My Dad and I were on our way to a Friday morning walk with around twenty other people, a walk which my Dad was leading, when his mobile phone rang. We were only five minutes away from parking up and the person calling, from the care home where Mum was being looked after, asked us […]
Before they rest for winter the deciduous trees glow with such awe inspiring beauty, the leaves giving a grand finale before preparing to stand stoically through frosty nights and bitterly cold days. Leaves turn from green to golden yellow, copper and red, hanging onto the branches till the wind carries them down to carpet the […]
It’s been four weeks since I landed in England, where half of my heart lives. It was so hard to say goodbye to my husband and three amazingly supportive children to make this journey, not knowing when I’ll be able to return to New Zealand. I talk to them via video calls most days and […]
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks of events and I am so grateful that our ‘team of 5 million’ pulled together earlier in the year, with the 7 week lockdown, so that we can enjoy living a life of ‘relative’ normality now (things can always change!). Everyone I talk to is filled with gratitude and […]
With the global pandemic of Covid-19 raging on and New Zealand’s borders still shut the hashtag #DoSomethingNEWNewZealand is being banded about on social media. New Zealanders are exploring their own country more than ever before. As a family we’ve holidayed in the South Island of New Zealand on multiple occasions, particularly around Wanaka and Queenstown, […]
What a term it’s been! With so many parts of the world unable to function as normal due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we feel extremely blessed to be able to live pretty much as normal, for now! Most of New Zealand, with the exception of Auckland, has had a pretty normal school term, but a […]
It was my Mum’s 73rd Birthday recently, but she wasn’t aware – and hasn’t been for a few years now. Alzheimer’s disease has robbed her of knowing there are different days in a week, let alone knowing what day her Birthday is. Nevertheless my dear Dad had a cake ready for her, cards from family […]
After our epic holiday in Canada, enjoying plenty of snow action, we were definitely acclimatised to northern hemisphere temperatures by the time we landed in England on the 18th December. It was the first time – in nearly twenty years – that we’d be in England for Christmas and the first time, ever, for our […]
The suitcases are packed, filled for six weeks of travel in the northern hemisphere. We are forgoing a chunk of our southern hemisphere summer to journey north for a festive winter and time will be spent with family and friends. It’s the first time our three daughters will have experienced Christmas in England, like the […]
Easter weekend coincided with the first days of April and our clocks winding back an hour in New Zealand. Thankfully the warm weather, that has been blessing our days all spring and summer, is continuing on into early autumn. (I just need to adjust to wearing my head torch for night runs!). Temperatures are in […]
The past week and a half we’ve seen spring drift into autumn, with the weather pendulum swinging more erratically. Hot days, reminiscent of the record summer that we’ve had still linger, as the nights draw in, interspersed with sudden plunges in temperature and days of rain and wind. Our learning days are changing along with the season, as indoor […]
New Zealand is experiencing the hottest summer in 150 years! It’s been the most incredible summer in Wellington too (which can be hit and miss). We’ve had temperatures in the high twenties and into the thirties, the beaches are crowded, the sea is being swum in (normally only for the brave or crazy) and sales […]
I’ve ran eight half marathons in the past three years (the first was a turning forty ‘gift’ to myself – all be it in an incredible location – Solvang, California) and only once thought about running a full marathon – last year. I actually signed up and started the training, but struck an injury on a […]
The second part of my visit to family in England (part one here) was spent in the Peak District, with my folks, sister and her partner. In a short three day, four night visit we enjoyed an 8 mile hike from Edale to Chinley (blog post here), I ran my first fell run at Herod […]