The Astro Cafe

Barista Fraser Gunn is also a superb photographer. We got to be impressed by both the photos and the Supreme Coffee he served from his perch high on Mt John at the University of Canterbury's Observatory.

Given that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and that both the Junior Grendels are proud owners of Galileoscopes, we could hardly pass up a visit to an observatory that also hosts a great cafe.

This cafe has to have one of the best views in the world and it was well worth the steep road trick up the mountain to drink in the view - along with a coffee.

Junior Grendel One and Two wasted no time at all in giving us both heart failure with their antics on the steep sides of the mountain.

Fraser had a small scope set up on a tripod with the view over the ski fields nearby - I managed to wedge the camera over the lens at just the right angle - and as soon as I can extract the images from my card I'll post them up - in the meantime the following spread of Grendel adventure pics should be satisfactory!

If you are passing Lake Tekapo ever in your life I highly recommend that you take the turnoff to Mount John and drive up the hill. Simply amazing. They also do night tours at the observatory, leaving on a minibus from the town below, and although I missed it (too tired!) it looks like a great night's viewing.

Highlights - C1 Espresso Christchurch (Updated post)

We went to C1 yesterday morning - a quirky little caff that out-grunges Seattle and that also has (to the Junior Grendel's delight) a working Dr Who pinball machine and a shopping centre style pony ride (circa 1960-something).

We went to four cafes in our brief stay in Christchurch - only two of these were on my list, the other two were walk-ins and I have to say that I am impressed with everything I have seen here so far.

C1 had great coffee - roasted by C4, good service (which is particularly handy when you have small ones in tow) and the food was exceptional. I had eggs benedict on the best bagel I have ever had in my life!

The ristretto was served in a heavy-bottomed glass, ideal for the purpose and was a good balance between acidity and savoury.

The flat white was well balanced with the espresso sitting nicely above the milk on the palate. Mrs Grendel had a cappuccino - also superb. This turned out to be her favourite cafe of the trip so they must have got everything right!

C1 - great cafe, great style and great coffee.









Who: C1
What: Great coffee and choice nosh
Where: 150 High Street, Christchurch 8142, New Zealand
Contact: 64 3 379 1917
When: 16 September 2009
Accessibility: Tricky
Web: C1 Espresso

Out and In

Well, they've let us out of Australia and in to New Zealand!

I'll post up Junior Grendel Number One's departure story that he wrote as we waited in Brisbane in a day or so. He borrowed the Green XO laptop and I helped him compose a little story describing what we were doing.

Our flight across was fairly uneventful and Virgin lived up to their reputation as 'Cheap and Cheerful'. The staff were great, the prices of food and drinking not gougingly high and they didn't glance askance when we opened the pack-dinners we had prepared for the Junior Grendels.

The aircraft was an older 737 but had pretty good leg room - a little more than the domestic Qantas flight we took.

I called Apex at 8.30 and they arrived right on time to pick us up to go and arrange the hire of the Toyota Rav4 we'll be driving around NZ - as described online the car is a 2007 model, in fairl good nick with only the usual wear and tear scrapes but it drives well and has fantastic boot space.

We spent the morning admiring Christchurch - it really is the most beautiful city, and Mrs Grendel has been for two walks along the Avon River out in front of our hotel.

The Junior Grendels are settling into the travelling habit and are even starting to be a little more cooperative about some things - although Junior Grendel Number One was a bit out of sorts today and had a minor moment sitting on the floor in a cafe - until the offer of a swim once we got back to the hotel perked him up enough to accept some chocolate ice cream.

We visited two great cafes today - very impressive and I regret that we cannot get around to all that I have heard about.

Lone Pine

I grew up on a hill above the Brisbane River - right across the river from a Koala sanctuary called Lone Pine.

I went there often as a child and even braved the muddy tidal flow of the Brisbane River to paddle over to the Jetty from our side of the River to Lone Pine to ride the wake of the tourist ferry as it arrived and departed.

We took the more sedate route today of the drive down Fig Tree Pocket Road and the Junior Grendels and Mrs Grendel got to experience the same thing that I did as a child - and it has barely changed at all.

We fed kangaroos, cuddled Koalas and captured crocodiles.

