stellar_muddle | Not there (see icon), but had fun anyway. (Reply)

Fri: Ferry sailing at mutter mutter am. Smooth with some winds. Z bounced around on deck, while I embroidered and napped. 5 Morris Minors. Missed the bakery in Picton - found a quite reasonable pie in Seddon, but not their really quiches from the New years trip. Many more very cool vintage cars - we suspect some sort of rally. Only occasionally were they stuck at the side of the road looking unhappy. Nice rock wave fountain combination north of Kaikoura. Banana Passionfruit a little further up the valley that usual:) Me on Z's shoulders will only reach so far, so next time, bring wire on a stick or long cutting device with cup attached. Made it to Chch safely and gate crashed

manus's ball (with pizza). I only requested about 4 (maybe 5) dances. Not too late a night.

Sat: Slept in a little, then made it out to the Lyttleton Farmer's market to catch up with

lacedwaist and B. Then much opshopping (yay $2 clothing) and a tour of their place. Lunch (rather late) at the Greek Recipe (they still do THE BEST chicken souvlaki) and then back to feed a cat and get ready for dinner. Dinner was not the most illustrious location and not the most illustrious start. We were early by an hour. At Sequoia 88. So spent an hour wandered around the neighbourhood I spent age 5 - 15 in. Some things had changed lots, but others were just the same. Then back to dinner. It was nice catching up with/meeting various of Z's relatives (even if one knew a bunch of the people I work with - usual small world), but the less said about the buffet and the music the better. Suffice to say, when I turn 80, aim for Dorothys or a decent Thai, NOT an "economic night out" that gives a $2 discount to pensioners. But at least the birthday boy seemed to have a good time.

Sun: Up not too early, but not too late, and off to Z's parents to pick up a load of stuff from storage. You have the mental picture of having left a couple boxes of books, some papers etc. 6-7 boxes of books, papers, soft toys (only one of which was strapped to the car bull bars for the rest of the trip - some of you may recognise this rabbit - it only collected a few moths along the way) and a table saw later. Not a completely packed load, but a definitely full one. Back to Chch to drop in on more people (Z relative's with a nicely restored tractor that Z's grandfather called Mary Anne) before dropping by

slothphil et al's BBQ and catching up with more people. A pause to munch before heading up north. After muttering over the insane overtaking habits of various drivers in the dark and the somewhat variable headlight ettiquette, we found a nice promintary a bit north of Kaikoura to roll out a swag and fall asleep on the edge of a beach with the stars and moon above and the waves crashing not too nearby. The seals only occasionally came upwind.

Mon: Yay to dawn not being too early. Yay to muesli and milk for breakfast. Boo to forgetting to bring cups (note for next time) and the little Optimus burner being less than cooperative with respect to heating water. More classic cars on the road. Discovered at Seddon (back for the pies) that they had had over 200 of them through over the weekend for a rally. May have accidentally acquired large quantities of coarse sea salt*. Geologist licking his rock hammer is just disturbing... Failed to see

margaretta but we had suspicions she might be elsewhere. Found good Picton bakery (apparently 4th best in NZ) but it was closed :(. Stamps, wandering and onto the ferry. Lackluster lunch (Cafe better than greasy food court), some out on deck embroidering, then I tracked down a vaguely quiet corner (or as close as you get on a full sailing) and had a nap for the rest of the way**. So home, unloading***, bit of tidying and now the usual arguments over who get the internet next/now. Work tomorrow *sigh*. Should be more tired, but nap kind of took care of that.

*Any one know any good recipes or want to try salt preserving?

** My approach to ferry crossings is to find a nice warm patch of sunlight, preferably with a chair or soft cushion attached and fall asleep lulled by gentle rocking. Z gets seasick inside under such conditions but is perfectly fine if he can bounce around on the deck in the (often high speeed) fresh air, even in 5m swells. I just get grumpy with the wind after a while.

*** Those 4 bookcases which were plenty are now not nearly enough, with all available spare surfaces being covered and the table still overflowing with books. Time for more book cases. But I can now do binges on Judith McNaught, LM Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Iris Johansen, Star Trek and various others... (you can hear Z wincing at most of these in the background though :))