Happy Christmas!

Helen: This time last year we were about as miserable as it was possible to be - on Santana with an incompetent captain, big seas and a sea sick cat. What a difference 12 months makes! This year we had yummy food, great company and sunshine. Trifle, chocolate and cream cake, a huge ham (Eva had to beg for it at the butchers a couple of days ago - she hadn't ordered it and they didn't have any to sell...but they gave her their 'emergency ham' when she looked on the verge of tears, clutching a small baby with a toddler in tow!), asparagus, C's pizzas and my fairy cakes (the family we're house sitting for have 2 small children so their pantry was full of baking goodies - sprinkles, cocoa and lots of food dye - cue green, yellow and pink icing - I drew the line at blue).

Lots of Eva's friends came round to say hello throughout the day - a lively bunch (including a very lively 78 year old who wore his silk pyjamas all day and sang 'O come all ye faithful' several times clutching a champagne bottle). We had beer, wine, bubbles, ginger ale, apple whiskey and juice - all with the right glasses - Eva has more glasses than John Lewis!

After we stuffed ourselves silly we went for a walk along the coast and now we're watching a film on telly. Perfick. (Still doesn't feel very Christmassy though - no Slade or Bob Geldof on the radio and I didn't get woken up by C letting off one of those balloons that makes a horrid whiny noise and whizzes round the room (a regular occurance when we stay at his parents house for Xmas as he always gets one in his stocking)). This year Father C brought me a lovely brown merino top and C got a hand stitched advent calendar full of sweeties.

I should back up a few days though and tell you about our walk on Monday - after waiting for nearly a week we finally managed to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The clouds lifted in the morning and we could see the 3 volcanoes perfectly all day - Ruapehu in particular is a spectacular lump with snow on the top. The only problem was EVERYONE ELSE who wanted to do the walk that day too - we reckon there must have been about 300 people on the trail (they get 60,000 annually as it's the most accessible, and scenic, one day tramp in NZ). The walk has become a victim of it's own success - by the end of the day we were stuck in a conveyor belt of slow moving single file ants. It felt more like a 'wilderness themepark' than a real wilderness. All the paths are heavily reinforced with mesh and wooden sides to prevent errosion and we saw a helicopter emptying the toilet tanks (toilets in the wilderness - what's that about anyway?!)

But...at the same time I think it's great that all these people want to go walking - we met lots of people who were hiking for the first time - C and I looked mildly out of place with our thermals and our walking boots and our big bag among all those sandals and strappy t-shirts! The new kids were nervous about it and really pleased with themselves for having done it. I wouldn't want to put them off - but maybe the DoC could promote another walk nearby to take the pressure off the Alpine Crossing? It's a tough call...

The coolest thing we saw on the whole walk was the mountain Taranaki in the distance. It's a perfect triangle with snow on the top - we recognised it immediately...because C has it tattooed on his arm! Remember I said that Rangi, C's tattooist, was from Taranaki and that that was how Maori introduced themselves? Well...he must've put HIS mountain on C's arm as a 'signature'. Cool huh?

OK, enough for now. The rubbish film on telly (Conspiracy Theory) is nearly over and it's time for bed. Leftovers tomorrow :). Hope Santa is kind to you all

H&Cxxx