Friends are like buses...

A hectic first month of the New Year indeed. After pottering about a lot and not getting up to much I got a phone call.

"It's your old school friend Fiona"

It was my old school friend Fiona!

"I'm round the corner from you"

And she was round the corner from me - what are the chances! Quite likely actually as we had arranged to meet up, but still a delight!

I got excited and met up with her, hadn't seen her in a good length of time. She is travelling with her boyfriend Alex and were in the big QT for a few days. Preparations were made and a night out that evening was planned. I headed home.

Me and Fi.

My phone rings again. This time its someone else. It's Freya! Another person I hadn't seen in a while.

"We'll be there soon."

They'll be here soon! Crikey O'Reilly! Do we even have enough floor space?! There's 5 of them? But how can you be concerned about such things when you see old friends?

They all arrive and we go out and have some beer. Happy families!

Me, Rob, Jimbo (Freya's boyfriend) and Andy aka A-Train living large.

Happy Faces. I really have grown.

Fisheye Paraflights

Just for a giggle me and Katie (my good friend from work, albeit she's an American) did a paraflight. It's where you're pulled behind a boat using a parachute. Complicated physics involved - the boat goes really quick so you stay airborne, but when it slows down, as the driver (or should it be Captain?) did a few times, you fall pretty quickly and you prepare yourself for a freezing death. Good views though!

Me and Miss Lien pre-launch.

We got a lot of waves from passers-by. I think it was 'cos we were wearing matching shoes.

Lake Wakatipu from the top. Boat, rope, camera, parachute, you get the picture.

Paraflights, putting the "fun" in "fun-times" since some time in the past that's been gone and already happened at some point previously.

2007 - The New Year

QT gets VERY busy over New Year - it's seen as the party capital of the south island and as a result it attracts loads and loads of people. There were lots of bands playing and fireworks and all that jazz. Was a fun night.

Start the year with a bang.

Weeeee. Ahhhhh. Ohhhhhh. And other associated noises.

As a treat we went to the Minus 5˚ bar. It's a bar made entirely of ice. Your drinks get served in ice, the seats are ice, the floor is ice. You get the drift. Was a quite a "cool" experience. There were loads of fancy-dan ice sculptures and what-not and after you'd finished your drink you could either throw the glass away (common) or simply eat it (optional).

You're only allowed in for half an hour otherwise I think you'd die. This man had grown a silly beard purely for insulation purposes.

Just chillin'.

Look deep into the parka.