Catching the Magic

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

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grandparents

It takes – but forget – we will not

November 16, 2017November 16, 2017 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Header, Poetry, Sarah

The disease does nothing but take – life long memories slowly ripped away whilst new ones can no longer be retained.   She’s at her happiest in the moment – when walking in nature throwing seeds for the birds watching squirrels forage for nuts.   Together we sit, and colour in pictures pick lavender and smell […]

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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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Magic moments on holiday with Grandparents in Singapore

July 30, 2015February 29, 2016 BritMumInNZ Leave a comment Header, Holidays, Life in action - Videos

Singapore, halfway between the UK and NZ, or thereabouts. A guaranteed warm destination to break up our NZ winter. A couple of weeks by the pool with plenty of entertainment to please everyone in our group – from the children (aged 5, 9 and 12) to the parents (myself and hubby) and the grandparents (who […]

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Hands through the ages

September 6, 2010 BritMumInNZ 12 Comments Random Musings, Writing

‘What are those blue, bumpy bits?’ she asks me, as I reach out with my hand to turn the page of the book we are reading. ‘Those are my veins,’ I say simply with a smile. I can see from her face that she thinks they are kind of ugly. ‘What are veins?’ she asks. […]

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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
it was amazing
The Absolute Book
by Elizabeth Knox
The Furthest Station
really liked it
The Furthest Station
by Ben Aaronovitch

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