Catching the Magic

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

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moon

Photo A Day MAY | Bird [flying on the eve of a full moon]

May 5, 2012May 5, 2012 BritMumInNZ 7 Comments Alice, photography, Sarah

‘Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me!‘ Eric Carle you’ve given my little girl the thought that she can play with the moon. She stared at the moon, saying, ‘Hello Moon!’ and then turned to me and said, ‘Fetch a ladder Mummy!’. But, as mole discovers in ‘Bringing Down the Moon‘, some things are not […]

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Photo A Day MAY | Fun!

May 4, 2012May 4, 2012 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments photography, Sarah

Another disturbed night of sleep with Alice (blame the super moon, molars, growth spurt, developmental surge, too late an afternoon nap… take your pick!). Lack of sleep made the thought of ‘fun’ hard this morning (and I forgot about taking a photo). I was invited to Charlotte’s school for ‘Mothers to School Day’ – 8.30am […]

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Things I’m Loving: BIG Swells, Lyall Bay, Surfers In Action!

May 3, 2012May 3, 2012 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Blasts from the past, Loving & Not Loving, photography, Sarah

The ‘super moon’ has been tossing up some amazing swells in Lyall Bay, Wellington, this week. The temperature of the water, even in summer, takes a little getting used to, so right now – as the Antarctic starts to send us the off shoot of its big freeze – it takes some serious stamina, heavy […]

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Photo A Day MAY | Skyline

May 2, 2012May 3, 2012 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments photography, Sarah

After one of the warmest April’s on record in New Zealand, May has started with a taste of the winter season yet to unfold. Blustery winds and horizontal rain battered Wellington.  But, the sun kept shining through the dramatic, fast moving, cloudscape to reveal rainbows of light on the hilly topography that surrounds Wellington. After […]

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Week in the life | Sunday

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Alice, Charlotte, Dan, Sarah, Sophie

Our first ‘garage sale’ has been and gone, with lots of preparation and sorting out – but only a few customers (we only told friends). Nevertheless, it was an amusing exercise for Charlotte and Sophie – with long, detailed discussions on garage sale etiquette and how best to sell, a sharing out of the float […]

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I’m picking up the pace!

July 26, 2004July 28, 2010 Charlotte Leave a comment Charlotte

From baby to toddler – Mummy and Daddy are having to catch up pretty fast!

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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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