Junior Grendel Number Two declared it "the best day of his life". Junior Grendel Number One claimed total awesomeness for Lone Pine.

Final Expedition Prep

I wonder at times whether we are in fact attempting an assault on Mt Cook with the large logistical operation that seems to result from an attempted family holiday.

We did some final shopping today and we left the Junior Grendels with Grandma (Yay! Grandma!) and went off to Indooroopilly shopping town.

Indooroopilly is a vast complex - about 400 metres from end to end and 3 and a half levels of shops.

It makes most Perth shopping centres look pretty laughable in comparison and we were able to pick up most of the final items we needed before our flight tomorrow.

The Junior Grendels have both loved spending some time with Grandma, and Junior Grendel Number Two has lapped up the attention from his birthday party but also determinedly set about ensuring that his two-day grandma experience is as full as it can be - this means ensuring that the day commences with a cuddle in bed with grandma, followed by a grandma-prepared breakfast, an outing, cookie baking and the Pièce de résistance, lounging while grandma waits on you with watermelon and strawberries.

Junior Grendel Number Two is most particular about the forms being followed - this includes the proper procedure at parties, as in, there must be cake, a rendition of happy birthday and the distribution of party bags. Yesterday as he saw that I was indeed putting together party bags he said nothing, but just came over and gave me a big hug.

Today he was enjoying the leftovers - at one point he was inventing a new hymn of joy entitled "I'm a lucky boy" in which the title is repeated as both the verse and the chorus. The hymn is sung while you sit in a recliner with your feet up and a bowl of Freddos and Bertie Beetles at your side. At least until Dad realises what has inspired the song and removes the remaining few chocolates from your reach.

Suffice to say that so far the holiday is exceeding their expectations.

Tomorrow we fly again!

In not-so-good-news, today was warm and windy in Queenstown - not great for snow.

On our way

We took the Red-Eye to Brisbane last night and Junior Grendels Number One and Number Two had a great flight enjoying the novelty of air travel. Meals were served, drinks drunk, and chocolates offered and consumed. They then dropped off to sleep leaving Mrs Grendel and I to ride out the flight in a half-dazed state.

I have to compliment Qantas on their flight - it was great, good service, friendly staff and only a half-full plane even though they had downsized to a 737 from a 767.

I know that Qantas would have preferred a higher passenger ratio but from a traveller's perspective the extra space is most welcome.

We have two days here before heading over to Christchurch - this time it will be Virgin's Pacific Blue that gets the Junior Grendel inspection team and we hope they'll live up to the standards expected!

The value of the GPS was settled - Brisbane's roads have changed a lot since I was here last and it was great hitting the POI labelled 'Grandma's House' and just following the directions.

We caught up with the vast and growing Grendel Clan from the East and celebrated Junior Grendel Number Two's birthday. He had arranged this himself with a six-year-olds aplomb by telling grandma that his birthday party was at her house this year.

He got a Nintendo DS - as much for our sanity as for his enjoyment.

Unholy Relics

Getting the Junior Grendels packed is always an adventure - and it is usually advisable to check their luggage.

Junior Grendel Number One decided to pack the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in his luggage this time and I am not sure what the response from the security people would have been but I suspect less than positive - fortunately it was discovered and removed in time - and a little discussion was had about just what toys might be acceptable on an airline on the anniversary of September 11. . .

Monopoly City Streets

Monopoly City Streets - a 3D monopoly game played on Google Map - just a bit too cool for words. Because it is online we can play as we travel - A seriously good idea - and the game starts today!

I am going to attempt to buy the locations that we are staying at along the way - travel mapping via monopoly.

I will also attempt to add cafes that we visit to my monopoly board although I suspect there may be competition for those.

5-day forecast

3 Days of snow!

Yes, with only a few days before departure we are actively watching the snow reports - the Junior Grendels are concerned that the snow might be all gone before we get there and so I am naturally paranoid as well. It looks good though with some falls predeicted over the next week.

Hooray for snow!

Too convenient

Our arrival in Christchurch is late at night and rather than attempt a bleary-eyed signing of car rental papers we are taking a taxi to our hotel and then heading out in the morning to pick up the car. I had also had thoughts of popping in to at least one of the coffee roasteries that I wanted to visit on the way to or from the car pickup.

