Alister's birthday

Thanks to my love I had a very nice 30th birthday!
Aside from the presents she gave me, Stephanie had booked us a hotel room with a spa (jacuzzi) for the night and took me to The Mexican Cafe for dinner.

Dinner was really nice, and the service really attentive. I think we were helped by around 5 staff during our time there.
I had the Enchiladas, and Steph had something I might have been able to pronounce on the day, but a week later I've forgotten it..

Where's my candle? lol

My lovely wife at the other end of the table.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to make sure we got the chance to enjoy it. The hot-tub was great, and the bed and sofa nice and comfy!


And finally the strawberries, and chocolate fon-do we enjoyed to wrap up the day.
Thanks for a wonderful birthday my love *kissss

Guy Fawkes night

Though it is officially tonight, we went out last night to the Fireworks show at the Woodford Glen speedway!

Matthew had the idea, and I got Jason to come along as well with me and Steph.
So we piled into the car, and headed off towards Woodford Glen which is in Kaiapoi, slightly out of Christchurch. We thought the crowds would be big so we decided to leave early. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea. I've never seen lines of traffic like that before! We could hardly even get off the motorway! So, we took a left instead of a right and tried approaching from the Kaiapoi side. Just as bad :P
Sorry, no traffic pictures. But, eventually we got into the parking area. Then, we had to que to get to the ticket booth. :P After buying tickets we were met by a wall of people inside, and no where to sit. After unsuccessfully asking in the spirit of human kindness for a seat (America does this much better!) we found two seats for me and Steph, and two for Jason and Matthew further over. So though separated, at least we HAD seats.


The racing was really excellent! Steph and I picked cars before each race started, and we cheered on our cars in the hope they would win. I think we managed to pick winners about twice each. There were the usual dirt oval racing cars on display, sprint cars, stock cars, saloon cars, street stocks etc. There was some stunning driving and some exciting crashes and bashes.


After that, at about 9.30pm it was dark enough for the fireworks to begin. The show lasted for about 20 minutes straight, and I got a sore neck from looking up at the sky! Lots of colours, lots of LOUD bangs, and an awesome show. So that will do me for Guy Fawkes. No wasting money on weak, overpriced fireworks from the warehouse. It cost $12 each to get in to the speedway, for the racing and fireworks all in one package. Despite initial reservations about the lack of seating, it turned out to be a wonderful evening, one which we hope to repeat again this racing season.
(photo of the crowd)


After the fireworks, with half a dozen races still to go we decided to head home early. After the traffic problems getting in, we prefered not to risk it going home. We managed to get home within 20 minutes. So that was good. Jason and Matthew stayed up with me for a drink, and Steph went off to bed. We sat in the dim lights of the Christmas tree which is now up, and chatted boys stuff until they went home.
Great evening!