Invercargill Theatre Company - Theatre Resturant

Hi there, I have had a good weekend, I went to The Theatre Restaurant which was a production of the Invercargill Theatre Co, with friend's, on Friday night. Amy, Sian & Bob {Amy's dad}

They did a Cruise around the world, they sang and danced as if they were the cruise ship entertainer's and the Captain of the ship introduced each set - and sang a few too.

They were very professional and I enjoyed it immensely, they are doing Cat's next year, so I will have to get tickets for that as I have never seen the play.

The evening starts with a buffet meal, then the musical starts, the food was nice - and in the interval they served dessert - YUM is all I can say - Gateau - black forest - with strawberries and cream!

I had a really enjoyable evening, and I had a choice of going to my Propagation course in the morning or a ride at the Greenhills Quarry - can you guess which one I chose?

row row row da boat....The Race!

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the day finally dawned for the Corpor8 Rowing challenge

we had to be there at 7.15am! eek - just made it as I had thought they said 7.30am!!!

the thing was - we had got good in practice, but on the day they used competition boats -

These were lighter more responsive, and we felt like there was a good possiblity of us ending up in the drink!....well we technically did, but more on that later!

" this is Quad team 1 Setting off the first time Greg, Me, Jenny & Tracy(male)

"ooh the concentration"
"OK well I smiled once!"

The start...

and where did we finish............... Last (oops - well I did say we were totally at sea so to speak in these race boats...now if we'd been in the wooden versions - we were winning in the training HONEST!)

Any way - since there were 6 rowers we each got 2 chances in the 3 scheduled heats - team 2 were....
starting from the back of the scull, Alistair, Rose, Jenny & Greg
they started well - but unfortunately in the same lane 3 (Kiwi Mettle's downfall in the end) and they got too close to the Buoy and rose's oar got tangled in it - so they came last too!

So it came down to TEAM 3 to change our loosing streak............(oh heck!)
we set off with renewed determination...


we got off to a good start and were actually in the LEAD! the adrenaline was pumping.....the guy in the dingy is shouting at our coxwain to steer the boat to the right.... but some how she steered us to the left???
" ooh the shore looks too close"

and how did it end...............Well we got stuck on the sand bank (well more like pebble bank really!) and we ended - well me Alistair and Tracy ended up in the river pushing us off! and of course we came in LAST!....well at least we were consistant through out the races! LOL

Well we set off again (see the funny shack in the back ground - thats a mi-mi and is used for duck shooting)

well the croud and other competitiors cheered us on to the finish, and at least we had a smile on our face!....because we new that we could have a cold beer now!


At the end of the races we had food and free wine/beer, and also our own beer supply a band and relaxing with the other teams for the afternoons entertainment. you can see all the pictures taken here

I had to leave early for Robs xmas work party, but I had a good time during my stint at rowing... and I may continue......or buy a kayak? we'll see

southcoast cavalcade - progress Valley November 07

On Thursday 8th November we set off to Progress Valley in Waikawa, which is in the Catlins.
Here are some pictures - they never show the steepness of the hills we climbed up or down, but I hope you enjoy.....

" home" for the cavalcade - we slept in the truck , I made curtains!
Rob & Jester waiting their turn to go down onto the beach...Riding along the beach, we eventually rode to Porpoise Bay, and the camp ground that we visited when Rachel, Rich and Cole were here in January. The sea was much wilder, there were a few die-hard campers but the beaches were empty except for us!


Me on Keona, having a breather



Rob & Jester - on the way to Lunch at Waikawa Domain

Rob looking relaxed at the top of a very high cliff! See the high cliff in the middle of the picture below....that was the one! 500m down.... Keona messed about up there, and I now think he may have been feeling my unease (I was not very comfortable being so close to the edge!)

back view of the coastline we just rode up & over!

this is the view of a cliff side we were riding on - no fences, I just stuck the camera over the edge and clicked - didn't look myself, as I was too busy trying not to feel sick - LOL
Keonas Ears...and the group about to get very wet feet, one lady got a full dunking when her horse lost its balance and she fell head first into the water, she got her foot stuck in the stirrup (lesson learned not to wear hiking shoes to ride in - they do it as we walk a lot too) but the rest of the group donated part of their dry clothing, and she had a jumper, thermal leggings and some socks and a drizabone (wax long riding coat) to ride the rest of the way in (everyone had wet feet to at least their knees).
me & Keona again






Another rest before riding over to the bush in the distance.



The end of the day - about 3.30pm we sighted base camp, we got off and walked down the hill, it was steep, but you can't really tell in the picture.
....the rest can be viewed here
although they loaded up backwards, so the last pictures are first and the first is last ??? oh well it will stay like that as it took ages uploading them....NZ broadband ..the bane of my existance!

BBQ at the Woolshed...

hi folks,
I have had a good weekend for a change - booked our tickets to rach's wedding next yr, & we got invited over to the woolshed at the deer farm where they were tailing the lambs (didn't do that - as I was in town)

oh I got the wedding outfit too (well its on layby, as its raw silk designer $$$) well I fly out in Apri - plenty of time to pay it off in $10 installments

after the last few weeks it was nice to relax and let our hair down although I just couldnt get Jason to join us...oh well.


so after the BBQ & I dragged rob home - after we'd arranged to go on a ride the next day......

I got the farrier out first thing to shoe Harry, then I cooked brekie for the sleepyhead!

Rob woke up around 12noon, but I gave him a big fryup and he was all set for his first rough country terrain Trek.... and for a novice rider who had a bad fall the other month he did great..

this is when we had a beer break....


I took the young horse Harry - don't think he'd ever seen hills before - and he got a bit frightened when he had to go down a steep hill, but he did smashing!



we had to get to the beach from the top of a steep hill - we went on foot for safety reasons,

and since the weathermen got it wrong again!!! we had a sunny jolly ride - more BBQ on return, then I had to go home and sort out for work tomorrow...YUK! I'd rather be getting the next lot of sheep up for tailing!!!!


Thats Stewart Island in the back ground.

whats that I hear.... RAIN, well thats just how I like it, Sunny all day and Rain to water the garden and fill the tank while I sleep...

Night All