Gili Trawangan

Tuesday 29th - Thursday 31st August 2017

Tuesday
After the somewhat stressful boat journey over, a lady took us to our hostel, La Boheme Sister. The set up is so cool! It's almost like staying in a treehouse. It was too early to check in, so we headed out to check out the island, and have a browse around the shops for a wee bit. We headed back at around 10, and our room was ready for us. I was very excited to see air conditioning! It makes a huge difference! We then got changed and headed down to the beach to get some sunbathing and swimming time in. We were going to walk around to where the swings are, but decided we would do that later. After a couple of hours of not really doing a whole lot we went and grabbed chicken burgers from the nearest bar then returned to repeat the morning! However, this afternoon we managed to pick a spot next to a devil fish that kept swimming into us and biting us as we were getting out the water! It was very annoying but also quite amusing. We went back to the hostel as he sun was going down to get changed and hen we grabbed dinner at the closest place. The plan was to meet Emma's friend Tyler, but we didn't hear back from him so after a bit we decided to head back to the hostel. I don't really have the money to go out drinking and we were both super tired as well... we seem to have got into a sleep pattern of waking up early and going to bed early! Typically after we had gotten changed into pjs he messaged emma but she didn't fancy going out either so we just watched greys anatomy.



Wednesday
As Emma wanted to catch Tyler after his morning dive, before he left Gili T, we went to the beach closest to our hostel this morning. The beach is much nicer as there's less coral, but the current in the sea is so strong it just drags you away... doesn't really make for a relaxing dip in the sea! Just before lunch we bumped into him and Emma said her goodbyes. Then we headed back down to the beach we were at yesterday before grabbing a beer at the sunset beach and having a little photo shoot haha!

Thursday
We checked out the hostel this morning and chilled on the beach before lunchtime. We had to get our boat at 3, but had to check in at 2 so spent an hour sitting around in the stifling heat before grabbing the boat back to padangbai!

Winter Holidays

Monday 10th - Sunday 16th July 2017

Monday
First day of the holidays today!! Cillian is still going to kindy as usual ao I can have some one to one time with Darragh. This morning we met Sabrina, Max and Sasha at the swimming pool which was great fun! As the boys were getting on brilliantly, we decided to spend the day together so, after lunch, they came over our house to play and we also went down to Caroline bay for a bit. The day flew by as we were super busy all day!

Tuesday
Cillian had kindy again this morning, so it was just Darragh and I. I decided to make some play dough, just to have something different to keep the boys occupied! Afterwards, wewent to the library for storytime, the same thin as the last holidays except this holidays the theme is terrific transport! He was ecstatic to see hat heaps of the kids from his class at school were there too so he had an awesome time! We made aeroplanes out of pegs and lolly sticks, I made a batman one for Cillian so he doesn't miss out as much! This afternoon, Mary took Darragh and a few of his friends to the cinema to see Despicable Me 3, so I had a break for a couple of hours before picking up Cillian. We popped in to see Samantha on the way home and then just chilled out afterwards playin with their toys as I was making dinner!

Wednesday
Cillian wasn't feeling well again this morning, so we kept him at home and got him a doctors appointment. Luckily he doesn't have another infection, it's mainly just his asthma playing up! I did a few jobs for Many in the morning, and after lunch we went to visit James, Charlotte and Mara, and later on Julia brought Fletcher and Alex too! It was heaps of fun, but I was very aware that Cillian wasn't too well so we didn't stay as long as I would've liked to! But we had a delicious afternoon tea - Mara had made white chocolate and Oreo fudge as well as banana and chocolate muffins! Yum! Cillian and charlotte had a lovely time dressing up as bumblebees together! They were pretty sad to leave so we arranged another play date for Friday - is just as exciting for me as it is for them!

Thursday

Luckily Cillian seemed heaps better today, so he had another morning at kindy. Darragh and I went to the library again and today we made submarines!  Cillian was super excited this afternoon because his best friend Max was coming for a play date! They had the best time playing ninjas (even I had to wear a ninja head band!), trains, cars and making forts... a perfect afternoon for three boys!

