Week one was spent in Leeds on the first residential of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme Cohort 3.4! I had the great pleasure of working with Lawrence and Julian, the other two of my trio. It was fun even if very tiring. I met my tutor group, initially 16 but I lost one to Julian by the end of the week, so ended up with 15! I don't think it was anything personal but who knows? My action learning groups are both based in the south of England and I will be doing lots of travelling over the next 2 years, they are really engaged and motivated people.
During the week I met Alison Barrett for pizza, it was good to catch up with a good friend ...
The weekend was great, Neil, Sam and I went to Lymm Coffee House for breakfast on Saturday morning - always a treat! We managed to get bits 'n' bobs done and watched some cricket on both Saturday and Sunday.
The flights to Christchurch were fairly uneventful, I managed to sleep on each of the flights, watched some films and read my new kindle - the best thing ever!
I arrived at Christchurch airport and Naomi was waiting in arrivals for me (she'd had to wait 4 hours!) and seemed really well.
We took the shuttle bus to the hire car company and were taught how to put on snow chains - Naomi is a natural.
We then drove to Sally's where we stayed for one night before heading off to Queenstown.
Sally lives about 20 minutes from the airport on a small holding; they have 3 horses - Haze, Jay and Digger, 2 dogs - Pippi and Juno, 2 cats - Latte and Moki, 3 goats - Philly, Missy and Austin, 2 cuni cuni (pigs) - Gloria and Grace, 1 cow, 5 sheep and some hens. Tim and Sophie were there too.
The drive to Queenstown was about 6 hours and started off very wet but soon we had sunshine and dry weather. The scenery is very dramatic and we could see snow on the tops of the mountains, beautiful. We stopped off at the church of the good shepherd, Lake Tekapo for a stretch of the legs ... stunning.
We had a comfortable Lake View room/suite at The Rydges which was comfortable and we ate there on the first night which was basic hotel food! Collecting our skis and boots was interesting in that we arrived at a busy time and it all seemed a bit inconvenient, however once things had quietened down the guys were quite helpful. They suggested the best snow and skiing was at Cardrona so we booked a 2 day pass.
We met Chloe at the bar next to the hostel she stayed at and went on to a bar where they served cocktails in teapots, served as shots and I actually 'did' shots - even though they were cheat shots! we met some of Chloe's travelling friends who were great fun and very welcoming.
The following day we drove to Cardrona ski fields and had a good day - skiing to the Captains Table; great fun and I was encouraged by Naomi; telling me that 'you can bloody ski woman' :) and guess what - I did, including a bit of off piste and a jump!On thursday evening we had an infamous FergBurger with Chloe back at the hotel :) which was great (even though I had the bombay chicken which was a bit too sweet). I fell asleep very early and slept through til the following morning - I think that was my jet lag recovery!
On friday we returned to Cardrona and the snow was great, the ski lifts much quieter, which meant we had a great day! Including doing the gravity trail at the end of the day; it took me two attempts but following Naomi I was able to manage it quite competently :)
We had a pizza and early night before heading out to Glenorchy on Saturday morning for theRiver Wild experience: A beautiful 2 hour ride at the head of Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand’s longest lake. Riding alongside braided, glacial fed rivers this adventure offers river crossings and spectacular scenery, including views of The Misty Mountains, The Wizard’s Vale and The Mighty Methedras. It was a fantastic experience, and I coped well with 2 hours on the back of a horse (Merlin) and Naomi had a good ride on Ben - it was amazing scenery and we were introduced to braided rivers and some of the Lord of The Rings scenery.
We then drove to Wanaka and stayed in another hotel with a view for a couple of nights, overlooking the small town of Wanaka and the lake. It's a really pretty place. Naomi was unwell - full of cold, so had some chance to chill and relax.
On Monday morning we headed back to Sally's, another 5 hour drive, with an almost run out of fuel moment! Luckily we arrived at a petrol station before the fuel ran out!
Being with Sally Sophie and Tim was great fun - there was great expectation that there may be snow (falsely!) and we learned about honey badgers, bidibid and braided rivers. Naomi and Sophie rode Haze, Jay and Digger in the paddock on Tuesday and we took a walk by the river Waimakiriri river and then on Wednesday we took a drive to Baynors Brake with Jay and Digger. Naomi and Sophie rode whilst Sally and I walked the route; with Juno charging all over the place. When we got back to their house, Sue and Graham were there as they and brought back a puppy that they no longer wanted to keep. It was lovely to meet them and hopefully we will catch up at the weekend in Blenheim.We then drove to Hanmer Springs and found a place to stay for 2 nights. On Thursday morning we spent a couple of hours in the hot springs which was very relaxing, and beautiful to be in the cold winter sunshine.
On Friday we drove to Kaikura, hoping to go on a whale watching tour, which unfortunately was cancelled due to poor water conditions. Fortunately as we drove to Blenheim we stopped off at Ohau seal colony and even though the waves were crashing against the coast line there were plenty of seals basking on the rocks. Whilst we were stopped we received a message from Andrea about the waterfall walk at Ohau where we could see baby seals playing in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, so we stopped off for a walk to see them - so playful!
We arrived in Blenheim on Friday afternoon and had a lovely dinner with Pete and Andrea.
Today, I went swimming this morning while Pete and Andrea were at the gym and then we went for coffee in Blenheim before heading off on a wine tour - Framingham wines, wairau River, Forrests and Fromm vineyards; including lunch at Wairau river vineyard.
