Pools and boats

Another beautiful day, a few clouds in the morning gave way to a stunning summer day. Stan and I went off to an outdoor swimming pool in Khandalla - free if you please! in a wonderful park at the base of a gorge leading up to Mount Kau Kau. I said to Sasha later about something else, but it could have applied to this too, that one of the striking things about Wellington is how civilised it is, and this was yet another example. Charming staff - not your usual surly lifeguards; loads of free toys and floaties in the kids pool, wonderful surroundings and did I mention free already!! It was a bit chilly in the main pool for us to swim but the kids pool was fine for Stan to splosh about in for a hour, whilst I lapped up the gorgeous rays. Sasha came to get us after Pippa's gym class and we tootled home for lunch, not before Stan had fully investigated the playground with a wonderful wiggly slide - he is fearless and hilarious!

After lunch a fab adventure to collect Oliver on the ferry across the harbour to Days Bay, so another opportunity to see the 'world boats' as Oliver calls them up close. On the way over we sat on the top deck, open to the elements which was great fun, but rather scarey at times as Stan wanted to peer over the sides as I said, he is fearelss. On the way back we all sat down below and he loved watching the wake streaming out behind us. After a quick look at the boats, Richard wants to bring O down for a proper look tomorrow, we all walked up to the staion to catch the train home again - Stan feels like a proper commuter now. The kids had a fantastically messy supper, pasta with sauce - most of which was in hair or up noses, then finished off with home made orange lollies which added to the 'creativity with food club!' so a much needed bath with lots of bubbles and off to bed prompltly as Sasha and I are off out.

So the girls are off on the razzle - or something! to a rather nice looking place http://www.arbitrageur.co.nz/ I found online when I was in the UK - we'll see if we can chat up any of those lovely sailors!!

Top day!

When we woke up this morning the sky was blue and there wasn' t a breath of wind - and it said one thing to me "beach!" So after a quick visit to Pippa's weekly music group, which Stan took totally in his stride, we packed up our swimmies and buckets and headed out to Scorching Bay. Sasha took the long and scenic route all along the coast and it showed once again how beautiful that stretch is. Some of the houses along the shoreline are truly magnificent, a particular favourite has a wooden dingy hanging off the roof, ready to go at any moment! Stan and Pippa dutifully fell asleep. When we got there Pippa woke and sat in the shade of her buggy whilst we set a shady spot up on the beach under an umbrella for Stan to continue his snooze . The sea looked fantastically inviting and I did think I should take advantage of his snoozing to have a swim but BRRRRRRRR was it cold - I did have a paddle later and think I could have made it in, but was a bit chicken to say the least! After a wonderfully lazy sunbathing session and having made a short sortie to the cafe to get coffee etc we packed up and went for lunch at Chocolate Fish, under the awnings with views of the sea - as we were packing up the first of the two boats from the Volvo Round the World Race accompanied but lots of support boats and spectators came round into the harbour. We watched a very exciting race between them, one in front then the other and also watched the red helicopter swooping unblievably low to get it's footage. The picture is, clearly, not mine and was taken almost as they crossed the finish - just 9 seconds beteween them.

So, lunch at the Chocolate Fish, what a place, the food was yummy, the service friendly and the location to die for. They have a wonderful collection of artworks - the chairs, each one has been painted differently and this one is just for Georgia!

Time caught up with us as we got back to the car and realised it was time for Sasha to head over to Eastbourne to pick up O. She dropped Stan and I in town and we went off to explore the race village and see the boats. It was very exciting and buzzing, the two boats we had seen were safely berthed and the crew were doing their media interviews. Having spent many late nights when we lived with Paddy in Alexandra Park Road, staying up to watch the race highlights I felt very lucky to be on the jetty. We went to look at the helicopters which land on the harbour which Stan loved! Then on to the awards ceremony for the 2nd place boat and narrowly missing a Champagne shower before heading off to catch the train home - but we intend to go back at the weekend to show Oliver and then head out to watch the race restart on Sunday for the challenging leg through the Southern Ocean.

Walking to the station with Stan was great fun, sometimes on my shoulders and sometimes tottering along at my side - he seems very small in the big city. We had fun looking at the boats, at our reflections in the windows of the offices and shops, giggling and chuckling all the way. The station is a fabulous building, really easy to use and we bought our tickets from a friendly man who forgave my (mis)pronunciation of the station we were going to. The train leaves the city with the docks on the right and we could see containers and ships and loads of other trains, Stan was thrilled as we climbed up into the gorge and disappeared into one tunnel after another, looking down onto the road we normally drive up with Sash. Soon it was time to hop off and walk the short stretch back to the house, I took lots of pics of Sasha's road and the house, to follow.

