Where has this year gone.... We're just back from a 10 day tour of the central south island. Our first proper holiday in a year (since our trip back to the UK). Andy's sister and partner travelled around with us for some of the period and it was good to have people from the UK finally make it for a visit.

I was lucky enough to get a batch donated for 3 days at the start of the trip (a batch for all of you that haven't been exposed to kiwi culture is a small holiday home. They range from 4 walls and a roof to luxury pads.) It was on banks peninsula, just outside of christchurch. The peninsula was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when 2 supervolcanoes erupted and split apart, and you really appreciate the volcanic landscape and quietness of the place. The batch was fantatstic (thank you Olivia, John and Linda) and we got to recharge our batteries for a couple of days - having a trip to Akaroa where I got to swim with the world's smallest dolphin (hectors dolphin - on the endagered species list)

We also had a side trip to the Waipara region and had a taste of the lovely Waipara wines. From Christchurch - where we picked up Karen and Twiggy, we continued over Arthur's pass, past some stunning scenery use in the climactic battle scenes in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie, down to fox glacier. Fox is on the westcoast and receives an annual rainfall at times more than 2.5 metres. Probably why it felt like being in a rainforest. Luckily for us the weather was dry - albeit a bit cloudy at the top of the glacier. So in true Edmund Hilary style, we strapped on our crampons and went for a walk on the ice. Very strange walking on something that is about 50 years old and moving at around a metre a day, however well worth the experience, despite the aching thighs the following morning.

From Fox, we went via Lake Wanaka to Queenstown and had our adrenalin fix - the luge, a small toboggan track at the top of Queenstown. We all have some very funny memories of this - especially my suprise win of the 5th and final round!!

We said goodbye to Karen and Twiggy in Queenstown and carried on via Mount Cook to Lake Tekapo and then on to Oamaru to visit some friends for a night. Then back home and back to reality. ROll on xmas - another 9 days off is exactly what we both need!

the good life

Apologies for the lack of effort over the last month. I haven't died or been hospitalised and haven't had a good lung clearing cough in the last week - so maybe I'm on the up. The effects now are that my voice cracks and I can't talk for a minute or two. The team love it....

Home sweet home is .....so great to be back in. We've gone mental with the veggie patch this year so when all comes good we'll have carrots, onions, leeks, cabbage (white and red), broccoli, celery, artichokes, courgettes, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, chard, blueberries, oranges, lemons...... We've also bought the wallpaper for the guest room (we have our first guests in 2 weeks) and the hallway. I've loved the Laura Ashley wallpapers for a long time and was going to splash out over here for them, only to find that if I bought them via the UK website I could get them her in 2 weeks, rather than 12 and pay $300 less for the privilege. So I put on my painter and decorator hat tomorrow - whilst Shandy does the garden.

Halloween came (and went - no trick or treaters). The closest we got was a friend's kids 6th birthday party. Bonfire night was great. It was a really still night here (in fact it's been pretty still for a week now which is fantastic) and a great show was put on. We walked to the top of the hills in Horokiwi (about a mile away) where we had great views of the fireworks in the HUtt Valley (in Petone) and also the Wellington extravaganza - http://www.metservice.com/default/webcam/livecam.php?title=Wellington%20weather%20live%20webcam%20&dkey=831885&awskey=NZKLX&url=20071105/fireworks-2007.wmv if you want to relieve it.

Odd though how a country 20,000 miles away still celebrates the attempted blowing up of Parliament.

So this weekend brings us more sunny weather. the forecast says 18 degrees (which with the strength of the sun feels more like 28 degrees). We have a team walking challenge going at the moment - It's a fitness initiative at work and our team of 8 has so far walked the equivalent of the whole of the North Island and from Bluff to Dunedin in the south Island in the last 8 weeks. WeE're doing a 4 hour walk on Sunday as well as a social event as we want to win.

