Well everything fitted in Bongo (just) and the move down to Christchurch went well and within a day of moving into our new house in Christchurch, Tim was off climbing with Max from Wellington (see
http://www.tiggerstravels.blogspot.com/).
While he was away, Helen's parents turned up and the three Aldersons headed off around Nelson and Marlborough for a sunny week of exploring, kayaking and tramping.
We all conviened back in Christchurch on Christmas Eve (the 3 As turning up at 10 in the evening after a lovely soak in Sumner Hot Springs) and Christmas Day was spent BBQing in the sun, washing and having a nice walk around the Botanical Gardens.
Early on Boxing Day morning, Tim's parents and brother arrived after 36 hours travelling via Amsterdam, Osaka and Auckland. Unfortuntately they were down two bags, one turning up the next day, the other not till a week later after having an unexplained holiday in Kuala Lumpur!
So we had a second 'Christmas Day', the associated BBQ and a walk in the Port Hills on Boxing Day. The following day we left for Mount Cook.
Dinner with a view on way to Mount Cook.
Over the next few days, we took Helen's parents and Tim's brother up to Mount Olivier and carried out a mass assault on the Hooker Valley track and Tasman lookout.
We spent New Year's Eve at Carolyne and David's in Tarras complete with lovely food and fantastic barn dancing, then headed to just north of Alexandra to have a day cycling along the beautiful Otago Rail Trail. From here the convoy parted and Tim took his family to Glenorchy and a day on the Routeburn Track and Helen's family went tramping above Bannockburn.
After an action packed couple of weeks Ruth and Peter headed back to Christchurch to fly on to Auckland for the rest of their trip, the visiting Stewards headed to Milford Sound and the tour guides (Tim and Helen) headed slowly back to Christchurch via a bit of cragging in Wanaka.
More photos to follow!
Mountain biking up the Rapaki Track in the Port Hills
Overlooking Lyttleton Harbour towards Mount Herbert and the Banks Penninsular.
Climbing up Bealey Spur in Arthurs Pass National Park, about 2 hours from Christchurch.
Looking west towards the alps
Mount Bradley, the second highest point on the peninsular with some great rock climbing (shame about the 1-1.5 hour walk in).
View of Lyttleton Harbour, the Port Hills and the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains behind.
The next day we headed to The Monument for some great trad climbing.
The Wariau valley and Blenheim from Wither Hill
The boat dropped us in Ship Cove bright and early on a perfectly still blue sky morning and we cheerfully rode the pier, not knowning what was ahead!
Day 1 (actually days 1 and 2 rolled together as we only had a weekend not 3 days) involved 53km of single track riding with 1500m of height gain -not to mention steep rocky descents! From the pier we quickly resorted to pushing up the steep climb over rocky ground but the hard work paid off as we enjoyed a rapid descent into Resolution Bay.
Attempting to cycle across a rather narrow and wobbly bridge!
Stunning views!
Perfect weather!
8 hrs of solid biking (excluding lunch!) later the track decended to Torea Saddle and we headed down the road into Portage where we picked up our packs (kindly delivered for us) and set up camp at Cowshed Bay. After as much food and water as we could manage we laid back and watched the sky fill with stars and felt our legs cease up.
Sunday was a far shorter day with the initial climb back up to the track on sealed road acting as a warm up. Back on the track we continued to climb to 428m above sea level. Our legs ached but after the up there's always down and this time we rapidly descended tight switch-backs with tricky rocky sections.
Another uphill stretch on muddy grass nicely greased up our tyres for the most technical descent yet -tight bends and bit ruts and rocky sections! I (helen) am pleased to say that I managed to stay on through every bend and bump and actually really enjoyed it -my first grade 4 descent! (well probably 3rd or something if you count the ones earlier in the ride but to me this was the one that was scariest!)
The final section of track was biking at it's best -a gentle climb followed by a fantastic stretch of downhill that wound it's way through the forest allowing a fast ride back down to the coast.
Back to Picton
Birthday breakfast!
Walking along the coast near Taylor's Mistake
At an open air performace of Midsummer Night's Dream with wine and picnic!
Dinner with a view on way to Mount Cook.
After an action packed couple of weeks Ruth and Peter headed back to Christchurch to fly on to Auckland for the rest of their trip, the visiting Stewards headed to Milford Sound and the tour guides (Tim and Helen) headed slowly back to Christchurch via a bit of cragging in Wanaka. 