'mmmmm hic' wine tasting

Having stayed at home yesterday morning with the babies while Sasha and Richard took O to his first day at school, today I joined the school run. We planned to head off to the wine area afterwards and it made sense to carry straight on from Wellesley. So today we all took him into class, a wonderful airy space with a wonderful teacher, Mrs Ormon who knew all about me " are you THE godmother?" because Oliver's school start date had been postponed a week so he could spend time with me, I am honored. It's a wonderful school, set on a bay - Day's Bay which has a jetty from where the bigger boys swim, not to mention catch the ferry home across the bay -what a way to go to school! The grounds are beautiful, lush and manicured with boys knocking about on the tennis courst before school, grand colonial buildings and new buildings to match. Oliver has to take his swimmies to school every day and in the summer they swim every day in the school pool - how cool!

Onwards to the wine area, over the amazing Rimitauka hills. What a drive, oh and I was driving, which was fine but...... I had warned Sasha the other day when doing a quick jaunt, that being an automatic I would probably at some point whack my left foot on the brake thinking it was the clutch, and I apologised in advance. The other day it was no problem but today approaching the first roundabout the unconscious brain took over and I came to a very sudden halt whilst the rest of my brain tried to figure out what the hell I had done and tried to instruct my left foot OFF the brake! Luckily no-one was behind us or it would have been a horribly expensive mistake! Anyhow, with left foot firmly stapled to floor we continued the rest of the journey without any mishaps!

Coming down from the hills you drive into a whole new landscape, fantastic wide open plains with huge skies, surrounded on nearly all sides by mountains. Lush grass, cows grazing for miles - just like the Anchor adverts! Farm properties, space and more space! First stop was Greytown http://www.greytown.co.nz for coffee and a pastry at the posh french bakers, just one very stylish place in a stunning town in the bush. We wandered down the main street looking into the lovely shops and boutiques, eyeing up the colonial and eastern antiques - don't worry Michael they wouldn't fit in my luggage
Such a different landscape, huge plains with grazing cows and sheep, farm properties and space!! On the way out of town a quick pull over to visit Schok - a fantastic chocolate shop - kind of makes Madame Oiseau look a little limited, there was a fabulous chinese chest of tiny drawers, each filled with a different flavour chocolate to taste - we made our way through several flavours - as did Stan, he liked Ginger quite alot! We may have bought a few to take home...?

Then onto Martinborough to visit just a few of the many wineries there, quite an impressive number and we managed to get to three, you would have to stay in the town and walk around if you wanted to make the most of it and learn to spit out the wine - I felt woozy after the second!
I bought a few just to remember where I had been - honest!

Once back over the mountains we had a brief stop at Kaitoke Regional Park to look at wonderful place to camp and walk, amazing river with awesome rope bridge, no camera but luckily someone has taken a picture for me! I really felt then that it was unfair not to have Michael and the kids as they would have loved paddling in the river, building dams and swimming, definitely on the list for a re-visit! The babies were asleep in the car so I just had a quick peek and was smitten.

Maranui surf club

Olivers first day at school, his birthday and an early start - I slept through his special birthday breakfast and just about surfaced in time to look after Pippa and Stan, They enjoy each others company now and - mostly - he treats her with the respect she deserves.

Sasha and I headed out to another new (to me) suburb for some temple food in an awesome setting. The top floor of the existing surf and life savers club on the major surfing beach has been converted into a trendy cafe with fantastic food, so healthy, fresh and delicious you could almost feel it doing you good with every mouthful! We sat in the bay window looking out to sea and over the airport, views of the planes landing, you could imagine coming for lunch there before you met someone off the plane and timing it so you could see them taxi in then whizzing round to get them. It's striking that although the airport is so central you just don't hear the planes or get disturbed by them. I remember noting when I landed that one control tower nestles in amongst the houses! Lyall Bay itself has golden sand and a gently arching bay but it was too windy today for playing on the beach!

After lunch a drive to the highest residential street in Wellington where some of the UGLIEST houses are and beyond to the top of the hill where a solitary wind turbine is. Fantastic views over the city from a new angle. Next door somehting akin to the Great Wall of China - a possum proof fence protecting a reserve from which they have been eradicated and are no longer welcome! Then off to pick up O from his first day at school, full of excitment and home for the rest of his presents.

