You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February, 2007.
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 »
SKIVING….
Well, Ross and I were supposed to go to baby club today but Sophie fell asleep so we didn’t go. It will more than likely be the same as the one in Cholsey, except it is run by parents not the Parish.
When Sophie eventually woke up we went for a walk into Petone. It was about a 25 minute walk downhill and if you saw the gradient of the hill you will realise why it takes 25 minutes. The weather is still lovely here. It isn’t scorching hot, but around 20 degreees and sunny. We are still in jeans in the evening but it’s far from freezing.
I am starting to miss home now, it’s really lovely here but I can’t wait to see everyone and I am missing Cindi and Kei loads. I can’t quite start thinking about how I would feel should this be permanent.
I haven’t quite gotten around to seeing stuff about schools or anything but Joe works for the Ministry of Education so he is going to get me a paper from work tomorrow to take home (or at least the name of the TES equivalent).
Otherwise, we are all well. Sophie has started waving her right arm around and also splashes loads in the bath. She smiles even more when her face gets soaked.
She still doesn’t take too well to strangers and prefers to be in either her Mom or Dads arms although she has warmed to both Joe and Susanne and also Graham really well.
Well not much to report really just a quick note to say hi and that we are all well. Hope all is well with all of you.
Lots of love
CandiXXXXXXXX
Up at 8am today - thanks to Sophie for the alarm call! She has been as good as gold on this trip (well, most of the time) and has only been grumpy when we have kept her in her car seat for too long or not let her sleep when she was due for a nap.
We looked at some ‘open’ houses yesterday and got a bit of an idea of how much we could get for our money. Surprisingly (we thought) houses on the hillside are cheaper than those on the valley floor. Despite the fact that there are better schools, it is Read the rest of this entry »
We all got up around 8am this morning. Sophie slept well in our bed, Mum didn’t sleep so good - in a little ball in the left hand corner of the bed. Kids hey?!
After having breakfast together looking out over the hillside we went for a lovely walk up the hills in Korokoro (where we met some donkeys along the way). I must admit having Sophie asleep in her new sling didn’t help. I was wheezing all the better the whole way up. When we got to the top there was a 360 degree view of Lower Hutt, Petone, over to Upper Hutt and even Wellington. The views were breathtaking… or was that just from carrying dear princess Sophie? The weather here is pretty overcast now. I am sat here in Read the rest of this entry »
Today we set off around 10:30 and drove to Eastbourne which is about 30 minutes drive along the coast from Lower Hutt. We had a lovely breakfast of eggs benedict and a flat white before highlighting a few houses in the property pages to view today. In NZ, some homes become open to the public to view at pre-arranged times, usually at the weekend. So, we set about choosing which ones we could see, then Joe and Susanne very kindly drove us around to the different ones, stopping in between to get an ice-cream and drink from a local dairy (corner shop).
So, for around $330,000 - $350,000 you can get a 2/3 bedroom house on quite a small section (a plot of land, a “plot” here means burial plot so the word isn’t used in the same way as it is in the UK). The ones that were really lovely and had annexes or granny flats were about $400,000 and basically just about perfect and you could move in with no real need to do much. But, we could never afford $400,000 unless we earned loads of money and could get a huge mortgage. The way open houses work is that people go around to these houses, sign in on a piece of paper and then have a look around. The estate agent is there to answer any questions and we did see quite a few faces we had seen at other houses so I am sure Read the rest of this entry »
The picture above was taken last week when we were at the Gibb’s holiday bach in Moana, using our ‘backup’ camera, the JVC digital camcorder. The results are not too bad, considering - previously I have felt a little underwhelmed by the quality of the shots it takes in stills mode. I am also really glad I brought my polariser with me for the Canon DSLR, the difference it has made to the sky in some of my pics is amazing.
I’ve just had a look at my cousin’s photos on Flickr and the latest ones are of the snow they had in the UK recently. Compare and contrast with the pics of scenery in NZ I have been posting recently - I know where I would rather be!
