Urban Sanctuary

This morning I was treated to ‘Green Coffee Body Wrap‘ at the ‘Urban Sanctuary‘ in town. I’m not ashamed to admit to being a little nervous about what the experience would be like; but was very quickly put at ease and found it blissful beyond words. As I listened to gentle nature music and felt heady with the scent of aromatherapy blends I slipped into a beautiful state of mind – between awake and sleep. All the noise in my mind vanished and I delighted in observing the heightened awareness of all my senses.

I left feeling like a well-pampered super-star and bounced down the Plimmer Steps to Lambton Quay with my locks gleaming in the sunshine, bright eyes hidden behind over-sized shades and skin peachy soft and dripping with gentle scents of decadence.

Dan was enjoying the glorious sunshine with the girls on the waterfront; so I skipped over to join them basking in the radiant glory of such an amazing autumnal day (wow – that spa treatment was incredible! I’m going to have to work on Dan to drop me gift voucher’s like that more often!). He’d had a gorgeous morning with the girls; starting with coffee and pain au chocolat at the new ‘Mojo‘ on the Waterfront (within the stunning Kumutoto Plaza development) followed by watching the Water Whirler sculpture and playing at Frank Kitt’s park (where Charlotte had a blast on the ‘Vertical Bungy’ which she’s wildly enjoyed on previous occasions too!).

We then had to hit the road pronto and get Dan to Upper Hutt for his weekly soccer game. This is one aspect of the autumn/winter season that I really look forward to. Dan plays all over Wellington and whenever the weather is fine enough we tag along. The girls love to cheer him on from the side-lines and many of the parks he plays at have awesome playgrounds for children too. Today we were really treated with Harcourt Park. It is a beautiful park boasting two wonderful playgrounds with something for all ages and a summer paddling pool. The trees are a blend of deciduous and evergreen. There was a gentle breeze this afternoon and Charlotte delighted in trying to catch the leaves as they fell from the trees. Piles of red, brown and orange leaves were the source of much amusement as Charlotte and Sophie stomped and rolled in them.

We didn’t actually get to see much of Dan’s game this week as the girls were loving the playground – in particular the ‘flying fox’ – so much! They loved talking with the other children as they patiently waited their turn and I got a work out running the ‘fox’ back and forth (phew!). I could still feel this morning’s coffee wrap working its magic and continuing to expel those toxins – but combined with the sunshine and running about was getting a tad dehydrated! Well, I successfully got the girls away from the flying fox without any tantrums and we caught the last five minute’s of Dan’s game! He was very chuffed to have won (2:0) and beaten a bunch of younger chaps (nice eye candy for me though – really should have watched more of the game! – oops, sorry, Dan, that sort of behaviour isn’t going to get me any more spa treatments in a hurry!).

Moving on… well, the afternoon was still young and so we drove on to ‘Staglands Wildlife Reserve‘. The last time we visited was soon after Sophie’s arrival two year’s ago (a couple of photos below: Charlotte at two and a half)! I’m really cross at myself for forgetting my camera as there were a multitude of perfect shots; but we’ve now got an excuse to visit again soon as we really enjoyed a fabulous experience. As we drove up Sophie shouted, ‘Peacock!’ and it was gorgeous to see the excitement and wonder in her face. The girls stroked guinea pigs, rabbits and donkeys, fed pigs, hens, goats, deer, rainbow trout, eel… they rode on a pony called Brock and Charlotte experienced her first trot! Charlotte ran screaming from the black swans and geese – which were their usually aggressive selves, it was as though they were actually honking, ‘Feed Me!’ – now she has first-hand experience of how I feel in the kitchen at home around ‘feeding time’! We stroked a beautiful Clydesdale called ‘Bob’ and were in raptures over a deer fawn. It was fantastic! We must go again soon!

On the way home the girls were brilliant. We stopped off in Upper Hutt’s main centre to grab a pizza and then enjoyed a stunning drive back into Wellington. The sky was a beautiful colour and the girls loved seeing the city ablaze with lights. They were both blissfully asleep by 8pm and we are feeling so happy after a really, magical day.