Sylvia's trip home to New Zealand

While Mark was enjoying le skiing, I was on four very long flights back to the land of NZ for a full month. It was an amazing whirlwind of family and friends and the best holiday I've had. It was a great combination of relaxing at my parents' house in Rangiora, outdoor activities and catching up with people.

I arrived late on Christmas Day, after joining up with Helen Bones for my last two flights from Hong Kong to Christchurch. My family kindly delayed Christmas dinner so at least I got to celebrate part of it.

I was very lucky and the weather was gorgeous and hot for pretty much the entire time of my stay. Therefore, I made the most of it, swimming at every beach, pool and river I could find. I also managed to get quite a tan.

Highlights included Ruth & Jerry's and Rebecca & Damian's weddings. I was really disappointed that Jo & Bill were to get married on the same day as the latter so I couldn't attend their ceremony but hope to get a second go in a few months here in Britain!

Another highlight was a much-anticipated Milford Track with my Mum & Dad. Although I've always thought great walks were for tourists rather than serious trampers the Milford really was amazing and I'd definitely recommend it. I was also surprised how physical it was - although I haven't carried a pack for about two years so maybe it was just me!

In saying that, clearly not energtic enough though, as right afterwards Andreas and I headed up to Picton to meet Julia and walk the Queen Charlotte Track. We did use the free pack transfers every day, which allowed us to 'carry' ridiculously heavy things.

Unfortunately part of the track was closed (due to some pigs) so we did the three longer days and came out a day early, camped out at Marfells beach and walked/ran into Sawcut Gorge instead.

I also spent a lot of time catching up with lots of my good friends in Christchurch at various cafes, for bruch, for BBQs or for dinner. I played a game of touch with my old team and went for a swim at Jelly Park Pool in the outdoor 50m pool. I organised a little gathering at the Dux as well, where I realised that a disproportionate number of my friends are redheads. Good taste, obviously.

Ski holiday

Hello everyone! After our Bath, we hopped on a bus to London. We had a bit of time to kill, so we lurked around Buckingham Palace for a while before it was time to leave on our coach. The less said about the journey the better - a 21 hour bus/ferry journey is never going to be a pleasant prospect. I did get to see the white cliffs of Dover.

But then we got to Tignes! Tignes in the in Savoie Alps and is quite a high resort (we were staying at 2,100 m) so snow is guaranteed at this time of year. They actually had the best December conditions in 10 years so we were quite lucky. It snowed a couple of days before we got there so everything was nicely coated.

The Eye of the Needle

Quite an interesting mountaintop! Very cool.

The weather was pretty much perfect for our whole trip. The only significant snowfall occurred on New Years Eve (mostly overnight) and I think 5 out of 7 days were like this picture above. It was chilly though (you get that up high in winter!), -10 deg C and below was quite common. I think it only got above zero once at lower levels. Combined with a bit of wind, it got quite cold on some of the longer chairlifts!

Mark and Steve in the Buff


You can daille, or you can diebold. What a choice...

This is as high as you can get without proceeding on foot. To get to the Glacier Grand Motte, we first had to take a funicular railway, then a telepherique (or telefreak), a kind of cable car.

Aww :-)

Jo, Steve and I were in the same instruction group. Here is most of the group. Conspicuously absent are the three Irish girls. They were part of a group of six, and were a real laugh - confirming my belief that the Irish are some of the best people on the planet. And I'm not just saying that because I know Patrick reads this blog.

Mhairi and Helen were in another (expert) group, while Silke was in a higher group again. She was practically worshipped by the other members of her group because she was so good.

A highlight of the trip was the food. Lots of it, lots of variety, and all of it good. Icecream anyone?

Or maybe you'd like to try some cheese.

Our instructor, Olivia, is second from the left.

New Year's Eve. Let's get down!

I said get DOWN!

Oh dear Steve, I guess it had to happen eventually.

There is one highlight of the return journey to London that is worth mentioning, and that was the look on the bus driver's face when confronted with this idiocy:

Driver to passenger who's getting off early: "What side of the bus is your bag on?"

P: "I'm not sure, because we're driving on the other side of the road now"

Thanks guys, for an awesome trip!