Blogs from Canterbury Plains, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

it seemed to me while travelling in australia that i had some bad luck. well, let's forget about it - because i got plenty of luck recently where i needed it most. with skiing!!! i flew to christchurch, same afternoon i hired a car and skiing equipment (fat skis, poles and boots). before my arrival, there was a three day storm over new zealand which left behind some 50-100cm of fresh snow. next day, due to plenty of new snow, only Mt. cheeseman was open on the 1st August, when i decided to test my equipment. second day it cleared up and i had a beautiful day in Porters. And then the following week in Craigieburn, the biggest NZ's off-piste skiresort!!! 3 days of OK skiing (good snow, average visibility), 3 days of perfect skiing (fresh ... read more

I am busy with work at FAR and have taken a job at the local pub to start the get out of Christchurch fund. Any and all donations to the fund will be appreciated;-) I am getting very itchy feet as a result of staying in the same place for so long so I am trying to make the most of my time off to stop me just running for it now!! I have been to see some of the buskers at the international busking festival that was here a couple of weeks ago. Some where amazing, there were some acrobatic acts on the aerial rig in the park that you would play to see and others that where really bad who you would pay to make go away!! I have also been trying to do ... read more

Ok, so i know i am exactly a month out of date, but Merry Christmas and a Happy New year anyway. i would say that i have been very busy, but that would mostly be a lie, i just kept forgetting to update my blog. But now i have finished work entirely i felt i should make the effort before i move on to the next adventure... Anyhew, Christmas was great. On Christmas Eve i did the traditional last minute shopping (which i have actually never done before!), did lots of baking as presents for the guys at the farm, packed my bags and headed for Paul and Jo's house. It was beautifully hot so promising to be a good traditional Kiwi Christmas. The first hour or so i spent with their girls, Maddie 5 and ... read more

The days have been cascading by and suddenly I'm staring at the calendar realizing that August is over. At home the leaves will soon be starting to turn, and I should be browsing the shelves for my new textbooks. Instead, I'm staring out the window, watching the weather turn warmer. My summer is ending, as spring is starting. I spent yesterday afternoon building an igloo. It's actually quite a challenging endeavor and I'm not sure whether my help was appreciated. Apparently, good igloo builders can whip one up in about an hour. I spent about that amount of time trying to get one block sitting straight. Every time I cut one side to make it fit with the corresponding block, the angle on the other side of the block would have magically changed. By the ... read more

In hopes that not everyone has given up on my travelblog I am writing a brief summary of the past few weeks. I haven't been updating because I've had a run of bad luck and haven't particularly wanted to report on it. However, purging my pent up frustration might be therapeutic, therefore I'll sum up the string of unlucky events: 1. My beloved car Mark wouldn't start one fine morning. A mechanic who was up at the hill took a quick look at it and reckons that I've broken the cam belt. Apparently, I've driven with a damaged belt just long enough to completely destroy the whole engine. So, at the moment I'm figuring out how to get poor Mark to the nearest junkyard without having to pay for a tow truck. Normally, I would ... read more