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Just a quick note to say we made it back safely – Christchurch -> Sydney wasn’t too bad (3 hrs) and Sydney airport was OK, they even had free internet kiosks.
The next leg, Sydney -> Dubai was 14 hrs and was a bit of a killer :-s
We had about 3 hrs to kill in Dubai airport and looked round the shops – the stuff seemed fairly cheap, but not amazingly so. They had a couple of cool laptops, one of the HP ones with a built-in webcam looked cool running Vista, but when I worked it out it was about £800 – which I am sure is about what you would pay here… need to check. We bought some bottled water for the next leg of the journey, but that was about it.
The final leg was Dubai -> Heathrow (7 hrs) and seemed like a walk in the park compared to the previous flight. We arrived back in Heathrow on schedule and the UK weather was overcast but mild – still a bit of a shock to the system after the great NZ weather we have been used to.
Our airport taxi guy was waiting for us as expected and we got driven home without incident.
So we are home now, with our body clocks all screwed up (it’s 15:00 on Friday and my body still thinks it is 04:00 on Saturday?!) but that will sort itself out given time.
The house is immaculate (thanks auntie Lou!) and Tigger is pleased to see us. Just the unpacking and stuff to do now and I am looking forward to a nice hot bath.
Speak to you all soon. Thanks for reading this blog and leaving all those comments, it meant a lot to us while we were on the other side of the world!
We have arrived safe and sound, no problems at all so far. We are the well travelled Brownz don’t you know . . . 
We have just completed the first 2hr55mins of our journey and have a flight to Dubai ahead of us (about 14 hours). Then it’s Dubai to LHR so not long now until we are home. We wont be able to check mails our post a blog so I am afraid this is the last one.
Again, a huge thank you to our hosts in the South island and the North island. You have been terrific to us. Let’s hope we can repay the favour one day.
To everyone at home, thank you so much for all the comments and for actually reading this blog.
Ross and Sophie are off exploring Sydney airport and I am using a free internet service to write my blog. Shopping ? How motherhood has changed me
Lots of love kisses and hugs
CandiXXXXXXXXXXXXX
PS A huge thank you to Auntie Lou for looking after Tiggerwinkstinkery too. You’re the best!!!! Can’t wait to catch up and see your new pad
We arrived here safe and sound around 11:30 and where met at the airport by Graham who commented on the fact we had caught the sun – “feel the burn” more like it
We drove home and dropped the bags off and went out for lunch at Jack Flashes where I had a divine banana smoothie. Too much good food I am on a strict diet when I get home! It was a lovely lunch after which we went home to relax before our dinner at Dux de Lux. Sophie decided to scream the whole way there which wasn’t ideal but she cheered up after a bottle and a lot of fussing from Mom, Dad and Uncle Graham.
We are now back at Grahams’ folks home having some wine on the balcony. Sweet joy! Well it’s early to bed for us tonight as tomorrow will be quite taxing. We have to unpack, sort and repack, deciding what we want to keep, leave here or throw out.
Night, night and lots of love from me in New Zealand. Can’t believe this is my second to last post boo hoo. See you all very soon, not long now.
Thanks to everyone who sent their comment it’s been a wonderful way to keep in touch and thank you to Graham again for putting us up. We owe you
Lots of love
CandiXXXXXXXXXX
It was our last full day in Wellington today *sniff*
I had some more stuff to do in town, but Candi and Sophie came and joined me after and we all met up with “Unkie Joe” for a Subway lunch in Lambton Square, then left him and did a bit of touristy “walking up and down aimlessly”.
What a nice place Wellington is – it kind of reminds me a bit of Sydney, but Read the rest of this entry »
So as the sun went down today, there was another lovely photo opportunity which was too good to miss.
We all took Speights for a little walk – Even Sophie came with us as she was wide awake after her afternoon nap.
Here is a pic of Joe, Susanne and Speights, with the sun going down behind them:
We went to a viewpoint and I took a photo looking Read the rest of this entry »
We woke up around 07:30 again with guess who right inbetween us. Yes, this seems to be the new routine. . .
As Joe had booked today off as holiday he kindly took us to the other side of Wellington to the Chocolate Fish Cafe in the Karaka Bay area for some breakfast (I could get used to this a bit tooo easily ).
The Chocolate Fish Cafe is in Scorching Bay (pretty apt name as today was boiling) which is on the other side of Wellington to Lower Hutt (and Korokoro where we are staying with the Schaff-Edes).
It is a beautiful area which reminds me Read the rest of this entry »
Today, we were all invited to a neighbour’s BBQ just over the road. A lot of people from Joe and Susanne’s road were there and it was nice to meet them all – they were really friendly. There was plenty of food and drink and Sophie was really well behaved too. We put up her ’sun tent’ so she could sit in the shade. She seemed to enjoy it:
The house is a little further up the hill, so the views are even more spectacular. They also had a great deck which gets lots of sun in the afternoon.
Candi had some fun taking pictures of some of the ferns too:
Yet another day of beautiful weather – and the wind didn’t get above a slight breeze either. Everyone we met assured us the weather was always like this and it never rains
We woke up to the sound of rain coming down which to be honest, sounded rather lovely. We looked out the window only to find our beautiful mountains covered in mist. How beautiful . . . ?
Ross had an interview at 10.00 so Sophie, Susanne and I started to get all the bits ready for our road trip to the bach on the coast….aaah the coast
We finally left around 13:00 and drove for a while before stopping off in Raumati Beach for a lovely brunch. After a few scratch cards bought (with the pokie winnings) we ate, drank and then set off on the road again. We went on a scenic trip along the Kapiti coast that took us through a lovely town called Paraparaumu, which is still commutable to Wellington. What a wonderful 60 minute commute that would be hey ?!?
Anyhow, this is putting the Read the rest of this entry »
Sophie was up at 06:40 today and she obviously thought this was a great time to be up, so she woke us up too. Thanks, Sophie! I was allowed to have a bit of a lie-in and Mum brought Sophie back to join me after she had breakfast – poor thing was tired – so we both slept until about 10:45.
The weather was great again, so we decided to go for a walk down at the bottom of the Hutt valley. After about 15 minutes of struggling Read the rest of this entry »
It was Valentine’s Day today. It turns out Candi bought me a card a few days ago, but obviously didn’t drop enough hints, because this morning when she gave me mine (along with some yummy chocolate stick things) I had to think fast about why I didn’t have anything to give her… At all. Nothing. Not even a card. Seriously.
Being half asleep, my brain didn’t function at all and I failed hopelessly. Oops! Luckily, she took it pretty well and is almost speaking to me again now. I’ll have to make it up to her somehow… Later I tried telling her this entire trip was one big Valentine’s Day present, but she wasn’t buying it
Today I had to go into Wellington for 10am and afterwards Susanne drove us up Mount Victoria, which has great 360 degree views of Wellington and the surrounding areas. Here is a shot of the waterfront area of the city:
It’s really easy to get up to this viewpoint; you just Read the rest of this entry »
