Top 10 Things to do in Canterbury!

Uncle Mike Thompson has been visiting Chistchurch, in Canterbury for all of August. So, best to compile a top ten things to do in Canterbury list to make the most of his stay in New Zealand.

10. Try a fluffy and a mini muffin or macaron, since the food is tiny, just like it was when we were 7 years old and had tea parties on a blanket in mom's garden.

9. Visit Willowbank to see rare NZ birds such as the buff weka and kiwi.

8. Ride on the gondola up to the top of the Port Hills for a view of sheep, and some mountains. The shop at the top has some great cheap deals on souvenirs!

7. Visit the Ferrymeade Heritage Park on steam train day and enjoy your first sausage sizzle there.

6. Take a roadie to Hanmer Springs to enjoy a hydrothermal spa and hot pool for a day. The upside to all the geologic activity is that the earth actually heats the springs to a simmering 35 C. A built in sauna on the mountainside!

5. Go camping with the Scouts at Blue Skies in Kaipoi overnight. Being outdoors is good for you, even if it is still winter here.

4. Go biking down to Hagley Park for an afternoon. On a sunny day, this is both great exercise and very relaxing.

3. Visit the Quake City museum in the RE Start container mall on Cashel St. Learn how the town crumbled into rubble two years ago, and how they have been cleverly building new earthquake resistant buildings.

2. Visit the Canterbury Museum and see the cool bug collection in the discovery zone for kids.

1. Visit Fish and Chip shops and bring your own ketchup ( tomato sauce). Kiwis wrap their food in grey paper and a scoop of hot chips (fries) and some chicken nuggets can make a meal for $5! Tasty as!

Curry and Wet Dog: House hunting AGAIN

Last week was our quarterly inspection for the landlord, meaning we have almost been in our place for 6 months! I cleaned and weeded like a nice tenant.
On Wed afternoon, I get a call from the real estate management company. I call them back, thinking that maybe they will tell me that the garden needs more weeds pulled.

Nope, the inspection went fine.

They call me instead to tell me that the owner has decided to sell the house I live in and our "rolling contract" means we have to move 42 days after they sell it or 21 days notice when we find a new place to rent.

My jaw drops! A fourth move in a year? Surely this cannot be true?

Sadly, it is. Rotten luck.

Off I go to look at new houses to rent. In a city filled with people getting earthquake repairs, everyone on the planet seems to be out looking for a new flat as well.you get to visit a house during a 15 minute interval and look at your competition for renters while they also examine the house and grab an application from the rental company. Steel cage match type competition.

Some houses are nice- I have put I two applications so far. Some have a strong odor, of wet dog, curry and ramen noodles, cigarette smoke, or mold.

Not appealing for a new renter.

I have a lead on a new house in Burnside from a scouting friend, and we may get it before they actually list it on the real estate website, which would be awesome for us. They are looking for long term tenants, which is what we would be with Mike's 3 yr visa and permanent job at Telogis.

Meanwhile, still house hunting with Zack in the afternoons after preschool. Wish me luck!

Snack attack

Ever miss American stuff? More importantly, American junk food? We have!

To help out, I set up a snack exchange program. My friends mail me American snacks, and we mail them back NZ snacks.

Awesome!

Unfortunately for me, this care package from Meghan Enos came at the end of my 20 week fitness challenge and the start of my Personal Trainer Mark's Hunter-Gatherer diet, so I can't have any of it, except for the Body Builder Protein Bars. It seems my body is stuck at its current weight, so I have to do the dreaded clean eating, cut calories plan. No fun!

Kids were happy to have Reese's and Poptarts though. :)

Triathalon season of spring and summer is approaching. I got a used mountain bike off Trademe for$75, so I could actually have the equipment to enter a triathalon. I haven't owned a bike since I was 13.

Mike has boarded his Boston plane headed ultimately for Christchurch again. 30 hrs of travel for my husband? No good. I am glad that he went to his sister's wedding in USA.

Flying Fox

Kiwi parks are made for fun, and this was clear when we moved to NZ. Now that it is10 months later, I can re-experience the wonder through my American brother Mike Thompson's eyes. He was amazed at the size of the super slides, the height of the rock climbing wall. Lastly, I challenged him to try the Flying Fox, our zip line at the local Bishopdale Elephant Park.

Challenge accepted! He loved it so much that he was all smiles and went on three times. He even made me try it too.

Scary at first,but fun. I did scream a bit initially.

We also helped Harry and Ben scale the rock wall. They were scared to come down, but I helped hold their feet and lifted them back to safety. See, my weightlifting at the gym is paying off.

Nice warm afternoon, and you can sense spring is just around the bend. Flowers are blooming, baby ducks are hatching. The gardens are growing a bit.

International Day and Friday Night Pillow Fight

So it came to be that Mike Fried left for a week and a half on the same day that Mike Thompson arrived at the Christchurch airport, only 8 hrs apart.


The kids were excited for the midnight pickup of Uncle Mike, even though I had to haul them mid sleep to the airport at 11 pm. It's not everyday that you get an international visitor!

Friday started with school for the kids, and a Dr appt for me. It turns out that I have an ear infection, which explains why my ears have been continuing to hurt , even now that most of my head cold is gone. Antibiotics should help....

It was international day at Zack's school, so he helped me make Mac n cheese and M &M cookies to represent cuisine from USA.

Uncle Mike came and the kids sang itsy bitsy spider in Maori and SriLanjan, and also the NZ national anthem. It was very cute!

Zack wore our American flag as a superhero cape, as many of the other kids were dressed up in batman and Spider-Man costumes or in kimonos.

Uncle Mike liked the international food spread, which included kiwi food and other stuff people brought.

Then, later in the day, we all went to Fri night services at the synagogue house. The services were cool, and we had matzah ball soup, and the kids ended the night with a pillow fight with all the Jewish kids of Canterbury. Fun!