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In honour of the occasion we received the " honeymoon bunkhouse " and awoke to look over horses peacefully grazing in an avenue of trees leading towards a ridge of high mountains behind . Pam enjoys this because she exercises actual teaching skills , whereas other children she has worked with have required more personal care . We left her in Calgary at the beginning of January , living in Jo 's basement where we had been staying on and off for the previous six months . After 45 minutes of life-threatening work we all had half a cup of tea , the top half having spilled away immediately . Not having children we could go that much farther in each day hike , and despite our familiarity with the region we found a whole new world of places we had never before visited . Talking of the volcano - - although Ruapehu is only a couple of hours drive from us and can be seen from the top of Hamilton 's tallest building ( a mere seven stories ) , life was not in the least affected by the eruptions except that the airport was sometimes closed at night because of drifting , incredibly gritty , volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere . So off she went to hospital to have a much larger piece taken out . Anna arrived the following day from San Francisco , having stayed with our friends Craig and Kirsten for a week - - it 's now her favorite city ! We saw nothing for eight days , no land , no lights , no other ships , no aeroplanes , nothing except for two albatrosses and a school of flying fish . And that 's it for the year , except to wish you lots of love and belated seasonal greetings . On arrival on a Saturday afternoon , he was whisked off the plane and taken straight to a bar where the band that he joins on trips to Christchurch was playing . Except that one of his hosts in the International Development Center he was visiting at Tulane University , an expert on disaster cleanup and management , was spirited away to the Nevada desert by the US Army for secret meetings for most of the duration of Ian 's visit . But she 's having a great time in Sydney ; the beach ' n barbecue lifestyle really suits her . ) Whereas Ian 's musical activities slowed down when he came to Calgary - - unfortunately rehearsals of the University Symphonic Band , in which he played before , clashed with the course he was teaching , and all he had going were a few very enjoyable jazz sessions with an ex-student who plays wonderful piano - - Pam 's accelerated . Following applause , the skipper rowed over and invited us round for a drink . Lindsey , Pam 's eight year old niece , is appalled yet fascinated by the French penchant for eating unusual things , and on discovering a large frog squashed on the road outside the pub said " cor look at the size of that - - you 'd have thought someone would have nicked the legs off of it by now " ! And having arrived in Pittsburgh via San Francisco and Belfast , he returned via Calgary and Canmore ! We watched one stroll idly over a pedestrian crossing , oblivious to the policeman directing the traffic and to dozens of patiently waiting car-drivers . We've been out sailing every month except when Ian was in Europe . Before leaving Brian , Rosaleen and Michael 's visit , we must put on record an image of the five of us standing on the sandy bottom of a neck-high natural hot pool , in a shady glade surrounded by exotic native vegetation , tree-ferns and the like , cool glasses of chardonnay raised high to keep out of the water and another bottle at the ready - - in pelting ( but warm ) rain with an umbrella over our heads to avoid diluting the wine .