It's been a busy few weeks, with quite a lot going on compared to recent months. Biggest news is the arrival of 'Nana' aka Carol, Annies mum. Our new lodger has been mostly well behaved, and it seems that since she arrived the washing up and laundry fairies have started visiting during the day, which is great news! Nana's first impressions of NZ seem really good, even though the weather has taken a bit of a turn since her arrival, changeable being the word. Now, if only she'd tidy her room ...

We took a week off work and went on a 'tiki-tour' of the south of the South Island. The first two days were a bit of a washout, we had to look at the postcards at Lake Tekapo and imagine what the view of the lake and mountains would be like without a solid blanket of cloud 50 ft above our heads. From there things picked up, and by the time we reached Queenstown the weather was fantastic. We took a ride up the cable car, and Nana even ventured on to the chair lift and luge cart track at the top. Go Nana!! We then took the outrageously beautiful road up to Milford Sound, and a boat trip out onto the sound. We also lucked out with bottlenose dolphins coming up to check the boat out, a first for Annie and Malc. After Milford we travelled down to the wonderfully wild Catlins coast, where we saw lots of sea lions, seals and yellow-eyed penguins. We spent our last night on the Otago peninsula before chugging back up the coast to our humble abode.

Last weekend was Malc's work christmas do. This was a surprise trip on the 'Fox II', an old wooden sailing ketch. We chugged out of Lyttleton harbour, on the other side of the Port Hills from Christchurch, and then sailed over to Diamond harbour. The worlds campest captain then dropped anchor and fired up the BBQ. After that we did a bit more sailing around the harbour, where we were lucky enough to have some Hectors Dolphins come and check out the boat. These are the worlds smallest dolphin, only just over a metre long, and one of the rarest being endemic to the NZ coast. It was a real bonus to see them, we have been hoping to see some for ages. All in all it was a great evening, with much heaving-to, reefing of the mizzen and similar nautical shannanigans.

This weekend we're off to Hanmer and Kaikoura, will send news in the next update. Take care all, M, A & C.