Shandy and I are also aiming to do team triathlon in february. Luckily plenty of time for training!

Well that's about it for now. We have all our holidays coming up (hurrah) - the last proper break we had was our trip to the UK last November. SO in 2 weeks we head down south for a 10 day trip - New year we head to the Wairarapa, January off to Melbourne for a long weekend and February we go up to Gisborne and the Coromandel for a week. We may be buying a tent to keep the cost down - takes me back.

Hope all is well in Blighty....

Well we're going into week 7 of living away from home - the final week of house / cat sitting. To be honest I'm quite glad. I'm still sick - coughing up some lung on a daily basis. I ended going back to the doctors yesterday for the 3rd time (that's 3 times in the last 10 years - and all in 3 weeks). He is flummoxed (his words) as am I. To have a normally healthy male be this ill for the last month, with no benefit from antibiotics or steroids... so chest x-rays, blood tests and home sphygmamometer measurements of my exhalations morning and night here we come. I've also been given an inhaler which I need to take 4 x daily (taken it 3 times so far and am actually feeling like I can breathe a bit - might even see if I can manage a walk now).

I blame the cat. Never been too fond of them and usually have hay fever like symptoms when they're around - maybe living with one for 7 weeks has given me asthma? anyhow, like I say, a week left and then back to our own pad.

WE finally got Vs computer fixed as well. $200 for the privilige - she had no antivirus software and had a virus - so we'll be asking for the moolah back thank you very much.

Nothing much else to report. Spring is here (ie rain and 120k winds) so hopefully this year it will only last a month. We planted out some lettuces and they got blown off their roots. Starting to think about xmas....I can't believe its only 2 months away.

Andy is well, still running 3 times a week - he's such a a health freak, whilst I sit here with my bacon butties.

And the rugby...... well we won't mention that now will we.

Don't mention the war!

Well here we are in B&B land. The phone has been ringing off the hook (well a couple of times a week) with people wanting to stay the night in Oriental Bay whilst we are custodians of the B&B home. Only trouble is they want to stay when we have plans so so far have turned everyone down. Can't quite imagine myself as Manuel (of Basil) although Andy is quite happy at playing Sybil - swanning around and having everything done for him. If you are wondering where we are - there's the bandstand (tacky restaurant the Fisherman's table) out on the water and a block of flats directly opposite. the nest house on the left (up the hill slightly) is where we are camped. Fantastic views!

We've now been there a month and whilst it is lovely being based in the city, we miss our own home. Also the pesky cat has taken a shine to me (I'm allergic to them ) and no matter what I'm doing he comes and jumps on me - digs his claws into my trousers and gets them stuck and then whines in a high pitched yawl. B*stard. He's a big fat wimp. Last night I was up at 3am hearing a ringing of what sounded like a collar bell - Otis (that's his name - size of a lift) doesn't have one - to find next doors cat on Virginia's bed with Otis sat on the stairs cowering. He doesn't seem to do much all day except sleep and eat. We bought him a cat nip mouse which he plays with for about 2 minutes and that's his exercise. We have 3 weeks to downsize him.

I've also been struck down with illness - my first since arriving and it has been miserable. I started with a cough 2 weeks ago which has developed into bronchitis. So I'm on the antibiotics 3 x daily for another few days. It doesn't appear to have made much difference so far so we're hoping it doesn't develop into pneumonia. I'm feeling quite tired as I'm waking up 3 or 4 times nightly to hack up a lung.

On the positive front - daylight savings time arrives tomorrow. It's exciting as it means summer is on it's way. It's been lovely being able to walk home and stop for a glass of wine on the waterfront - however by the time we finish work, the sun is just starting to set. Now we have an extra hour for that glass of Pinot. We have a new favourite restaurant. Manhatten Lounge on Oriental Parade - 37 paces from the front door and great food and wine. I think location has something to do with it but if anyone is in Wellington, try it out.

