Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Caramel is the best

We don't have any more direct NZ flights but we still get some goodies from NZ!



These chocolates were one of the things we ask our family to bring over from New Zealand when they visit us. Now we can buy them in Supasave. Whittaker's chocolates!!

Friday, 6 January 2012

The painting

 To the Rose family Lake Wanaka (NZ) is a very special place. They spent many family holidays there and some of them are lucky to be spending their Christmas holiday and New Year holiday there this year. We were supposed to join the trip but unfortunately RBA stopped flying directly to Auckland and some other issues we have right now so we decided not to go (I really really wanted to go...).

When we were in NZ last time in April we celebrated Merryn and Dennis's 60th birthday and we all gave them a special present - a painting of Lake Wanaka with Merryn and Dennis looking out over the lake.



So while they are on holiday they managed to replicate the painting - I got this photo by email today.



How cool is that!

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Harbour cruise and Motuihe Island

The last day of our NZ holiday was out at sea. We took a harbour cruise to Devonport, Rangitoto Island then to Motuihe Island where we spent a few hours by the beach. It was again such a beautiful day and the temperature was high enough for some of us to go into the water!







Rangitoto island (a little bit hazy)



Oscar and Saskia



Merryn and Dennis

The island is a recreation reserve controlled by the Department of Conservation (DOC). They were doing a drive around when we got to the island. We found this guy swimming very close to the shore. Apparently they are hiding from orcas which are a kind of dolphin. We didn't see any orcas this time but how cool would that be to see these sea creatures in the wild!





Oliver loved the beach - yes! he no longer complains about sand on his feet!





Look at the smile on his face!



Our lunch spot.





Time for us to go back to the city.



It was just what we needed to finish up our holiday. We had so much fun and I am truly in love with this Motuihe island, very close to Auckland but just perfect place for a day out. You are allowed to camp on the island too, we certainly plan to camp there on our next holiday!

Superhero birthday party

Oliver's cousin Devon turned 4 while we were in NZ. Kylie organised a fantastic party for him and his cuzzys and cuzzy cuzzys (Oscar and Gus's cousins Frida and Teo now live in Auckland too).

Kylie is a great knitter and to make the birthday party extra special she knitted each kid a wooly mask! So amazing!
The Fenwick boys have a great outdoor play area. They have a tree house, a real sailing boat, sand pit and a trampoline. The kids had a ball!















A Villian showed up! The Superhero's did a great job getting her.





Finally got her tied up on the chair.



Time for birthday cake and exciting presents.

Kylie "What colour do you think your birthday cake will be Devon?"
Devon "Hmmmm Blue? "
Everyone "No its a rainbow cake!!"



Happy Birthday Devon.







The Fenwick Roses live in Greenhithe, where there is lots of new development. They took us to this new park in one of the developments near their place to finish off a great birthday party.

This park was designed and developed by local artists. They use rusted metal as a part of the design. They are all NZ native seeds and each piece had a description of what they are. Some are climbing frames and some are rotating chairs etc.







Our very brave son.



He had so much fun on the swing too, Devon looked after Oliver so well.



Devon, Oliver and Rory.

Oliver loved wearing the wooly hat all day! It's a shame we cannot keep them on in Brunei but I am sure we will get lots of use out of it. Thank you Kylie for a great day.

Cuzzy time



All the kids loved the cuzzy time. Especially Oliver!

Big day out

The last week of our NZ stay was filled with fun activities, we visited the Auckland Zoo on a perfect day! (The previous day was so stormy and wet...)
I really like Auckland Zoo it is not big but a good size for a day out and the best thing is the animals are kept in very good conditions. They always look happy and active.

Oliver enjoyed the Primates Trail section - where you can find all sorts of different monkeys.

Our friend from Borneo was there too.





Look over there daddy! More monkeys!





This monkey (called Siamang) was making very loud noises using his "gular sac" , which is a throat pouch. We could hear him/her from miles away! Oliver didn't like it at all tho, he was too noisy.



Even having all these exciting animals Oliver's favourite was chasing birds!





Brenda was a victim of - chase the birds with me!



He even chased the Pukekos!



So much fun!

We saw this elephant walking around the Zoo. How cool!!



The kids had a ball in the Zoo. But it wasn't the end of the fun day, from the zoo we drove to Piha which is a black sand (lots of iron in the sand) beach on the West Coast. Merryn had arranged a professional photo shoot of the kids and family. We will see the photos in a months time but here are some photos I took.



Lion Rock



Someone wasn't too happy...



The stick did a trick! He cheered up and ran around with Gus, laughing so much!



Found a starfish!

We were all exhausted after a big day out but all of us had a fab time. NZ has so much to offer!