45 Degrees South, 168 Degrees East

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A warm hello to all our friends and family waaay up north, and welcome to our newest blog from Queenstown, New Zealand.

We finished our last entry searching around for somewhere to live that wasnt a garage with a bed and a sofa in it, and after a couple of weeks searching through the local rags we spotted a cottage available to rent. Along we went for a viewing, and to our delight it was perfect for what we needed. It is a two bedroomed bungalow with a nice log fire in the living room. When lit, it makes you feel like it is actually winter your experiencing, especially whilst looking out at the snow capped mountains through the big glass doors at the front of the room. The view is even better than the last place, as the lake is only a five minute walk down the hill with the mountains behind. It also has a large garden with a stream running through it, a little bridge and plenty of trees which are all starting to bloom as the spring temeratures warm up. So, all in all, just what we wanted, and we moved in the next day.

Our landlady, Jean, is a friendly woman who has made us feel very welcome. She lives in a small flat attached to the back of the cottage, and unfortunately her husband died 6 months ago. She is always offering her help and is constantly telling us the washing machine will be fixed tomorrow, or the driveway is getting gravel put down very soon, but despite her eagerness to please she never manages to get round to it. We don't like to pester her due to her loss, so for the moment our underpants are washed in cold water and the drive remains muddy and wet. Jean does at least have some company, in the form of a dog named Zeus who has an on-off relationship with the dog we are looking after, Donk. Which leads us neatly onto our next paragraph.

A few weeks ago we met a girl named Amber who was going travelling for a while and needed somewhere to house her dog while she was away. We went to meet Donk, a 6 year old staffordshire terrier who we soon realised wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing of hounds. But a friendly and pleasing dog he was all the same, and we offered to look after him while Amber was away. She informed us that he had a bit of an unpleasant past, and was often left outside for prolonged periods of time and had been known to kill sheep and attack other dogs if provoked. She had done a good job in sorting Donk out and he is now a calm and obedient mutt who wants attention all the time. He has tried to mount Jeans dog Zeus a couple of times which leads us to think his tough exterior doesnt reflect his sexual tendencies.

Work is going well and we are both pretty pleased to have had the weekends off over the winter to be getting out and about and doing various things. Phil loves his job as a sparky as it is alot more relaxed over here when it comes to rules, the scale of the jobs and the pressure that goes with jobs in England. Lowe has just finished working up at Coronet Peak for the Winter and is currently searching for new work, which there hopefully should be lots of as everybody leaves town to move on elsewhere.

When not working we have tried to get as much done as our budget allows. There are some nice bars in and around Queenstown and you get to know people quickly due to the small size of the place. We have been watching the boxing that has been on recently (at a more convenient time than at home, too) with a few work mates and when the sun gets out its nice enough to sit outside in a T shirt and enjoy a pint. A couple of weeks ago we headed up the mountain to do a paraglide. We had to go up the ski lifts as we were due to jump from the peak, but when we got up there we found it was too gusty. The two paragliders who we were to fly with were arguing amongst themselves as to whether it was safe or not, and to our relief we descended a bit to somewhere a little less dangerous. We were kitted up and told that all we had to do was run off the edge of the mountain, just keep running and whatever you do, don't stop. Which is fine until you reach the end of the precipace. However daunting though, we both became airborne and were controlling the parachutes within seconds. It was a brilliant experience and it was topped off with our guides doing some acrobatics just before we landed.

We are now waiting for the weather to improve so we can start getting away more in our time off. Phil has his work van so we will be able to travel around the south island and do some more camping and fishing which we enjoyed so much in the north island. We already have the tent and sleeping bags and are frementing up some home brew to take with us. We hope you like the photographs, although there aren't that many as our camera is still smashed!

Until next time, take care!

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