My Summer Vacation: Day 5 of 31

December 27, 2011

Hottie sightings: 0

For those of you who hadn't heard, we started planning my mom's first trip to New Zealand way back in about July, when it became patently obvious that I wouldn't be making it back to Canada before April 2012 (which has now been delayed until at least July 2012, and may end up back at July 2013 depending on what's going on at work).

For those of you who have been attending poker night for the last wee while, I've been talking my mom's trip incessantly since mid-November and you can all drink for joy at the fact that she's finally here and you don't have to hear about it anymore.


Most of these are consumed regularly at poker night. Lifted from http://imbibehour.blogspot.com

I had recommended flying into Queenstown rather than Dunedin, partly because the views are better and partly to have a quiet hotel at hand to deal with any jet lag (our house is not always that quiet). As most TransPacific flights get into Auckland around 6:00am, this meant that she'd be landing in Queenstown at noon - a 3.5 hour, 287km drive from Dunedin.

So, whilst on vacation, I got to be in the car at 7:45am for a nice long drive.


Setting the odometer to zero in my driveway

The drive to Queenstown was rather uneventful - I had a coffee, a coke zero, and tried desperately not to fall off a cliff on the way into Queenstown. Finally I got into the airport with about half an hour to spare, and the flight was on time.

Then we drove into the city, checked into the hotel, and went into town for lunch, and a wander around the waterfront, shopping lanes and botanical gardens.


Lake Wakatipu on a calm afternoon



The town rugby pitch has a fantastic backdrop


This dog was looking rather adorable in the botanical gardens


Lilypads!

That night, we drove out to Wanaka over the Crown Ranges, and then came back via Lake Dunstan / Cromwell / the Kawarau (Kah-wah-roo) Gorge, which is a winding drive into Queenstown where they filmed some of the river rafting scenes in Lord of the Rings.


Crown Ranges


Ruby's Rocket Cafe and Cinema - Novelty Car at Lake Wanaka waterfront


Ducks at the Lake Wanaka waterfront - yes, I really like ducks


Old mining site along the Kawarau Gorge


Gorge-y scene from Fellowship

My Summer Vacation: Day 4 of 31

I finished washing all of my laundry. Business shirts have been neatly stored in the closet, not to be seen until late January.


Photo is from shutterstock.com because I was far too lazy to take a picture of my closet, then upload it. Plus there's a large possum living in my closet that I don't like to anger with bright flashes.

Whoohoo!

My Summer Vacation: Day 3 of 31

Christmas Day!

We woke up at 11am, then I played Sim City for 8 hours, then at 9:00pm decided that the tree needed to be decorated by midnight. Which was furnished entirely from items purchased at The Warehouse ("Where everyone gets a bargain").



Not purchased at The Warehouse: the paper clips I used as ornament hooks.

My Summer Vacation: Day 2 of 31

It's 11:30am, but I already know what I'm going to do today thanks to TVONE.











Also, I still need to decorate the Christmas tree. Apparently I've been given a deadline of midnight, otherwise I missed Christmas altogether. Pictures later.

Happy Holidays, and I hope Santa was good to you.

Captain Awesome

My Summer Vacation: Day 1 of 31

Day 1:

1) Wake up at 11am



2) Poke around on the Interwebs. Find, and purchase Sim City 2000 (Special Edition) for $2.99 from Good Old Games as part of a 50% off sale.




3) Download and install. Accidentally title city "New City."


4) Proceed to develop highly efficient over a 20-year period, which features all services, the lowest crime rate in existence and booming demand for residential, commercial and industrial space.




5) Reflect on the wonder of living in a city with low taxes, effective services and no external debt.

6) Swap out pollutive coal power plant for much more efficient Nuclear Power Plant, after de-selecting the "Nuclear Free Zone" policy.



7) Earthquake hits New City, which triggers a fire. Naturally, the fire destroys the Nuclear Power Plant. Nuclear Fallout hits the entire city and causes widespread fires.



8) Try in vain to save the entire city on the measly $5,000 I had saved up.

9) Muse at the wisdom of Sim City's insurance not to underwrite a City which is frequently hit by earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, monster attacks, fires, riots and hurricanes.