…and a very stable one to all our Cantabrian friends who’ve had a wobbly 2011:

ending with a rocking & rolling New Year’s Eve:

Wishing everyone a happy & healthy year with much laughter and family time.

This 1997 Apple video is a good starting point for 2012:

2011 has been a helluva ride for all of us. Who knew we’d move country twice in one year?! Who knew that there’d be so many natural disasters? Arab Spring? 2nd warmest UK winter ever (no snow – a natural disaster as far as Eloise is concerned!) No TV for 4 months (bliss!) And two new additions to the family (before you raise your eyebrows: a 3-legged hedgehog called Sonic and a Patterdale terrier called Bob).

Love,
Greg, Sarah & Eloise.

We have travelled back from the future by 11 hours – but it took 44 hours door-to-door. Dr Who’s Tardis on this occasion took the shape of a Boeing 777-200ER.

Someone discovered to their great delight the joys of the automated massage chair, ubiquitous at international airports. I’d love to have taken advantage of a human foot massage at Hong Kong airport but there simply wasn’t the time. Besides, the masseur would likely have keeled over and died when my shoes & socks were removed, no doubt causing an international incident.

Mom has unfortunately been re-admitted to Christchurch hospital to have further back surgery on Monday. Dad will attempt to return to Christchurch this afternoon, depending on road conditions on Arthurs Pass and Porters Pass. There has been some pretty wild weather on the West Coast and Southern Alps since we left, including heavy rain, gales, snow storms, lightning storms with over 1500 lightning strikes within an hour and a minor 3.9M quake near Aoraki / Mt Cook. Not nearly as a severe as yesterday’s 7.6M quake off Raoul Island north of NZ.

Nice to be back and to see Sarah’s family again. Jasper the cat was Eloise’s first priority and I’m pleased to report that he is doing very well indeed.

We hope the effects of our time travel will have worn off by Monday.

Fantastic day out at Orana wildlife park near Christchurch.

We set off from the West Coast very early to get to Mom’s appointment at Christchurch hospital. The pass was very icy and quite treacherous in places. But we got there safely and in good time. Whilst Mom and Dad were in the hospital we had a short walk around Hagley Park and the old Antigua Boatshed on the Avon River.

After the hospital we drove out of town to Orana wildlife park where we had an outstanding day with beautiful sunshine and friendly animals. Eloise was in her element and at the end of the day when quizzed about her favourite animal, she answered that they “were all my favourite”. Nice to see a lot of healthy and happy looking African animals there. Wild dogs, lions, lemurs, zebra, springbok, ostriches, meerkats, cheetahs, rhinos, otters, porcupines. Admittedly many of them were bred in captivity but they are very well looked after by a team of dedicated volunteers.

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As an early birthday treat from Dad & Mom, we spent the day making knives on a farm near Barrytown yesterday. This blog post will be updated with more info in a few days’ time, but here’s a sneak preview of how the knives went from a length of unworked steel to a finished work of art:

Update on the knife-making process at Barrytown Knifemaking: our hosts Steve and Robin talked us through each step of the process. It was a very interesting and informative day and is highly recommended for anyone visiting South Island. In addition to Sarah and I, there were 3 others making knives that day. Steve and Robin have an outdoor workshop (under cover) which is stocked with a furnace, several anvils, belt sanders, drills, jigsaws, and other nifty tools. There were other fun distractions, like axe-throwing, a giant swing and various friendly animals around the place. It was a full day, starting at 09h30 and finishing at 16h00, with lunch included. The day finished off with some bubbly drinks to celebrate.

Apparently the steel comes from titanium-rich black iron sand on the west coast of North Island of NZ. After the refining process which includes the removal of most of the titanium, you’re left with almost 100% pure steel called “mild steel”. We started the day with a strip each of mild steel approx. 6mm thick, 30mm wide and 400mm long. The steel strips (bolted into a length of steel “handle”) were placed into a blazing furnace which is fired up with coke extracted locally. The coke in the furnace adds carbon to the steel – this is important to give the blade strength. The strengthening process was demonstrated by placing a strip of steel in a vice where it was easily twisted. However a forged blade in the vice could not be twisted by a huge policeman.Hammering the red-hot steel on the anvil was hard work but rewarding to see the blade taking shape.

Once the desired basic shape was achieved, the blades were unbolted and removed from the steel handles and cooled. The water in which they were cooled was nitrate-rich (thanks to duck poo) which further strengthens the blade. After cooling came plenty of grinding, cooling (rinse, repeat). Small holes were drilled in the blade handle and locally-sourced rimu handles were cut and joined to the blade handle with brass pins and superglue. Later on, once the glue had set, the brass pins and wooden handles were ground down to the desired shape and then sanded carefully. Then followed a very time-consuming process of hand-polishing the blades and handles to produce the final results. We were delighted to have gone from zero experience to having produced a couple of very attractive knives.

Mom, Dad and Eloise occasionally popped in to the workshop to observe, but spent the rest of the day exploring the property and playing with the animals (dogs, horses, shetland ponies, chickens, ducks, cattle and a couple of dancing parrots).

There was a 4.1 Magnitude this evening approx. 150km south-west of us, at a depth of just 5km. We didn’t feel any tremors but have speculated that the quake was triggered by eating a heavy meal of rib-eye steaks and a giant home-made ciabatta.

The quake was near Franz Joseph glacier on the Alpine Fault – the likely epicentre of a major quake on the West Coast as discussed by Allan Wilson, Civil Defence Controller at the Grey District Council.