Harbour, with Ibis wandering around on the grass outside and a water park where hundreds of families turned up on the Sunday. Sadly we had to sit inside while everyone else played!

Darling Harbour by day

 and by night

After meeting Alan Mitchell at his flat in Double Bay, I took a run in the morning out to Bondi Beach.

Circular Quay on our last night