Catching the Magic

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

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    • 2011 Poetry
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    • 2014 Poetry
    • 2015 Poetry
    • 2016 Poetry
    • 2017-2018 Poetry
  • Travel
    • Auckland in 7 days – June 2010
    • Byron Bay and the Gold Coast (2005 and 2016)
    • Californian Adventures, 2013-14
    • Canada, Dec. 2018
    • Copenhagen, July & August 2014
    • Long haul travel, New Zealand to England, with our 9 month old
    • England via San Francisco – July 2007
    • England via Santa Barbara & San Francisco, 2012
    • UK (2014, Sept 2016, April 2017, April 2018, Dec. & Jan. 2018/19)
    • Fiordland
    • Japan
    • Kapiti Coast
    • Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough & Canterbury
    • Otago, Queenstown, Wanaka & Southern Lakes
    • Singapore
    • Sydney
    • Taupo, Rotorua & Tongariro National Park
    • Wairarapa
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Dan

One week into 2021

January 10, 2021 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Alice, Charlotte, Dan, Header, Holidays, Sarah, School hols, Sophie, Special Days, Walks

Happy New Year! I have to say I’m feeling very fortunate to be living freely in New Zealand at the moment. Writing about all our freedoms seems a little unfair when so many people around the world are struggling with the Covid-19 Pandemic, facing lockdowns and huge restrictions on normal day to day activities. I […]

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Mid year catch up post!

July 2, 2019April 15, 2020 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Alice, Charlotte, Dan, Header, Holidays, Learning & growing, Running, Sophie, Trails

We are half-way through 2019 already and so much has happened, but I’ve been too busy, living and loving it, (and side-tracked by Instagram and Netflix, ahem!) to write about it – so, before this year runs away on me all together I’m going to have to write this catch-up post… I continue to be […]

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Cigna Round the Bays half marathon, Wellington, & our youngest running the 6.5km!

March 26, 2017 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Alice, Dan, Running, Sarah

I run because it makes me feel free of thought. When I run I feel like I’m meditating (not that I’ve ever done that successfully, but it’s how I’d imagine I’d feel if I made time to meditate – though with a more elevated heart rate!). Running frees my mind of thought. I only think […]

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Revisiting the Marlborough Food & Wine Festival

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Dan, Header, Holidays, Sarah, Special Days

Nineteen years ago, on 14th February 1998, my then boyfriend proposed to me at the Marlborough Food and Wine Festival in New Zealand. It wasn’t overly romantic to any onlookers – simply a guy on one knee, kneeling on a random piece of earth, asking a girl to marry him. What made it special was that […]

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Halloween with a difference with Robbie Williams in Wellington!

November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Dan, Life in action - Videos, Sarah

For the first year, in many years of parenting, hubby and I got to do our own thing on Halloween this year! Having spent the Saturday decorating the drive-way with cobwebs and chalk drawings… My hubby and I left the children (two of them, the third was staying over night at a friend’s house) with […]

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Magic Moment – reunited with the man of the house & prawn fishing!

September 29, 2015October 2, 2015 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Adventures, Country Kids, Dan, Holidays, Life in action - Videos

After eight sleeps away on business, the man of the house is back! He was away in the UK and flew the long haul to LA, and on to Auckland, before the ‘hop’ down to Taupo to meet up with us on Sunday. Taupo Airport is a gorgeous place to hang out, especially in the […]

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Celebrating Father’s Day in New Zealand

September 15, 2015 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Dan, Special Days

Father’s Day, celebrated on the first Sunday of September in New Zealand (and Australia), was this year spent with a mix of action and creativity. Two of our three daughters were keen to get their Daddy out for some action and took him to the local recreation centre for an hour or two of roller-blading! […]

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Hubby is home from his business trip to good ‘ole Blighty!

August 3, 2015August 10, 2015 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Dan, Life in action - Videos

It’s been two weeks since we returned from our fabulous hols in Singapore (more blog posts coming on that trip!), and we’ve been so busy settling back into ‘Term 3’ of the school year – especially with the man of the house away, on business, for a week and a half. He was working in […]

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A stroll to our ‘local’ in Lyall Bay

November 4, 2014November 7, 2014 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Dan, Sarah, Walks

The Spruce Goose, in Lyall Bay is a relatively short stroll from our home. Since returning back in Wellington we’ve had this restaurant, cafe and bar, on our list of ‘must do as soon as possible’! I was lucky to have a lunch date with a wonderful friend (who writes wonderful poetry, amongst other things, […]

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Sometimes time apart is a good thing

June 7, 2013June 7, 2013 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Dan, Sarah

As much as I’ve missed the man of the house this week, it’s been a good week and shown me how capable I can be on my own with my three daughters. I’ve had it easy in a way though – only one child to get to school, for only three days this week – […]

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Barbie and Ken (aka Sarah and Dan) escape for dinner on their Wedding Anniversary.

May 30, 2013 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Dan, Sarah, Special Days

Over twenty years ago they met. The past fourteen years they have spent wed, living in New Zealand. The past ten years they have been busy – with building a couple of businesses, selling them, making three babies and embarking on the never ending road of parenting responsibilities. Time together has been hard to find, […]

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Things I’m Loving

May 18, 2013May 18, 2013 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Alice, Charlotte, Dan, Life in action - Videos, Loving & Not Loving, Sarah, Sophie

Always a pleasure to end a week by reflecting on the ‘loves’ from the week (especially whilst sipping a delightful Pinot Noir from dear hubbie!). The little things are often what make a good week, such as finishing a good book. This week I’ve been consumed with, ‘The Sisterhood‘, by Helen Bryan. It holds a […]

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Reaching new heights on the first day of being 39!

April 22, 2013 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Alice, Charlotte, Dan, Holidays, Sarah, Sophie

This was the way to start the last year of my thirties – taking a ride in a Gondola over Queenstown with my family. At the top we geared up for a little action… enjoying an absolute blast of a morning riding the Luge carts down the hill… again and again and again! Alice had […]

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The Photo Gallery | Together

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 BritMumInNZ 12 Comments Alice, Charlotte, Dan, photography, Sarah, Sophie

A long weekend gave us time to be together as a family – even if, at times, my mind wasn’t all ‘together’ with it! In my mind there are always people floating around – physically distant from me, but close in my thoughts, that I wish to be together with – for a moment 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

  • 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
  • Reminiscing on the second half of 2019 and our summer highlights April 19, 2020
  • Visits to my folks in England, Sept. 2019 & March 2020 – with plentiful National Trust visits! April 15, 2020

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Sarah Lee's books

The Toll
it was amazing
The Toll
by Neal Shusterman
Dear Evan Hansen
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Dear Evan Hansen
by Val Emmich
A Map of Days
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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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