Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!
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…
The new ‘Meet The Locals‘ area at Wellington Zoo is a lovely space for children and families. The natural landscape has been planted with lots of native tree saplings and vegetation, with the first ‘locals’ to meet being the little blue penguins that populate Wellington’s rocky shores. There is a slide to speed through, a…
Last week, after dropping the girls off at school, I drove back to the south coast, with my dog on my lap, and decided, on the spur of the moment, to do a walk I’d often thought about doing, but hadn’t yet got around to doing. I wasn’t best equipped. I really should have taken…
For the first year, in many years of parenting, hubby and I got to do our own thing on Halloween this year! Having spent the Saturday decorating the drive-way with cobwebs and chalk drawings… My hubby and I left the children (two of them, the third was staying over night at a friend’s house) with…
I’m always looking for the next challenge to keep me motivated to get outdoors and exercise (especially given the Wellington wind can often make that less appealing!). Over the past winter I have felt the most upbeat I’ve been in years (given that my three daughters now sleep through the night, and my eleven years…
Maroon 5 played repeatedly in the car of our VW Convertible, as we whizzed along the highways of southern California, soaking up the rays and enjoying the sunshine beaches. The year was 2013 and whilst our New Zealand friends, in Wellington, were battling the wild winds of winter, we were basking in an endless summer….
As a family, on holiday, we tend to have a day of all action, thrills and spills, followed by a quieter day of simple fun. Whenever I look back on holidays those simple activities, and smaller side-trips, are often what stay in the mind more than the action packed days. As a Mum it’s seeing…
On a glorious spring day in the school hols we spent a day of thrills in Rotorua, just under a one hour drive from where we were staying in Taupo. Rotorua is well known for its smoking fumaroles, geysers, natural mineral spa and mud pools, all of which we’ve visited on previous trips to this…
Strictly speaking, we simply did the riding – not the driving – but I can assure you – it was WILD (erm, thanks – *I think* – to Jeremy, our guide). I didn’t really comprehend the adrenalin rush that the Huka Falls Jet Boat would give me, until I tried to stand up straight –…
After eight sleeps away on business, the man of the house is back! He was away in the UK and flew the long haul to LA, and on to Auckland, before the ‘hop’ down to Taupo to meet up with us on Sunday. Taupo Airport is a gorgeous place to hang out, especially in the…
What a road trip (in a good way)! I was dreading it many ways (5 hours driving with three children), but also quietly confident (as they’d been incredibly awesome for me all week – whilst their Daddy was working away overseas). We left our home in Wellington at 9.30am on a Saturday morning, trying to…
The New World Little Kitchen is continuing to inspire and prompt experimentation in our kitchen at home. We had a lot of fun boiling up a red cabbage to make a dark red, nearly black, liquid. We used the liquid, once drained, to make some colour changing drinks and ‘potions’ ! We experimented with milk,…
Whilst on a sunshine holiday, in the midst of New Zealand’s winter, we enjoyed a fantastic day-trip to Singapore Zoo, along with Chinese Grandma and Granddad, who flew in from the UK to meet us for a holiday. The Zoo is set in a rainforest (so take an umbrella!), though there are a vast array…
Walking down the New World supermarket aisles it is impossible to miss the ‘Little Kitchen’ inspired products, merchandise and ideas at every turn. Throw in the cute ‘Little Kitchen’ collectables at the counter and my children are hooked and wanting to know more. My youngest daughter, aged 5, proudly tells people, ‘I was born in…