Meeting fellow expats to be…

Recently we were delighted to meet up with Craig of the wonderful blog ‘One Way New Zealand‘. His lovely wife, Rachel, had contacted us (as well as mutual friend Marrisa of ‘Dawes in New Zealand‘ blog) with her exciting plans of emigration from the UK to New Zealand. Craig and Rachel have a gorgeous son, called Myles, and together they will soon be moving to New Zealand. Craig stopped a night with Chez Lee for some good wines and late night talk. He is a wonderful person and within five minutes of meeting he felt like an old friend. Likewise, Rachel has a beautiful personality and we’ve been enjoying numerous e-mails and recently ‘met’ her and son via ‘Skype’.

Friday was Craig’s last day in NZ before the big move later in the year and we met up with him, Marrisa and her lovely daughter, Bethany, on Wellington’s stunning waterfront. We’d hoped to go Croc Biking (see an earlier post with our ‘You Tube’ clip!), but they weren’t open early in the morning and by the time the ‘Crocs’ were out and about they were fully booked. Never short of options we enjoyed a lovely walk, lunch at Te Papa, and Italian ice-creams by the Lagoon before farewelling Craig. We wish him and his delightful family the best of luck with the big move and can’t wait to meet up again later in the year.

On a side note… we returned to the Waterfront today to enjoy a ride on a Croc Bike. We were the first out on the bikes and had a blast. There was a big ‘Vodafone Homegrown Music Festival‘ so the atmosphere was buzzing.

We were also delighted to see fresh fish (really fresh!) being sold on the waterfront – the chap usually sells at the Sunday market, but has now got a license to sell off the back of his boat – and it was an impressively fresh array for those with a taste for fish and at a third of the supermarket price!

We enjoyed a ‘Yum Cha’ lunch at ‘Big Thumb‘ before returning home in time for Dan’s weekly soccer game.

Charlotte’s face was reminiscent of present opening on Christmas morning as each steamer lid was lifted to reveal a new delicacy! Both the girls ate heaps (must be that quarter of Chinese blood in them!) and were game on to try most dishes – bar the chicken feet (now that is going a little too far!).

It’s been another blissful day of weather. Cooler in the morning’s and at night, but still blissfully warm and relatively calm weather for this time of year. Long may the good weather continue and the pleasure of new friendships develop and deepen.