Blogs from Eastbourne, Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

~When life gives you lemons, make lemon chocolate cheese cake.~ I saw this new rendition of an old cliché on a restaurant's sign and it brought about a good laugh, especially from my inner fat child. But lately I've been mulling it over, thinking about what those sayings mean and something has broken off inside and is rattling around my brain. To say life has given me lemons is an understatement; it gave me diamonds and I'm just blind to their worth. I'm living in a foreign country and meeting new people, pushing myself out of my comfort zone in order to grow spiritually which is more than a lot of people can lay claim to, but all I do is whine about emotional turmoil. I admit this trip, this adventure isn't what I expected it ... read more

Auckland Take 2 We headed back to Auckland from Lake Taupo (not your average route for travellers ultimately heading south) to watch the Vodafone Warriors face off against the Sydney Roosters at Eden Park. We stopped off for the day in Mt. Eden, a quaint little suburb town of Auckland, with several nice coffee shops, bars, some unique shops and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Rach was somewhat disenchanted with the Mount of Mount Eden, and thought it should be demoted to hill Eden...doesn't quite have the same ring to it! Seeing as NZ is famous for their "fush and chups," a sign advertising Auckland's best caught our attention...after testing it at both lunch and dinner, Tom was inclined to agree. Eden park was absolutely buzzing as kick off neared with a crowd of 32,000. With ... read more

Here a few of the things that have changed in Wellington since we were last here two years ago. It's not much really, and it still feels very familiar and homely.... read more

I felt like we had to earn our bed in Wellington tonight. After waking at the crack of dawn (again), Amelia went off happily with Lyra and Julie to a dance class they do every Monday. This gave us (me, Alex and Samuel) an opportunity to do lots of sight-seeing, walking and generally squeezing as much in as possible before lunch time. So we did exactly that, and the photos below probably describe better what we did, than my boring ramblings. What they don't show is how bludy knackered I was!!! We got back at lunch time and got a taxi to the airport. Samuel hadn't been sick for about 30 hours so we were feeling optimistic that that little chapter was over. A short hop over the ditch, and we would be in the comfort ... read more

Haha - yes today I was in Eastbourne...confused?? No I am not back home but I took a train then a bus to Eastbourne NZ, which is pretty close to Wellington - then I got a boat back across the harbour then andother train...and tomorrow it will be a plane and I will sadly be saying goodbye to my lovely Wellington family and the North Island. And it will be hello South Island and Chrsitchurch. This will have to be a quickie blog as it is almost midnight - I have been packing and what a mess I seemed to have after a month here travelling without really having to worry about everything being neatly packed into my 2 cases for the plane!! We all had a yummy farewell NZ lamb roast dinner and I think ... read more