Friday
This morning I managed to burn my arm making a milo... put my arm over the kettle while it was boiling oops! Today we went out to Geraldine to visit their grandparents as their cousins, Ruby and Nate, were straying their for a bit. They all had heaps of fun, and all four of them played really well making up treasure hunts and playing hide and seek - it reminded me of the times me and my cousins would all be at our grandparents and just have the best time! This evening we watched The Circle, which started out really good - kind of like something you would watch on black mirror - but I felt the ending could have been stronger, if just kinda ended without showing a real ending!

Saturday
I finished reading Of Mice and Men today - I'm starting to read through a heap of books that are currently on the syllabus for GCSE and A-Level English as a preparation for September 2018 when I start my teaching degree hopefully! Chris and Sandra had come round today, bringing Mackenzie and Samuel for a play date with the boys and Mary asked me if I could babysit and mind the motel  this evening so they could go out. It was all going well until Chris and Wade came back drunk, and Chris tried to climb over the stair gate resulting in it getting ripped off the wall and somehow he had managed to cut his head! I had flashbacks to China! After getting him cleaned up and popping a few steri strips and a plaster on, Mary had banned them from coming out with them so they stayed home! Mara came round and we watched a few movies with snacks - but we stayed in my room this time!

Sunday
After yesterday's drama I just stayed in and read today..: well I tried to but Darragh was in an annoying mood and kept jumping on me, poking me and being silly (shock!) so I didnt get much reading done!

Last Week of June

Monday 26th June - Sunday 2nd July 2017

Had another chilled week this week, went to the library on Monday and have been making the most of the lack of rain and going out and about after picking Darragh up from school. On Wednesday we went to four different play parks in a row much to the boys' delight! We also went to the scenic reserve, despite it being super muddy, to feed the ducks... Cillian was super paranoid that a fuck would 'bite' him, he kept freaking out when they got too close! Was pretty cute!

I've also still been helping Cillian with his sounds, he's always so keen to learn, and I don't think it will be long before he knows them all! I've been contemplating introducing more than one a week, but I don't want to confuse him so we'll see how it goes. That being said, he's still got over a year before he starts school, as they start when they turn five in new Zealand, and if he keeps this up after I leave he'll be a right brainbox! Won't be surprised if he's reading before school!

We've been doing a lot with the musical instruments still, and this week we used some random tubs and tins to make a drum kit for Cillian - a lot of fun and nowhere near as noisy as real drums so it was a win win in my books!

I babysat the boys Saturday lunch time, as it was Mary and Wade's wedding anniversary. We went to maxdonalds as a treat and I swear I've never spent that long there before! The boys had a great time playing in the play area and made heaps of friends which was super cute! I finished the novel shashenka when I got back, I didn't think I'd enjoy it that much as I don't know much about Russian politics but honestly it's one of the best books I've read in a while! The lions won the test this week thank goodness! It's definitely gonna mean that the last test will be a lot more interesting! I decided to have a chill day on Sunday, as I'm still not feeling 100% - I can't shake the headaches and the cough! I've been watching he handmaids tale as I loved he book  and a few people have recommended it to me - and so far I'm really enjoying it!

I can't believe I've got less than two months left in New Zealand now, the past four months have gone  ridiculously quickly so I'm just enjoying the time I've got left!

Winter is Here!

Monday 19th - Sunday 25th June 2017

This week I decided to do a theme of dinosaurs and dragons so that we could do some more focused activities. We went to the library and found lots of dinosaur and dragon books to read, made dinosaur collages and drawings, went on dinosaurs hunts amongst other things! It was pretty fun!

Cillian has also become very attached to a couple of teddies, both named 'chewie' (as in chewbacca) and they have started to come everywhere with us! If they come in the car he insists they wear seat belts which is super cute!

I also had a go at face painting and it turned out actually recognisable for a change! It was a Spider-Man mask thing and Cillian was super impressed (thank goodness)!

Football  was cancelled this week because it was raining... which seems like a pretty shoddy cause! I can remember playing sports regardless of the weather! But apparently here, as it doesn't rain all that much, the fields get sodden easily

Most of the other au pairs had gone away for the week/ weekend so I didn't do much during the day on Saturday, I felt rough though... got a stinking cold! Didn't stop me going out Saturday night though, a shame the lions lost the rugby but there's always the second test! Was a good night out, and I actually remember it this time so always a bonus!!! Had to get a maccas the day after though, always craving burgers when I'm hanging!