By some stroke of happy fate one of those - C4 is just a few metres from the car rental HQ!

I am sure both the coffee roastery and the car rental agency will excel themselves in service and quality, however the rather devious thought has crossed my mind to call the car company to ask about the coffee and call the coffee company to ask about the car rental mob.

I think that Mrs Grendel and the two Junior Grendels will be recovering in the hotel when I head out for the car, so at least if I get lost they won't share the frustrations - still one way or the other I should be able to get a car and a coffee with less than 100 metres to stroll!

And if that wasn't enough it is only 200 metres from the OTHER cafe/roastery on my list to visit - the amazing Coffee Supreme! I understand they have been renovating a place on Madras street and with any luck it will be open and operating when I whizz through downtown Christchurch.

Holiday Planning Tools

Trying to keep track of all the details for this holiday is quite a task - I've never planned a holiday before - we've never BEEN on holiday before as a family - at least not a holiday that was anything more than loading up the car with weekend-away junk and heading down the road.

This holiday required a lot more thought - passports! Airlines! Hotels!

I found a few helpful templates online but ended up taking the best elements of each and creating my own.

It may or may not be useful to others but I thought I might as well make it available to anyone who wants it - if you have not yet discovered the joy of Google Docs, now is the time! But if you prefer to use Excel or another spreadsheet program then this file can be downloaded in several formats.

So here it is - the Cafe Grendel Family Travel Itinerary Template - feel free to use and alter it as you require. (The link takes you to the Google Docs file).

And it looks like this (click to enlarge):

Coronet Peak Today

In two weeks we will be at Coronet Peak.

I hope it looks as good then as it does now!

Tech support

Just about any trip these days seems to require a certain level of technology to accompany the expedition – this can include such items as a GPS, mobile phone, iPods (assorted!) laptop (for blogging) and hand-held game devices. If only it all came in one neat package – iPhone you say? True, but damn Telstra and their unreasonable plans – I don’t yet possess an iPhone, nor have I drunk sufficient quantities of the Apple Cool-Aid to progress to buying an unlocked phone from Apple or Ebay.

So off we go loaded with assorted devices and their respective chargers. The one indispensible item for me are my Etymotic ER6i ‘canalphones’ – earphones that sit in your ear canal blocking out a broad range of unpleasant noises – particularly on an aircraft. Not good at all for walking with (as you will never hear the careening car they later scrape you off) they are perfect for a blissful flight. I also have purchased a set of noise cancelling headphones for Junior Grendel Number One to ease his sensitivity to intense sounds and these are real gems – not the best on the market but the best bang-for-buck ration of anything on the market at the moment.

These are the Philips HN110 Active Noise Cancelling headphones – very comfortable and already sold with the proper adaptor for aircraft. I trialled them recently and loved them and I think he will find that these make flights feel much shorter. Fortunately they will also plug right into his Nintendo – so long as we manage to remember to keep it charged (I think we are up to 5 chargers now. . .).

I need a tech Sherpa!

Introducing the blog authors. . .

Both of the Junior Grendels are keen photographers and will be taking photos along the way – we’ll be adding their efforts to the blog and even have them write an entry or two each week – they own the little green laptop we are taking along with us so I suspect I shall have to negotiate for time to blog. Both Mrs Grendel and Junior Grendel Number Two have birthdays while we are away so that will be an added incentive for stories and photos from both the boys.

They are going to be missing some school, but we felt that the experience was worth it – and adding to the daily blog of the trip will be good for them as well. The XO laptop (One Laptop Per Child) is designed as a field learning tool and so we’ll have the boys add things like measurement and descriptions of critters and recordings of sounds directly into the laptop for when they go back to school.

The date of departure is now looming large over us. . .

Two Weeks!

Just a little over two weeks till we hit the (insert appropriate geographic adjective of your choice) shores of New Zealand!

Naturally the Junior Grendels are reaching fever pitch of excitement - I am nearing a heightened state of panic as I try to cram a final post-grad assignment and three weeks work into two weeks of office time.

On the upside, Google have recently upgraded the Google Earth Imagery for parts of New Zealand - including Christchurch and there are now some spectacular resolution shots of the CBD that really show why it is such a gorgeous place to visit - of course Googling it is never quite the same as being there, so I am doubly glad we don't have too long to wait.

