Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!
After a couple of years of being postponed it was wonderful to see the vibrant ‘Lumino City‘ return to Wellington’s waterfront on the weekend of 18th-19th November. This festival started in 2015 and has grown each year, with more lanterns, entertainment and visitors. Though it was a soggy evening for our visit, it felt tropical…
We had our first public holiday to celebrate Matariki this year, a celebration of the Maori New Year and an occasion we have enjoyed marking for years, but this year we had a public holiday to really make the most of it! It’s a time for coming together, reflecting on the past year and planning…
We spent a glorious sunshine Saturday on Wellington’s waterfront under the incredible ‘Fly Me up to Where You Are New Zealand‘ prayer flag installation as part of the New Zealand Festival. The waterfront of Wellington has been abuzz with events this summer. The glorious weather has helped to make it all the more special and…
Wellington put on a show for Easter Saturday. It was an incredible day of sunshine and no wind. Perfect for entertaining Auntie Claire and enjoying some action in the outdoors. We enjoyed an action packed day on the waterfront. She went out on a kayak with Sophie, whilst I kayaked with Alice. Out on the…
I’ve been sharing my loves of Wellington with my folks this last week of their stay, from the high windy tops of the hills that this vibrant city nestles in… … where children really can experience the feeling of flying like fairies or having a ‘Peter Pan’ moment… … to the city waterfront delights, with…
On Sunday we took a jaunt into Wellington town, where Sophie and Charlotte took their Daddy skipping along the waterfront. Alice took a nap, warm and snug in her buggy. Whilst we stopped for coffee and cake (and Sophie gleefully devoured a chocolate fish with her fluffy!). And whilst Dan took Sophie to expel some…
Yesterday I cleaned a lot (with a brief late afternoon escape to our local zoo). Today I had fun (except for a morning appointment to see the doctor for a warrant of fitness – but even that was plain sailing). The sun shone. The wind didn’t hamper my every step. Nature played ball (and threw in a real…
Wellington is adrift with flags (it always is…), but never before has it seen SO MANY flags. There is Rugby World Cup bunting hanging from every shop and cafe (in fact the RWC bunting has now sold out, so enthusiastically have Kiwis been hanging it!), giant flags fly along every street and shop windows are…
The man of the house had a jolly good time this Fathers Day, bestowed with creative gifts, hugs and giggles from day break to sun down. He got treated to breakfast in bed, glorious sunshine, a family scoot to the bay and back, before an avo on the waterfront, scoffing gelato, sipping a mocha and…
It’s been a while since we’ve hung out at the Wellington Underground Market of arts and craft at Frank Kitt’s Park, on Wellington’s waterfront. So, after a Saturday morning of play dough making we ditched the flour covered kitchen and escaped into the sunshine (with a few sneaky flour hand-prints here and there) to enjoy a…
LOVING sisterhood and ancient boulder rocks at Te Papa. Some of the boulder rocks, including granite, serpentine and marble are up to 600 million years old! If only they could talk! Some of the boulders on display at Te Papa’s ‘Bush City‘ were around before the dinosaurs even roamed the planet. Te Papa, our wonderful…
We have had a beautiful weekend of weather, which has drifted into the start of the week. Saturday was taken up with two different children’s Birthday parties, but they were surprisingly sedate. The first one was in the morning at ‘Tiger Eye Beads’ on Cuba Street. One of Charlotte’s friends turned eight and a group…
We danced into the first day of the school holidays with a visit to Capital E this morning. The creative team at Capital E always pull together a fabulous and reasonably priced array of entertainment for all ages over the school holidays. I’d booked tickets for us to see the 11am Dancing Feat Performance (there’s…
Charlotte’s first blog post: On Saturday the 10th of April I went kayaking with my Dad. We saw lots of fishes in schools but best of all we saw a Giant Ray. The Ray was about as long as the paddle. We found it under the wharf near Te Papa. It was amazing. I was…