19th New Zealand Scout Jamboree

Mr15 and mr12 are with the more than 4000 Scouts and leaders who are taking part in the 19th New Zealand Scout Jamboree at Mystery Creek in Hamilton.


We are enjoying a staycation having the house to ourselves!

Mr15 went up in the Malvern Scout Group advance party to set the campsite up on 28 Dec and mr12 went up one day later. They are due to arrive back in 2 days after 10 days of fun and adventure. If you want to know more about what they are all doing, view the Jamboree facebook page

Mr15, Tak, who has recently been awarded his Chief Scouts Award, the highest award that can be achieved while in Scouts (as opposed to the next level, Venturers) got a special mention in the daily report from the Contingent Leader Adrian Price.


The following is some excerpts from the daily report;


“It was an exciting morning when the Governor General, Anand Satynand dropped by with RH Bill English and RH Phil Goff to see the Jamboree and to have lunch with Takuma Peters who has achieved his Chief Scout award.


Tak went along to the Chief Scout's Luncheon with around 120 other Chief Scouts who have been awarded their badge this year. Jo and I vetted his uniform and presentation last night and Tak organised cover for when he would be away from his patrol during the day. We borrowed a few things from amongst the troop to make sure he had some smarter pants, and a more modern shirt, but I felt like a proud uncle as he walked off to his appointment with the Scouting top brass as well as the top echelon of our political system, representing our group. Well done Tak.


He's become an aspirational goal for our Scouts and a number of them came up to us afterwards to ask just how they could get on the track to their own Chief Scout next year, a few of these were Scouts who'd expressed their intention to leave after the Jamboree.”


Reading that gave us a warm fuzzy feeling and made us feel proud parents! Well done to Tak for the commitment, perseverance and determination required in getting his Chief Scouts Award!


Footnote: Jeff is a Queen Scout (highest award in Scouting) and his Grandfather was a King Scout. Jeff is currently the Chair of the Malvern Scout Group Committee.


Interested in Scouting, call 0800scouts.

Oh no! Not again – Boxing Day Earthquake

Yes, again, but once again the motel had no damage and is operating normally.

Here’s what happened.

In Christchurch everyone had a quiet Christmas day with no noticeable aftershocks. It was indeed a relief, perhaps too much of a relief.

No sooner had the big day finished, we were revisited by aftershocks again. The first came just after 2am on 26 December, Boxing Day, and had us up checking that all was ok – yes we get used to it!

Can’t remember if we noticed the 5.30am shake but we did notice the one just after 8am. It brought back memories of just after the September quake when we had numerous shakey shakes in one day – was today going to be another one of these days?


We found out at 10.30am when we had a 4.9 aftershock – but was it an aftershock – technically yes but it felt more like an earthquake to us. The big difference was that the epicenter of this shake was at the corner of Moorhouse Ave and Montreal St. just over 2 kms from here, and it was shallow. It was a little frightening because the shaking was once again different from the other aftershocks we have been having, and as it turned out, it was more violent than the 4 Sep. shake. Luckily it was only 4-5 seconds long.

Still, the damage was done and this time it was centered in the centre of the city. Many older buildings which escaped damage in the 4 Sep quake were not so lucky this time and once again buildings were getting red stickers on them.

This time the damage was mainly limited to the central city area and our area escaped unharmed. Here at the motel, we and the building were shaken but once again we did not sustain any damage.

We can once again be thankful as no-one was injured and Christchurch just has another mess to clean up. Christchurch is once again shaken but we are still good!

Now, 5 days on, while a few buildings still have fences around them, the cordons have all been lifted and tonite’s New Year Party in the Cathedral Square will go on as planned.

We wish everyone a most wonderful New Year and look forward to welcoming everyone to Christchurch in 2011.

A Heavenly Spectacle in Christchurch

Today we were treated to 2 heavenly spectacles in Christchurch, a wonderful Nor’ Wester sunset and a Lunar Eclipse.

 We were not only able to remember to look at the right time but we also managed to take a few picks to capture the grandeur of the moments.

The Nor’ West wind flow fair wacked us today but it was worse down south towards Ashburton. Still, I had to tie up the trees to stop them being blasted out of shape!

Towards evening we were treated to a 30 minute transitional light display as the setting sun lit up the Christchurch sky.

The lunar eclipse was set for 9pm but no-one could find the moon. Troublesome. But towards 10pm Mr. Moon finally made an appearance and we were treated to our second celestial delicacy of the evening. It’s these small things that life is about!

And just in case you did not see it we decided to point it out to you!

 Tomorrow may be somewhat boring with just a sunrise and sunset.

New Way to Look at Christchurch!

Want to know what central Christchurch looks like at 7am each morning?


Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to find out!

This all started on 4 September, the day of the Canterbury Earthquake(blog). We never lost the electricity here at the motel but when I walked out onto Colombo St. around 5am and looked towards town, there was nothing. The whole central city area was enveloped in darkness. Believe me, that was a strange feeling.


