Say hello to Orton Bradley Park, a beautiful expansive working farm park half an hour’s drive out of Christchurch.

We used to come here regularly as a family and it’s kiddie paradise. It comprises rolling hills and pastures, walking tracks, and a creek where I used to catch eels using a long stick, some wool and a piece of sausage off the barbeque. My record was eight which I carried to the picnic site and built a rock fortress in which to keep them. I watched them slithering around all over each other until eventually they would break out one by one and slither back to the creek some twenty metres away.

Gross huh?!

With romantic eeling notions in mind, I did pack some string and some raw chipolatas to have a stab at this new generation of Orton Bradley eels, but the creek was running low and I had to settle for building a dam instead.

Charlie chased the tame ducks, Caleb, Nicki, Dad and I invented a new ball-throwing game and as aforementioned, I built a fantastic dam under Dad’s supervision which I vow to return to before leaving Christchurch.

I’ve been out two nights in the five weeks I’ve been here, and these photos are here to prove it! On a balmy Wednesday evening Caleb, Nicki and I went into ‘The Strip’ (Oxford Terrace, next to the Avon River in the middle of Christchurch). We found a great new bar called the “Bangalore Polo Club”. It was styled very much in a colonial vain, and they have adopted the Long Bar tradition of providing monkey nuts to the guests who throw the shells on the floor.

I liked the styling of the bar and took some arty photos in the toilets!

After a few chilled glasses of sauvignon blanc as the sun went down, we moved on to one of my favourite places on earth: Winnie Bagoes. In all my travels I have never come across such incredibly yummy pizzas as at Winnies.

Apart from losing my brand new lipstick in the cab on the way home, it was an excellent evening.