Have you ever felt like others have all the luck and the particular situation you’re in could only happen to you? Me too. Like now. I’ve had ‘stomach problems’ (euphemism) for four weeks and I could swear I am fatter now than ever before in my life. Something like that could only happen to me. I even dilly dallied around on taking antibiotics in the hope that I would ‘suffer’ some rapid weight loss but alas, alack, I’m stacking on the pounds! I mean it though. For instance, this evening when I changed Charlie’s nappy on the floor of Caleb and Nicki’s “Cinema Room” I actually had to undo the top button of my trousers for fear of being sliced in half by a thin strap of corduroy (it was far to hot for corduroy anyway, silly girl).

Right, got that off my chest. Which reminds me – it’s not just my belly and thighs that have doubled in size, …. oh never mind.

I’ve been rubbish lately at writing. So this is going to be a whirlwind catch up with lots and lots of lovely photos to gaze at. Here we go:
Sumner beach, where I learnt to swim.

When Dad arrived in Christchurch back from Koh Samui, we had a picnic in Scarborough (one end of Sumner Beach). We had ham, tomato, brie and mustard ciabattas handmade by Dad. We fed the birds, larked around, went really high in swings and went on the horsey thing in the playground (remember, there’s no public liability in NZ when it comes to playgrounds so the sky is (sometimes literally) the limit when it comes to dangerous playground toys).

“Hi! I’m
standing in a park and in the background is a tree that resembles a giant pineapple!”

It has really struck me how easy it is to get around in Christchurch. Well, I guess everyone drives, but there are never traffic jams, you can always find a park, and if you are pushed to park in a car park well you’re up for the hefty fee of about $2 an hour.

Daddy dearest enjoying the salubrious surroundings. Ubiquitous seagull in the background. Swings and slide noticeable, but no horsey thing in shot and I’ve checked and I don’t have a photo of it to show you!

This rather random shot is the clock tower at Scarborough, but I thought I’d be ‘artistic’ and add some dramatic effects!! Scary huh?!

In New Zealand, and even more so in Christchurch, the weather can change very quickly. There isn’t sufficient land mass to have any real effect on the pressure systems and so we have to make do with whatever Australia or Antarctica throw at us. One day it can be 29 degrees and glorious, the next day 13 degrees and raining, forcing you to dig out your thermals. So, the general rule of thumb is that if you get dealt a cracker of a day you mobilise the troops and utilise that day! One such day hit us pre-Christmas and we rolled out in our tanks, I mean our station wagons (estates to you English folk!) and headed for the beach.
The rock in the back ground is called ‘Cave Rock’. You can walk through it. The tide comes in and sea water rushes through it’s many caverns. Such a fun place for children (if a little dangerous!). Christchurch is on the rim of an ancient volcano and so there is volcanic rock everywhere (grey and red), and we also have grey sand on our beaches as a result.

We hit the beach at 10am (a sign that we are getting old), with Charlie’s big truck, a picnic hamper and a trowel. I really can’t explain what happened to me, but I became obsessed with building some kind of canal/fortification and palmed Charlie off to his extended family whilst I dug away amonst the rock pools creating my sand empire. It started off as Surfer’s Paradise but soon my lust for developing turned it into a mini-Dubai (yuck by the way) and I had a whole miriad of man-made canals acting as boundaries for poorly designed yet imposing palaces while my poor family looked after Charlie….

Charlie showed no fear of the water and was rather worryingly gung-ho about the whole affair. He was dragging his ‘holder’ into deeper, more treacherous waters at any opportunity to all of our peril. Tut tut. (Secretly proud).

This is what someone looks like when they’ve just purchased the top of the range barbeque and are using it (with others) for the first time (grilling a couple of snags for your fiancee doesn’t count).

The first barbeque at Chez Caleb and Nicki, and they went a bit overboard on the catering front, ensuring a steady diet of meat, meat and meat for the next fortnight (lamb kebabs are surprisingly good crumbled over muesli).

Can you detect the smugness in Caleb’s eyes? I can!! But I guess I know him really well…

Meet George and Max. They are Charlie’s cousins. Well, technically they’re his third cousins, but that’s just silly. They’re my cousin Michael’s kids. And they are sensational. They love Charlie to bits, they build huts and they watch cool DVDs together. Oh, and they all have long eyelashes. I was babysitting them whilst Mike and Cath went to a wedding (they took their eldest, James, with them). It was a very funny afternoon.