Parachute have done it again! They have secured one of the best Christian rock bands in the world. Last time it was Switchfoot, before that it was Thousand Foot Krutch, Delirious?, Audio Adrenaline, Falling Up…

And now Kutless!!! Yeah!!!

Parachute 09 is coming, and the line up has been announced…

Family Force Five, The David Crowder Band, Kutless, Casting Crowns and Dave Dobbyn are confirmed as headline acts! Also Some of your favorite kiwis; Parachute Band, Rapture Ruckus, Mumsdollar, Nathan King, Kingston, All Left Out, Magnify, Late 80’s Mercedes, Juliagrace, Shooting Stars, The Ember Days, Zero T, Primal Band and heaps more…

Get ready for the summer of peace, justice and rock ’n roll. Celebrating its 19th year, Parachute 09 is set to be the hottest spot on the summer calendar. From 23-26 January, Hamilton’s Mystery Creek’s Events Centre will resound with hits of home and abroad as 150 artists grace 6 stages over the long weekend.

This is fun, check out: http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

Okay I have way to many pictures from my weekend away in Christchurch to post online but here are the quick highlights.

At 9am on Saturday I flew to Christchurch with my mum for the weekend.

Upon ariving the first thing we did was go to a wildlife reserve.

It was kinda like a zoo but only featured New Zealand animals.

It had three sections: Wild New Zealand, Agricultural New Zealand and Bird New Zealand or something like that:

Wild NZ was the best of the three sections.

First I made friends with a very friendly wallaby. I don’t normally call things cute. But this guy was very cute.

In the Wild New Zealand section they had an old remote tramping hut. So just to show you how cool NZ tramping is here it is from the outside, and below from the inside:

And most importantly the out house:

The Agricultural New Zealand section was cool with lots of farm yard animals. I mistook a donkey for a large sheep. A black goat tried to make friends with my camera and a very friendly clydesdale horse also tried to eat me and my camera.

In the birds section I got to see up close a number of Kiwi, and other NZ birds including our famous Kea or Green Parrot:

And a Morepork:

After the adventures at the wildlife reserve we went and looked at the centre of Christchurch including the Square, Lincoln University, and New Brighton beach.

On Sunday we headed to Lyttelton through an awesome tunnel and then back over the Port Hills. After that we decided to head out to Mt Hutt for a look. Little did I know that the access road to Mt Hutt was a 20km dirt mountain road, and I only had a 1000cc rental car. Fun!

This is coming down the road. It was plenty wide. But really rough and bumpy.

Mt Hutt Ski Field

The Snow Bunny in his natural habitat.

I just found out that Parachute Festival will remain at Mystery Creek Events Centre for another five years! Yeah!

Like the election date, the announcment of artists performing at P09 should be announced anyday now. So far David Crowder Band and Family Force Five have been confirmed. I also know of a strong rumour that Casting Crowns are playing. And most importantly The Lads have no concerts booked between the end of October and March next year. Are they planing a summer break, in NZ?

From the parachute website:

Filmed last night… Great fun… Check out: http://www.a-mess.org

It is finally a fine weekend. I finally got some fresh air. And a walk. And time with family.

The start of the short Auckland City Walk (1 hour), a must for anyone wanting a mini adventure.

A large-ish waterfall between two rock walls. It made a lot of noise. But finding it was hard. This is the closest I could get and it involved climbing up some very slimy and slippery rocks to get to.

The largest Silver Fern I have ever seen. See how silver it is in comparison to the green fern on the left. Unique to God’s Zone.

A magnificent Kauri tree. One of the biggest in Auckland.

A happy mum also enjoying the sunny day!