First trip back

Annalie is making her first trip back to the UK since August 2010. It's winter in the UK. Here in NZ it's approaching 20 degrees, sunny and still. Remind us again, why is she leaving? ;-)

Well, there is a damn good reason, but still... ;-)

Toyota NZ Hilux TV ad - Tougher Than You Can Imagine

And this is Ian's favourite advert at the moment - the first time we saw it we were actually a bit confused about what it was actually advertising because we were going "what?" at each other!


Hang on to your steak and cheese!

Legend

TV advertising is really quite refreshing in NZ, with some creative, and often risque approaches to marketing! But this has to be one of our favourite ads at the moment in terms of effectiveness. Whereas most drink driving ads focus on the consequences, this one puts a positive spin on the situation of what you should do, rather than what you shouldn't do. Look out fo rthe "ghost chips" reference. Legend!!

More aerial shots

A few weeks ago we posted some photos of the Marlborough Sounds from the air.

This weekend's trip to Christchurch gave us another opportunity for some aerial photography, this time of the east coast of the South Island. This part of the country is much more mountainous and dramatic, which makes for some pleasant views out of the window...

Inside the heart of Christchurch

Although we'd visited Christchurch back in June, the city was still raw from the February 22 earthquake. Businesses were just re-opening, the red zone was under lockdown, and the people were still reeling.

We returned this weekend to see if any of that had changed.

There seems to be a bit more life gradually being breathed into the place. Decisions have been made about many of the buildings, the council has endeavoured to revitalise the city in the earthquake's aftermath.

Cashel Street, where the shopping mall collapsed killing many inside, has received an innovative shopping area created by shipping containers. It sounds quite dull, but as the photos show, they've actually made it quite sexy!

And we were quite lucky that the council opened a walkway through some of the worst hit areas, including Cathedral Square.

We've never seen the cathedral before, so to see it like this is quite sad. I'm sure that it's reminiscent of war times in the UK, like the result of a German air raid.

It is certainly quite a sobering experience. But we're glad we had the opportunity to see it as today was the last day.

One thing's for sure. It's going to be a long road to recovery.

Another view of home

Here's some more views from Ian's recent trek to the top of the hill opposite our house.

In this photo, the field in the bottom left is Tawatawa, one of our local dog walking reserves just two minutes' walk from our house. You can see a track cut into the hill just above it. That's our short track for walking Maddy.

You can just about make out the harbour entrance in the distance of this photo. That's how high up this hill is!

This is looking out over our house, the reserve, Owhiro Bay, Island Bay and numerous other suburbs, up towards the harbour. You can even see Somes Island (the old quarantine base) in the middle of the harbour.

Now here's one from a little bike ride up the coast with Scott. Some of you may recognise Kapiti Island. This was taken from the top of Paekakariki Hill Road.

Riding for charidee mate

It's quite an impressive sight when you see hundreds of motorbikes cruising down the road in one big sea of rumble and grumble. And it's quite something to be part of that too. This Sunday we joined our friend Scott to take part in the Salvation Army Christmas Toy Ride, to raise money and collect toys for underprivileged kids.

The start of the ride was in Mana, just up State Highway 1, where hundreds of bikes filled the car park about to set off on one of the largest co-ordinated rides in the country.

With the help of the local constabulary, and some willing marshall volunteers, we carved our merry way back down towards Wellington in one big convoy, with slip roads closed off to allow us a smooth path. And the car drivers were very cordial about the whole thing! In the UK or US we'd probably have had a chorus of tooting horns expressing their annoyance at having their journey interrupted. But here we were welcomed with lots of waves and even some spectators throughout Mana and Paremata!

When we got into Wellington, we parked under the sails on Queens Wharf to grab a drink and another saussie sizzle :) Here's a picture of just a few of the bikes. Annalie's is the one on the far right towards the back. Obviously she didn't want anyone else getting too close considering the distance between her bike and the rest of them ;)