Little River Rail Trail

More photos from the summer holidays. The Little River Rail Trail runs along the route of a disused railway from the edge of Christchurch to Little River on Banks Peninsula. It was a bit long for the boys to do the whole trail so we loaded up the bikes and drove to Birdlings Flats then cycled a 20K round trip with ice-cream in Little River.
The beach at Little River

The boys set off

Lake Forsyth

At Little River

Otukaikino Wetland

Today we went on another walk, this time a little closer to home just a short drive to the other side of the city. The Otukaikino Wetland is a swamp area near the Northern Motorway that is slowly being returned to a native wetland. It is supposed to be a haven for birds but in the face of three noisy boys they were conspicuously absent. However, there was still some wildlife to look at.

Some dragonflies

The boys spot something interesting

Finlay has a rest as his brothers disappear in the distance

Arthur's Pass

Yesterday we took a drive into the mountains, stopping at Arthur's Pass and walking some of the tracks around the village. We haven't managed to see as much of NZ as we'd like in the last few years but now that Finlay is in good health we can get out and enjoy what's on offer.

First we went on a short walk to a waterfall just off the road, then we took a longer walk up a hill on the edge of the village to the Devil's Punchbowl waterfall.

Driving past Castle Hill (Narnia) on the way

 The mountains from the Waimakariri

Avalanche Creek waterfall

Devil's Punchbowl waterfall

Finlay strides up the track

Lake Pearson

Some Kea come to see us off from the car park

More shaking

Since just before Christmas we have had a series of sizeable aftershocks in Christchurch. We are all fine and the house has suffered no new damage. The shakes are continuing with the city getting a couple of sleepless nights as we are all woken with jolt after jolt but really nothing to worry about. While some suburbs in the east were hit hard yet again, enduring more damage to homes and streets the extent of our loss was limited to my lunch......

But luckily the police were on hand to sort things out!

Christmas Snow

Thw weather over Christmas has been great. Lots of long sunny days. Probably the best christmas weather since we came to NZ.

The trouble being it's hard to get into the festive spirit without snow. Even the christmas TV adverts have snow in them!

But, undeterred by the scorching temperatures, we set off to Hagley Park to get the festive experience in a snow globe!!

The boys loved being in the snow even if it wasn't the real stuff and as it was sponsored by Cadbury they got some chocolate to keep the smile on their faces all the way home.