As I look through the photos I've selected, I realise that there is a lot of distraction in there. This is kind of mis-representing the trip. It was a really good trip and I got to see lots of close friends and family. So while we're on the topic:
We went camping near the beginning of the trip. Since we're on a destruction theme, let's begin with that.
Night 1: In preparation we were making all the beds, tents and general stuff when we discovered that a rat had been snacking on the air bed that I was going to use. 7 holes, quite a few maybes and copious amounts of duct tape later, we have a stable air bed that is taking body weight without going down. Nailed it! That night when I go to bed, I lay down SSSSSSSSssssssssssss sss ss s s s. "Ah.… It's going to be a hard night's sleep." In the morning we went to get a new air bed and this problem did not recur. We did attempt to use it as a lilo.… This didn't work! ;)
Night 2: I woke up dreaming about Jet engines and the wall of the tend smothering my face. This was the infamous nor-west wind. Both me and my brother got up to check on things. Everything was fine, so we sat by the river chatting for a while. I recommend this. In the morning we moved the tent to be more sheltered from this wind.
Night 3: A thunder and lightning storm directly above put on quite a show.
Night 4: I woke up again to the tent in my face and thought "naaaaaah, it'll be fine" then the water came in... This time it was 3 southerly cold fronts came through at roughly the same time giving us really strong weather. Thanks to the quick work of my brother and his friends, both me and my stuff remained dry as I moved to a different tent. The only thing I'd change about the moment is that I'd get up to check on the others rather than assuming everything would be fine like it had been the other night.
In the morning we woke up to snow on the hills not far above us and gorgeous weather. The shot with the boat on the canal is from this day, however you can't see the snow on the nearby hills in that shot. That you can see in the shot that literally has a diagonal brown half and a white/greyish half.
The shots you see of buildings in a bad state is from the Canterbury earthquakes. This is something of interest to me since I spent a lot of time there in the past and was there for the first few months of them.
So I'm sitting there doing my stuff, and I hear:
thud BANG thud thud tao tap THUD thud tag Tom! What are you doing? I'm climbing on here. No you're not! Yes I am. NO, youuuu're NOT! tap tap BANG tap thuud.
I've cut a lot to get the video down to 3 minutes and make it somewhat coherent, so if there are particular things you'd like to see more of, leave a comment on the youtube video.
there's something that you'd like to see more of, leave a comment on the youtube video.
I'll be posting a little more over the next few days.
While the video shows some of the wacky moments, this trip was about seeing friends and family. Thankyou very much to everyone who was a part of it.
PS Is that youtube thumbnail not classic?! I would have chosen a more dignified one, but the two other options really didn't say anything about the video.
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system
Above: Imported image from the old system