Two new additions to the family

Well, not quite getting a dog that Simon wanted, but meet our two new additions to the Nice family, Crockett and Tubbs - yes Simon has named them in tribute to being a film geek and loving Michael Mann's films and Miami Vice.

We are now the proud owners of the below kittens, 7 weeks old, house trained poo machines! Not quite sure if they now own us, I, Tracey have been waking up in the morning to check that they are still alive.

We have now had them for three days and we are really pleased with how they settled in, no poo and they just seem to sleep, poo, and run round the house for a mad hour.

V, cute, even Si loves them.

So that is more or less it for the last few weeks, I, Tracey is still not working, but will start the next form of PT training in two weeks. The only setback I have is that I have suddenly got muscle spasms in my back and currently having to go to Physio to try and sort it out asap, before I start work.

Si is fine, sailing, hockey playing and being very sentimental to the cats (aka kids). Anzac Day approaches on Tues 25 Apr 06 with a dawn parade which Si is involved in..... pics to follow.

All in all, we are ok, Trace still missed Englishness and the thought of being nearer civilisation one day.........

Take care,

big hugs Tracey & Simon x x x

The kids!

Lake Brunner.

So after a quiet night in the Backpackers, cooking with fellow 'proper' backpackers, I, Tracey, felt quite a fraud, seeing as there is a lot of the country we have not seen compared to some of the international people travelling around the country, we headed off back towards Christchurch for about a 3 hour drive back across Arthurs Pass.

This is a view of Lake Brummer, not one we took by the way as the weather was pretty grey and drizzly, but you get the idea of the place.

Misty weather and Queen Charlotte Track.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, the weather broke (never seen so much rain in NZ) and we managed a walk down Queen Charlotte track.

One for you mum, (Si's) there are some people on the beach.

Top NZ Town!

Thriving metropolis of Blackball...

So after a dizzying, excititing visit to Pankake rocks, the weather was pretty pants, so we decided to visit a town called Blackball, which is mentioned on the Lonely Planet Guide Book as a place to visit.

Mmmmmm......

Blackball is an almost deserted coal mining town on the South Island's West Coast.

The "Formerly The Blackball Hilton" is an old pub on Hilton street. It was forced to change its name by legal action from the Hilton Hotel chain, who felt its picturesque standards were too high. Not that anybody believed the character-filled Blackball Hilton had anything to do with the boring multi-national company.

Formerly The Blackball Hilton is a tourist mecca now. The pub plus a salami shop are the main activities in Blackball. The craft shop, also shown here, is totally unknown, despite its two not-to-be-confused doors.

Formerly the Blackball Hilton is important in New Zealand History for it was here the New Zealand Labour Party was born. By 1925, the Communist Party headquarters were moved from Wellington to here. Original red banners used by the miners are still stored inside, things like: "United we stand, divided we fall", "No scab workers".

Kathryn we thought of you as this is apparently where the NZ Labour party was formed!

Some said that when the mine closed the town would die. It has not quite died, but has been in death throes since 1964.

We did visit the Blackball Hilton for a quick drink, it was packed, lots of diners inside but no sign of any bar staff, eventually one turned up, dressed in shorts and the usual Kiwi dress of no shoes to serve behind the bar.

Apparently if you tell them that you are in the military they get very twitchy there. The Hippies think you are there to burn their weed crop.

Blackball, not quite Blackpool!

Greymouth - ie v. Grey!

So, onto Greymouth. What can you say about Greymouth; not a great deal. Hence no pictures. It's grey. We did stay at a very comfy backpackers (Simon the cheaskate at £7 pppn) and found a proper (NZ) Indian cafe to eat at. But plenty to see in the area.

The pictures here show the pancake rocks, very spectacular. Probably the most touristy area we have seen so far, with lots of people (honest) walking through the reserve and looking at the rocks....... Such a high life in NZ eh!

Arthurs Pass and to the West.

