The afternoon of the last Friday of the month

Means drinkies at your desk...
Because you deserve it.

All you have to do is post 30 times in a row

Holy Schmoke, I just cannot believe November's *just* round the corner which means three things in my world - a) I turn a year older (crap, how did that happen) b) I've been married to the Other Harf for yet another year (this time, it's 13 in total, blimey!) and c) it's time for NaBloPoMo once again.


Now I know NaBloPoMo runs all year round, but November feels more, well, traditional, you know? I had an awesome time last year, and met some cool people, and hope to do the same this time. Fortunately my mobile phone (a Sony Ericcson 770i) has an inbuilt "Blog This" function (it rocks!) so it's going to be a lot easier for me to post everyday, and I won't have to duck into dodgy internet cafes and sit next to odorous Slovakian backpackers like I did last November.

So, c'mon, join up and post for National Blog Posting Month! Go team! Woo woo woo!

Christchurch, the Garden City

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

In the interest of spreading the *love*

I'm all for the love and the general spreading of bloggy goodwill, so I was most delighted when Jo of Chez le Laquet nominated me as a blog she lurves (and I am rather fond of hers in return, I might add).


Now just like little Haley Joel Osment did it's now time to pay it forward, but first up I have to partake in this one-word meme, which I think I can handle at 8.23 on a Tuesday night.

So here it goes...

Where is your mobile phone? Charging
Where is your significant other? Lounging
Your hair colour? Strawberry-Blonde
Your mother? Practical
Your father? Impractical
Your favourite thing? Camera
Your dream last night? Co-worker!
Your dream goal? Contentment
The room you're in? Study
Your hobby? Photography
Your fear? Illness
Where do you want to be in six years? Here
Where were you last night? Home
What you're not? Busty
One of your wish-list items? Photoshop CS4
Where you grew up? Waiheke
The last thing you did? Dine
What are you wearing? PJ's
Your TV? Footie
Your pets? Pippa
Your computer? Essential
Your mood? Mellow
Missing someone? Sandra
Your car? Ford
Something you're not wearing? Jockstrap
Favourite shop? Ikea
Your summer? Approaching
Love someone? Yep!
Your favourite colour? Blue
When is the last time you laughed? Today
Last time you cried? PMT!

I duly nominate Deeleea of Singular Scene, as she is a true-blue long time blogging buddy who I check in on without fail, fellow Viggophile Amy of Inherent Passion with whom I have spookily far too much in common with not to have met her, Lisa of The Flying Enchilada who had the great sense to marry a Kiwi and now they have the most divine little half-Kiwi/half American daughter and finally Amy of Tudor House, who shares my love of kiwiana kitsch and the mighty All Blacks.

Mwah dahlinks, I luf you all!

Kereru buffet

New Zealand's native woodpigeon loves to scoff down the berries of the kowhai tree. Unfortunately, kereru tend to be on the hefty size for a pigeon and often the branches can't support their weight - resulting in a tumble of feathers and a frantic flapping of wings.

But still they keep comin' back for more. Those kowhai berries are some good sh*t.

Kereru buffet, originally uploaded by Fi@Kiwifruit.

The Labours of Labour Day

1) Folded four loads of washing.
2) Washed three loads of washing.
3) Planted five trees.
4) Pruned two rose bushes.
5) Took 23 photos of a kereru feeding on kowhai berries.
6) Donated three bags of clothing to the Children's Cancer Society.
7) Read one magazine in bed (Practical Photography) with a cup of tea (Choysa) and two slices of toast (one with Marmite, one with guava jelly).
8) Watched WALL-E with three little girls - we gave the movie 8 Chocolate Fish out of 10.
9) Painted ten toenails for the first time in five months (Maybelline Express Finish in "Brassy").
10) Had two (so far, that is...) glasses of Shingle Peak Sauvignon Blanc.

There be a barn

As you can see, the skeleton of our houseguests' new barn house is up, and we are all starting to believe it's all actually going to happen which is cause for much smiling and all round good humour. Bruvinlaw had the help of his brother, Dad and the Other Harf over the weekend (as well as a truck with a "hiab" or crane on the back) to erect the main structural girders, but from now on he's pretty much on his own building it.

My brother-in-law is truly indoctrined in the school of Do-It-All-By-Yourself and will only ask for help when he really, really needs it, but lifting 300kg girders all on his own was slightly beyond his capabilities.

In other news, it's Labour Weekend which means a holiday so us office plebs don't have to go to work tomorrow, a thought that feels me with a small but consistent glow of happiness. No 1 on the agenda will be an extensive, wallowy sleep-in, all depending on the decibel level of Nephew T, whose window-shattering morning chorus of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star can put the kibosh on that.

Clematis from below

Clematis from below, originally uploaded by Fi@Kiwifruit.

