Some of you probably didn't even miss me, perhaps didn't even know that I had been away ... and that's okay ... but I'm back now.
Hopefully normal blogging will resume now, whatever 'normal' is.
Yep, I've been and gone and I'm back again.
Last Thursday Mr Friz and I headed away for a few days - let's be honest here, it was more than a few days.
We headed to Christchurch to cheer on and support the Southland Under 18 rugby squad - 'N' was in the team.
We both got a few days off work, packed our bags, well packed the truck and away we went.
'N' travelled with the team, stayed with the team, did everything with the team actually.
DH and I did everything ... by ourselves. Woo hoo.
We ate when we pleased, we drove here and there and when we pleased ... the only thing we had to do at any given point in time was to be at the rugby ... lol ... the reason for our trip.
Mother Nature played with us a little ... we had sunshine, we had winds, we had gale force winds, we had hail, we had cold, we had sunshine. One day my patootie froze, the next I got sunburnt ... crazy.
But before I forget, let's talk about rugby, well just for a little bit.
Our boys can hold their heads high ... they had a ripper tournament - three competition games before we headed to Christchurch, all for points and all three games won by Southland. Three more games in Christchurch and we made the final ... unfortunately beaten on the day in the final ... but as I said, our boys can hold their heads high. They played some brilliant rugby.
They had a lot of vocal support from the sideline. Quite a few families travelled north for the tournament, which truly was fabulous to see. One of the games, and I think that it may have been the semi final, left me hoarse ... yep, I can yell and scream with the best of them ... I've been known to be more than a little vocal and have to remember to stand well away from Mr Friz if he is videoing the game ... my language has been known to be a little colourful on occasion ... hence the need to stay away from Mr Friz if he is videoing the game ... just saying.
Anyway, in between visits to the Belfast Rugby Club, I managed to do my bit for the economy and indulged in a little retail therapy from time to time ... just saying.
I met up with old friends - well we certainly won't dwell on the 'old' bit ... age is but a number after all ... but you know what I mean.
Awesome to catch up with one 'old buddy' who just happened to catch me out indulging in a little bit of retail therapy - have to say I love that 'Typo' shop ... and Vicki, thanks for taking time out to meet up and the two 'Mr's' met up as well. We had a wee wander around the mall and a quick bite to eat.
After a few phone calls, I met the lovely Hilary - you know the one, Hilary from from Scrap It Simple - I felt I needed a few new scrapping supplies - yeah right ... and she has a few of them too, scrapping supplies. We indulged in a nice quiet ale on a sunny Sunday afternoon ... fabulous way to relax ... thank you.
Mr Friz and I went on the Behind the Red Zone bus tour in Christchurch ... wowser, amazing really ... will share some photos when I finally get around to downloading them off the camera.
Caught up with another special friend ... after a few text messages, texting to and fro as you do ... I sent a message 'tour finished now. back at the unit. wotcha up to ... a minute later, I kid you not, I receive a message 'Open ya door...' and wouldn't you know it, I open the door and see Trace getting out of her car.
My visitor comes bearing gifts, which shall remain unopened for another few days yet ... well they might, they might not - just saying ... thank you Trace, Vicki and my angelic friend, Janine, as well. Talk about spoilt!
In between visitors, the rugby, the retail therapy, a whole lot of dining out ... our truck had to have a little TLC ... we were over taking pics through the gate at AMI Stadium and we go to leave and the truck just wouldn't play nicely ... finally managed to get it going ... I looked at Mr Friz, he looked at me,we made an executive decision just to drive home as in get back to the unit, which we did ... a few phone calls, the AA man was awesome ... another AA man was even more awesome the next day and gave us a loaner for the day, he took our truck away, for the day ... I'm no mechanic [that's why I am quite happy to pay Mr AA bill every year], two new batteries, an alternator, fan belt and whatever else, $1,200 poorer ... Mr Friz was back on the road ... definitely unexpected, but sometimes, well sometimes these things happen.
We left Christchurch on Wednesday morning and headed south. We tiki toured here and there - visited Lake Tekapo, had a brief stop for photos, as you do, coffee and a quick bite and we were back on the road again.
We kept driving and headed inland some more to Mount Cook. Mother Nature wasn't playing nicely for us again and we couldn't actually take any photos of the mountain itself, she was blanketed in cloud - instead I had to make do with some postcards.
Looked at staying the night at the Hermitage, but after seeing some of the tariffs I decided against it.
And wait for it - remember I said that Mother Nature wasn't playing nicely - well there was snow on the ground in the village itself. Looked like they had had a real dumping.
Beautiful drive off the main road to the village itself - if I remember rightly it was something like 45 minutes from the turn off - but an awesome road to drive on. Some of the loopies would have got their monies worth, well and truly, stopping for photos here and there and for the real locals to make their way down the main road - as in woollie four legged critters - yep, there was even stock being moved and they had taken over the highway.
We decided to get back on the road and we drove through to Twizel, found a motel unit and stayed the night there. Have to say that the motel unit itself was lovely, some of the guests that checked in later than ourselves weren't ... we listened to a barking four legged critter for hours when we went to bed. Made worse by their unit door opening, closing, the car door opening and closing and then their unit door opening and closing ... yep, they had a dog with them, left in their car overnight that wouldn't settle and wouldn't stop barking. I was not a happy camper. Mr Friz had a set of ear plugs with him and had to use them. We checked out in the morning and I mentioned the barking to the motelier and found out their were two dogs in the car ... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Back on the road and we were definitely homeward bound. Mr Friz suggested a trip to Wanaka, but nope, I was well and truly ready to be home.
The road was awesome, we went down through Omarama, stopped off at Cromwell to do the eating thing again, as you do, had a wee looksy around and then we were back on the road.
At Gore we did the driving swap and I was back behind the wheel and then before I knew it, I was driving into our garage and we were home.
The truck has now been emptied, the washing has all been done, some of the retail shopping has yet to be removed from said bags, but I will get there.
I even found time to run the lux around today, wash the floors, washed a few windows, folded a mountain of laundry, cooked a roast for dinner tonight and now I've blogged. Yay, go me!!!
Time now for a little wind down and perhaps a cold something or other.
Will share a photo or two in the coming days ... cos now I'm back !!!!
CYA
M