Spook and I went up Grand View Ridge. Sounds like Wallace and Gromit got here before the Maori's with a name like that. However, it did have a grand view, looking backto Wanaka and the shape of Mt Iron in the middle. Not that I made it to the top. There are the usual zig-zag roads and I thought I'd cut a few zigs off. The steep but innocent looking slope turned out to be covered in wild rose thorn and it's baby off-spring. There seemed to be many other jaggy things too, but none so lethal as the Spear Grass further up the hill. I put an exploratory hand down and it was like sticking my finger into a needle. Sharp as. None of this dulled the pain of climbing steeply, but I did get a bit closer to Spook by cheating. I turned back with him when he met me on his way back from the top.
We picked the children up from school after lunch and took them to Queenstown for the game against Wakatipu. Meg got to come too so that she wouldn't be home alone. We got a bit lost looking for the right pitch so the boys didn't get to play the first part of the game (John is staying with us tonight as his parents are away). John always plays an admirable game as one of their best players, but it was good to see Finn really getting stuck in again with a renewed confidence. The Wakatipu boys played better and had very fast sprinters with ours only managing one try at the very end of the game. They still got only positive feedback from coach JT. It's good how he never lets their heads go down but points out the things needed to make their game better. This game was played tonight as so many are going to Dundedin on Saturday to watch the All Blacks/France game. I'm chuffed that we are going too. With no game to play, we can drop Spook off at the airport in Queenstown, have a farewell coffee with him and head south to the big city.
We came home to a roastie toastie house as the electricians were in fixing the heat pump when we left and we asked them to leave it on a peep. It was probably about 16 degrees when we got home and shot up to 20 degrees easily with the fire lit. Mind you, it is a very mild night. The pump works by bringing in the warm air from outside. we should get 3 kw of heat for the price of 1kw, but when it gets very cold and it has less warm air to find, it drops to 1kw for 1kw. It's supposedly a very good system. It's nice to have that when our hunter/gatherer is leaving us for 10 days. Maggie said she would send Mike up if anything broke down while Spooks away and would send herself up if I found myself howling and crying, so it's good to know they are there.
grateful for:
Not having actually killed the Possum in the picture as, much as they are hated here (they are Aussies), they make a nasty thumping noise when you do hit them.
still having an 11yr old boy, as tomorrow I will feel older, having a 12 year old.
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