We’re back from Jeremy’s TV commercial shoot at Mt Cook and it was quite an experience. Jeremy was the “spare child” and didn’t get used as #1 boy, Tom, did really well.

Thanks to Red 11 and the Film Business

We left Auckland on Friday and left straight from Christchurch to drive to Mt Cook via Tekapo - our first tourist jaunt.

The scenery was great but Jeremy had a new Captain Underpants book.

In this shot he’s with his minders - Steve and Paul the driver.

What Jeremy wanted, Jeremy got, so here he’s taken the guys for a bush walk down to the lake’s edge. Halfway down we realised the track was pretty rough and Jeremy had bare feet. Those minders weren’t looking after the cast so well!

Despite the dreadful weather that put the kybosh on Saturday’s filming at Mt Cook you only had to drive 10 minutes down the road (with the Hermitage still in sight) to find spots so sunny and bright that the photos look washed out! The boy on the left is Tom, for whom Jeremy was the understudy.

Tui (aged 11) also featured in the ad, pushing her brother on the sled. Jeremy and Tui got on famously.

So on Sunday we had to drive back to Christchurch and hang out. Another 4 hour cross country trek. Not before Jeremy and Paul (the driver) caught rainbows!

We’d spotted these big pipes feeding water from the canals down to the hydro turbines on the way out. Jeremy was promised a leisurely drive home so a stop was essential.

As well as run up the side of them.

The canals are home to salmon farms. We stopped at one and fed the salmon. Jeremy reckoned he saw wild ones in the main part of the canal, I saw fishermen so I guess they must have been there somewhere.

In Christchurch we stayed at the Millennium which was lovely and Jem worked on his muscles in the fitness centre.

We took a long walk through the city centre on the Sunday night looking for a suitable eatery and ended up at “Helter Skelter” a Beatles themed steak house. Knowing how much Aunty Vivvy loves the Beatles we just had to get some photos.

Monday was free and we packed plenty in - Breakfast, stake out the Cathedral Square chess board, a trip to the Antarctic Centre complete with a ride in one of the funny snow mobiles over a track pretty much like the BMX tracks, then off to see a client of mine, into town to see the chess, off to Farmers to buy Jeremy’s winter wardrobe, off to Ballantynes to see Sarah’s Godmother, back to the chess (and finally a game), a workout in the hotel gym, dinner and a hotel movie.

Tuesday looked beautiful from Christchurch and the Alpine Guides gave us the all clear so it was off to the airport to fly back to Mt Cook. There were two little charter planes to take us all out there. Most of the gear had been trucked to Mt Cook overnight.

Up close and personal with the mountains.

Boys being boys, Tom and Jeremy set to looking under rocks. Jeremy found a weta much to the horror of the girls and the delight of the English clients.

We helicoptered into the Tasman Glacier and the film crew seemed so tiny against the awesome backdrop.

Despite being the “spare” on the shoot Jeremy made himself useful and built igloos and bridges and trenches. Given that he had no one to play with and wasn’t the centre of attention he really was good as gold.

It was pretty exciting when there was an avalanche on the hills behind us, close enough to see but far enough away to not cause problems.

Because of the size of the glacier we couldn’t just let him go anywhere (the red tape formed the camp boundary) but we were able to drag him on a spare sled round in circles. Hard work for the grown ups!

The hard work done, Jeremy and Tui chill out in the helicopter on the return trip.

And on the plane home, after a long day as “spare child” and doing all that digging a boy just needs to nap.

So far we’ve been to the Night Safari, Sentosa Island and Wild Wild Wet - all very kid focussed but we’ve had a lovely time.

Tomorrow we subject them to some grown up style sightseeing and then bus up to Melaka for just one night. Then it’s off to the airport and home. Unreal - it’s been such a great trip and so long awaited and now it’s almost over. That said, the kids are keen to get home - to their own beds, their own space, their own cats and their own friends!

We had breakfast and then attempted to snorkel out to the small island off the resort. Normally it would be possible but there was a bit of a chop in the water and I didn’t want to take the kids so far under those conditions. Instead we just snorkelled along the front and had a great time.

Lunch was pizza by the pool and we spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing - by my decree! It rained eventually (shame it’s not clearing the haze, but we’ve become used to it) and we went back to our room and read or watched TV until dinner.

