Conor & Ildica's Place

Hangin' at Picnic Rock

2012-04-26T00:37:35Z

Discussions with other Castle Hill families resulted in a quick decision to take a load of kids round and ride the Hogs Back Track. It was the first time for Evie and Ruairi and they loved it. Had a picnic at Picnic Rock in the autumn sunshine too. Fantastic...

Exploring Long Spur and into Waterfall Creek

2012-04-26T00:39:52Z

My original intention was to head all the way up Long Spur to the summit of Mt Cloudesley, and along the ridge past Mt Izard, before dropping into the basin at the head of Waterfall Creek. However, the frozen ground and my (lack of) head for heights (always used to be better when I was doing more climbing/tramping in my 20s) prompted me to turn back from the top of Long Spur and explore Waterfall Creek from the bottom. Good day out, probably 16+ kms with about 1500m of ascent, which was a reasonable days tramping for me given I really haven't done many big days out recently. Enjoyed the company of 3 keas high on Long Spur and some peaceful dozing in the golden tussock at lunchtime; didn't see another person all day...

Polishing some rough edges

2012-04-16T02:39:57Z

Finally got the rest of the beautiful rimu kitchen bench island properly constructed, and Ildica did a fine job of tiling the back of the stair wall before I finished the handrail. We can finally stop worrying (slightly, and probably less than we should have been!) about somebody taking a tumble from the top of the stairs.

Breaking through on Broken River

2012-04-12T10:29:35Z

On a fantastically sunny and windless Easter weekend, we headed down Broken River from the Cave Stream carpark with friends from Castle Hill, Amanda, Bernadette, Paul, Shane, Lauren, Monique, Michael and Ella. Warm day, but cold water already at this time of year, even if Evie, Lauren and Monique were brave enough to go for a dip in their undies in one of the swimming holes!

Sunshine Coast and Fraser Island

2012-04-13T00:03:29Z

Using a load of Singapore Air frequent flyer points, we headed over to Brisbane and up to the Sunshine Coast and Fraser Island. Wasn't too busy since we nipped over just out of school holidays. We all had a great time enjoying the surf and activities such as Australia Zoo and Aussie World, before 3 days exploring around parts of Fraser Island, a World Heritage sand island known for its freshwater lakes, purebred dingoes, Maheno shipwreck etc.

Full album here.

David & Felicity

2012-04-11T04:50:09Z

A couple of portraits each while Granny & Grandad were visiting this summer.

A watery wander up Tim's Stream

2012-04-12T09:31:02Z

Tim's Stream runs through Craigieburn Forest Park near the Cheeseman Skifield road, and features a pleasant walk up Broken River (including about 20 river crossings) to the confluence with Tim's Stream which gets increasingly gorge-y as you approach a reasonable sized waterfall. Quite a few wasps around in the beech forest this time of year, so we didn't hang around in the bush.

Avoca Homestead

2012-04-11T05:11:39Z

Avoca Homestead is a historic homestead on the Broken River now managed by DoC as a tramping hut. Interesting drive in along the Craigieburn Road beside the railway line (with around 20 railway crossings and gates to open!).

Coast To Coast

2012-04-11T05:14:44Z

After helping out with a Springfield School fundraising opportunity cooking bacon butties for the Coast to Coast support crews (starting at 4am on a Saturday morning!), I snapped a few photos of some of the competitors at the cycle-kayak transition point at the Mt White Bridge.

Christmas 2011

2012-04-11T04:49:04Z

Two weeks of action-packed adventure up at The Doug @ Castle Hill with Granny & Grandad Boyd. Highlights included a few bike trips along the Hogs Back Track, plus an overnight camp along the track with the kids, a great walk up the Bealey Valley at Arthurs Pass, and a family trip through the Cave Stream cave with a range of ages from (nearly) 7 to (nearly) 75! Our next door neighbour Stephen also kindly took me up for a tandem paraglide from the Mt Cheeseman Ski Area (unfortunately it would appear I’d partaken of too much Christmas food to be able to fly all the way back to the village – plus I was a bit nervous at times!)

Floor-tiling progress

2011-11-25T02:11:25Z

We've now got pretty much all the floor tiles laid downstairs, with only really the pantry, control room & a couple of other miscellaneous tiles to do. After that, should just be a question of grouting and sealing the tiles. Great progress, with kind loan of almost all the required tiling equipment from Diana Adams, and help on the ground (literally!) from David Baird.

The wet tile-cutter does make quite a mess!

The Gateway to Castle Hill

2011-11-25T02:13:19Z

Inbetween floor-tiling sessions, I took a quick jaunt up the Starvation Gully route above Porters Pass to Trig 'M' in the Korowai/Torlesse Conservation Area. There are great views over Lake Lyndon into the Castle Hill Basin, along the Lake Lyndon Road towards the Rakaia river, and back down Coach Stream towards Springfield.

Brighton Fireworks

2011-11-07T03:25:48Z

We took the kids over to New Brighton to watch the Nov 5th Firework display, which was indeed spectacular. It’s a very popular event, but most people seemed to want to hang around at the back of the beach, which was perfect for the few photographers around who headed down to where the wet sand left by the outgoing tide was tailor-made for good reflections without the camera/photographer getting too wet!

Always enjoyable watching my council rates contributions going up in smoke...

Full gallery here.

Hororata Highland Games & the Trimble ‘Tug of War’ team

2011-11-07T03:24:38Z

The village of Hororata across the Canterbury Plains was holding it's inaugural Highland Games this weekend to raise funds for the community there to recover from the "Darfield" earthquake in September 2010. Trimble got a last minute call from MoreFM to enter a team in the Tug of War competition but, after getting through the heats unbeaten, our team went out with a small whimper in the semi-finals. Great day out, with plenty to see and do, including Highland dancing, pipe bands, fairground rides, etc.

Kudos to Cam, Geoff, Ildica, Jason, Jonathan, Mark, Michael, Neil, Norman, Pat & Steve! And Pat’s Highland dancing girls, Isla & Mhairi.

Full gallery here.

Bealey Spur

2011-10-25T22:33:41Z

Great spring walk up Bealey Spur with the Maddigans & Monique from Castle Hill.