Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!
Happy New Year! I have to say I’m feeling very fortunate to be living freely in New Zealand at the moment. Writing about all our freedoms seems a little unfair when so many people around the world are struggling with the Covid-19 Pandemic, facing lockdowns and huge restrictions on normal day to day activities. I…
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks of events and I am so grateful that our ‘team of 5 million’ pulled together earlier in the year, with the 7 week lockdown, so that we can enjoy living a life of ‘relative’ normality now (things can always change!). Everyone I talk to is filled with gratitude and…
Term 4 in New Zealand is always a short and fast one. My youngest daughter gleefully reminded me that Christmas Day is fast approaching – and there’s me thinking that surely we’re still in September – but one look at our dog, on pick up from his pre-summer groom, and there’s no denying the festive…
With the global pandemic of Covid-19 raging on and New Zealand’s borders still shut the hashtag #DoSomethingNEWNewZealand is being banded about on social media. New Zealanders are exploring their own country more than ever before. As a family we’ve holidayed in the South Island of New Zealand on multiple occasions, particularly around Wanaka and Queenstown,…
What a term it’s been! With so many parts of the world unable to function as normal due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we feel extremely blessed to be able to live pretty much as normal, for now! Most of New Zealand, with the exception of Auckland, has had a pretty normal school term, but a…
In a time when international travel is off the radar I’m finding an increasing number of my friends posts on social media are nostalgically looking back on holidays from the past. One of our last trips overseas was in February this year, just before the pandemic forced borders around the world to close. We travelled…
New Zealand has ZERO active cases of Covid-19! Yesterday New Zealand received the news it has been waiting for and life has pretty much returned to normal, but with strict border measures for everyone entering New Zealand. Way to go New Zealand! Life for our immediate family is back to normal. We have made the most of…
New Zealand moves to Level 2 tomorrow, after seven weeks in ‘lockdown’ due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Level 4 started with me away from my husband and three children, as a result of having recently returned from overseas and therefore needing to self-isolate for 14 days. I self-isolated in our holiday home, in rural Martinborough. My…
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,…
It was my Mum’s 73rd Birthday recently, but she wasn’t aware – and hasn’t been for a few years now. Alzheimer’s disease has robbed her of knowing there are different days in a week, let alone knowing what day her Birthday is. Nevertheless my dear Dad had a cake ready for her, cards from family…
Queenstown Marathon had been on my ‘wish list’ for a while. I’m a sucker for a scenically beautiful running event and when it’s also located in a beautiful tourist town, that has heaps of other wonderful activities, I’m sold! I signed up for the Queenstown Marathon early in 2019, giving myself plenty of time to…
One night in early 2019, in a haze of (a few too many wines) optimism, I decided to sign up for the Tarawera Ultramarathon – held in February each year. I also signed up for the Queenstown Marathon, which was held in November 2019), but that’s another blog post and was a great ‘warm up’…
We are half-way through 2019 already and so much has happened, but I’ve been too busy, living and loving it, (and side-tracked by Instagram and Netflix, ahem!) to write about it – so, before this year runs away on me all together I’m going to have to write this catch-up post. I continue to be…
The last leg of our six week trip away from New Zealand was spent in Japan. None of us, in our family of five, had ever been to Japan before, and we were so excited to get our first taste of the place (food being a much anticipated delight, as well as the culture, historical…