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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!!

Akaroa

Friday 7th April - Sunday 9th April 2017

This weekend, the family were going back on holiday to Akaroa and they invited me along, to which I of course said yes as I definitely want to see as much of New Zealand as I can before I go back home!

We drove up on the Friday evening, and we're staying at a family friends place which as a pretty decent view over the bay! The weather was a bit miserable in the morning but luckily it got much, much better by the afternoon. I didn't take many pictures though!

We went for a walk around the town, it's pretty small but really pretty. After lunch we went back to the house and everyone napped apart from me and one of the boys! So we stayed up playing while everyone else slept! We then got a Thai takeaway and it was soooo good. 

The next day we went to Okains bay, a beach about a 10 minute drive away from Akaroa. It was beautiful. I love the contrast between the beach, forest and hills. 

The banks penninsula is breathtakingly stunning. It is exactly what I imagine New Zealand would look like!

We then made our way back to Timaru. It was such a lovely weekend, just chilling out and exploring new places!

Timaru Week 2

Saturday 1st April - Friday 7th April 2017

So the most exciting thing to happen this weekend is that there was a leopard seal chilling out at Caroline bay. It was huge... the photos I took definitely don't do it justice! 

We had another fun week of activities. One of the favourites this week was making a puppet, it was from a kit but we added a few extra bits on to it to make it a little more interesting! Keeping up with the fort theme, we turned the corner of a lounge into a dark den and used torches to read books in there as a sensory learning activity which was a huge success and will definitely be one I'll use again on rainy days! 

We also made a cookie fruit pizza which turned out super yummy!

On Thursday evening, I went for sushi with some of the other Au Pairs near Timaru. It was really cool to be able to get to know some of the others and organise play dates and things! The food was really good as well... chicken teriyaki and avocado sushi is my new favourite! 

The weather has been a bit on and off this week, and it has been raining quite a bit (so not too different to England!). I managed to get out for a good walk on one of the nicer days though luckily. I've decided to start the couch to 5k training app as I have free time in the morning after I drop the kids off, and I feel like I need to start getting my fitness back up to a less embarrassing level!

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!

Nacula Island: Bula Combo Pass

Friday 3rd March - Saturday 4th March 2017

It was a super early start this morning, and I fully hadn't slept well at all in the night which sucks! But we grabbed breakfast at 6:30 and  then the coach came at around 7:15. It was only whilst we were sitting at reception that it dawned on us that we had no idea what we were doing on the Bula Pass. It took us a while to find someone to even make sure we were going on the right coach!

When we got to the Port, we went to check in our luggage and we were asked what our destination was. We had no idea! So we went to check in and eventually found out that you can book as you go on the Bula pass on the boat, and just change where your luggage is going as you go. So after twenty or so minutes of pouring down the list of resorts, we decided to stay at Oarsmans Bay Lodge on Nacula Island. This meant we wouldn't be seeing the others, as they're all going to Beachcomber Island which is a shame, but it works out easier for us to do it the opposite way round. But this also meant we had 4 and a half hours to kill on the ferry!

We passed all the beautiful islands and time surprisingly went quite quickly! We got in a little speedboat and someone took our bags (thank god!). The sea is crystal clear and shines a beautiful shade of turquoise - the whole island is idyllic.

We were greeted by the staff members and a complimentary juice which went down a treat! The owner then went over meal times and things before giving us our room key. We are in a bule just the two of us which is amazing! It's been so long since we just shared a room together!

So I can't imagine my blog posts being overly interesting from now on but I'm going to keep going anyway and include more pictures! We spent the afternoon going from sunbathing to swimming, the water was a perfect temperature to cool down in - not too cold and not too warm! There were loads of fish swimming around as well.

I then went for a short walk to the rocks at the end of the island. The sand is so hard to walk on, it just consumes your foot with every step you take. There were loads of hermit crabs on the beach, and one showed a lot of interest in my GoPro! I had a look in some rock pools but there wasn't much there, a few crabs and fish!

The resort next door has an inflatable slide in the sea so we snuck on it... I managed to not die after going down the slide which was great! (I have zero confidence in my swimming skills especially after the snorkelling!) We then bumped into a couple of girls one of whom came from a nearby village, the other from Nadi. They had been snorkelling and then we got chatting about life! They work here in their uni break, both studying tourism which seems perfect for Fiji!

After showering and putting on moisturiser (I'm finally getting a tan yay!) we chilled out in the room watching Grey's until it was time for food!

Dinner was some sort of chicken broth with sweet bread,the broth was super yummy but the bread was a bit weird! Then we had Fish, chicken and sausage in some sort of BBQ sauce with coleslaw and one potato! I'd filled up on the broth so wasn't overly hungry but it was pretty good, just a bit random!

After dins we just chilled in our room, these long days are making me feel exhausted! But it feels so good to just be chilling for a change!

Paihia - The Big Tiki

Saturday 3rd February - Monday 4th February 2017

Today was the day we finally started our Contiki tour, 'The Big Tiki' - a 19 day trip from Auckland - Christchurch around both the North and South islands of New Zealand.

Our first stop on the trip was 'Tâne Mahata'' the oldest Kauri tree in New Zealand (I think) and apparently you get good luck if you give it a hug or a cheeky kiss... hence the photo!

Our second stop before Paihia was at a small town called Waipu where we stopped to grab a bit of lunch before finishing the coach journey. There was a pretty harbour and a clock museum (not that we went there) but that was about it!

We checked in to our hotel in a three bed room and it is such a nice change to not be sharing with twelve other people! As it was only a short walk from the beaches, we headed straight down for a swim! It's been so lovely meeting and getting to know the rest of the people on our Contiki trip! So far everyone's been so lovely!

We then all went for fish and chips as part of our included dinner... but we didn't realise it was going to be at the ex-serviceman's association - the equivalent of a British legion! I presumed it would be a takeaway! But it was really nice, loads of salady bits and vegetable dishes to go with it and it was definitely awesome to not be paying for a meal!

Afterwards, we went to a bar for a few drinks, but they closed the outer deck at 9 (NZ is definitely
more strict with alcohol regulations than England!) and it got so crowded, so we decided to move on to another place just down the street. It was a ten dollar entrance fee, but we managed to haggle it down to two-fifty and we went on in expecting it to be just a normal Saturday night with a dj set. However, it turned out to be a local rap group performance.... and it was interesting to say the least! But it was a great first night out!

The next day, Emma went off early on an all day sailing trip so I spent he morning going on a hike to Haruru falls. We needed up walking the road way to the falls and the scenic route back, but it was pretty awesome! We also found hot dogs (well a sausage in a slice of bread) for $2 so we snapped them up! They were delicious - even though I burnt the roof of my mouth on it.

Then, in the afternoon, Katie, Alec, Steve and I went kayaking to an island and up an estuary for a bit. It was so much fun, even though I cut my foot on a rock in the sea!

After going back to the room and getting changed etc, Emma and I decided to wander into town for food as we were starving. On the way down we were dreaming about all the different options we had, our mouths watering at the thought of delicious food. But no, there was a power cut which lead to the majority of shops and restaurants closing! We were so sad - and hangry! We ended up finding a cheap cafe where I got a date scone and a brownie, which were nice but not a proper dinner so we went back into our room just chilled!

Paihia was truly beautiful.