Trains, Boxes and Wickets

Thursday

Budget meeting with Emma our new finance person, tutored by Eilleen our old finance person. Apparently we're quite simple to deal with. This is good it means over a companionable cup of char I flog the library to Emma. Usual story, didn't realise we are here and what we can do for the young studying finance person. Of course it ain't the first time we've told them and probably won't be the last. Marketing, eh! It's like banging your head against a brick wall but without the sense that you can get relief by stopping it!

Lunch is taken at the Marina in celebration of Christmas, Solstice take yer pick. OK devastating confession time, I'm missing the ability to be grumpy about Christmas, there hasn't been a Christmas outbreak at work yet. Is this lack of Sally and Christina providing Christmas critical mass for me to be grumpy about. Anyway the meal was pleasant, good comapny apart from me helps. Gonna nick the idea of the beetroot and feta tartlet at some point because it was good.

Home and Monst is suffering in tems of not feeling well, the result is two meals to cook. I then promptly fall asleep in the living room and when I wake get told I've been snoring like a pig and head upstairs at about 8.30 'ish, there are fringe benefits to this.

Friday

The benefits prove to be a rediculously early rise which lets me get the news done, sort out the blog that feeds Talkr to generate the podcast which I haven't talked about here yet. Finally found a service that automates the creation of podcasts that will work at work as well as home. The notion is that busy NHS managers might like to have our news current awareness service read at them. So a robotic American voice now does this. Don't know if anyone'll use it but what the hell it's a couple of rigid digits waved as usual! The automation is critical, my read it yourself experiment was too time consuming for repetition, this is at least simple to cope with. Anyway the feed address for it is http://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=24421 so bung that in yer aggregator if you dare!

A more dubious benefit is the ability to listen to the cricket. Yesterday England had a good day, a reason for jubilation all round, today it is a bad day, the whole thing is fairly typical and only to be expected. Right now miss Dave being about the place to grumble about this state of affiars with. Cricket over Christmas won't be the same in the library without him about too.

A return to the Blackhole of Gateway House, which I discover from one of the boxes I'm listing is also alarmingly referred to as the Dead Room. Not found any stiffs yet... but still looking. Fondly hoping it'll turn into an episode of Inspector Moose! Getting used to the commute to the Land of Manc, train, coffee, scrabbling around on gruby floors recording records that nobody cares about (or so I think but I witness some being used today!) The Good news is I'll be almost sorted by the end of today apart form the odd box and the loose files. Ask Tracy to book me tickets for next week where I have the luxury of an empty diary (a reason to be thankful for Soltice season?)

Recharge time comes and I hit the web cafe at the Merchants Hotel for the purposes of this posting. Machines are empty, requires a buzz to get in and I'm not certain I'd want to spend the night here but for web access at £150 an hour it'll do.

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Up Yer Kilt

Morning and the delights of taking Cal to the Dentist, while Monst does that I scoot to work, puick up some Disney CDs and then by the time I'm back at the Dental Hospital, the family are out. Dash the boy to Kirkby. Home and time to clean up in anticipation of going away. Poor Monst is knackered and grabs a well deserved kip.

Head back to Kirkby and head up Norf' as we head to Coatbridge. Stop at Tebay. Other than that the only eventful element of the whole journey is it pisses down. Arive just before 7.00pm.

Of Penguins, Boats, Buses, Power Stations and Fur Seals

The key event of the holiday for Callum is achieved as yesterday we go on a cruise round Doubtful Sound (really a Fjord but Captain Cook couldn't spell that and didn't go in because of the narrow entrance hence the Doubtful title, mind you the local spelling is Fiord so he ain't alone!) Yes we see one of the Fiordland Crested Penguins (not the two shown in the pic our pics need rescuing yet). Cal is made up because penguins are one of the reasons he fancied New Zealand as a holiday location. We are relieved as a result but will try and find more once in Dunedin which is where we head today.

As for the Doubtful Sound gig, well it began badly in that a several Real Journeys buses travel past the hotel. Monst comes out with the Fraser "We're doomed, all doomed" and hormonally demands I head to the Real Journey's Office (just down the road to find out whats happening), given that the weather sees it pissing it down I'm not keen, I'd rather get wet later. Anyway as I get halfway to the office the predictable happens and the bus arrives which sees me scurrying back to the hotel to meet it and breathless for the first part of the journey. It's all a public health conspiracy I tell you.

Bus takes us to Pearl Harbour (no not that one) on Lake Manapouri. Form there we transfer to a boat to cross the lake. Meet some nice folk and also some people we met on the trip up at Piahia and again in Fox Glacier. Chat and travel, catch up on the postcards.

