Christmas in Singapore

He may be the only kitten who does not climb xmas trees 

Joel carried this noble pine home on his back from Far East Flora!

xmas morning by the "hearth"

Farewell New Zealand

Final night in New Zealand

It's been a great trip and despite the weekend of rest prescribed we made it a very memorable one. Joel traded in his riding for reading and cooking and we just cozied up listening to the crashing surf most of the time. On the way up here we bought a ton of fresh produce and meats for the BBQ and have just been in food heaven.

The weather warmed up to about 20 degrees with a brisk breeze. Yesterday we took a long drive to see the country side and today - after 4 days of bed rest - I went for a waddle with Joel down the beach at sunset. Feeling pretty good on my feet but not at all like leaving this beautiful place tomorrow.

Castle Rock day trip

An unplanned hospital tour

After the sleepy arrival from the Hobbit Festival last night we crawled into bed hoping to be asleep the moment our heads could hit the pillow. Unaware of the hidden peril of this I decided to change from lying on my right side to the left. Innocent enough no? Half way through this manoeuvre I was in blinding pain and couldn't move either direction. Joel rescued me and with my pillow fortress wedged around me I got to sleep. In the morning I was shocked to discover that the sudden pain attack had not been a random or fleeting thing at all. I couldn't completely stand up or walk or move my right leg much without assistance. Joel dressed me while I looked up our closest ER.

We slowly shuffled into the Wellington Hospital at 1pm and I spent a few hours in the ER with nurses and an ER Dr who were amazingly respectful and attentive. I was moved to the Women's acute care wing for the rest of the day where I was under the care of a very good midwife and eventually had two different opinions from their two female OBs on duty. Five hours later we'd ruled out anything scary, the baby was doing well and was more than happy to kick anyone who cared to poke around. The final consensus was that this was muscular skeletal and no one could really get an affirmative answer on just how badly the round ligament in question had been injured. I refused pain killers again and we went slowly back to our host's home. Marvelling at this clean, well run hospital and the amazing care we'd consistently had from each person we'd encountered.

I'm not terribly mobile and am on partial bed rest again so we are spending the next few days enjoying the experience of renting a Bach along the coast of the North Island. It's a nice cottage facing a small sand dune which breaks the frigid wind. The beach front is beautiful. We are now both in our winter parkas as "early summer" here is about the temperature of early early Winter in BC. Yesterday was 7 degrees!

The Hobbit Premiere pt 2

There's a very good reason for staking ones claim on a sacred bit of fence hours before the red carpet opens. We were aware that there would be little chance of a good view of the happenings by the time we headed back down there but we had no idea just how many would show up. Estimates said about 100,000 fans were glued to fence and pouring into side streets, spilling into the nearby Hobbit festival. We could hear the actors speaking to the press and see them on the big screens but that was about it.

I had little stamina for standing so we hailed a cab and went to check out the Hobbit Festival on its last night. Rather than a heavily Hobbit branded event it was a showcase of local artisans making anything from leather messenger bags to woven scarves. There were a few food stalls and then the huge field with a big screen where we caught the final stage of the red carpet hoopla as the PM and Peter Jackson as well as some of the actors took to the shire themed stage.

We continued our walk back through the city in search of a place for dinner. I was beyond exhausted so by 8:00pm we called it a night. Closed our tab at the pub we'd found and headed back to our friend's place to put our feet up.

The onlookers along the red carpet were at least 10 deep by this point all
 along the 500 metres

The Hobbit Premiere pt 1

The red carpet has been unfurled, the die-hard fans are dressed in their middle earth best and are lining the streets for places. Actors start their walk in about an hour and a half. These are the iPhone pics from just a little earlier today.

Motouka

Abel Tasman Park

Picton NZ

We just spent a very restful night at the Fernview B&B in Picton just a hop skip from where we got off the ferry last night. It's a small quaint town with a community of sport fishermen who keep their boats here.

Joel just did a ride along the Queen Charlotte track this morning. He had a great time.

The chorus of spring birds is quite amazing. We have been treated to yet another day of fantastic weather. Heading out toward Nelson now. We have Wifi in the rental car so we are easy to reach on email!