An hour from Wellington

A sunny day and an early start to the north to explore what you can see an hour out of Wellington. First up Highway 1 towards the Kapiti coast which faces Kapiti island - a mountain in the sea, amazing. If Wellington is like San Francisco then this coast road was like the American coast roads around Hollywood you see in films. That may be doing New Zealand a disservice but it was the way the road swept around headlands to reveal houses nestling along the shore and secluded yet exposed beaches. We stopped to look at a few (Pukerua, Paekakariki) and then headed up to Te Horo to visit a cookery school and shop on a beautiful farm plot - it was how I imagined Victoria Somerville's place in Aus might have looked.

Then heading back south down the road to Waikanae, Sasha said this was the furthest up that road that people commute to the city from and I reckoned it scored another hit for NZ! A fabulous beach and a great lunch in 'The Front Room', family friendly, airy, great food, happy kids and light bright and breezy, not on the beach but close enough to hear the waves. I had a quick peek at the beach and it was pretty stunning, miles of sand, surf, and a major feature of the beaches here - driftwood. We saw some houses whose whole perimeter was fenced with it.

After lunch we headed up a steep valley on the 'back road' to Upper Hutt, the most fabulous road following a gorge up to a high pass and then down the other side, tropical, lush forest on all sides and warnings to look out for logging trucks, which you would not want to meet as the passing places are few and far between. Our destination was a nature reserve Staglands www.staglands.co.nz which is set on both sides of a wonderful river, shallow and rocky with a swinging rope bridge to cross(this is my picture) - although Oliver and I took a short cut on the way back and waded across - I was re-living my childhood! He was delighted that we were there, it's a particular favourite place of his and I can see why - another tick in the box! Frankly, if it was simply a case of Kent vs NZ it would be a no brainer, but there is the small matter of the distance which makes it all rather more complicated - but as Sasha and Rich said that's why it is so empty and unspoilt! AAGH.

Scorching Saturday

As I've said before, I'm quite shallow and a sunny day is all it takes to lift my spirits and boy did it shine yesterday! So we all pottered in the garden and Stan was in his element too. We went to a Toy Library first thing and picked up some ride on toys, so he was quite at home. Saturday is also the day when the property pages come out in the paper so I spent quite some time poring over them and choosing plenty of fantasy houses. Then a barbequed lunch of lamb kofte, couscous, houmus, salad - it really felt like summer time and got me thinking ahead to summer in our garden and how winter will, hopefully, be coming to an end when I get back.
As kids tea-time approached we headed off in the car to Sasha's favourite beach - Scorching Bay, a lovely golden beach, small but perfectly formed with a cafe called 'Chocolate Fish', rock pools, sand kids frolicking - you get the picture. All of the beaches have such fantastic dramatic backdrops with houses perched precariously all around, simply stunning.

Today is Oliver's birthday party so we are off to a Gym, Sasha has created a stunning castle cake - my children are certainly doing pretty badly in the cake stakes! Postscript -the party was a fantastic success, Stan loved it, lots of climbing, and balancing then bouncing on a proper trampoline. He was thrilled to be able to sit next to the big boys and girls, next to Oliver for the lunch, tucking into sausages, prawn crackers and so on. Did I mention him eating sushi the other day - proper sushi!!! What an international jet set kid he is!

Sunday - there was a street party in the evening, they close off the road to traffic and the kids all bike and scoot up and down whilst the little ones draw pictures with chalk, Stan loved it, running up and down the grassy banks - mostly wearing Oliver's cycle helmet. One house had barbies laid out in the drive way and everyone brought something to cook - we had already fed the children and were eating later so just took a bottle and chatted in the evening sun.

The fog lifts

Thursday of week one and the jet lag seems to be easing. By yesterday evening my eyelids were pulling themselves down if I so much as stood still. Lying on the rug playing with Stan and I was almost snoring, but today both he and I seem to be brighter and less foggy! So we headed into the city and up the 'cablecar' - which is actually a Funicular, to the top of the hill above the University and Botanical Gardens - Raff you would love it!! I took pictures in the tram museum of the old trams and a beautifully restored one. The walk back down again through the gardens via a fantastic kids play area was brilliant! So far the overriding sound of Wellington is that of the Cicadas and in the gardens the volume was out of this world. At the bottom of the hill was the Begonia House, not strictly just Begonias and my favourite bit was a pool full of water lillies of every shape and size - there is the perfect one for my new little water-tank pond.
Yummy take away sushi for lunch following a walk through the city streets with Oliver on my shoulders leaping up to try and reach the shop signs, as I said at the time - even though my shoulders were screaming to stop - it's the kind of thing that really special memories are made of. I have a sneaking suspicion that Sasha keeps taking me to the most beautiful places to convince us to move here - but perhaps it's just beautiful everywhere, it certainly is very appealing. I looked at some property pages today and found a house that really would do fine for 170k and that was without looking hard at all. There will have to be some proper weighing up of the pros and cons, if getting work is not too hard then it would have to be worth fully exploring......

