A Kiwi Christmas
Happy Christmas everyone!
We started with Christmas Eve down at the beach – Louise, Daniel and Ben having another go at surfing. Then it was back home with two very excited children, especially pleased that Christmas Day arrives in NZ before most other places in the world. They put there stockings out beside the fire and left Father Christmas some nibbles before going to bed.
That and bubbly in the morning whilst opening presents was about where our traditional Christmas routine ended, there was no sign of a turkey this year, we decided to go the laid back Kiwi way.
One of the first things we did on Christmas morning was to webcam with Mollie and Paul (granny and grandpa), Charlotte (Ben’s sister) was there to with Kayla and Yasmin so it was lovely to be able to see them all and to feel that we shared some a piece of our day with them. Later in the day we also hooked up with Lucy (Ben’s sister) and Sarah and Katie who had sent Louise and Daniel a box full of little parcels which they had obviously put lots of thought and effort into and we had enjoyed unwrapping – big hits were the glow in the dark stars and the stick creatures that crawl down the windows!
By mid morning, the sun had come out (which was great as I didn’t have a plan B!) so we headed down to Rapaki Beach where we met up with some friends and had a picnic. We then came back home and finished off the day with a BBQ.
As you can see from the photos, it was all very relaxed and lots of fun.
Christmas Photos
Ben's Birthday and Mum and Dad arrive
This past week has been packed with good stuff: Sharon’s mum and dad arrived from the UK to spend Christmas and the next month with us, Louise and Daniel have been enjoying an action packed last week of term before the long summer holidays and Ben became another year older.
Mum and dad arrived on Tuesday, the same day as Ben’s birthday. After 48 hours of travelling, mum and dad arrived in Christchurch to huge hugs from us all, we then whisked them in the car across town to watch Louise and Daniel in their last swimming lesson before the holidays (I know, you’d think we’d give them chance to at least get over the jet lag first!!), Anyway , it seemed to work well, Louise and Daniel were both thrilled as they got certificates and move up a level next term and mum and dad managed to keep awake to proudly watch the whole thing. It was then back home and a sunny day allowed us to show off our amazing views across the sea and to the mountains (as I write this, a week later, the wind is howling and a southerly storm is moving over the city …. summer down under … it’s just like the UK!!).
For Ben’s birthday, I’d organised a surfing lesson down at Sumner beach and as it was a private lesson, I asked if Louise and Daniel could join him. So on Saturday afternoon, we went down to the beach, got them kitted up with wetsuits and surfboards and off they went. After two hours, Ben was just about getting up on his feet (for a brief moment – I missed capturing it on camera!). In the meantime, the kids made it all look easy, making it to their feet first time round (amazing what a lower centre of gravity does!). Daniel, in particular loved it and had to be dragged out of the water when time was up, he had all the moves including a couple of spectacular dives. He has been buzzing ever since and the day after was heard to be giving Louise advice about how to balance – you can imagine how well that went down!!
We have been busy since mum and dad arrived, they’ve had plenty of time to see the kids at school – swimming in the outdoor pool, watching Friday morning jump gym, prize giving and today a picnic out at Rapaki, one of the local bays. Prize giving was interesting mainly because the schools here in general are much more laid back and this was a fairly formal evening. There is none of debate here about competition not being a good thing. Probably the highlight for me was hearing the children sing in Maori. In between all the school related activities, we’ve been getting out and about, wandering around Christchurch, taking a trip up the gondola and yesterday driving round to Diamond Harbour for a pub lunch.
Today the kids had their last day at school, that’s it until the 6th February 2007 so I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from us over the next few weeks as we enjoy the holidays.
For now we leave you a pile of photos to be getting on with and we’ll keep adding to these as we go along:
Ben's birthday and surfingMum and DadMt PleasantSchool (we've added more into the previous kids section too)
Mt Pleasant
What a difference four walls can make! We are now settling into our third house in less than 8 months, and like our first abode in NZ, this place is fantastic. Mt Pleasant is round the other side of the Port Hills from Lyttelton and with views over the estuary to the sea and the mountains further in the distance, we are already very happy here.
The move itself was a bit of a pain – envisage Ben and Ollie (a mate from work) lugging our leather sofa over the balcony on the first floor using the roof of the hired van to help – and it took nearly two full days ... but definitely worth it. On Sunday afternoon we watched from sailing and the kite surfers from the deck with beer in hand – this is more what we had in mind!
Louise and Daniel were happy that we moved on the 1st December and they could get their advent calendar out. Summer sun makes it weird for Ben and I to start thinking about Christmas but the kids have no such problems!!
The outdoor pool opened here last weekend too so we made it along to the opening party. Louise and Daniel are looking forward to swimming every afternoon in the last two weeks of term.
In all the excitement of the last few weeks, we forgot to mention that we had our first sighting of a real Kiwi at Willowbank, a wildlife centre in Christchurch and also did a reckie trip up the coast to Kaikoura, where we hope to visit again over the summer when we have family over. We decided to leave whale watching for another time (the sea looked very choppy) and instead went for a walk along the shore and the seal colony and then visited some caves.
Kaikoura and Willowbank photos (no Kiwis - they live in the dark).
I’ve added some photos of the kids to our last entry and will endeavour to get some piccies of the house and views over the next few days.
