Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!
Autumn is fully upon us here in New Zealand. The temperatures are still warm and the days mostly sunny, just noticeably shorter. Like most of the world our country is currently ‘in lockdown’ as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our surf boards and other wet play gear is all laying redundant in the garage,…
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…
It’s been well over a month since I last blogged, but Instagram has been a constant online ‘fix’ and brought back a few memories from the year with the ‘Best of nine’! The end of 2015 came around so quickly, with our three daughters finishing a great school year in early December (in a flurry…
Last weekend was spent with friends, in the beautiful countryside of the Wairarapa, at our Martinborough home. The weekend was full of special moments in the sun, made all the better for having good friends to share it with. Our three daughters each had a friend, their age, to buddy up with – which made for incredibly…
The past few weeks have been filled with impromptu meet-ups and casually arranged gatherings with friends. It is very indicative of the way we’ve lived our lives here in New Zealand – a very relaxed, unstructured, casual, ‘go with the flow’, ‘she’ll be right, mate!’ kind of way. I still vividly remember having to adjust…
Our gateway to the outdoors is guarded these days, By children who test us in various ways. We start with encouragement and gentle persuasion – Trying to resist bribery and coercion. We are often surprised by who resists – And struggle to find the solution to enlist. Eventually, after tears and raised voices, We all…
After a brief stint in New Zealand of a year and a half from 1997 to 1998, Dan and I traveled back to the UK for a wonderful year. We were married in 1999 and within a few month’s after our wedding Dan was invited to return to New Zealand to work for one of…