A little taste of NZ.

Imagine a token of rememberance to those that died for their country during the Great War, something that is in practically all the supermarkets throughout the year and is included in most families groceries each week. The Anzac biscuit is it. Maybe I'm just a naive Pom and the significance is not as widely recognised as I perceive it, nevertheless there are brands of Anzac biscuit that donate a portion of their profits with every packet throughout the year, and around ANZAC Day these biscuits are also often used by veterans’ organisations to raise funds for the care and welfare of aged war veterans.

During World War 1, the wives, mothers and girlfriends of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men. Here was a problem. Any food they sent to the fighting men had to be carried in the ships of the Merchant Navy. Most of these were lucky to maintain a speed of ten knots (18.5 kilometers per hour). Most had no refrigerated facilities, so any food sent had to be able to remain edible after periods in excess of two months. A body of women came up with the answer - a biscuit with all the nutritional value possible. The basis was a Scottish recipe using rolled oats. These oats were used extensively in Scotland, especially for a heavy porridge that helped counteract the extremely cold climate.

The ingredients they used were: rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water. All these items did not readily spoil. At first the biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits. A point of interest is the lack of eggs to bind the ANZAC biscuit mixture together. Because of the war, many of the poultry farmers had joined the services, thus eggs were scarce. The binding agent for the biscuits is golden syrup or treacle, but I like to use NZ honey 'cos its lovely.

April 25th is a national holiday of remembrance, ANZAC day, when we remember the ‘fallen’ ANZAC’s: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

And here is how to make them, it is dead simple.

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Method
Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading. Bake in a moderate oven, 180C, for 15-20 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers. They're particularly nice dunked in a cup of coffee.

Forest trails and pirate bones.

Saturday 29th Oct; We got up reasonably early to set off for a visit to Banks Peninsula. I wanted to do a few trails on the way. First the Rapaki track that leads up from Christchurch, 5km along gravel, mud and rocks amid walkers, joggers and mtb'ers. It was a bit busy (for NZ) but gave good views over Christchurch the higher we got. The trail ends at the Summit Road that runs along the top of the Port Hills just south of the city. From here there are great views over town, towards the Southern Alps and into Lyttleton habour, too overcast to see the Alps though.

Sealed road then around the bay until we got to the Port Levy/Little River road. It's in the off-road route guide, but my newer map showed it as a major road, the same key as the sealed road we'd been on so I assumed it had been sealed since my guide was written. It hadn't though; 16km of gravel, not rough enough for 4wd but fun enough meandering up steep hillsides through manuka bush and ancient peninsular forest. And THREE dead possums en route, these buggers are really ugly looking...imaging a cat sized rat, black and ginger fur like a cat but Ratty's teeth. Urgh, but I'm determind to have one in the pot before long...maybe I'll drive around and pick up some roadkill ready to serve the famila tea when they come home! I had hoped to do another route but time was getting on and the kids were moaning they were hungry, so back onto seal to the Hilltop Bar & Resturant.

We had a lovely lunch of 'Pirate Bones', bbq spare ribs and chips, and the kids had fish and chips and chicken noodle soup. It was a bit overcast when we went in, but by the time we'd eaten the weather had really turned; it was blowing, freezing and the rain was getting up. So rather than do a few more trails we headed back home and bought a headset on the way...so we are now set up to speak to you good people on Skype http://www.skype.com/download/ so let us know when you are.

Flying Fox

Our very own Flying Fox; both kids love the variety of equipment that they can use at school that in the UK the governors would be somewhat concerned about.

Connected!

Thur 27th Oct; At last! We'd been using Kaiapoi library to check email, but the base unit was locked in a box so no good to up or download anything...to do that we had to go into Chch itself to an internet cafe.

Thankfully we now have a home phone and a broadband connection (not as quick as I'm used to but will do for now). If we haven't passed on our number and you want it, apologies, please email and we'll pass it on.

First thing I did when bb connected...logged onto eBay and bought a heavily discounted but original copy of Deopeche Mode's 11th studio album 'Playing the Angel' which our mail redirection service should have to me within the week...oh joy, can't wait!

The house

From the top:

• Garden, or 1/4 of it.
• Tree platform, Shannon usually is reading on it and they have both dined there.
• Front.
• Front again, and V's car.
• Dunny.
• Walk in wardrobe in the master bedroom.
• Family room, we have a separate formal lounge for reading and music!
• V's favourite view from the kitchen sink.

EDIT: no, I did not choose the gay bullet icons! C

4WD country...

...say cheese!

L'anglais sanglant

Sat 22nd Oct; a trip to Akaroa. In 1838 a French whaler, Captain Langlois decided that Akaroa would make a good settlement to service the whaling ships, and "purchased" the Peninsula in a dubious land deal with the local Maori. He returned to France, floated the Nanto-Bordelaise company, and sailed for New Zealand with a group of French and German families aboard the ship Comte de Paris, with the intention of forming a French colony on a French South Island of New Zealand. However, by the time Langlois and his colonists arrived at Banks Peninsula in August 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi had already been signed and New Zealand's first (British) Governor, Hobson, had declared sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand.

