Haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

It's true! I am still here but this past month and a half have been quite busy so I will now attempt to bring everyone up to date on what we've been doing and what we've seen - possibly over several posts - so bear with me, please.

We finished our North Island trip on 10/2 and returned to Blenheim after putting on over 6000K on the minivan (that's over 4000 miles for my USA friends.) We drove off the ferry into a blinding rain storm and it continued to rain for the next 2 days. Thankfully we were able to wash clothes before we left the north island. The yard was a great surprise for us. When we left at the beginning of September, the trees were just starting to put out buds and flowers were just breaking ground. We got back to the most beautiful yard - everything was in full bloom. The ornamental cherry tree that we walked under to get to the sleep-out was amazing. See for yourself.

Walking out to the sleep-out

This is the view from the sleep-out

Our friends from Austin, Karla & Tom, were arriving in Christchurch in a week and we were busy with last minute planning for their arrival - along with catching up with Jasmin, Joelle & Trevor on all that went on while we were gone. Also, I was in the middle of a new project and was trying to get some work done on that. My project was a scarf that I was weaving. I met this lovely lady, Win, who is also a fantastic weaver and and she agreed to take me under her wing and teach me how to weave (on a loom.) My first project was a scarf and I was using a 4-shaft table loom. I have since finished the scarf and will be meeting with her tomorrow to show her the final product and plan the next project. While we were visiting with Jean & Terry in Tiniroto (Trevor's folks), Jean gave me 2 bags of carded wool from their sheep. Win is going to teach me the fine art of dyeing & felting wool. I am also going to try my hand at spinning this wool. This probably doesn't excite many of you but I am having a great time learning all this.

Anyway, back to our travels. We left for Christchurch on Wednesday, Oct. 12 and spent a great day visiting the Antarctic Center. We go to ride a Hagglund which is the vehicle that is used in the antarctic to get around (besides your own two feet.) We got to experience a polar storm in their storm room and also see the penguin feeding.

This sign was in one of the displays. Hmmm, Washington is only 14,848 kilometers from Scott Base in the Antarctic. Don't think we'll make it to the base this trip.

This is the cab of a  Hagglund

We rode in the back cab. They have a Hagglund track they take you on that mimics the terrain in the Antarctic. It was quite an experience. It was so loud and bumpy. I can't image riding this way for hours at a time and in the dark. They actually drove into a pool and the water was up to the windows.

This was in their 'storm' room.

He looks like a natural, doesn't he?

This was the wind and temp recordings as the storm was underway.

This is the actual size of an Emperor penguin. I didn't realize they were that large!

This little New Zealand blue penguin was blind and gets hand fed every day

What a cutie!





















So I'll just sign off for now since we're heading off to a movie tonight. I'll continue posting more tomorrow. Cheers!