Mussels at Otanerito Bay

On Sunday we went and collected some mussels from Otanerito bay near Akaroa. The limit is 50 per person- but it only takes about 10 minutes to get that many!  There are New Zealand Green Lipped mussels (endemic to New Zealand) and Blue mussels. The Green Lipped mussels supposedly taste better, but there are far fewer of them (and the blue and the green all live together). I couldn't personally taste any difference. We steamed them and put a garlic butter sauce on them!

Hinewai Reserve

This past weekend was the long weekend, and I did a whitewater kayaking course. I didn't get any pictures cause the water was high and fast so I was focusing on paddling and not capsizing. I didn't even bother taking a camera.
The weekend before I did a day trip to Hinewai reserve. It is in the Banks Peninsula near Akaroa, about an hour from Christchurch.  It has beautiful native bush, which is a rare find. That bush with yellow flowers is Gorse- and it is very invasive (from the UK) but they are trying hard to keep it out. We had 3 seasons in one day that day- snow in the morning, and sunshine and warmth in the afternoon.
Brad spent both weekends golfing of course!!

Hog's Back Track

Hog's Back Track is a mountain biking track 1 hour away from Christchurch. The track goes up and down across streams and up foothills- with the last half of the track following the top of a long ridge. It's an excellent track that is very well built- but this wasn't the best time of the year to do it. The track was entirely either mud or snow!

Chickens

It's quite popular for people to have chickens in their back yard in New Zealand. Friends of ours have 6 and get lots of eggs. At the Russley golf club where Brad is a member, there are over 30 chickens and 2 roosters. Well, there were- until 2 German Shepherds got into the course. The chickens had formed two groups- each with about 15 chickens and one rooster. One of the groups was almost wiped out completely by the dogs- only the rooster remained (but his tail had been bitten off). A couple days after the incident, the rooster was seen walking into one of the water hazards (which they normally stay away from). He then put his head under the water until he was no longer breathing, and passed away. Poor guy!