Wednesday lunchbreak

At the library, with a view over the park and the very latest copy of Vanity Fair.
One blissful hour of peace.

Akaroa - "long harbour"

As the homepage says: "Akaroa is an historic French and British settlement nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano." I just want to live here. Is that ok?


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

How much wood can a woodchipper chuck

Today I have the body of an 85-year old woman. I ache in 1001 places and I lay the blame for this fully on our septic tank.

Our new septic tank that is, recently installed after the old one kacked itself three weeks ago and the less said about the health and safety issues and the utter inconvenience that caused, the better.

[boring explanation] Part of the council requirements for the new system is that the 300 metres worth of hose (which now twists like giant purple spaghetti under a stand of tall trees to the right of our house) for the thrice-circulated and almost pure run-off water that the tank produces after it has done its bit has to have lots and lots of mulch laid over it to prevent weeds and discourage evaporation.[/boring explanation and queue yawn]

So myself and Other Harf spent all day Saturday stacking piles of wood in the paddock next door, and yesterday we hired a humungous woodchipper (forget one body part at a time as per the pissant little woodchipper in Fargo; you could put a whole carcass in this one) and spent seven hours annihilating the pile to slivers and shovelling it over the hoses.

The whole area looks much prettier and tidier and there is now the gorgeous aroma of freshly chipped wood wafting everywhere just like one of those car fresheners that swing off your rearvision mirror, but I was that bloody knackered last night I couldn't even lift a finger to press the on-button on my laptop. Wah!

And the Other Harf could certainly have done with a hoist to lever himself out of bed this morning, the poor love.

Sometimes this rural living can really age a person.

On the way from Kaikoura to Akaroa...

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Kaikoura - "Meal of crayfish"

We had icecream instead...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The long way round to Kaikoura

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Nice emails make me smile

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Greg <***@gmail.com>
Date: 2008/10/14
Subject: Flower photos
To: fiphotografi@gmail.com

Hi Fi,

Looks and sounds like you're having a good trip down south.

I came across this wallpaper on deviantart today and thought of you straight away.

Can't think why.

Cheers.

Greg





"The Simple Things"

"The Simple Things"

So what's this about Hanmer Springs?

Oh, the aching tediousness that is the first day back at work after a wonderful holiday. There is very little that sucks, in the suckiest kind of way, then your first day back. Perhaps bikini waxing comes to mind, as does being left with the last chocolate in a box of Roses and realising it's a coffee creme, blurk.

Anyway, ha! So much for my ambitious plan to share my photographs with the world wide web on a daily basis; the mountainous terrain we stayed in combined with New Zealand's fourth rate internet service soon put a stop to that.

Despite my techie temper tantrums, we had a most fabulously awesome holiday, and the weather was glorious - warm and clear and perfect for taking photographs and general sightseeingness. Miss 8 loved Hanmer Springs (where we spent days 1 & 2 of our week's holiday) and would never have gotten out of the pools until I told her that her skin would wrinkle up *so* much that when she eventually did get out of the pools all her clothes would be too big for her and fall off her on the walk back to the motel. Bwah-ha-ha!

So she only spent four hours instead of eight hours in the hotpools.

The Other Harf declared Hanmer Springs his favourite also, and was able to soak his very dodgy back in the 36C pool to his heart's content.

I liked Hanmer Springs for the lovely daffodils growing under the oak trees in the main street, the crystal clear views of the Southern Alps looming above the little town and the incredibly photogenic wee lambies decorating the paddocks round the town...

(And there'll be even more photos and witty dialogue to accompany them later on this week when I regain some patience with the pensioned-off hamster speed of my home internet connection, feckin' thing)


Thanks to Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

French Bay, Akaroa

Am fully prepared to convert to a fulltime tourist.

Life is a highway

Life is a highway, originally uploaded by Fi@Kiwifruit.

Caffeine fix...

A flat white at Springs Deli Cafe, Hanmer Springs.
Next stop: Kaikoura.

Lewis Pass

Scenery galore + too many hours in thermal pools + huge dinners at local pub = three completely knackered tourists.

Alpine View Motel alpine views...

in Hanmer Springs, a tiny thermal resort town an hour and half north of Christchurch...

Touchdown

Now to find the el-cheapo car rental place...

Are we there yet?

Suitcases are packed for all weather possibilities, or in the case of Miss 8's, repacked as one really doesn't require four pinafore dresses to see the sights of Christchurch and surrounding tourist attractions.

I've just done a quick check and according to the Weather Boffins, it's going to be fine and warm in the biggest city in the South Island (pop. a whopping 414,000) when we fly in on Saturday morning - warmer than it will be here in the supposed subtropical north of the North Island.

*A dance, a dance, do a little dance*

Dorothy woz here

$9.99 at No1 Shoe Warehouse. You don't just want them; you need them.