lies the sweeping rural beauty of the Wairarapa. We left on Friday in the most glorious sunshine. Our destination Poplar Cottage on the historic 19th Century Tinui Station, on the Castlepoint Road from Masterton. Enroute we stopped at Kaitoke Regional Park to stretch our legs, test out the swing bridge and watch numerous folk bravely […]
Holidays
Bon Voyage (at least it was one way!)
‘I’m sad Mummy,’ said Sophie as she hugged her favourite bear and waved bye bye to Wellington. Charli, meanwhile, was focused on drawing a dolphin and was richly rewarded with the sighting of dolphins and orca as we entered the Marlborough Sounds. The crossing to Picton, on Sunday 27 September, was thankfully very calm. We […]
Not to be revealed
We returned from a wonderful week’s holiday yesterday and had the excitement of bubs scan this afternoon! Thankfully, all is going extremely well and everything is where it should be. Bubs is growing really well with the due date being put at 13 February, five day’s ahead of my original estimated due date of 18 […]
All packed and ready for the off!
Clocks have swung forward an hour and we’re all set to leave the house at 7am tomorrow morning for our ferry crossing to the South Island and a week’s holiday in Nelson. It’s always a mission getting the car packed with all the essentials and I wish I could be more zen about packing. It’s […]
Winter Carnival Fun
The two-week school hols came to a grand finale this weekend with the Petone Winter Carnival. After a fortnight of mostly grey skies and days spent at the local swimming pool, or rugged up at home, we were in raptures to see blue sky on Saturday and Sunday. We did have some fun over the […]
Winter school holidays
It’s mid winter and school holidays. There’s a plethora of shows on in town, from the big ticket Starlight Express and Slava’s Snow Show to the moderately priced entertainment at Capital E and other local theatre companies. Te Papa has a daily calendar of activities – but they come with a crowd that I’d personally […]
Lost in the Maze
Pacing around the maze, All of a daze, No shade from the haze, But we are not fazed. We have supplies, We’re smarter than flies, But, why or why, As hard as we try, Is the middle so elusive? To be able to fly, Oh me, oh my, That would be cheating, But we are […]
Eight Night’s of Southern Hospitality
Picton, gateway to the South Island, opens its arms like a loving parent to a child returned from a trip away. Since our arrival in New Zealand, in the mid 1990s, we have always had a part of our hearts in the South Island. It offers such a wild expanse of escapism mixed with open, […]
Ahoy there South Island!
We’re off to the South Island on Saturday morning, taking a ride on the ferry to Picton and then driving onto Nelson. We’re renting a beautiful house for the week, with the most stunning views (reminiscent of our stay at The Captain’s Quarters with ‘Chicken’ Grandma and Grandad back in 2003!). Doubt we’ll be blogging […]
Farewell Summer Hols
Two more day’s till we run for the bell. Late night’s of summer reigned in with earlier bedtimes. Farewell to long, amicable days at leisure round the house. Reading together. Learning together. Creating crafts, food and music together. Nurturing the fruit and vegetables growing in our garden. Savouring the sweet taste of summer on our […]
New Year’s Day at Wellington Zoo
New Year’s Day was blazing and we spent a gorgeous time at our lovely, little, Zoo. Wellington Zoo has been working so hard to landscape and enhance the enclosures for the animals (and their updated website is pretty fabulous too!). There are many projects in progress too and it’s only going to get better. We […]
Road trip – The End!
Are you bored yet?! Hopefully the girls will appreciate all my efforts one day when they’re old enough to read! Here’s the final part of our holiday… phew it really was a whistle stop tour. When we arrived in Napier we were ready to chill out. As we drove into the Hawkes Bay we felt […]
A week on the road – Part two
We arrived in Taupo on day three of our holiday, after an energetic morning on the ski slopes, and as we drove up to the Anchorage we were filled with memories of our amazing January holiday with ‘Chicken’ Grandma and Grandad. They were in our thoughts every day and the wonderful memories made us feel […]
A week on the road and detoxing: Part one
The detox is now over (from booze, blogging and other unmentionables!). The flu is behind us. We had a fabulous week on the road in this beautiful country. Wellington is a great city and we often don’t feel like we need a holiday; but when we get on the road we realize how much we […]