We arrived safely in New Zealand, so I’ll continue with my update!
So Saturday night (New Years eve) Jason and I met up with Steve and Lisa at Lunar Park at Sydney Harbour, we had tickets which included entry into the theme park and free rides all night. I had a bit of a dodgy start though, even before I’d had a drink I had a slight accident, we were going down one of these big slides on a mat, and silly me, I tried to lie back cos that’s what makes you go faster, but instead of going faster, I started to spin around and nearly ended up going down head first, I tried my best to stop myself spinning, but unfortunately I ended up getting really bad friction burns on both my arms and on my back. I was a bit shaky after that, and they were stinging like mad, so I went to the first aid room and they put some cream on which helped for a while. (more to come on that later) But it sort of put me off going on any of the other rides after that!
Anyway, after a couple of drinks we went outside to see the 9pm fireworks (these are the ones for the families) they were pretty spectacular, I couldn’t imagine them being much better for the main spectacle at midnight. Anyway, we decided that we should go on the ferris wheel to see the fantastic view. The harbour looked amazing, the bridge had a pumping red heart in the middle which got brighter and bigger towards the end of the night, all the boats were lit up and also had big red hearts on them, the whole place looked amazing, we managed to get a few pics, but the night setting on my camera isn’t the best unfortunately.
After the ferris wheel we went to check out the music rooms for a while. Then at 11.30pm we went outside to get a good spot for the main fireworks at midnight. They were absolutely amazing, I have some video clips of them which I’m hoping to send out soon, the whole bridge was lit up with the fireworks and they went on for about 20 minutes, they were spectacular, truly an Australia moment!! We went back to the theme park after and Steve and Jason went on the rides while Lisa and I had a good gossip. After some food and the train ride back into the city, Jason and I went to Bondi for another party and to meet our friends that had been to see Fat Boy Slim on the beach. We didn’t stay so long though, but we still didn’t manage to get home until 5.30am!
Next day I didn’t get much done at all, and not surprisingly so, it was the hottest I’ve ever known….it was just under 44 degrees, the hottest it’s been in Australia since 1939, it was absolutely awful. Mum had gone out in the morning to the beach and she came stumbling back at about 2pm with a bright red, puffy face caused by the exertion of walking back up the hill…she was exhausted (I’m not surprised, the best thing to do on days like that is to stay inside). We watched a couple of dvd’s, but later on I had to venture down the road to meet up with Lisa and Steve to say goodbye. Going outside was like walking into an oven, I’ve never known anything like that before…thank god every day isn’t like that! Anyway, said goodbye to them, it’s been really great seeing them both, we had such a good time, and now they’re off to Thailand, lucky them!! Jason and I went out for a meal in the evening, I opted for the Thai green curry…god knows why in that heat!! Luckily the evening outside was a bit cooler by then.
Monday we were up early, Mum and I packed our bags as it was too hot to do it the day before, then we slowly got ready. We got to the airport, unfortunately we had separate flights to New Zealand as we’d both booked our tickets with different airlines…Mum’s left an hour before mine. I was a bit worried about the flight again…I’m getting quite bad lately…I’d been to the doctors for some more valium, so I was well prepared….but this time, I decided instead of having tablets, I’d just have a couple of glasses of wine (which is what I always used to do, but for some reason I stopped) and I tell you, it worked a treat, I wasn’t even worried when it was really bumpy on the descent into Christchurch….brilliant!!!
So I arrived (a bit tiddly) at the airport to find Mum already there with Aunty Betty, Uncle Derek and Bill and Brenda (our cousins). It was lovely to see them all again, it’d been a long time. Mum and I were staying at Aunty Betty’s, so they took us there, we had a little chat when we got there, but it was really late so we went to bed quite soon after.