That started my habit of walking out onto Colombo St. each morning, usually when I got the newspapers, and looking towards the central city – can’t explain why, Christchurch has always just been Christchurch. Maybe it was just to make sure Christchurch was still there – especially since the Cathedral is clearly visible from the motel entrance. Maybe the quake has raised people’s awareness of the city they live in.


Now, each morning when I get the newspapers around 7am, I take a quick shot of central Christchurch and a hopefully topical part of the morning paper to share with everyone. So join me and enjoy the best city in the world 7am series.

Himalayas Himalayas Himalayas getting back to normal

Great news for lovers of Indian at it’s Best. Himalayas is preparing for a return to its original site, hoping to be open in a new building around the end of Jan or early Feb.


Getting our favourite Indian back within our 2 minute walk limit – gets a big tick from us!


JD (co-owner) dropped in yesterday with the good news and Aman (co-owner) came to see us today with some new menus and the latest news. According to them, the land under Himalayas Restaurant and the next door Pretty Things dress maker (before that it was a shop selling yesteryear items) is to be cleared and rebuilt. At this stage Himalayas is planning to have a wider street frontage but it’s still to be confirmed. Until then, Himalayas is happily providing takeaways and deliveries (no dine in) from 101 Main North Rd., Papanui. They will happily deliver after 5pm to almost anywhere in Christchurch.


JD and Aman have built up a restaurant with a reputation for good quality Indian food and so we were shattered to loose them from our list of recommended restaurants after the 4 Sept. quake. It was heartbreaking to see the glasses with the yellow serviettes sitting undamaged on the tables amongst the destruction that nature had wrought on us. This typified Christchurch’s disaster with some parts left untouched but others so close to ruins. We were buoyed soon after the quake when a “Reopening Soon” sign was up in the window and we are wrapped to hear that plans are in place for a reopening and getting back to normal. Yes, having great Indian food within 2 minutes walk is one measurement of normal!

 No doubt it’s been a tough 3 months for Aman and JD but they have stuck at it and not given up on their dream to establish a great Indian restaurant in Christchurch. So we say thanks for staying round, for taking the hit but standing tall and proud! Well done guys, your menus will be back in the room compendiums tomorrow and we look forward to getting some great Indian in the next few days!


Need your curry now? Call 377 8935 (deliveries from 5pm till late)

Our photo won!

 

Many thanks to all those who “liked” our entry in the TIA (Tourism Industry Association) Photo Competition.  We won!

Our photo has been selected to be the picture for September in next year’s calendar.  Very timely with the Rugby World Cup starting in that month!

The photo is of mr11 warming up for a game in the mist at Hagley Park one cold winter’s morning.  It was Naomi who was standing in the cold slowly freezing when she took the photo.  Our photo received a total of 57 votes.

So a really big thanks to everyone who supported our photo, our motel and Christchurch & Canterbury.  The biggest thanks goes to the older generation, who battled on to discover just how to “like” our photo (including us!!).  Be proud and happy - you’re now ready for next time and also ready to compete with the younger “click click click Facebook” generation who always give you THAT look when you ask how to do something online.

Anyone want a calendar??

How many friends do we really have?

It’s times like these you find out just how many real friends you have and it looks like we do not have that many.

We kind of knew that we are in the lower level of “friendliness,” meaning that while we don’t have a multitude of friends, we’re not in the single digits either.  49 people like our CentrePoint on Colombo Facebook page, Naomi Peters has 52 friends and Jeff Peters has 21 friends.  On Twitter there are 275 followers of our English account and 100 of our Japanese account.  So yes, we are low level friendly people, we thought.

But we are unsure if we are even that high up the “friendly” scale after seeing the number of votes for our Tourism Industry Assn. photo competition entry.  At time of writing, only 20 people have liked our entry despite our efforts to make our campaign go viral.  We have Tweeted, it’s on Facebook, we ask all our guests to log on and like it and have sent postcards to Aunties and Uncles.  We even asked mr15 to spread the word to his many “friends” but that was voted down – looks like we’re not cool enough (again).

Every year TIA has a photo competition to choose the next year’s calendar’s pics.  We entered one that Naomi took of mr11 warming up for a rugby game in Hagley Park one cold winters morning.  We made the finals, and now the last 12 (1 for each month) are decided by Facebook vote.  Easy, we thought! We’ll just get our multitude of friends to vote for us – but after 4 days we have just 20 likes.

So, what’s the problem here? Are our friends are not that friendly after all? Is the photo just not that likeable? Or are people having trouble with the double “like” process that is necessary to vote on TIA’s Facebook page? (first you have to like the TIA Facebook page and then the photo itself.) Or is our feeble attempt at viral marketing just that – feeble.

Time, and the number of votes will tell just how friendly we are no doubt. Voting closes 25 Nov. so click on this link and vote for your favorite photo - hopefully it will be ours!