Pirate Party at Pomeroy's

Last night we went to a pirate party at Pomeroy's bar. It was a great night - everybody put in a great effort, and the place was heaving with people in various costumes. It was obvious that some had gone to costume hire shops and got the full rig-out, but we took the DIY route and made our own. I wore the corset that was part of my wedding outfit, and the rest was sewn together from sheets bought in the Salvation Army shop! I think the whole thing cost me about $4. Skry, Phil, and Lou also mixed charity shop finds with things that they already owned, and the $2 Shop provided plenty of accessories in the form of plastic swords and inflatable parrots. (Don and Liz had only arrived back in Christchurch a couple of hours earlier, which is why they weren't in costume, but at least they could still play with the weaponry.)

Another day out in Lyttelton

Our friends Don and Liz arrived in Christchurch on Friday; they are staying the weekend here before continuing on their travels further down the south island. We took them for a trip to Lyttelton on Saturday morning, meeting up with Phil and Lou at the farmers' market (where I once again got great amusement from the Dog Parking Area) before heading on to the port to watch the ships for a while.

Although it was a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine, there was a bit of a smog or fog hanging over the town itself. I'm not sure if that was natural fog or the produce of the wood burners that heat many houses here. There has been some bad natural fog over the last week or so, closing the airports in both Christchurch and Wellington at various times, but I think this one can be blamed on the chimneys.

After a leisurely time kicking about in town and drinking delicious hot chocolate from the Lyttelton Coffee Company, it was time to head back to Christchurch. Skry and I were invited out to a winter solstice dinner party, where we got to celebrate the fact that from here on the nights should be getting shorter and the days longer. Honestly, the winter days here are so much longer than they are in Ireland that it doesn't even feel like winter yet! But I'm happy enough for the evenings to get lighter again.

Operation Entertainment Book

Dinner with Skry in a wine bar/restaurant called Infinity. Service was slow but the staff were pleasant and attentive, the food was average, we saved $23, and the Entertainment Book has now been fully paid off. Everything else we use it for from here until June 2009 is pure savings!

- 19.90
+ 23.00
=======
+ 3.10

Wine tasting in Waipara

Taking advantage of an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon, Skry very kindly drove me, Phil, and Lou around the Waipara valley for several hours as we took ourselves on an impromptu wine tasting tour. There are some great winemakers based not to far from Christchurch, and it wasn't much more than half an hour before we were enjoying our first tasting. Most of the wineries give free tastings and a little bit of education about the different wines.

The Mud House was the only winery which charged us for a tasting, but we probably tried seven or eight different wines there, so the $3 fee was more than fair (plus it is refundable against any purchase). We were also very impressed with the friendliness and knowledge of the lady who served us there. I walked away with a bottle of their multi-award-winning sauvignon blanc and a very drinkable un-oaked chardonnay, and was more than happy with my purchases.

The other wineries we visited varied between tiny family-run businesses (Mount Cass, Torlesse, and Waipara Springs), unfriendly and pretentious (I'm looking at you, Pegasus Bay), and unexpectedly closed (Daniel Schuster). We tasted some great wines, some good wines, and a blackcurrant liqueur, and all of us really enjoyed the afternoon. It is so nice to have places like this virtually on our doorstep!

This one's for you, Mum.

Sheep and cattle in north Canterbury - photographs especially requested by my mother :)

There's no such thing as a free ride

The news yesterday and today was full of the deaths of two young men who were hitching a ride atop a freight train wagon. Apparently they were fatally injured when they collided with an unlit footbridge, which was only 50cm above the top of the freight wagon. Poor guys - I wonder if they even realised what was about to happen.

I also wonder how badly affected the person was, who found the bodies when the train pulled in to the depot in Christchurch. That can't have been anything like fun for him.

link

Wellington: the good side

After yesterday's miserable weather, we were pleasantly surprised to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. The sunshine was even quite warm! Esther headed home on an earlier flight but the rest of us met my friend Katy and her family, and had a Chinese lunch at the Regal restaurant in Courtenay Place.