Yesterday Bill and Brenda came round to take us out for the day. First off they took us through Christchurch city centre and then we headed for Akaroa (a small town about an hours drive south). We drove over the Cashmere/Port Hills and saw some amazing views, the countryside is beautiful there. It was a pretty windy, steep and long drive, eventually we got to the viewpoint for the best view of Akaroa and got out and took some pics, the sea looked beautiful. Then we headed down towards the town. It was a lovely little town, it was actually settled by the French…all the streets have French names, it really was lovely. We had some lunch there and a little walk, then we headed back up the hills and towards Lyttelton (which used to be bigger than Christchurch…a long time ago) We saw some amazing views of the Canterbury Plains. On one part of the hill we stopped the car and Mum, Bill and I walked down the bridal path to the bottom to meet Brenda who’d driven on in the car. It was a really steep walk down, but I’m glad I did it, better than walking up it anyhow!! At the bottom we had some Rocky road cake (which I think we’d deserved) then we set off again. Next stop was Scarborough beach, which was quite small and a bit muddy (and it was getting cold) so we didn’t stay there long. I wanted to get to a chemist as by now my arm (from my injuries on NYE) was really inflamed around the burns, it’d been painful for the past couple of days so I thought I’d better get it looked at. We found a chemist, the pharmacist took a look at it and said I should go to the doctors, as it looked really infected and I could even get blood poisoning from it….nightmare!! So we went over the way to the doctors to get it seen to. Finally we got in and he gave me some antibiotics and they put a dressing on them and I was told just to keep an eye on it in case the inflammation spreads. It’s still pretty painful today, and people keep squeezing or walking into it by accident which doesn’t help, but I can sleep better now as they are dressed and I don’t keep knocking them!! Anyway, after the doctors, we all went back to Aunty Betty’s to pick her and Uncle Derek up and then they took us out for dinner, it was an all you can eat carvery with all the different foods you could imagine…lovely!!
Today Aunty Betty took us to Christchurch to have a quick look around…it was very, very cold and windy though, and it started to rain, so we didn’t have much of a look around, we ended up just going to a shopping mall!! I really like what I’ve seen so far of Christchurch, it is very similar to England. It’s actually a refreshing change to come here after Australia, the climate is so different, I’ve even got a duvet at night so it’s nice and snuggly!! We now have to prepare for our trip around the South Island, we leave tomorrow on the Transalpine Express to Greymouth…I’m really looking forward to that.
So Saturday night (New Years eve) Jason and I met up with Steve and Lisa at Lunar Park at Sydney Harbour, we had tickets which included entry into the theme park and free rides all night. I had a bit of a dodgy start though, even before I’d had a drink I had a slight accident, we were going down one of these big slides on a mat, and silly me, I tried to lie back cos that’s what makes you go faster, but instead of going faster, I started to spin around and nearly ended up going down head first, I tried my best to stop myself spinning, but unfortunately I ended up getting really bad friction burns on both my arms and on my back. I was a bit shaky after that, and they were stinging like mad, so I went to the first aid room and they put some cream on which helped for a while. (more to come on that later) But it sort of put me off going on any of the other rides after that!
Anyway, after a couple of drinks we went outside to see the 9pm fireworks (these are the ones for the families) they were pretty spectacular, I couldn’t imagine them being much better for the main spectacle at midnight. Anyway, we decided that we should go on the ferris wheel to see the fantastic view. The harbour looked amazing, the bridge had a pumping red heart in the middle which got brighter and bigger towards the end of the night, all the boats were lit up and also had big red hearts on them, the whole place looked amazing, we managed to get a few pics, but the night setting on my camera isn’t the best unfortunately.
After the ferris wheel we went to check out the music rooms for a while. Then at 11.30pm we went outside to get a good spot for the main fireworks at midnight. They were absolutely amazing, I have some video clips of them which I’m hoping to send out soon, the whole bridge was lit up with the fireworks and they went on for about 20 minutes, they were spectacular, truly an Australia moment!! We went back to the theme park after and Steve and Jason went on the rides while Lisa and I had a good gossip. After some food and the train ride back into the city, Jason and I went to Bondi for another party and to meet our friends that had been to see Fat Boy Slim on the beach. We didn’t stay so long though, but we still didn’t manage to get home until 5.30am!