Google Earth is fantastic for trip planning however and it has been a great tool for finding points of interest to add to the GPS.

This latest imagery is from 9 March and is as crisp as you could ask for:

The Great Tradition

Over the year that ended on 31 July there were over 1 million Australian visitors to New Zealand representing over 35% of the holiday trade and over 60% of the total overseas business trade with New Zealand.

This is a good thing - New Zealand is and should be a close friend to Australia and one should always visit ones friends.

There has been at times an unhealthy level of rivalry that has crept in - usually around sporting events of the origin of racehorses or movie stars but we continue to have largely good feelings about our neighbours across the Tasman - as indicated by the 20% increase in visitor numbers last month.

These visitors are part of a grand tradition of cross-Tasman tourism whereby we visit them and they visit us.

Even better is the fact that an economic slowdown sees aussies visiting New Zealand in ever greater numbers as their welcome extends not only to the smiles but also to the exchange rates.

New Zealand's economy includes tourism as a major contributor and thus they have excellent tourism statistics that can be followed via their main tourism website - well worth a look if statistics are your 'thing'.

Aiming for the peak

The Guys at Coffee Supreme in New Zealand already come highly recommended from so many aussies and kiwi expats that they are firmly on my list of Must Visits.

Today I took a look at their website for the first time and was blown away by the detail they offer the casual web visitor. If their coffee is roasted as well as their web presence I am in for a treat.

Best of all they have a whole section dedicated to the listing of the cafes that host their beans which means I can do a little more pre-planning at add some Points of Interest to my GPS - in fact the only thing missing from their website is a downloadable .csv document with GPS coordinates for their cafes. If I have the time I might create this myself - it would be well worth the exercise.

Well done guys - a most stylish web site and great tools for the coffee lover to find your bean.

Will they bring us drinks?

Both the Junior Grendels are young travellers - 7 and 5. They have flown once before at ages 3 and 18 months so our only memory of travelling on an aircraft is a nightmare of screaming baby and sobbing toddler. I am sure it could possibly have been traumatic for the other passengers on the plane but no one was more traumatised than us.

Junior Grendel Number One has autism and at that point was had very limited language skills almost to the point of being non-verbal and when stressed he had a small range of ways to comunicate - his usual reaction was to scream - we called it a 'meltdown' and almost nothing could break through to him during one.

These episodes were utterly heartbreaking and you would imagine that he was totally closed off to the rest of the world and yet he seems to have an amazing memory of the trip.

One part I remember is that when we boarded the plane he looked around at business class and said - "Daddy, this is nice" eliciting laughs from all those already comfortably ensconced in their 42 inch pitch recliners while we ushered him to the rear of the aircraft.

He also remembers the cabin crew and a few weeks back when we were discussing the trip he uttered another gem - "Dad, while the servants bring us drinks this trip like they did last time?"

Once we stopped laughing I explained the role of the cabin crew and begged him NOT to refer to them as servants (I can't imagine any term more likely to guarantee a frosty reception).

Sill, I'm glad he at least has some fond memories of travel and one of the reason that I am looking forward to this trip is to banish some of the memories of the last one - his behaviour is usually very much that of any boy of 7 so I don't think we'll have too much screaming on this flight - apart from Mrs Grendel during turbulance.

Say Cheese

A camera is pretty much an essential for us on holidays. Mrs Grendel is a scrapbooker and once she sets to scrapping a LOT of photos are required to feed her hobby.

Digital cameras are the ultimate device to support such a habit and we have access to an SLR as well as a borrowed compact camera for this trip. There is also the video camera to consider and I've gotten to the point where I think that three cameras is just ridiculous. Naturally each uses a different power supply and different storage medium (can't these guys just standardise already?).

At the moment the camera that uses SD cards is winning since we have more of those in a greater array of capacities - between 2 and 12gb.

I love the SLR but seriouly have to reconsider lugging it along on what is likely going to be an already overloaded trip.

My other consideration is that I want to blog both the holiday and New Zealand Coffee as we travel around which means I need to get the images off the camera and onto the internet.

I think I'll be taking the little green machine for that purpose - the XO laptop I bought under the One Laptop Per Child - Give One Get One program. It is light rugged and unique and I've been dying for an excuse to take it on tour.

