Sophie woke with a cold on Tuesday morning. It was one of those mornings when finding a positive reason to get out of bed wasn’t easy. Howling southerlies ripped through the beams of the house. Like most Kiwi houses, we have a metal roof which makes the sound of rain and hail feel primitively close….
Author: BritMumInNZ
She who trusts
There is no clock in Alice’s world, only the difference in light between night and day. She feeds when she’s hungry. She sleeps when she needs to. And spends her wakeful time drinking in every sight, sound and texture. The only taste to cross her lips is that of her mother’s milk from the breast….
Because
She left the breakfast dishes with guilty abandonement. She knew she had an hour, if she was lucky. She wasn’t really dressed warm enough, but baby Alice was already strapped to her chest, so she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it snug around them both. ‘Exercise and fresh air; both high on the list of…
Changing the way we read – iPad
Dan’s life is I.T. It’s what brings home the bacon and makes his brain tick to a contented tune. When a new gadget comes out on the market I know it is only a matter of time before one crosses the threshold of our home. My first reaction is usually, ‘Not another gadget’ and I…
A short week to get back in the groove
Thanks to Monday being a public holiday in honour of the Queen’s Official Birthday, we’ve had a short week to get back in the groove after our action-packed holiday. Our flight back was a breeze, with Alice sleeping throughout, Sophie enjoying a window seat and Charlotte wowing a fellow passenger with Daddy’s iPad! We left…
YUCK [Kids Click]
Kids Click competition, from Greatfun4kids, now has a blog site of its own and the competitions are running once a fortnight. The theme for this fortnight is ‘YUCK’ and Charlotte (age 6) took this photograph of a terribly explosive, overflowing ‘nappy filler’ as she calls them: We have plenty of these now that Alice’s stomach…
Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum [Day 7]
This museum is a wonderful tribute to outstanding sailing skill throughout the ages and how people first arrived in New Zealand. From the arrival of the Maori and Polynesian, through the discovery of New Zealand by Europeans and migration, to New Zealand’s winning of the America’s Cup and a tribute to Sir Peter Blake. The…
Crystal Mountain [Day 6]
Where can you see a wonderful collection of crystals, feed animals, ride a pony and go on a roller-coaster all at the same place? Crystal Mountain of course! We walked into a crystal shop to rival all others and the girls, who both collect gem stones (future geologists perhaps or treasure hunters?), were in their…
Sky Tower & Auckland Museum [Day 5]
Standing at 328 metres the Sky Tower in Auckland is only for those with a head for heights. The experience starts in the lift, where a portion of the floor is 38cm thick glass, revealing the lift shaft below. As the lift rockets to the top of the tower a window reveals an ever increasing…
Snow Planet [Day 4]
On the first day of winter, with heavy rain pelting down, we drove to Snow Planet; where the outdoor weather bears no influence on the conditions indoors. We paid our money and entered a snow filled fun zone built into the side of a hill. The temperature was -4 degrees centigrade. Brrrrr! After enjoying tobogganing…
We’re going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo… [Day 3]
You can come too, too, too… And you’ll see some amazing animals that will bring a tear to your eye at Auckland Zoo. Others will make you laugh, though the life of their mates in the wild is often far from a comedy. And some animals are definitely better off safely enclosed, especially cheeky ones…
Browns Bay is where we’re hanging for the week :)
So, this is where we’re hiding out for a week. We spent Sunday morning exploring our locality and finding out that it’s home to a high populace of British and South African folk. Browns Bay is one of Auckland’s East Coast Bays suburbs. First observations… Everyone here seems to own a dog and Sunday morning…
Penguins, Sting Ray and Sharks! [Day 2]
‘Penguins!’ we squealed as we ran over to the viewing window at Kelly Tarltons. ‘Daddy, Daddy, put your hand in here,’ Charlotte and Sophie dared with mischievous glee. The sign read, ‘See if you can last 30 seconds,’ and the water was freezing. We watched in awe as Daddy did it! We only lasted a…
A welcome rainbow in Auckland and butterflies [Day 1]
Our arrival at Auckland Airport on Saturday was met by a hopeful rainbow in the sky. We’d left behind a week of wintery rain and wind and were hoping for slightly warmer temperatures in Auckland. We knew that rain was still likely, but rain is a lot more bearable when it’s not being blown horizontally…