Out and about with Oscar

 

Oscar at the top of Mount Vernon

Hello to you all and welcome to my latest blog. I know it's been a little delayed in getting to you but I've been both out and about and I suffered a couple of technical hitches which held things back a bit. Firstly let me introduce Oscar, my soft toy mascot/travelling companion.

Oscar has been with us for a while now and is named after the Great Dane we owned back in 2003/2004. Sadly we were forced to give the real life Oscar up for adoption when we were both posted away from home so this little guy is the soft toy memory of that lovable big doofus and I try to take him along on my rides to share what we see.


View from the pathway inside Wither Hills Park

As part of my desire to explore Blenheim a little more I recently went to Wither Hills Park and did one of the day walks on offer. t took me to the summit of Mount Vernon which offered a fabulous view across both Blenheim (The Wither Hills are located to the South of the Town) as well as Cloudy Bay and down towards Seddon.

When I reached the lookout I was greeted by this very friendly cow who came across to give us a good sniffing. As you can see it was a cracker of a day and not too warm for walking either. All in all it was ideal and I shall be heading back to the park to do some more of the walks soon. Tramping, as hiking is often referred to here in New Zealand, is one of my favourite pastimes and I would love to combine a motorbike trip with walking some of New Zealand's myriad walks at some point in the future.

I've also attached a video which I took whilst up there. Hopefully it'll work and you can see just how lovely the spot is. Alas my cow photo came across rather blurry so you'll just have to take my word for its inquisitiveness.

New Zealand's South Island has just experienced severe flooding in the Canterbury region and this has made the news around the world I believe. Thankfully for us here in Marlborough we escaped the worst of it though we did have a very wet weekend which made the local rivers rise rather a lot. Here's hoping that the folks in the Christchurch and surrounding areas recover soon.

It's now about a month before I go to join HMNZS CANTERBURY for my stint as stand-in Engineer Officer. In some ways I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle once more though I now the routine will take some adjustment once more. Here's hoping that the programme actually comes to fruition so that we cn get done what needs to be achieved.

Anyway I promise that I'll have more to come in the not too distant future. Take care and speak soon.


Comments

  1. Unknown3 June 2021 at 03:25

    Hey dude, wow love reading your blogs and seeing where you visit, hopefully one day I will get to new Zealand and explore some of the places you have gone to and see it for myself

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee Blackburn3 June 2021 at 12:24

      Thanks - It's a beautiful part of the world and we love living here.

      Delete
  2. Ian L7 June 2021 at 03:18

    Hi Lee, at first thought that you had biked up there until I watched the video and realised that you were breathing heavy, then the penny dropped 😂. Lovely photos and scenery, you're soo blessed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee Blackburn7 June 2021 at 12:27

      Hi Ian, yep it was quite a trek to get up there but the views were worth it.

      Delete

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