NZ activities

Yes! This rather boring looking but inwardly-stylish Christchurch townhouse is our first foray into home ownership - we will be renting it out from February 07 (The guy we've brought it from probably thinks we're Santa) It's nice to finally buy a place, especially one that will be as low-maintenance and easy to rent as this.






Here's Don MacLean (married Jamie's sister Pip in October this year) doing his thing with a wilding pine in Arthur's Pass. Don is a DOC botanist and a bit of a specialist in weeds and pest plants. Don and Pip live up in Gisborne and will be heading overseas in the middle of 2007








Campsite in the rain - Lake Waikari-iti, Te Urewera National Park.
Kate and I had a 3 day trip after Abby's wedding. We took a rifle but succeeded only in scaring off a 10-point stag that wandered onto the track in front of us, 100m after we left this campsite!








Whio / Blue Duck. These white-water loving little beasties are, like so many NZ birds, highly endangered and increasingly rare. There's still a population (of unknown size) in the catchment area of Lake Waikaremoana. They are fairly tame and will often play and feed in the rapids as you watch from the bank. This one sailed past our campsite. There's another one on display on the NZ $10 note..