Stan's big adventure part 1

Stanley and Emma's big adventure has begun, we have now been in Wellington for 24 hours and still don't know which way is up, what time it is and certainly have no idea of the day of the week. The journey was pretty arduous! After leg 1 - eleven and a half hours to Hong Kong, during which Stan slept fitfully, on my lap I wasn't sure I had done the right thing at all, but it's amazing what a shower and some fresh noodles, fried rice and spring rolls can do for your mood. The next leg was to Melbourne and we managed to bag two seats so both of us could stretch out a bit - Stan wasn't sure that sleep was really on the agenda as his body was now telling him it was the afternoon but after supper was served and the lights went out I firmly told him he needed to nap and we got in a couple of hours of snoozing. Michael sweetly gave me an ipod shuffle (and honey, the white wires are really growing on me!!) all loaded up with lovely music, so I did get a little respite for time to time. By the time we reached Melbourne the tiredness was really kicking in and when the gate staff asked me where I had just flown in from I said "I have no idea" and I really meant it! They took pity on this poor exhausted traveller as on the next (and final) leg which lasted 3.5 hours we had three seats to ourselves and Stan promptly fell fast asleep - the first time he had been properly horizontal for 24 hours and he slept like a log! I had to wake him for landing which he was pretty unimpressed by!

Landing in Wellington is fantastic as it was clear and fine - Sasha tells me it's pretty hairy in the fog and wind! My first impressions were all the amazing coloured roofs of the houses which cling to the hillsides right up to the airport perimeter and the very human scale of all of it. More to be written on this when my brain works properly

Today Vonne flew in for a quick visit on her way south to Invercargill, it was amazing to catch up, having not seen her for nearly 9 years there was a lot of catching up to do, but our friendship always seems so easy and we chatted away as though all the years and events which have taken place were all well known. She has just completed her chemo and looked well and very positive, fingers crossed that she doesn't have to go through any more horrors.

This afternoon with the rain pelting down we went to Te Papa - of which more later I am sure, Stan is wilting though and I am aiming to try and keep him awake until his normal bedtime and then hopefully he will sleep through as he did last night with only one upset. Then we have a few plans in place for the next few days - Oliver's birthday party on Sunday and then his first day at school next week and the beach at some point and a trip to the wineries. Mostly though just hanging out here with Sasha in her lovely house with the kids and acting like I live just round the corner - which is very appealing!

Catching up

Reviewing previous posts I realised how little had been written last year. Life moves on so fast and time out to sit and write seems to be elusive. Last November/December was memorably so busy I barely knew which way was up - was it the many PaintPots events, getting a puppy or working at a new restaurant in Faversham which took me close to the edge of madness?!

Many exciting things happened - Raff started school in September where he is thriving, and the longed for dog came at the end of November. A lurcher - final size as yet unknown (she is a rescue dog) called Mouse. She was small and grey with a long thin tail - now she is less like a mouse but still suits the name. I have relished the 'excuse' to spend a lot of time outside every day and recently found a lovely walk in Blean Woods, perfect length for Stan, dry and buggy friendly and (essential at this time of year ) alot less windy than the Nagden marshes! The summer will be great too - lots of walks on the beach I hope!

Winter sunsets

Rafferty Jan 06

Georgia sledging

Stan January at Throwley

The Veg Patch

Last weekend I had a moment of gardening triumph as I FINALLY got the garlic in! Looking back over last summer I feel that the plot didn't work as hard as it had the previous year, so this year must be better. I would like to try and get some Broad Beans in before I go away on Sunday and also mulch the borders with manure - but perhaps I am being unrealisitic? I discovered from Dot why the soil in ourt garden is so rubbish when hers is so rich - apparently the tenant who lived here before the people we bought from had a radical approach to weeding, he scraped off the topsoil with a digger!!

Travelling

Nagden Life is about to undertake an exciting adventure to the other side of the world! Stanley and I are off to New Zealand for a well earned break from the grey cold world that is Kent in January. It seems to have been relentlessly cold now for weeks and everyone seems to be carrying a bug of some kind or another.

Michael is staying behind to look after G and R - what a superstar, how much do I owe him now?!!

There's just the small matter of furnishing the cupboards and freezer and doing all the laundry before I go, and then 32 hours travelling - oh boy! But it WILL be worth it! The only question is will I want to come back - of course I will for M and the kids, but will the good life of the Antipodes beckon - and would Mum ever forgive me if we lived so far away? I'll keep you all posted