Bridges and Balloons: Darkness spreads over the snow

Tragedy! Last night something horrible happened. Woken at 4am by a lovely text message from Ruth - who had just received her degree mark (Congratulations clever lady!) - I settled my head back onto my pillow only to hear a great cafuffel coming from the chook pen outside. The cafuffel quite quickly descended into raucous shrieks and squawks, and so, begrudgingly, I clambered out of bed to check out what was happening. Quite a horrible pile of bloodied feathers littered the joint, and, sadly, three fluffy corpses. It was then that two bright eyes and a stoat's snout peered out at me from under the chicken coup. I managed to chase it off with many expletives and a few pieces of flying firewood, and then fetched Dave, who valiantly dealt with the deaduns. Now we are left with the one fluffy (the only one who flies and has a tendency of escaping the coup and scratching up all the silver beat and seedlings - it's saving grace I suppose) two big scratchers and a greything. Anyone got a good design for a stoat trap?

RIP fluffies.
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Apart from that wee episode I've been having a great time. I'm still staying at Dee and Dave's helping them out with heaps of mowing and mulching and tree planting, amongst other things while working down the road at EcoInnovation (http://www.ecoinnovation.co.nz/) for 3 days a week. EcoInnovation is a small company that manufactures renewable techs who do a nice line in very cost effective wind and water turbines, solar water heating, hand-crank desk lights, shakable torches... and deliver to the UK, if you don't mind the carbon footprint... I help out in the workshop doing bits and pieces (have just finished rewiring some old washing machine rotors to be used in water turbines) for the lovely Ken,

whose mind works in tangents and twists. I'm really enjoying being in the workshop learning random things about electronics etc and introducing Joanna Newsom and Regina to the boys...

Last weekend I took a trip to the Tongarairo National Park. I stayed in the Mongotoppopo Hut on the Sunday night (I wouldn't say I slept particularly as it was incredibly cold and there was a great snorer sharing the hut with me...) and got up early early on Monday to head off into gusts of 60km hour winds and clear blue skies.

Mongotoppopo Hut at sunset -