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January 21, 2008

Revisiting older photographs

Here's a photo from 2007 I've just revisited with Photoshop, and I'm quite pleased with the result. It's one of my favourite photos of Ruairi. This was taken in a cottage at Lake Heron only a couple of months after his second birthday.

(Teeny bit of photoshopping!)

Posted by conor at 7:39 AM

Playhouse - Phase 2 complete!

The playhouse is now complete, with the roof firmly on with gutter, doors and windows in, and lots of furniture inside. Now the kids are disappointed there are no beds!



We're going to put a water-barrel under the downpipe, and a railing round the front of the deck.

Posted by conor at 7:38 AM

January 15, 2008

Playhouse - Phase 2 nearing completion

Phase 2 is nearing completion with just the doors and windows left to finish. It's been hard work at times, including about 6 hours work for us & Grandad on Saturday in 34 degrees with little shade, but very satisfying, and a very solid playhouse, even if slightly over-engineered!

The Kids Playhouse - Phase 2

Posted by conor at 8:00 AM

January 13, 2008

Evie jumps off The Leap Of Faith at 4 1/2!

Fearless Evie climbed up and jumped off The Leap Of Faith at The Roxx Clip 'n' Climb today! Very impressive, it's about 10m high.

Evie on her way up to The Leap of Faith A 4 year old about to jump off The Leap of Faith!

Posted by conor at 8:55 PM

January 5, 2008

Christmas 2007

Nice to have 2 weeks off to spend with the family, doing a range of things, like fighting a bush fire on Quail Island, 3 days in Arthur's Pass (including a day's tramping without the kids for Ildica & I!), doing the Gondola Walk, etc. Oh yeah, and seeing the kids getting excited unwrapping presents!

Evie & Lauren Westpac Rescue Chopper checking out the bush fire we extinquished on Quail Island Tree swing on Quail Island
Snow White  Granny & Grandad
 Heathcote Valley 
View from Kelly Range back towards Arthur's Pass Ildica approaching Carroll Hut Carroll Hut
Devil's Punchbowl Falls Looking down the Taipo Great pastime of chucking rocks
Stream in Arthur's Pass Andrew's Stream Shelter The Gap, Torlesse Range
Torlesse Range

Posted by conor at 9:45 PM

Amazingly clear days

I've been amazed how clear the weather has mostly been over the Christmas break, and as always, how lucky we are to have a view to wake up to. The first picture below is west towards the Torlesse Range and Porter's Pass, which are about 80 kms away. The second is towards an obvious pointy peak due north of us and 100 kms away called Mt. Tekoa, which is near Culverden on the way towards Hanmer Springs/Lewis Pass. Dad & I spent some time a while back trying to work out which peak it was, before Google Earth got some majorly updated imagery/elevation info about 6 months ago, which made it a no-brainer to work out!

Torlesse Range/Porter's Pass, 80kms away Mt. Tekoa; 100kms away

Posted by conor at 8:52 PM

January 4, 2008

Playhouse - Phase 1

We've started building a playhouse for the kids in the front garden. Phase 1 is a roughly 2.7m x 2.7m level deck, on which we'll then build a 2.5m x 1.5m playhouse. Granny took the kids off in to town for the day, which gave Ildica, myself & Grandad a long first day getting the posts and bearers in, followed by another day getting the joists and decking down. Lovely job, even if we do say so ourselves.

The Kids Playhouse - Phase 1

Posted by conor at 10:30 PM