The food was billed as yum char, which is basically tea and dim sum. I'm really too fussy an eater to benefit fully from the tiny and varied portions of food that were coming out, but it was interesting to try the different things. We had a constant flow of waiting staff bring over trays of hot food, and if it was something that we wanted they left a plate of it on the table and added a mark to our receipt. By the time seven or eight dishes had been added to the communal feast, everybody was getting full and it was time to go. The whole thing cost us $13 each, which was really very reasonable. I'm not sure I'd go back myself, but I'd recommend the venue to anybody who likes Chinese food as the Chinese eat it.

After lunch we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon in town. It was so hard to believe that only a few hours ago we'd been in the middle of winter, and suddenly we were back to autumn again and were even able to sit outside in the sunshine. Katy and I went for a quick flit around the shops, the others headed home on an earlier flight, and Skry and I then enjoyed a relaxing evening in town before catching our own flight back to Christchurch at 9pm. Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend for me, a mostly enjoyable weekend for everyone else, and a great way to feel like we actually did something in the two day gap between work on Friday and work on Monday.

Ireland vs the All Blacks - wet and miserable

After catching one of the last flights out of Christchurch on Saturday afternoon before the airport closed due to extreme weather conditions (wind and snow), we arrived in Wellington and were greeted by cold but clear weather. Having spent some time catching up with our lovely hosts Gillian and Simon, we headed into the city centre and met up with the other rubgy-goers for a late lunch. After some lunch and a couple of drinks, I headed off to the cinema and the rest of them headed to the stadium for the rugby match.

Apparently the heavens opened as soon as the guys sat down for the start of the match. When I got out of the cinema at 8.30pm, it was pouring rain and freezing cold. I took refuge upstairs in the restaurant area of Molly Malone's, and sat with a book while the weather outside got worse and worse. The Irish flag outside the window couldn't even peel itself off the flagpole enough to flap in the wind. There were televisions near me and I could see the match on telly, and everybody looked cold and miserable, even the players. And despite a brave fight, Ireland lost 21-11 so there wasn't even the warm glow of victory to help afterwards.

I've never seen people as cold and wet as the crowd that turned up in Molly Malone's after the match ended. Skry was wringing water out of all his clothes, Phil and Lou looked frozen and miserable, and Esther had to go straight back to their hostel to put on something dry. I was so glad that I'd stayed indoors!

Off to Wellington tomorrow

Tomorrow we're leaving on a jetplane for the wet and windy shores of Wellington. Ireland is playing the All Blacks in the rugby. I couldn't give two hoots about that, but Wellington is great for shopping so I'm coming along for the trip. It'll be great to see Simon and Gillian again too - I used to work in the same company as Simon when we worked in Ireland - and we are very lucky to have such nice people putting us up even though they already had their own plans before I invited myself to stay. I'll try and take some Wellington photos for your amusement, weather permitting. If weather does not permit, I'll be hiding out in bookshops, pubs, and the cinema, while the rest of 'em are getting soaked at the rugby match.

A sunny Saturday in Christchurch

Saturday was absolutely beautiful - blue skies and sunshine, so warm that I was out in just a t-shirt and jeans. This was good news for all the rugby fans milling around town waiting for the game on Saturday night (some sort of final, no idea what it's the final of but it seems to be a big deal to those concerned), and nice for the rest of us too of course. There was lots of red and black to be seen in town as people showed their support for the local team, the Crusaders.

The trams were flying Crusaders flags.

Playing giant chess in Cathedral Square.

The Cathedral itself.

The Saturday market in the square.

Gratuitous shot of a cabbage tree that I spotted highlighted against the sky as I walked.

One of my favourite dinner spots, The Bog.

This area is called the Strip. It is a long row of restaurants, with a view of the river.