Christmas & New Year NZ

We are now well into the New Year and hope you all keeping well and have survived the severe weather over the Christmas period.   We only arrived in our church back in November when I was volunteered for: Santa Claus Duty” at our carol service on Christmas Eve outside on the lawn: this involved arriving at the local Fire Station fully cladded, then with “Bells Ringing” arrived at the church to HO HO HO and all that, giving the kids out sweets and a few older kids.

 Christmas Day This was different from anything Kathy or I have ever taken on. As you may know we are staying in a “hostel ******” with excellent facilities, en suite, with an extra storage room, full cooking facilities, dining room, TV Lounge, front veranda (over looking the sea, Lyttelton Harbour and the Port Hills) and B-B-Q area and Decking (in NZ Dick) .

 

Following one of Neil,s  (our minster) sermons back in Nov about helping others and to remember this is “Christ’s  Birthday” and not yours, Kathy & I decided to ask our fellow lodgers at Cressy House if they would join us for Christmas Dinner, and to our delight we had fourteen for Christmas Dinner, this included the owner and her son and a very good friend, Stephen, whom we met last year who lives on his own.

 

 

  
As you know Christmas Day was on the Sat so after Church in the morning we spent some time with friends at church before taking on the Christmas dinner, however this was so easy as everyone was involved in either preparing the vegetables, moving the tables outside, and laying the tables.   It was unbelievable to see the willingness to get involved and make this day a very special day.   

 

Kathy cooked three chickens, sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing balls, roasted parsnips & potatoes, Margo (the owner) brought a cooked ham, and for sweet we had Christmas pudding and the day before Kathy made two trifles, each person was responsible for their own drinks, the meal was a out of this world.   Kathy & I recorded some Christmas music, supplied napkins and Christmas Crackers and all contributed $10.00 (a fiver) towards the dinner. “What a Christmas Day”

Boxing Day was a low key day with a walk down to the beach and an early night as I was off to Mt Cook base camp for six days with the Canterbury Mountaineering Club (CMC), leaving Christchurch on the 27^th gave a lift to two guys from North Island (Scott & Adam), we arrived at Mt Cook in heavy rain all Monday which didn’t stop till late Tuesday evening. 

On arrival at the CMC and due to the weather, there were only a few members there all deciding what was on offer if anything, I met up with Andrew who had been there since Christmas day (in the rain) waiting to get out, we had a chat and on the weather forecast the rain was to stop Tue evening and was clear with a high pressure for two/three days.   

So following a planning session, we decided to leave Mt Cook base camp (CMC Hut) at 1500 hrs in the rain, and walk to the Ball Shelter, located on the side of the Tasman Glacier. We settled in for the night, the rain stopped, sun came out and we were in bed, ready for an alpine start the next morning.   At 0400 hrs breakfast and departed the hut in darkness as light was beginning to shine, taking the Ball ridge up onto the Ball Glacier snow field crossing the Ball Pass 2101m in six hours.   

We thought the day was easy, wrong, the decent was horrendous, with V shaped moraine gullies deeply carved out of the mountain side below the snow level, this made hard work and was gruelling after all that went before, the paths where flooded and river crossings were the only option.  Following a fifteen hour day we arrived back at the CMC hut shattered but all in one piece. “What a Day” spent on Mt Cook.  

For New Year Kathy and I spent apart as I had a chance of a day’s walk up to Stefon Bivvy at 996m,  spent the night at the CMC hut and returned to Cressy House and Kathy on the 1^st Jan 2011.   Kathy spent the evening watching a local fire work display and we spoke by phone at midnight wishing each other ‘A Happy New Year’.