The holiday plans are also afoot. Andy's sister arrives at the end of November. Initially we planned to have a long weekend away at the start of the month, however finances and high mortgage rates mean that is now on hold. However we will be going down to the south Island for 8 days and to some places that are new to us so it should be fun. Our friends are having a wedding Party in February as well in Gisbourne so we may take a week off then and have a chill out on the Coromandel Peninsula - summer will be at it's peak and will be baking.

Work is busy as always. I had my appraisal - my first in NZ. Apparantly I exceed expectations in all areas. People must have very low expectations of me then..... Hopefully there'll be a few extra $$ in it for me. No more responsibility though!! I'm already doing 4 jobs and that is plenty.

We still have OT vacancies so if anyone want's to come and join us and enjoy the lifestyle (and another summer) give me a ring. Until next time.

Spring holidays

apologies for the slackness folks. We are temporarily without the joys of a reliable internet system. Not that we're too bothered.





We are currently in our 'holiday home' in Oriental Bay. For those not in the know it's like having a pied de terre in Mayfair. Our friend Vic's mum is in the UK for 6 weeks and needed someone to look after the cat for the duration, and as no-one else was volunteering, we thought we'd see how the other half live.





The house is a quaint little affair and is run as a B&B at times. The views however are spectacular. It gets all day sun and thankfully is on the flat so I have been able to go running a couple of times - it's across the road from the swimming pool and a minute to the golden sands. The only problem so far has been the cat who has thrown up twice and decides to wake us up with a howl at 4am daily. With our track record of looking after pets I don't give him much longer!





This week has also been taken up lots with the law. I was stopped by the police on Sunday morning and breathalised (as was everyone else on the road I was travelling on) - sensibly, this healthy lifestyle meant that there wasn't any alcohol form the night before so off I went. Then the rest of the week I have been summonsed to the district court to attend jury service - which as far as I can see means that you get your name drawn out of a tombola barrel, sit around for a couple of hours and read the paper, go into the court room and wait for your name to be drawn again and if not - go home (or back to work). This went on for 3 days (2 days we were allowed to stay away) so i never got to see a trial.... maybe next time.



The other exciting news is that we bought a dishwasher - of course not being home for the next 5 weeks means that we won't benefit , c''est la vie. We may of course sneak back for the odd night. Watching the rugby on a small TV doesn't quite cut it. We're looking forward to an England v All blacks final...........yeah right.

Culture Vulture - Week 78

Can you believe we've been away for 18 months now. In some ways it seems so much longer.. we feel really settled and have established networks of friends, routines and slowly getting the house into a home. Yet in other ways, 18 months seems like a sharp intake of breath since we caught NZ1 and arrived out here.

Anyhow, this week I was lucky enough to be a participant in a traditional Maori welcome - a powhiri (pronounced po-fur-ee) for our clinical director at the hospital (and I like to think me too). It was a big wigs day - the chief exec, chair of the board, chief surgeon etc - and little lowly me (although I'm the biggest big wig I've ever been - hence the invite).

I was a little worried as we had recieved the invite the week before the event and in true disorganised manner was completely unprepared for the day itself. I'd had some insider information so I knew roughly what to expect - only trouble was no one else did.


The way things should work is that we're greeted onto the Marae, have to think about all the ancestors we bring on with us, greive a little, continue in and then all the men sit at the front and all the women at the back. The hosts then greet us by singing a song (in Maori) and then we respond by singing a song (in Maori). I was told that we did this individually so was all prepared - only to find out on the day that we did it as a group - except no one had organised us enouoghto arrange for us to know what to do - what they had done was arrange for one of the hosts to seitch sides and do a solo in response. Not very culturally sensitive - but got me out of the Maori version of Come by ah.