On hearing of the French plan for colonisation, Hobson quickly dispatched the HMS Britomart from the Bay of Islands to Akaroa with police magistrates on board. While Langlois and his colonists sheltered from unfavourable winds at Pigeon Bay on the other side of the Peninsula, the British flag was raised at Greens point between Akaroa and Takapuneke and courts of law convened to assert British sovereignty over the South Island.

You've got to laugh!

Despite France's failed attempt to colonise NZ, Akaroa retains a gallic influence...both street names (Rue Jollie) and the esplanade. We had had one of our best meals ever here, a simple tapa's of meats, fish, bread and salad with a very tasty nut and chilli mixture on the salad (now have a jar in the cupboard) and Akaroa bay is just beautiful. We ventured onto the Lighthouse Road, VERY steep (1 in 4 at least with spectacular drops off the side), and not wanting to scare the pants off anyone I turned around before the rutted mud bits...maybe another time.

[if you need help with translating the heading, I did, try http://babelfish.altavista.com/]

Goodbye shovel!!

Fri 21st Oct; we finally move out of the 'shovel'. We'd been giving our temporary accommodation all sorts of deregatory names, mostly 'The Shack' and 'The Hovel'. Alex, bless him, got them mixed up one day and called it 'The Shovel', and from that day hence we called it by that name!

More on our house move later.

AA meeting

Weds 19th Oct; meet up with our friends Adam & Angela at the Oxford on Avon restaurant in Christchurch. The last time C saw Adam & Angela was outside Shanks' office with 'Hugo' the Land Rover prior to their their overland expedition across Europe, Asia and quick hop to NZ to see the final instalment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. That was February 2003 (hope that's right!) and I followed their progress with wonder, they had a great website up with pictures to leave you in awe (sadly offline now). A&A had shipped their S1 and Disco from Auckland to Chch for a rally of Land Rovers that would drive from Oxford (about 40 clicks nw of Chch) to Cambridge (Hamilton/Auckland area) to commemorate some Oxbridge event but a good excuse for an outing anyway. With getting kids fed and to bed the evening was all to short, but glad to meet up A&A and meet some new people in the rally.

Thurs 20th Oct; Vanessa at work (in the bakers... I'll let her elucidate) kids at school, I drive over to Oxford to see the merry band of Land Rovers off. I'm not disapointed; all you'd expect at a LR meet oil and coolant leaks included...stereotypes aside there is a fantastic array of motors there and I'm envious of their trip. Said goodbye to Adam & Angela, hopefully will get to see them before too long (their S1 is at the far right, and the Disco is 2nd from left at the back).

OMG...whatt have I done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday 17th Oct; Depeche Mode release their 11th studio album and I can't bloody well get it here and their world tour doesn't include Australasia, Oceania or whatever else you call it. What have I done, nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cultural evening

Saturday 15 Oct; with Diesel tucked up for the night we venture out for an evening of Kiwi cultural entertainment...the Speedway!

Woodford Glen is on the the outskirts of Kaiapoi, and proved to be great value and good fun for all the family. This was the first session of the season and featured 21 races...productions, mini stocks, A grade saloons, streetstocks, modified, super stocks and super saloons...don't know what they are, visit http://www.woodfordglen.co.nz/ The Kiwi's come prepared...camp chairs and suitable warm clothing...us Poms that didn't know better were sitting on our coats to keep our bums dry and it proved chilly but a fantastic spectacle of noise and smells. Junk food is the standard fare, their 'hotdogs' are a battered saveloy on a lolly stick...quite disgusting but that didn't stop the family in front scoffing 5 each covered in tomato sauce, we just had chips washed down with L&P.

The Speedway experience is one we all really enjoyed...both Alex and Shannon have now got posters on their walls, C wants a trucker hat (or baseball cap, 'cos at $7.25 its cheap and I want a cheap sun hat) and we're back there on the 29th for the firework extravaganza!

Big D Day

Saturday 15 Oct; Diesel, the Big D, arrives. After to-ing and fro-ing between the shippers and Customs we finally retrieve Diesel after his long journey. He's none the worse for wear and gives us (C, S & A) a dirty big hug as only a dog can do after 24 hours in a box. Ten minutes down the road and Diesel's back on form as he drops wind so stinky we have to drop all the windows in the truck to let the stench out!

Vanessa joins us and onto The Pines beach, our local, for an afternoon in sunshine running in and out of the surf, in the pine woods that run behind and in and out of the dunes. Worn out, V, S & A head back to the shack for to start the tea. I stay on the beach with Diesel to spend some more time with him until he goes to the kennels...our one room hovel being too small. However it isn't too long before we flop down on the dunes and Diesel's eyelids are dropping...he's had a long but happy day and I'm keeping him out for my benefit not his, so decide to drop him off at 'Lucky Dog' kennels early (which is actually better insulated and warmer than our temporary accommodation!).