We have been really lucky with the weather since we arrived, today was the first day which hasn’t been constant sunshine, but even then it brightened up later on. Apparently this is pretty normal for Wellington, what starts out as a bad weather day can clear up and vice-versa.
In true techie style, I have had to ‘unlock’ two mobile phones since arriving, to allow them to work on the Vodafone NZ network. Unlocking phones is something that I have paid for in the past, and it’s not unusual for people to charge 5 or 10 pounds for it back in the UK. However, a bit of Googling and I have found a website that lets you unlock mobile phones for free. (You may need to click on the flag at the bottom of the page for it to display in English). It definitely seems to work and now I have a UK mobile which works with a Vodafone NZ pre-pay SIM card. Handy!
That’s about all the news I have, Candi is doing an excellent job of posting all the important stuff…. signing off for now.
Picture taken during a walk we had this morning
Well today it wasn’t as warm as it has been (about 22 degrees) so Ross, Sophie and I all put our jeans on and headed out with Joe and Susanne for a lovely brunch at Denny’s (very reasonable place for breakfast, about $12 for the works : eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown and toast). The verdict, yummo!!! We then went for a lovely walk along the coast which was Read the rest of this entry »
Hi All
Well today Ross had a 10am interview with one of the biggest recruitment agencies in NZ and the feedback is very positive. They have about 4 jobs which Ross seems perfect for and they will be sending his CV off to these companies. One of which had about 100 holiday houses you can rent out for $30 a week if you are an employee and the guy said this would be a fab way of seeing NZ. Too jolly right! All the feedback so far seems positive. They are all very interested in Ross and it seems that it’s been the best move for him to see them face 2 face rather than just be an anonymous CV on a piece of paper.
While all that was going on, Susanne, Sophie and I went shopping instead. We drove from Wellington city centre to Read the rest of this entry »
Well we woke up around 8am after a 5am wake up call from Sophie who eventually had it her way and slept in bed with her Daddy.
After a lovely breakfast of O.J. and croissants followed by a cuppa tea we did our final pack (and left a black binliner of stuff behind surplus to requirements) and headed to Christchurch Airport. Graham ensured that we were taken on the most scenic route to the airport to ensure the most biased view possible of Christchurch, I think it might have worked!
We got through passport and security no probs and then went up the escalator twice only to find we were in the wrong area doh! We then found our boarding gate, literally right were the security check was and proceeded to spill blue antifreeze looking juice all over the chair I was going to sit on, great! What would go wrong this time…
Well, the long and the short of it…nothing at all. But, we did have to sit around for 20 minutes whilst they sorted out a technical fault. Mmmm that doesn’t make me feel very confident about the plane to start with. Then we went to board it and it looked like it had hairdryer motors as engines. I said a few prayers and hoped for the best. Only for the captain to say sorry about the delay and then something about a problem with the wheel but now it was fixed. Well the 45 minutes to find out if he was telling the truth went pretty fast. Sophie screamed from take off until after the tea and coffee was wheeled around. It seems kids scream in unison as one little boy would set Sophie off then she would take her turn to set him off. Kids hey….?
Well we arrived at Wellington Airport to be greated by wonderful 28 degree sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind in the air. Result! Susanne then picked us all up 5 million bags and all and told us that there were shops in NZ too you know hehehe. We then took a very scenic drive along the coast to Lower Hutt it is about 40 minutes from the airport and you can actually see it at the end of the harbour as you drive from the airport. It is also a hill, just like Cashmere were Graham lives and has beautiful views of the bay and also beautiful tree covered hills.
Read the rest of this entry »
I have taken heaps of pictures since we arrived (luckily I brought the laptop, so I can free up space on my memory cards when they get full). I have uploaded a few of the best ones to Flickr and created a set. Click here to see our New Zealand picture set.