Next day I didn’t get much done at all, and not surprisingly so, it was the hottest I’ve ever known….it was just under 44 degrees, the hottest it’s been in Australia since 1939, it was absolutely awful. Mum had gone out in the morning to the beach and she came stumbling back at about 2pm with a bright red, puffy face caused by the exertion of walking back up the hill…she was exhausted (I’m not surprised, the best thing to do on days like that is to stay inside). We watched a couple of dvd’s, but later on I had to venture down the road to meet up with Lisa and Steve to say goodbye. Going outside was like walking into an oven, I’ve never known anything like that before…thank god every day isn’t like that! Anyway, said goodbye to them, it’s been really great seeing them both, we had such a good time, and now they’re off to Thailand, lucky them!! Jason and I went out for a meal in the evening, I opted for the Thai green curry…god knows why in that heat!! Luckily the evening outside was a bit cooler by then.
Monday we were up early, Mum and I packed our bags as it was too hot to do it the day before, then we slowly got ready. We got to the airport, unfortunately we had separate flights to New Zealand as we’d both booked our tickets with different airlines…Mum’s left an hour before mine. I was a bit worried about the flight again…I’m getting quite bad lately…I’d been to the doctors for some more valium, so I was well prepared….but this time, I decided instead of having tablets, I’d just have a couple of glasses of wine (which is what I always used to do, but for some reason I stopped) and I tell you, it worked a treat, I wasn’t even worried when it was really bumpy on the descent into Christchurch….brilliant!!!
So I arrived (a bit tiddly) at the airport to find Mum already there with Aunty Betty, Uncle Derek and Bill and Brenda (our cousins). It was lovely to see them all again, it’d been a long time. Mum and I were staying at Aunty Betty’s, so they took us there, we had a little chat when we got there, but it was really late so we went to bed quite soon after.
Yesterday Bill and Brenda came round to take us out for the day. First off they took us through Christchurch city centre and then we headed for Akaroa (a small town about an hours drive south). We drove over the Cashmere/Port Hills and saw some amazing views, the countryside is beautiful there. It was a pretty windy, steep and long drive, eventually we got to the viewpoint for the best view of Akaroa and got out and took some pics, the sea looked beautiful. Then we headed down towards the town. It was a lovely little town, it was actually settled by the French…all the streets have French names, it really was lovely. We had some lunch there and a little walk, then we headed back up the hills and towards Lyttelton (which used to be bigger than Christchurch…a long time ago) We saw some amazing views of the Canterbury Plains. On one part of the hill we stopped the car and Mum, Bill and I walked down the bridal path to the bottom to meet Brenda who’d driven on in the car. It was a really steep walk down, but I’m glad I did it, better than walking up it anyhow!! At the bottom we had some Rocky road cake (which I think we’d deserved) then we set off again. Next stop was Scarborough beach, which was quite small and a bit muddy (and it was getting cold) so we didn’t stay there long. I wanted to get to a chemist as by now my arm (from my injuries on NYE) was really inflamed around the burns, it’d been painful for the past couple of days so I thought I’d better get it looked at. We found a chemist, the pharmacist took a look at it and said I should go to the doctors, as it looked really infected and I could even get blood poisoning from it….nightmare!! So we went over the way to the doctors to get it seen to. Finally we got in and he gave me some antibiotics and they put a dressing on them and I was told just to keep an eye on it in case the inflammation spreads. It’s still pretty painful today, and people keep squeezing or walking into it by accident which doesn’t help, but I can sleep better now as they are dressed and I don’t keep knocking them!! Anyway, after the doctors, we all went back to Aunty Betty’s to pick her and Uncle Derek up and then they took us out for dinner, it was an all you can eat carvery with all the different foods you could imagine…lovely!!
Today Aunty Betty took us to Christchurch to have a quick look around…it was very, very cold and windy though, and it started to rain, so we didn’t have much of a look around, we ended up just going to a shopping mall!! I really like what I’ve seen so far of Christchurch, it is very similar to England. It’s actually a refreshing change to come here after Australia, the climate is so different, I’ve even got a duvet at night so it’s nice and snuggly!! We now have to prepare for our trip around the South Island, we leave tomorrow on the Transalpine Express to Greymouth…I’m really looking forward to that.
1 comment:
hi Vik, sounds like your having a great time as usual. I hope your arms get better quickly. Fancy you hurting them like that! Doh.
Oh well give mum my love and speak to you both soon.
Planty01.
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