castle hill

While we were away from home over the holidays, my daughter wanted to visit Castle Hill, which is on the road between Christchurch and Greymouth, near to Arthurs Pass.  There is a very good pie shop on the way there in a small town named Sheffield.  The reason for this excursion was that she is a very keen rock climber and Castle Rock is a great bouldering area.  Also this is the part of the world where some of the Hobbit was  filmed and a Narnia battle scene.  Actually it was also very beautiful, and we will have to get back there when we have more time and make better use of it.  I wanted to draw and paint all those rocks.

 husband posing next to a large knob.

 the rain stained rocks were especially dramatic.

It was a bit rainy for rock climbing, and so we ate our sandwiches, daughter had a little climb, the dog had a toilet break and we had a great pie on the way back.

river swim

Over the holidays we have tried out some rivers to swim in.  A local swimming hole a half hour drive away has rocks to jump off and ropes to swing on.  We haven't tried this one out for a while and it was such a beautiful spot we wondered why that was.  The dog wasn't keen, she didn't like the water and the river rocks were very hot.

 climbing up the rocks

                     

 leaping free

The girls had fun, and I was terrified every time they leapt off the rocks.

start with sun-rise

I was woken at six by the dog this morning and took her outside to see the sky was crimson, so I quickly got the camera, although my eyes were hardly open and took some shots.  I missed the most dramatic minutes, but still bright.

WE went to the beach, but were blown away by a southerly wind which was kind of crazy.

then me and my girls made some christmas angels for my mums friend who wanted some for the church fair, they may not be what she was after, but it kept us happy for a while and my girls quite got into the peg doll thing.

and then we went to the groovy old Geraldine cinema, old couches and blankets and an interval half way through,  and watched "snow-white and the huntsman"  which was fab, Charlize had the best out-fits and was the best evil Queen, I really felt for her and her fading beauty, I spend a lot of time myself looking in the mirror at my wrinkles these days.  I haven't removed anyones heart yet though...  The huntsman was rather swarthy too which is always a winner.  

road trip

We have been travelling to visit my mum.  It was an eight hour drive with a slight detour in Christchurch to pick up some climbing shoes we had bought on Trademe.  We only got a little bit lost.  The kids took some photos on their ipods on the way.  These were all taken around Kaikoura on the east coast of the South Island.

 Cute

blue sky, lichen yellow

We had a family walk in the winter sun-shine this morning, the dog sniffed and sprinted around happily and the kids had fun despite their usual protests.  And I found some bright yellow and pale green lichen to photo against the bright blue sky.  It almost looks unreal it is so blue, but this was it.

 posing amongst the dead lupins

Also had a good weekend, I went to Hot Yoga and sweated a lot.  I went dress shopping with a couple of girl-friends, which was fun. I wasn't shopping for me but I did end up buying something.  Tut tut.  And I went running and looked at a really nice house that I want but can't afford. 

event day

We (husband and I and 350 other people) have now accomplished the run we have been training for (well I have been training, he has been too busy, but done a little bit).  Loop the Lake.  Beautiful sunny day, lots of tree roots, lots of rocky river beds dry and wet, many undulations, mountains, a big lake and some beautiful native plants.  I ran it in 2hrs 38minutes and 20 seconds and came 126th.  I ran quicker than last year and me and husband got our second night away from the kids in 12 years(my mum looked after them for the night).  So It was all very nice.  Funny photo of me running through a river here, ha ha.

 This is probably the only flat section of the whole run, but it is the only bit I have a photo of.

more running

It may seem that I have done nothing but run recently and it is beginning to feel like that a bit.  Every morning I get up and put on my running gear, instead of my usual glamourous attire (ho ho).  But have a race to train for in a few weeks and this is the last chance saloon to get in shape for it.  (Race makes it sound like I will be hoping to win, which is not the case.  I am hoping to complete the course , not coming last, not injuring myself and being able to run the whole way. This morning was no different, I went to bed last night looking forward to getting up and running for >2hrs, I didn't feel quite the same enthusiasm in the cold light of early morning, but I dutifully got up, got into smelly running gear, put on my little bag with water bladder and a high energy snack and off I went, without dog or friend.   

 I did ponder, after an hour of uphill running, shuffling and some walking, that maybe all this uphill stuff was a bit over the top, the training plan said "2hrs 15mins undulating", it depends on your ideas about undulating, but there seemed to be a lot of up and no down.

 nice views though

All photos taken on my, previously mentioned, cell-phone which is really bad quality.  

Running down however was a piece of cake and I felt like one of the vampires in "Twilight" sprinting through the forest.  What I looked like is another matter.  It was much prettier on the way down too, lots of native bush, pretty trees, rocky uneven terrain, and some flat bits. 

I am now a bit tired.  

running

This morning was more running at 6.15am in the dark.  We ran on the roads waiting for the sun to rise, but 40 minutes later it was still dark.  In the end we went off road in the dark and eventually the day broke, hoorah.  The dogs had fun. We are training for this race.  I ran it with a friend last year and it was such fun.  Despite the cold and the pouring rain, it is in such a beautiful area that it was easy to be distracted by all the beautiful trees and moss and mountains, until my Hamstrings seized up. 

Some photos of the area we will run, the family went for a holiday up there a while back which was really nice.

Beautiful and a quite uneven and undulating track.  

sunny weekend

Had a beautiful sunny weekend, the weather has been a bit intermittent this summer to say the least.  Took the dog and the kids down to the river for a swim.  This is a swimming hole that we can take the dog to, and we can walk here with dog off leash which is really lovely for her, unfortunately the council are trying to change things so that we can no longer do this!  Not sure why? The doggy people of town are rousing for a fight.  Hurrah!

 Oo the rocks are rather lovely.

 "It's mighty cold in there mother"

These were taken on my rather un-tech cell-phone, but I rather like the atmospheric (out of focus, blurry, poor quality) effect this gives the photos.  May the fab weather continue.

Moeraki

We have been camping in a little town of Moeraki in the South Island of NZ.  It is famous for the round boulders that lie on its beach.  It has a lighthouse with yellow eyed penguins and seals, which we bicycled to along a beautiful track to get to.

 there is a little beach just across the road from the campsite with rocks and sand and a lady at the campsite had photographed an orca swimming around the harbour the morning before we got there.  I wasn't very keen on going in after I found that out.  But it was very pretty.

Me and the girls walked along the beach to see the boulders this morning and we saw a dead rotted seal without a head and a dead conga eel.  My husband missed out on these delights by driving to the car park and buying coffee.  WE had a lovely time.