On the other side of the lake we transfer to a bus and travel by unsealed road to Deep Cove. We stop along the way and it is explained to us that this part of the world receives huge amounts of rain and it is our good fortune to be there on a rainy day because we will get to see lots of waterfalls. We do, take lots of snaps of them. Loads of mosses etc. in the forest as a result. Lots of low cloud/mist too.

Deep Cove we transfer to a boat, designed for a hundred, as there are only twenty of us loads of space. Lots of pics of mysterious mist shrouded Islands, waterfalls etc. Not much wildlife at first. Eventually we locate some fur seals having failed to locate penguins at there usual location. Cal vaguely interested, Monst delighted as she gets to play with the settings on her camera. Carry on cruising and eventually we find a penguin. As ever I am always amazed how in the wild things are extremely well camouflaged, from a distance the penguin really blends into the rock well. Dunno why this amazes me it'd be a poor design if they didn't.

Back to Deep Cove is all of the excitement over, is it 'eck as like, we still have a trip to Manapouri Underground Power Station to look forward to. The Brits on the trip are somewhat underwhelmed it must be said. I try to get excited by the engineering feat but it ain't happening. Apologies to anyone who worked on it but comparing it with a James Bond set, well you're taking the piss.

Back on the boat, that days postcards get done and we head for Te Anau. Interesting place Te Anau, seems to me to be a bit like Milton Keynes all new build and it has a concrete Takehe instead of the cows. Still I'm probably being grossly unfair.

Eat at the hotel, food is reasonable, but it is a 70's throwback, Elvis wafts his cheesy tunes at us, I eat prawn cocktail, Monst has soup served in a Berni style bowl, venison for me for mains but Cal and Monst hit 70's fave Chicken Kiev. However the service is excellent and the staff of the hotel have been great.

Next stop Dunedin.

Technorati Tags: Te Anau, Doubtful Sound, Manapouri Underground Power Station, Rain, Fiordland Crested Penguins, Fur Seals

Of Laundrettes, Jet Lag and Driving

Monst braves the laundry room tonight. Only a cold wash option and the dryer is dreadful. To the extent that when all are asleep the drying elf comes out and goes and does a last cycle of drying on the clothes that remained damp. Marginal tech hitch is that te reason the others are asleep is that old devil called jetlag. I wake up an hour later sat on the stairs outside the laundry room. Still the clothes are dry!

Cal is up at five, so he's getting better on the sleep front. I read him another chapter of 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Monst mutters dark things about the hour of the day but rises at about 6.30. We load the car and go for breakfast before checking out. Drift up to the Bay of Islands today.

Drive up is uneventful other than it rains. We stop once for a cuppa and a slash but arrive at Piahia around 11.30'ish. Locate the folk who are meant to be taking us to see dolphins to give them the dosh. A harder task than you'd think because there are loads of people at it. Once in the office they warn us that the weather is due to be rougher tomorrow than today so we opt to go on the afternoon trip. Quick sort out of things, lunch of good homemade veg soup for me and we're off on a dual tour round the islands in the Bay of Islands and to find dolphins. The dolphins are having a laugh and aren't about but orca are. Absolutely amazing seeing them in the wild doing their own thing. We learn among other things that the Killer Whale tag is a nonsense, they are in fact dolphins with a mean streak and are at the top of the food chain. Round here they hunt ray in pairs, ripping the things apart and not eating the liver which is poisonous to them. I watched one of the Beebs inumerable nature programmes with Bill Oddie in which he said the world would be a much happier place if people saw whales and marine mammels more often because a boat full of people who've seen them just smile, he's right, happy household. So fail to swim with dolphins but do see orcas, fair trade I'd say.

For Cal though the trip was also about speed. He stands at the front of the boat as we scoot along at a fair lick, jumping up and down every time we hit a particularly big wave, yelling 'Woo Hoo'. Nice to see him happy. The down side is that its still pissing down and one of us has to stand with him for safety's sake. I draw the short straw and get soaked and learn that travelling at speed through rain is like having someone throw fine gravel at your face. Good trip but.

Locate the hotel and dump the stuff and get changed into dry togs. Warm up with a quick shower and then head for dinner. Opt for a chinese. Portions are huge, about double the size of a portion at home but we have beef in a black peepercorn sauce and chicken in black bean sauce with garlic, topped of with a special fried rice. Too much food but it is excellent. Top stuff. Back to the hotel an early night.