So the adventure begins very early in the morning in Auckland as we catch the first flight to Christchurch. Well that is the plan anyway as we hear an announcement that says the flight is leaving but there is no guarantee that the plane will land as there is heavy fog at Christchurch airport. That would be an interesting way to start the holiday so I cross my fingers. Thankfully the flight is uneventful though I will highly recommend travelling with Air New Zealand as the service was fantastic and I had a yummy cupcake for breakfast. It was a half hour bus trip to our motel where we dumped our bags and headed into town to start our day. I am not sure if it was the weather but initial impressions of Christchurch were not ... read more

What a weekend!! Who would have thought it really as I had work both Saturday and Sunday mornings but managed to still find the time to celebrate some of Auckland's Anniversary celebrations. If you were ignorant like me it is yet another public holiday, the anniversary of the arrival of William Hobson. The New Zealand Government Gazette of 26 January, 1842 (Volume 2, 4th Edition) carried a notice stating "Saturday, the 29th instant, being the Second Anniversary of the establishment of the Colony, His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct that day to be held a General Holiday, on which occasion the Public Offices will be closed." On Saturday our destination was the Viaduct where the International Buskers Festival was being held. Even though we were late we did manage to see 3 performances ... read more

It's a sunny Sunday so it's time to head to the beach. I had actually written on our calendar "Day Out!!!" a few days back so we were doing something if it killed me. Yes the usual picnic was packed. We were only heading to West Auckland which meant less than an hours drive so that meant hubby could watch his football match in the morning first. Poor thing has been suffering actually as he has to get up early to watch his matches, he is and always will be a firm Inter Milan supporter! There are a few beaches in West Auckland that we want to check out and we decided on Bethell's Beach today. When we arrived at the carpark we were shocked to see that it was already full! Thankfully on arrival at ... read more

So hubby decided that he would take me out to dinner for New Years and he was actually going to book the restaurant, I just had to help him choose. There were a few restaurants that we wanted to try but we decided in the end to stay local so the walk home would be relatively easy. Actually there are a few restaurant's in Parnell that we wanted to try and we chose Iguacu as they were doing a special menu with entertainment. We booked our table for 8.30. In the end they were fully booked so just as well. We were seated in the quieter side of the restaurant it appeared by staff all dressed up in different costumes. The idea was to vote on your favourite to enter the prize draw for some freebies. ... read more

Well it did not really feel like Christmas. We had no decorations in the flat as we knew we were only here for a year it was just too much of an expense and well we were happily spending the money elsewhere. Quite often with the type of work that I do I am working at Christmas time but now I had the Christmas free we were definitely not going to spend it stuck in our tiny flat on our own. Yes it would be a quiet Christmas with just hubby and I but it was going to be one to remember! When I finally managed to drag hubby to the supermarket it was the Christmas eve eve and we had just decided, well I decided that we would be cooking a turkey for Christmas Day. ... read more