Catching the Magic

Two Brits in Aotearoa bringing up three little 'Kiwis'. Our children: Our future. Haere Mai!

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Month: September 2016

My Sunday Photo – from Ambleside YHA, in the Lake District, England

September 26, 2016 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Alice, Header, Holidays, Photo Gallery, Sarah

This time last week we arrived in the Lake District and settled into the YHA in Ambleside for three nights. We enjoyed a wonderful few days in the Lake District, as well as enjoying the most beautiful scenery from our accommodation, located right on the shore of Lake Windermere. This was the view from our […]

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Visiting Great Orme, Conwy Castle & a meal at Eagle & Child Inn

September 26, 2016September 26, 2016 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Alice, Country Kids, Header, Holidays, Sarah

Having arrived at my Aunty’s lovely, residential holiday caravan, in Rhyl, North Wales, the night before, we woke to a beautiful day and were amped up for a day of exploring. My Dad had a great day planned for us and before driving up to Great Orme we made an obligatory stop at Rhyl beach […]

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Ludlow to Rhyl, North Wales

September 20, 2016September 26, 2016 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Adventures, Alice, Country Kids, Header, Holidays, Sarah

On our drive up to Ludlow, Shropshire, from Hampshire, we stopped in at Berrington Hall, a National Trust Property. My folks are members, of the National Trust UK, and if I lived in the UK I would definitely be joining up too (it would be a dream to work for them!). Growing up in England […]

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A visit to Gloucester Cathedral

September 20, 2016September 20, 2016 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Alice, Header, Holidays, Sarah

Driving up to Ludlow, from Hampshire, we made a stop at the spectacular Gloucester Cathedral. It is steeped in history, having been a place of worship, in some form or another, for close on 1,000 years! Gloucester’s great Cloister, over 650 years old, is famous for its breath-taking fan vaulting, the earliest of its kind […]

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An afternoon in Windsor

September 18, 2016September 20, 2016 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Alice, Header, Holidays, Photo Gallery, Sarah

Windsor is a short drive from my folks home, in North Hampshire, and a few days after landing in the UK they took us to see Windsor Castle. We didn’t have time to look around the inside of the castle, but young Alice, aged 6, was more than content. She was delighted to have a […]

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Home in England & beating the jet-lag outdoors

September 11, 2016October 1, 2016 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments Alice, Country Kids, Header, Holidays, Sarah

We landed in London on Thursday, after three flights from Wellington, New Zealand, taking some serious flying hours! It’s just Alice and I on this trip, whilst my older two daughters are at home with their Daddy. Alice is such a happy and positive travel companion. We managed to get a good stint of sleep […]

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Outdoor snapshots from our last days of winter in Wellington

September 4, 2016 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Country Kids, Header, Seasons

It’s officially spring here in New Zealand (meaning lots of gorgeous flowers and lambs, trees in bud and time to get busy in the garden!). Our last few weeks of winter weather in Wellington were actually really kind to us. We have had mostly mild weather, not much rain and the wind hasn’t been so […]

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Walking the headland reserve of Te Raikaihau Point

September 4, 2016September 4, 2016 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Header, Photo Gallery, Trails, Walks

This beautiful reserve is such a special place and we feel very fortunate to live close by. As we climb up to the incredible viewpoint, over the Cook Strait, Wellington’s harbour entrance, Lyall Bay, and beyond to the South Island of New Zealand, we always feel like we are miles away from civilisation (when in […]

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Welcome to the ramblings & photographs of a British expat Mum living mostly in Wellington (aka *coffee capital of the world*), New Zealand, since 1997.

This blog is a way to preserve sanity whilst raising children, capture the magic in the chaos, and share tales with family, friends, fellow parents and expats.

Along with my British born husband we have been bringing up our three Kiwi born daughters in the land of sheep, kiwi fruit and fine wine, since 2003 (with a brief 16 months living in Santa Barbara, California - where we home educated our daughters). We both first landed on New Zealand soil in 1996 (hubby) and 1997 (myself) - as fresh graduates from the UK wanting to live and work overseas... our 'OE' turned into something a lot longer and more life changing than we could ever have first anticipated!

Thank you for stopping by (if you would like to know more visit the 'About' page!).
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Recent Posts

  • Walking the Paekākāriki Escarpment Track February 1, 2021
  • Patuna Chasm | A river walk like no other! January 24, 2021
  • One week into 2021 January 10, 2021
  • Festive greetings from Aotearoa! December 23, 2020
  • Term 4 and winding down to the last days of school for 2020 December 1, 2020
  • ‘HELLO’ November 24, 2020
  • A spring holiday in Wanaka and Queenstown’s outdoor playgrounds! November 1, 2020
  • End of Term 3! October 2, 2020
  • Before the pandemic! ‘Six’ the musical in Sydney September 26, 2020
  • I miss her, Mum, even though she’s not gone. July 23, 2020
  • Our ‘bubble’ of 5 million has done it! June 9, 2020
  • Reflections on coming out of seven weeks of lockdown in New Zealand May 13, 2020

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Sarah Lee's books

The Toll
it was amazing
The Toll
by Neal Shusterman
Dear Evan Hansen
really liked it
Dear Evan Hansen
by Val Emmich
A Map of Days
really liked it
A Map of Days
by Ransom Riggs
The Absolute Book
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The Absolute Book
by Elizabeth Knox
The Furthest Station
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The Furthest Station
by Ben Aaronovitch

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