We then ate at the buffet and Andy had organised a birthday cake for me - including the band serenading us - he told me he didn’t organise that!

All together it was very uneventful, and very very lazy. The day zoomed by with it’s nothingness and I was very blissed out.

We grabbed some lunch and headed out to Tekek (the neighbouring village) and into a water taxi to check out some of the other beaches and accommodation options. More nostalgia as we ended up at Salang where we’d stayed on our last visit. We ran out of time for a snorkel (we’re so glad we brought our own, they’ve made life simpler and have paid for themselves many times over) and settled for icecreams instead.

Heading back a tropical storm blew up, the sea got choppy and for the first time we were cold without air conditioning. By the time we got to Tekek the storm had passed us by and we were back in sticky heat and heading for the mini mart (in this case a duty free!) for beers and soft drinks and nibbles.

At Mersing we were dropped right by the Jetty so bought tickets, dropped off our bags and caught a taxi into town in search of an ATM and money. Turns out Maybank usually has the longest queues but also is the only one to accept our cards.

The boat ride was great and we were dropped off at Tekek to go to the resort. A nice South African couple had booked so the bus was waiting, but then left before we could all get to it. Brian grabbed his cellphone and got it sent back.

Waiting was fun though as the trees all look like they’re adorned for Xmas - but infact the decorations are very noisy fruit bats.

The resort is great but quite a culture shock for us. We’re used to the price reflecting the standard of the room, but here the rooms are definately priced way above the norm that we’re used to. However we get the 2 pools, water slide etc.

Thinking of Claire and her foray into golf I suggested a game might be fun - oh no - NZ$45 just to play, then I’d have to hire clubs, wear a shirt with a collar and proper golf shoes. Well, that was the end of that cute idea. I’m sure my golf would have looked more like hockey anyway.

There are 4 restaurants and one even has a kids menu so that’s great for the smalls. We’ll never make it into the others with their subdued ambience. I doubt they’d appreciate our precense!!!

It was a long hot day getting it all done but so worth the effort. Walking back to our guesthouse we bumped into David, an english man who has taken early retirement and now lives permanently in Malaysia. We invited him up for a coke and had a really interesting hour or so learning about his life and more about Malaysia.

We then trotted out to the one decent and open restaurant for dinner before getting the kids home to bed. Jeremy had a rough night coping with new mozzie bites but for once they seem to have left Charlotte alone.

My foot is getting better and it was only towards the end of the day that it started to hurt. Thanks to the power of gentamicin cream I bought in Thailand I was able to keep the infection under control despite the difficulty of keeping a sandalled and frequently wet foot clean and dry. An Irish nurse we met in the Perhentians seemed to think gentamicin was mightily powerful stuff usually found in IV drips. I’ll be trying to buy some more before we head home!

Photos!!!!

Atleast that meant we could easily get a nice place on the beach for a good price but it would be nice if there was a bit more atmosphere.

On the way the boatman stopped twice to let us see big turtles swimming in the harbour.

We then had lunch and headed up the island with a quick bush walk to another beach know for it’s turtles. We saw zillions of jellyfish (exit Charlotte to a safe beach location), Jem and Andy swam with a stingray and we saw a shark, but alas no turtle.

The weather is still really warm but really hazy - thanks to the Indonesians and their burnoffs. The malays have a word - debloodigummin - and I reckon they should also have debloodiindos. Atleast it’s still warm and the water is amazing.

Walking back to Abduls we spyed a family jumping off a pontoon into the clear deep water (jelly-less) and we swam and jumped until nearly 7. Bliss.

Back at d’lagoon we made good on our promise of a banana boat ride - it’s one of those long yellow things that get towed behind a boat. Jeremy wasn’t too thrilled when we finally managed to tip the thing over (they are suprisingly stable) but once he knew he was alive still he was keen to give it another go.

We then threw the kids into kayaks and took them back to Long Beach for lunch and to retrieve Charlotte’s jandals which were left behind yesterday. Back in time for another snorkel and the kids were actually begging for an early night.

We’d started the day with a snorkel to see the sharks, nothing doing, and then set off. Lunch at long beach and a taxi home. Another snorkel and in the evening the heavens opened and it rained so heavily all night.

The highlight had to be the 6 or so huge monitor lizards that came down to D’Lagoon to be fed.