It is Linux based so I am still learning the ins and outs of shifting images onto and off the laptop but should have it all up and running by the time we leave.

Doing the 'Right Thing'

One of the things I remember from my last trip to New Zealand was the utter panic that took hold when my passenger suddenly informed me that in order to make the right hand turn I wanted to make I should be over on the left-hand side of the road.

What the!?!!!

Yup, it confused me to say the least - turning right from the left hand lane did not seem like the sane option to a teenager taught to drive on Brisbane's roads.

Now I understand the rationale - you go right but give way to EVERYONE else to do so - even the traffic behind you, and this is quite logical when you have cities with narrow roads and few right-turn lanes as you need to keep the traffic flowing.



From what I can see this is now the basic rule - it it will block the road to turn right then you wait on the left till traffic clears, but in most other circumstances you can turn right FROM the right lane.

Still trying to figure out why people turning left have to give way to people turning right though. . .

Do Kiwis drink their coffee All Black?

Cross-posted from my coffee blog. . .

With New Zealand about to be invaded by the Grendel clan I have been pondering the question of coffee.

I am sure that the two Junior Grendels will do their best to leave a lasting impression on our cousins across the Tasman – and I am just as sure the kiwis will also leave a lasting impression on them.

I am hoping for impressions of a different kind and have been doing some background on the best coffee places in New Zealand.

There are a number of roasters whose coffee has been recommended too me and obviously I will try to find the cafes that are renowned for producing their coffee in the way that best reflects the efforts of the roaster. Many of the cafes are in the major cities but there are also quite a few in smaller towns and even one at the top of a mountain that come highly recommended.

With only a few weeks to go I am busy with the final arrangements to ensure that the Junior Grendels are comfortable for the trip and that the plans are still in place (no more airline schedule changes please Mr Branson!)

So far I have the following list of roasters-of-interest:

• Atomic
• C4 Coffee
• Underground
• Vivace
• Ozone
• Coffee Supreme

Unfortunately only a little additional research revealed the following list:

www.allpressespresso.com

www.alturacoffee.co.nz

www.atomiccoffee.co.nz

www.avalanchecoffee.co.nz

www.bayespresso.co.nz

www.burtonhollis.co.nz

www.c4coffee.co.nz

www.cprcoffee.com

www.cafedirect.co.nz

www.laffare.co.nz

www.caffeprima.co.nz

www.cerebosfoodservice.co.nz

www.coffeelab.co.nz

www.coffeesupreme.com

www.columbuscoffee.co.nz

www.dkdespresso.co.nz

www.emporio.co.nz

www.essenzacoffee.co.nz

www.4coffee.co.nz

www.fixationcoffee.co.nz

www.fuelespresso.com

www.havana.co.nz

www.hawthornecoffee.co.nz

www.freshcoffee.co.nz

www.ignitecoffee.co.nz

www.inca-fe.co.nz

www.junglecoffee.co.nz

www.karajoz.co.nz

www.kokako.co.nz

www.laroma.co.nz

www.meccacafe.co.nz

www.meritoespresso.co.nz

www.millers.net.nz

www.mojocoffeecartel.co.nz

www.sierracoffee.co.nz

www.ozonecoffee.co.nz

www.peoplescoffee.co.nz

www.pomeroys.co.nz

www.redcherrycoffee.co.nz

www.revive-espresso.co.nz

www.ripecoffee.com

www.rocketcoffee.co.nz

www.rushcoffee.co.nz

www.sublimecoffeeroasters.co.nz

www.switchcoffee.co.nz

www.switchespresso.co.nz

www.strictlycoffee.co.nz

www.tigermountain.co.nz

www.toasted.co.nz

www.undergroundcoffee.co.nz

www.vivaceespresso.co.nz

My problem is that all, many, some or none of these could be amazing-roasters-that-I-must-not-miss. And I have no idea which ones those might be - any suggestions?

And is it just me or does New Zealand really seem to punch above its weight in the number of local roasters per head of population? Has this always Been the case - it would certainly be a logical occurence given the isolation from the main coffee trade. It has also not gone unnoticed in Australia that New Zealand produces some top notch baristas - always a welcome addition to a vibrant coffee scene.