Saturday - hit the car, drive through Sheffield via Arthurs Pass over to Greymouth on the West Coast.

This is a pic from the Trans Alpine Train that goes from Christchurch to Greymouth. Tjhe train travels between Christchurch and Greymouth, from one coast of New Zealand to the other. From the carriage you'll see the fields of the Canterbury Plains and farmland, followed by the spectacular gorges and river valleys of the Waimakariri River. The TranzAlpine train then climbs into the Southern Alps before descending through lush beech rain forest to the West Coast town of Greymouth – a great base for visits to Punakaik and the always popular glaciers.

But we did not do this as we drove!

Simon, Peter and me! 

Easter Weekend 2006.

Easter Weekend - Bank Holiday, therefore Si had some time off work.

We decided to try and get out and about and see a little bit more of NZ as we have not had much chance of the last few weeks. So first we went out Sailing around Lyttleton harbour with Peter, who is Simon's farmer friend who has a owns a 'trailor sailor' (no it's not a posh matelot), but a boat that can be lifted out of the water and trailed behind a car.

So we went out for the day, just bimbling around the harbour for the afternoon until the weather changed a little and started to get cooler. Hard to believe that at the moment the temperature is the equivalent of October back in the UK.

A nice lunch onboard with sandwiches and a beer, before heading back to the house and getting packed for the next day's adventure.

Knackered!

On Sunday 3 April 06, at approximately 0545, I had to drag myself out of bed, then kick Si out as well, as I had decided only 3 weeks ago to take part in a triathlon in Christchurch. Thanks Lauren! Note lack of make up!

So with a 0730 briefing at QEII Stadium, with another 350 ladies of different athletic builds and all shapes and sizes, I nervously prepared for my first triathlon. I was about to undertake a 400m swim, 12 Km bike ride, followed by a 4.2 km run, with sod all training apart from a couple of runs, swims and cycles.

So with my friend Lauren, Miriam (another friend of a friend) and with Simon and Lauren's husband Morrie supporting us on from the poolside, at approximately 0840 I hit the pool running, well swimming.

The swim was not to bad, must improve on my technique though as could not quite do the front crawl all the way. Then to run out of the pool, hit the transition area and quickly get my trainers on, dry off, hat on and get on my mountain bike (cannot quite afford a gucci road bike yet), to cycle from QEII towards the beach at New Brighton and back again. Lauren then caught me up and we then started to 'draft' with another lady to complete the cycle part.

Once finished, the hardest part ever, was jumping off the bike and then trying to run - muscles that had just been used to cycling had to switch on running and it was not easy and took about 10 minutes to get into the running thing. But I did not stop, passed lots of people, had a few hard core triathletes over take me, but that was not too bad.

So with a final sprint, I finished my frist active women triathlon, first one back out of our group of three, first triathlon ever, first one in NZ, with a position of 97 out of 350 and a time of 1hr 4 minutes.

A quick change, then off to one of the cafe's in town for a well deserved breakfast - all this achieved before 11am on a bright Sunday morning.

Yes I am hooked and will be looking forward to proper training for the next season which starts again in November, not quite ultra athlete/Ironman standard, but a start!

Tracey's Graduation.

Well here is the update for a few weeks. This is my graduation ceremony from the NZ College of Fitness on 31 March 06 - posh frocks and tie night, where I had finally completed my assignments and training to become a Personal Trainer (yes v. funny me a PT!).

On the pic is Gerome one of Director of the College with Sal, another Pom out here and a fellow ex Army PTI who is one of the lead instructors at the school, and who we have a general moan about lack of heating and the bad driving over here. So all in all a great night, if not a little bit too much wine drank, but hey it was my last ever weekend in the RN. yes, I have apologised to Gerome for trying to get him to do the helium baloon inhalation - he would not entertain us!

Next day, whilst feeling slightly not 100% I agreed to get two new kittens - more on that later!