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Thursday 8th - Sunday 18th June 2017

After landing back in New Zealand, we stayed at Wade's parents house in Geraldine as it was quite late, and saved an extra hour of travelling. The house was freezing as Sam and Kerrie were still ought in Aussie and it was 1 degree when we landed! It didn't take long for me to fall asleep and then I didn't wake up until 10:30 the following morning when Darragh woke up, oops!

We had a pretty chilled out day, and just played with the toys in the afternoon... after a whole week without them they all get super interesting again! We then made it to football practice, and I was so glad I had bought a coat, it's so cold especially when the sun is in!

This weekend I did pretty much nothing, and it was brilliant. Well, I watched all of the new season of Orange is the New Black so not really nothing!

Mary had started to train me up to work in the motel this week, which is actually way more fun then I thought it would be! (Although I haven't actually spoken to any of the guests face to face yet!).

This week was more about getting settled in to the new routine, the two hour time difference had really messed up the boys' sleeping pattern and when school stared they were on the grumpier side of life which is always fun! We still had a fun filled week, going on adventures and obviously playing with Lego, and Cillian is still keen to learn his sounds!

Friday was the first Friday I had Cillian all day, as he now goes to kindy all day on a Tuesday, and I pick him up just before getting Darragh from school. Mainly music was pretty fun, I especially liked the cakes for morning tea! We then headed to the park, and it was so nice to be able to spend the day with the other kids and their au pairs.... Cillian had a blast! 

I'd  like to say I had another fun filled weekend doing lots of cool, interesting stuff... but I actually spent my weekend watching shows and reading, as well as doing a bit more training for the motel! 

I'm now over half way through my time as an Au Pair, and I have such mixed feelings about this. Australia has reignited my passion for travel, and I'm so excited to go to Sydney in two months, but at the same time I have grown very fond of this family and it will be hard to say goodbye! 

Timaru Week 4

Monday 17th April - Sunday 23rd April 2017

The Fairlie show was on on bank holiday Monday, so I went with Wade and the boys. It was pretty much exactly like any of the shows I've ever been to in England, so it was pretty cool to go and do something familiar!

This week is the start of the Easter holidays, so I've upped my hours a bit whilst there is no school! We have been going to 'monster mayhem' at Timaru library, which has been pretty cool. It's twice this week and twice next week, one of the librarians reads a few monster stories and then there is a craft. On the first day we made monster masks, and then the following day we made cup monsters!

The weather has stayed pretty nice this week so we've been spending a fair bit of time outside which has been amazing! We've pretty much done the rounds of the different parks in Timaru. We've even brought Spider-Man and iron man along with us a few times! 

This week I have also been making plans for south East Asia, and it looks like I will be able to go to Sydney for a couple of days beforehand which will be awesome!

Saturday evening, Wade got me in contact with one of the girls he works with as she was going out with a few mates. It was pretty sweet going out with kiwis finally and (from what I remember) it was a pretty good night! 

Timaru Week 3

Monday 10th April - Sunday 16th April 2017

I've been keeping up with my couch to 5k, it makes it a lot easier when you're running around a place that looks like this!

One of the family friends brought her puppy, Daisy, round and the boys and I took her for a walk. She is super cute! Weirdly, dogs are allowed on the beach but not in the area behind the beach so we didn't end up going very far.

As Easter is coming up, I thought I would do some Easter themes activities with the boys this week. We made Easter cards as well as using cotton buds to paint Easter egg shapes! The youngest also brought home a bunny mask so I got into the Easter spirit wearing it around the house!

As well as the Easter activities, we've been keeping up  with construction activities as that's what the boys like to do best! I was particularly proud of my pyramid l, even if the youngest kicked it down milliseconds after I made it! We also combined lego with cars and made all sorts of garages for them. I

On Saturday the weather had turned absolutely gorgeous, so I made the most of it by taking myself for a long walk. There's a few more bags nearby and they're similarly stunning.

This year was the first year in a long time I haven't been to church on Easter Sunday, so it didn't really feel like a proper Easter! I was absolutely shattered so ended up sleeping in. When I got up, the boys had rehid all there Easter eggs so I could have a go at an Easter egg hunt! It was pretty cute! We had a full blown roast dinner for lunch which was amazing... there's something about having a roast on Sundays!!

First Week in Timaru

So I realise I haven't written a post in a while... I've been super busy starting my new job as an Au Pair and settling in to life in Timaru. I'll do a couple of catch up posts and then do my best to do a fortnightly or weekly up date depending on what I've been doing! I'll keep to doing one on Mondays or Fridays for as much as I can though! Also, due to privacy reasons, I won't be writing in detail or putting up any photos of the children I work with.

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Friday 24th March - Friday 31st March 2017
So after meeting Mary at the airport and having the long 2 hour drive from Christchurch to Timaru, I finally arrived! It was dark by the time I got here so I couldn't see much, but Mary gave me a little tour around in the car and we stopped off by the port as there are penguins nesting there! We just missed seeing them but we could hear them in their nest. Then we went back and I met Wade, as well as his sister and brother in law.

The folllowing weekend, I met the boys and spent the weekend getting my bearings around Timaru. We're relatively near to Caroline bay, so it's nice being close to a beach!. There are a few shops and a couple of pubs and bars as well as kids of restaurants, so there's plenty to do.

My first week working as an Au Pair went pretty well. My main job is obviously looking after the two boys, but I also do some cooking and cleaning as well, so basically I'm like an extra set of hands to help around the house. I get all my food and accommodation included and also get a weekly wage, so it works or as a pretty decent job when it comes to saving and getting a taste of kiwi life! We did a few different things this week, mostly involving fort building and playing with lego... I'm sure I'll be doing lots of that over the next 5 months! One of my favourite things we did was go on a walk and collected 'treasure'. One of the boys picked up a load of twigs and when we got back we made a stick man! 

There's a pretty decent library in Timaru, and I've been itching to read from an actual book and not off an app on my phone so I went there on one of my first days. I'm really appreciating the small luxuries in life at the moment, mostly having my own room and being able to hang up my clothes! I did have to go shopping for a few jumpers and trousers as I mainly have summer clothes and is already starting to get pretty cold down here! I've also been bonding with Billy, the family cat!

On the Friday evening, I went out with Mary and a few of her friends to a catwalk and cocktails night at a department store. I definitely got my money's worth with cocktails and food! The catwalk was alright, it got kinda boring after a while... I snuck a few drinks and some popcorn downstairs and I feel like if they kept the food and drinks coming it would have helped! But all in all a great night and topped off an awesome first week in Timaru!