Arthurs Pass

Chris and I took the opportunity of having a no kids, no interview day to head into the mountains to Arthur's Pass. The weather was changeable to say the least (seems to be a recurring theme) and we were driving through pelting rain one minute then coming out into the sun with the reflection off the snow on the peaks. It was truly beautiful.

We have confirmed all the conditions on our house contract (e,g, finance and LIM Report - same as survey in UK) so we have gone 'unconditoon which means to all intents and purposes we are the proud owner of a new house. Only a week to go until we leave the leaky shack to bask in the warmth of our own huge woodburning stove - we can't wait.

School is going well and both S & A have made friends - thanks goodness. They are both enjoying themselves as well which is great. Alex (unsurprisingly) likes playtimes the best.

We have downloaded loads of photos in readiness for our house move so we hope we can start putting them on here the weekend after next.

Birthday boy

Alex was 7 on Saturday. We had planned to head into the mountains up to Arthur's Pass but the weather was dire. Instead we went to the QE2 centre for a swim. It's a vast swimming complex; 50m pool, 25m pool, wave pool, kiddy pool and hydroslides. Me (C), A and S spent an hour on the slides...well Alex spent about 10 mins there..Shannon and I were running up the 5 storey's of stairs to shoot down the twisting turning slides..some in an earie glow, some in pitch darkness. My legs ached for 2 days from the exertion but it was great fun.

In the afternoon we went to The Palms mall and saw Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3D at the cinema. The malls are great, not exactly new to us coming from MK, except they have a central eating area where you can pick from a variety of food vendors. Bami Goreng from the Hungry Wok is a firm favourite, but a bit too spicy for the girls.

On Sunday we went to a breakfast bbq, which is just like having it in the afternoon except you have bacon eggs etc and it leaves the afternoon free to go to the beach! Was really hot and got a mild bit of sunburn.

Sunday bedtime and the tooth fell out...and the tooth fairy does visit here and leaves a dollar (obviously she has no idea of the exchange rate!).

And you may find yourself...

...living in a one room shack.
And you may find yourself on the other side of the world.
Thinking, my God, what have I done.

Apologies David Byrne and the Talking Heads, great lyrics that describe the shack that is home until we move into our house on the 21st. And yes there have been a few OMG moments, but mostly good. When the clouds lift and the skies clear the view is awesome. South of Chch the Port Hills and Banks Peninsula rise up from the plains and stretch out to the sea. Ditto westwards the Southern Alps capped with snow, and dittitto North towards the Kaikoura ranges. And east? Ah, the South Pacific!! Almost every day we've been to the beach, really looking forward to walking Diesel there. And yes, I have taken my 4x4 on there already.

Kids have started school, and seem to enjoy it and are building up their network of friends. Their uniform includes an Aussie hat without the corks to keep the sun off.

I (C) have had a couple of interviews, but too early to say yet and one of the options I'm not interested in. Want the comfort of knowing an income is coming soon!

Getting There

Today we pay the deposit on our new house as our funds have finally arrived from the UK (after much faffing about). Unfortunately the exchange rate is dire and we have ended up losing money on our exchange (about the cost of a new car!!). Chris is picking up his beast of a 4x4 today - he has had to patiently wait a week poor thing. I bet we will be going out for a long drive later to test it out!

Yesterday we drove north for about 2 hours to Kakoura - the scenery is so beautiful I felt quite choked - this is the kind of thing that makes the trip half way across the world worth every minute. Pictures to follow as words cannot quite give it justice.

Alex is in readiness for his birthday tomorrow and has been checking out the pile of presents under the bed to try and guess what they are. Unfortunately, due to him not having started school, he has no new friends as yet to party with. We are going to the cinema and the swimming pool instead. He is also about to lose his first tooth so we are all excited to see what exchange rate the tooth fairy uses!!!

We've Bought a House!

I reckon we must be some of the quickest moving Poms to arrive. In 3 days we have bought one car and one house! We spent the day viewing houses on Thursday and the first one we saw, we loved - we may as well have stopped then as nothing else was going to come close.

The house is actually a bungalow (as most of them are here). It has four beds, two baths, lounge, very large open plan kitchen/dining with built in cooker and dishwasher, two car garage and 1/4 acre section (or garden as we call it). When you buy a house here you also get all the light fittings, blinds, curtains, shelf units, sheds etc. unless you negotiate them out of the deal. Legally the house also has to have a cooker. Assuming our money comes through in time, we ill be moving in on the 21st October.

The children are both enrolled in school and start on the 10th October. the school is large with three huge climbing frame areas and a massive field. It also has a swimming pool and it's own dental clinic. The local bank goes into scholl twice a week so that the children can deposit their pocket money and get used to handling money. It is really strange as there are no fences or gates around the school but the space is respected and not vandalised - what a difference.

Chris is car hunting this morning so no doubt we will be the proud owners of a huge 4x4 by the end of the weekend. More soon!!!