Catching the Magic

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

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    • Auckland in 7 days – June 2010
    • Byron Bay and the Gold Coast (2005 and 2016)
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    • Long haul travel, New Zealand to England, with our 9 month old
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    • England via Santa Barbara & San Francisco, 2012
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beach

Beach, driftwood & playground fun at a day on the Kapiti Coast

August 27, 2016August 27, 2016 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Country Kids, Header, Life in action - Videos

I adore the Kapiti Coast, but don’t often go there enough – even though it’s less than an hour’s drive from where we live in Wellington, New Zealand.  When our fabulous dog groomer stopped working at a business in Wellington, to set up her own business – Raumati Stylez Dog Grooming Salon – from her […]

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My Sunday Photos from Mother’s Day in New Zealand

May 9, 2016May 12, 2016 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Header, Sarah, Special Days

I woke with no expectation – or even desire – for breakfast in bed. I’m past the days of sleep deprivation making a lie in a luxury I lust after. These days, thank the heavens, my daughters don’t wake me for night feeds or cuddles (I had three daughters that didn’t sleep through the night […]

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Family time at Lake Ferry, Wairarapa

January 16, 2016February 29, 2016 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Country Kids, Header, Holidays, School hols

We visited Lake Ferry, on the south coast of the Wairarapa, over the New Year. It’s a place of incredible wild, rugged beauty and only a half hour drive from Martinborough. The small beach village, on the shores of Lake Onoke, is known for its fishing, particularly ‘white bait’, where Lake Onoke meets the sea. […]

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Swingingly well again & we’ve been out enjoying countryside & beach.

September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Country Kids, Life in action - Videos, Lifestyle, Seasons

Everyone is well in the family again and all the girls have been back at school for a good week and a half. It was brilliant to get some sunshine this weekend to really keep those feel good vibes swinging! We headed out to Worser Bay to take our puppy for an off lead gallop on […]

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Winter fun on Wellington’s south coast

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Country Kids, Learning & growing, Life in action - Videos, Lifestyle, Our pets

The past couple of weekends have given us some calm, sunshine weather to get out and enjoy the outdoors, despite it being the onset of winter here in New Zealand. We live near the south coast of Wellington and since getting our puppy, in October last year, we have good reason to get out for […]

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Beach days, dog days & sunshine paced living

December 31, 2014January 3, 2015 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Seasons, Special Days

Between Christmas and New Year we’ve had some perfect days; the kind that leave a person feeling completely content at day’s end and very grateful to have a loving, healthy family, living in a peaceful pocket of the world. As I write, on New Year’s Eve in New Zealand, on the last day of 2014, the […]

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Silent Sunday

September 7, 2014September 7, 2014 BritMumInNZ 19 Comments Running, Silent Sunday

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Kiwi Kids Hit the Beach in Santa Barbara!

August 31, 2014September 8, 2014 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments Californian Adventures 2013-2014, Country Kids, Life in action - Videos, Sarah

We’ve enjoyed some wonderful moments at the beach in Santa Barbara this week. I often head out for a run when hubby gets home from work, finishing up on the beach, where he then meets me with our daughters. Our youngest two are joining in with a children’s sand race at Ventura Beach soon, as […]

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A coastal run in North Wales

August 11, 2014August 20, 2014 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Adventures, Holidays, Running, Trails

Whilst holiday in North Wales I was delighted to escape out for a couple of runs along the gorgeous coastline that borders the Hafan Y Mor Havan Caravan Holiday Park. If the pull of spending time with my family hadn’t been so strong I would have strapped on a backpack and disappeared for a whole […]

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The Photo Gallery | The Longest Day

June 25, 2014 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments Photo Gallery, Seasons

It’s normally at this time of year, in New Zealand, that I’m rugged up with a Pinot Noir, glaring at a flickering candle and wishing I was somewhere warmer. There’s a certain romanticism of tucking up and hunkering down for winter – but it wears off pretty quickly (unless of course there’s a ton of […]

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Things I’m Loving – whilst I can’t run – WINE :)

May 15, 2014August 20, 2014 BritMumInNZ 1 Comment Lifestyle, Missing New Zealand, Running, Things I'm Loving

It’s International Sauvignon Blanc Day in New Zealand – 16 May – and whilst I sit here sipping a local Napa Valley, Californian white, I came across this beautiful little video about the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wines (a fav spot of the hubbie and I – and the sweet spot where he proposed to me […]

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Silent Sunday

April 20, 2014August 21, 2014 BritMumInNZ 7 Comments Silent Sunday Photographs

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Silent Sunday

December 1, 2013 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Silent Sunday Photographs

 

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Silent Sunday

November 11, 2013 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Silent Sunday Photographs

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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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