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 We finally arrived back around mid-day on 29th December, 19 and a half months after we left. The house was in reasonable condition considering. Here we are on New Year's day, cooling off. From the state of the grass, the summer has been a lot better here than in

Auckland. In fact since we've been back we've had only one day of any appreciable rain, but only the sprinkler has managed to green the grass up again.

Amy has started pre-school two days a week. Here she is about to leave for her first day. She loves it. She'd really started wanting to interact with other kids.

After almost three weeks, we finally ventured as far as central Christchurch to see what progress had been made. Most of the barriers are down - apart from the building sites, but most of the work has been on demolition. This is Cathedral square and a view you never used to

get. All the buildings on the north side have gone. No big loss as they were mostly 1970's concrete monstrosities. Shame about Bailies Bar though The trams are finally back running, but the centre is almost unrecognisable from four years ago. Here we are having a quiet coffee in what was once the throbbing heart of a bustling city.

Some things hardly change though. Time for a picnic lunch in Hagley Park. A few bites snatched between playing in the great playground and paddling pool, on yet another scorching Canterbury day.