I have also changed the picture at the top of this page, it’s now the view this morning from the Gibbs’ bach at Moana. Check out the low wispy cloud!
There’s only 50 pictures in the set there at the moment, but I will continue to upload them overnight and keep adding more as we go. Hope you enjoy them, let me know by leaving comments.
Well Sophie was very well behaved last night and slept almost right through. Ross and I were up quite early though to ensure we packed everything and didn’t leave anything behind this time.
We left the bach around 10:45 to take some photos of the river and the breathtaking views and were on the road again around 11:30.
As yesterday was Waitangi day (a public holiday) the roads were quite quiet so we just ambled along stopping to take pictures and toilet stops for our dear little Sophie who decided we all needed to stop and stretch our legs a bit more often than we would have!
We then stopped for lunch just after Arthur’s Pass at a lovely hotel/diner. We ate Read the rest of this entry »
zzzzz 05:15, Sophie is awake and screaming……08:30 Sophie is still awake and playing with her Dad, neither of whom have had any sleep since 05:15. 09:00 both are asleep and snoring!
Well, we set off on our mission to buy nappies, shoes for Ross and a few bits and bobs for me at Warehouse (’Warehouse, warehouse were everyone gets a baaargin’) at around 10:30. I picked up some mascara, shorts, a t-shirt, undies and a bikini all came to $65. Admitidly the bikini looks rank on, but it will do.
We then decided to go and hunt down some green stone (Jade – Nephrite, Greenstone or Pounamu has been worked by the Maori of New Zealand from as early as the 12th Century. Jade has been used for tools, weapons, ornaments, items of trade and a symbol of authoriy and ceremony. It is regarded a taonga or prized possession and considered an honour to receive).
The place to buy it is apparently Hokitika as other places might not sell the real deal but Read the rest of this entry »
Well we left Christchurch at about 16:40 with everything we needed to our 2 night stay at the ‘bach’ (pronounced batch) packed. We had stocked up at New World (Tesco type shop) with everything we needed for our adventure.
It was a lovely 2 hour drive with scenery like you have never seen before. HUGE mountains, hills with trees upon trees growing on them. Flat farm land with more sheep than you could count on them and then. Single lane bridges going over little streams that meandered through the mountains or Alps as they are called with the occasional waterful added in for the wow factor. Some of the townes we went through, now just hills would be ski resorts in winter. How cool, Sophie could be a ski bunny. We travelled through Sheffield, Springfield, Castle Hill Village, Cass, Arthurs Pass, Otira, Jacksons. All these town were quite tiny I would guess only around 30 people living these the nit was onwards towards our final destination Lake Brunner which is situated very near to Otira-Kopara Forest Conservation Area. How beautiful? Honestly, you would be hard pushed to find somewhere as beautiful. And, it certainly wouldn’t be in the U.K.
Well the journey was fine, Sophie slept the whole way which was lovely and was full of smiles for her Dad when we arrived. She stayed up way past her bedtime though, which I think had something to do with the long sleep in the car. I then started to unpack everyones bits and pieces only to find, Candi Brown’s bag wasn’t packed. Doh! Hence as I type I am sitting in a dress with Ross’ boxers on. Nice, not quite what I had in mind. Lord have mercy! When will the Brownz actually sort themselves out. I blame it on jet lag hehehe.
Well we then forgot about the wardrobe and drank gingerbeers and Speights beers and had a lovely bbq of steaks pork sausages and pork strips and salad (you see I am still being healthy). It was divine.
Then it was off to bed for us all at around 22:30.
Just wanted to say that I have taken some great pictures, but I haven’t had a chance to sort through them yet. They will be uploaded in aday or two, when we get somewere with internet access. For now, you’ll just have to imagine it!