Then we have a formal welcome speech by the chief, and after that all stand up and say a little about ourselves, where we're from, where our ancestors are from, what our mountain is, what our river is and then we all go around and greet one another with a Hongi (as above) and then have a bit of kai (food)

It was a fantastic experience, very humbling and at the same time enriching. I have to say I got a bit teary with the bringing the ancestors on. We tend to forget the ones we've lost and Maori culture is one where our ancestors are celebrated and remembered on a daily basis. It has certainly changed the way I've thought about things in the last week.

Work as always has been pretty crazy. we are having a bit of an OT crisis at the minute. Not so much with my team (we've just employed a very experienced one for the 0.6 vacancy we had (hurrah!!)) - however the main hospital is haemorraghing them pretty rapidly. So I have been in recruitment overdrive this week and hopefully - with a couple of calls over the weekend should have them pretty much back to full staffing. Loads of work to do to ensure they have appropriate inductions and have support to stay around so fingers crossed for me.

We went out after work today. I took a 2 hour early home time (based on the fact I've done about 30 hours extra in the last 3 weeks) and went shopping. At last found some trousers and some running shoes so keep fit starts big this weekend. We met some friends of ours at St' Johns bar http://www.stjohnsbar.co.nz/ who were off to see Holly Smith - a big new zealand singer http://www.holliesmith.co.nz/ . It was nice to do something different on a Friday. The weather (I know - such a Brit, I'llbe talking about tea next) has been pretty good all week. Can't believe how after last winter, this one has been pretty much wind free (only the odd 140kph day). Of course being the weekend it will be raining tomorrow.

We're trading houses in a couple of weeks. Andy and I will be in Oriental Bay for 6 weeks (the POSHEST part of wellington there is) - house and cat sittig. Hopefully at the same time we will rent ours out to one of the Brit OTs I'm hiring which will pay for our holiday in November.

Well that's all for this week. Stay tuned

Steve

smart strokes....

3 days alone across the ditch if anything gave me some time. Time for letting my brain rest (and boy did it need it), time away from work, time to escape from around 200 work e-mails (to reply to tomorrow) and time to re-evaluate what I do on a day to day basis. I was at the smart strokes conference in Sydney - a 2 day event which promises to be 3 days next year. I've been to a couple of conference days in the past where I have been totally underwhelmed at what is on offer. Not this time. I was enlightented, enthused and enebriated (conference dinner with free wine - ending up with me being nominated by my dining table partners to do a rendition of Lionel ritchie's Hello to score extra points.) What a fantastic couple of days. about 50 presentations in total - couldn't get to all of them as they run concurrently - however gave me some really good ideas how we can push stroke education and minimise risk here in the windy city.

Sydney itself was a big change from Wellywood. Apparantly Nicole (Kidman - not Richie) was in town for a charity dinner but missed seeing her - Darren Hayes was doing a free gig in the record store on Oxford street, and more celebrity stuff was reported in the papers. The celebrity thing is not such a big thing over here though. We have a whole gamut descending on wellington at the moment - although you wouldn't know it from the papers (and how refreshing that is). Instead you just happen to bump into Sir Ian McKellan - on the street as he starts his RSC King Lear at the local theatre. And if you dig deep enough, you find that Rachel Weisz is coming to film the lovely bones with a load of other A listers (Susan Sarandon, Ryan Gosling), and Sigourney Weaver, Michael Beihn et al are coming over shortly to film James Cameron's new epic Avatar.

Anyway back to Sydney - big place, warmer weather (on Thursday - although Friday and Saturday, whilst I thought was not too bad, the Sydneysiders had their gloves and Parkers on.) Too much going on for my liking - old fart that I am now. Too much noise, too much traffic, too many shops where I couldn't afford to shop and at times rather than being in Australia I thought I was in Korea. - Great korean food though..

Went to see the simpsons movie whilst there - How a team can still be creative and consistently funny after 18 years is surely an achievement to be celebrated. I'll be amazed if I still have any creativity left after another 5 years..

So Sunday night TV beckons - a bit of Top Gear and then back to reality tomorrow.