A day in Arthur's Pass

This weekend was the final weekend of intense training for Matt. The Coast to Coast is in a fortnight and I guess if he's not ready now he never will be. I have to admit I am pretty over it and will just about be as glad as he is when it's over. Anyway, on Saturday I acted as his driver which meant dropping him and his kayak up in Arthur's Pass then swapping the kayak for a bike at the Waimakariri Gorge six hours later. Turns out there's not a lot to do when you have six hours to kill on a 30 degree day in Canterbury. Boo had a pretty good time swimming in the Waimak and playing with other dogs though, so at least one of us was occupied.

One thing I did do was visit a landmark which may be familiar to those of you up with the play of New Zealand art - the teeny tiny railway platform at Cass:


Although perhaps not instantly recognisable (due to the massive freight train which prevented me from getting the photo from the correct angle), it is featured in Rita Angus's "Cass" which she painted in 1936 and is personally one of my favourite paintings held at the Christchurch Art Gallery.

In other news I have no work planned now for any time in the near future which is a welcome relief after a total of ten days work in January. It means I have lots of time over the next two weeks to devote to feeding the training machine that is Matt. I have just started the "Fruit Loaf Project" whereby I need to find a good recipe for some sort of fruit loaf (or cake) which is packed with energy for Matt to eat on the big day...Tonight was the first trial of an Edmonds recipe for what was simply described as Fruit Loaf:

The photo is a bit crap because I had to use the flash but I have to admit I'm disappointed in this. I'm looking for something much darker, and more packed with fruit. I will ship this off to Matt's work where hopefully the boys will finish it in no time so I can try another one. I reckon it will need to contain either golden syrup or brown sugar or both to be the right kind of thing. I'll keep you posted. Happy Monday to those of you who have to get up and work tomorrow.. teh heh.