Today we went exploring the hills and coast of Christchurch. We set off around 10:30 and the sun was already beating down. We headed off up into the hills through a beautiful park called Victoria Park and then up into the hills where we saw loads of people running, walking their dogs and mountain biking (crazy people ;)…
It was a lovely drive with beautiful views on both sides of the road, on one side the coast line of Christchurch, and the other side the beautiful inlet called Lyttelton Harbour. Absolutely breathtaking apparently the people there are really laid-back hippy types. My kind of place!
We then went down the mountain to Sumner a beautiful seaside suburb of Christchurch and had brunch at a seaside restaurant. We all ate eggs benedict, how yummy was that ?!?
Sophie then put her feet on sand for the first time and absolutely loved it. She seems to be in a very good mood now we are here. She’s sleeping like an angel (all be it with Mommy after about 3am until waking up time, anything for a quiet life;). She’s also eating like a champion, sometimes having lunch and dessert, what a good little girl. She still gets lots of smiles from everyone she comes into contact with.
The Kiwi’s are super friendly and I am in love with this place. We are off to Graham’s parents ‘bach’ (holiday home) for two nights so wont be able to upload my blog so watch this space for more info on our trip in two days time.
Thanks for all your comments. I will try and reply when we get back, can’t seem to find the time now days. Just too much to do.
Lots of love
CandiXXX
Well today we needed to pick up a few odds and ends from the shops so we headed into Christchurch for about 10:30. The roads were really quiet and the sun was just about out. It wasn’t super hot but it was still really bright.
Christchurch is beautiful. It’s very clean and picturesque. We went to a lovely restaurant called Coyote and all had burgers which were divine. Mine was a 300g beef burger and Ross had a Cajun lamb burger and the best bit was the price $15 (NZD). Christchurch reminds me a lot of S.A. in so many ways. There is a lot of space and even though we were in the city centre. It was still quiet. A bit like shopping back in S.A. were not every shop is open on a Sunday. Parking near the city centre was $2.50 an hour. We walked along a little canal which was beautiful lots of of ducks and also other people with babies just wondering round with their babies in pushchairs.
We have met so many lovely people so far. The Kiwis seem to have a lot of time for you. And, the shops are pretty much the same as the U.K. but it will just take some time to understand which shop is like Argos and which on is like Tesco etc. And, most importantly, I am keen to find out which one is like TK Maxx, if nothing, it might be a deal breaker hehehe.
Hope everyone is well, it was lovely speaking to you today Mom, Dad and Cinz. I feel a little jaded at the moment as Ross’ clock on the computer says 01:37 zzzzz
Well I will sign off now, remember to keep the comments coming as it’s lovely to hear from you.
Lots of love
Candi XXXXX
Well, where to start . . .?!
So we decided to get to Heathrow really early for our 22:00 flight, thank goodness we did!
We arrived at the airport at around 18:00 and only got through past the “put all your liquids in a plastic bag and X-ray your hand luggage” checkpoint at 19:30. What a bleeding palarva . . . I packed 6 cartons of ready made baby milk for Sophie but alas it seems this can be viewed as a suspect substance by some Read the rest of this entry »
Hi all!
Well we are here at last 1 February 2007. How quickly hasn’t this date come since we first decided in November to book our tickets to NZ.
We are all ready and packed. Our handluggage is under weight and our main luggage is exactly on the mark (or so our home scales say). Sophie is at present chewing on the bagged Mozzie net Cindi gave to us. I have spoken to Graham and he said no Mozzies only sandflies and that he has spray for this as they don’t use and we wont need the net phew! One less thing to pack and one more pair of shoes in it’s place Shhh, Ross is off to the Doctors at the moment, his finger looks a bit purple and is sore so I sent him off there as I don’t want us to take any chances.
It’s seems quite weird to be going away for nearly a whole month . I must admit that having Lou look after Tigger and the how I am remarkably calm (must be all the booze I had for breakfast, only kidding).
Anyhow, Sophie is starting to perform so must dash.
Lots of love to you all and watch this space and remember we would love to hear from you all, to comment to will need to register though.
Ta ta for now
CandiXXXXXXXXXXX
