Sunday, August 31, 2008

Weekend in Wellington

We flew to Wellington for a long weekend in the capital city. It was fun to be back in the bright lights!
Staying in a hotel on the waterfront, we explored central Wellington on foot during our 3 day stay. It was a very early start to our trip on the 'red eye' flight from Nelson, but Jo and Jeff cooked us up a beauty breakfast at their Lyall Bay apartment on arrival.


First up was the Weta Cave in Miramar. This is the retail store for the masters of film effects. Golum was in store that day and here is a pic of Kay giving him some advice on how best to smoke that fish.
We took a guided tour though Parliament and the Beehive.

The Cica Theatre is a must visit. We attended the final Theatre Sports night. It was recorded for National Radio.
Te Papa is a destination all on it's own. This place contains some of New Zealand's most precious treasures. The Rita Angus art exhibition was a highlight, as is the newly permanent 'Blood, Earth and Fire' exhibit. Many live shows are held there. We were lucky to be there for the Indonesian and Javanese Puppetry Festival. Here they are 'back stage' in the Soundings Theatre, Te Papa.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

the Nelson Lakes


We had a great time away last weekend, staying at the Nelson Lakes with our friends the Chisnells at their family bach (pictured below).  Chris' family has been holidaying in the St Arnaud area for generations, and they were well qualified to show us a good time!


The Nelson Lakes, surrounded by snow peaked mountains, are pristine and beautiful. About 1.5 hrs drive from Nelson, they are elevated and in a semi-alpine environment.
The next day we were up bright and (brrr) early getting ready for a day in the snow. Our destination was the Rainbow Ski Field. He are Chris and Alex at the base carpark awaiting our shuttle up up to the slopes.
Go Flynn! We have never seen so much snow. The conditions were perfect. It truly was a winter wonderland. Thanks for your hospitality Chris, Alex, Quinn and Baxter.



Thursday, August 7, 2008

the Flynn mobile


Flynn saved up all his paper-run money and got himself a car. He's pretty happy, but says that it is very thirsty on the gas.

Friday, August 1, 2008

the big storm


Oh boy what a wild day. Nelson took it's fair share of the might dished out by this nasty storm. The storm brought heavy rain, flooding and wind gusts up to 150km/p. Nelson has lots of large and very old trees. Many fell over. Look at this big one right in the middle of town, narrowly missing a car driving by!


It was high excitement getting Ronan home from school in once piece. Lucky old Flynn had the day off school at home all day!

Just in: look at what an ad agency did with the above clip, what a laugh!