Back to Aotearoa

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! 

The Lead Up to Aussie

Monday 22nd - Wednesday 31st May 2017

I had tonnes planned out for this week with the kids, actually going to the effort to have set activities each day! Unfortunately, on Tuesday Cillian came down with a sickness bug which meant the rest of the week we had a sick week. We watched movies and played a few games, but it wasn't until Thursday when he seemed to be getting better, and he was totally fine by Friday but had to stay off kindy because of the 48 hour rule! Luckily that was up before the afternoon so we met the au pairs and went to football practice as usual that afternoon!

Friday evening I slept over at Fabienne's with Sabrina and Julia as we were heading off to Dunedin in the morning. Julia brought some German sweets and they're my new favourite thing! So yummy! We then pretty much snacked and binge watched catfish for the rest of the evening!

We had a pretty chilled out start to the day, we planned to meet Anka in Oamaru to see the penguins, despite repeatedly saying they wouldn't be there as it was the wrong time of the day but never mind! We saw a few seals though, and a wee seal pup too which was pretty cute! Another seal was just chilling out on the seats, which meant we had to be a bit wary as they can be pretty vicious.

It took us a while to find Anka, and when we did we decided to go and play on the steam punk playground - as, naturally, that is what Au Pairs do!

We then made our way down to Dunedin, stopping off at the K Mart on the way. We checked in to our hostel, about a 15 minute walk away from the centre and, the best thing about it, it was called Hogwartz. I was expecting it to have been decorated a bit more in a Harry Potter theme, but there were a few bits and pieces here and there as a reminder! My personal favourite being the Dobby picture!

After putting our bits in our dorm, we headed into town to have a wander and to grab some food  it was nice to be able to see Dunedin in the day light as I didn't spend much time here on the Contiki. We headed to the train station, as a couple of the others wanted to check it out, and there was a wedding going on there, seemed pretty random but was quite cool!

After getting ready at the hostel, Fabienne, Sabrina and I walked down to the stadium to watch the 

Highlanders v Waratahs game. Despite growing up in a family full of rugby fans this was the first time I've actually gone to a live rugby game.. and I loved it! Granted, I was a tad rusty on the rules, but I was pleasantly surprised in how I could actually understand what was happening and the last ten minutes were so intense it was amazing!



We went out for a bit after the game, but we seemed to get to the bars at the wrong time as everywhere was pretty quiet and not much seemed to be going on, until we decided to head home just before midnight... there was then queues to get in the places we had already been! Typical! But to be fair we were all shattered anyway and I had literally no money left in my budget to drink like I would've wanted to anyway!!

After checking out Sunday morning, we headed to the Cadbury factory and yes, I did the tour again! Although I came out with significantly less chocolate this time which sucked! Still loved it though!

We then headed towards Tunnel Beach which reminded me of Durdle Door! The weather was beautiful, albeit slightly on the colder side! It's a truly beautiful beach and I would've liked to stay longer but I didn't have any food so we went back into Dunedin.

There were a few more places we wanted to stop off at, but we went the wrong way for one of the beaches (I had misheard the name of the beach!) and could not find the elephant rocks, but we stopped off for dominos on the way home to get a trusty $5 pizza!

The next few days pretty much consisted of packing and entertaining the kids before holiday! I didn't have much planned as I thought we'd just chill out and go with the flow for he last few days as the boys excitement levels were through the roof!

Another Working Week

Monday 15th - Sunday 21st May 2017

Back to reality this week as it's the first proper week doing full time, as my birthday wasn't really a whole working day. This week I'm focusing on Cillian learning his sounds some more, so I'm looking at different activities to help him with that, but I've also decided that I'm going to start doing themed weeks with different activities - mainly so that I can plan some fun stuff to do rather than just playing with their toys all the time! But I think I'll start that after we get back from Australia, as Cillian's changing his hours so he'll do a full day on Tuesday at kindy and I'll have him all day in a Friday so we can go to music and movement with some of his friends!

One of the activities I did this week was make Cillian a letter garage - a letter on the parking spot and matching letters on the cars. The idea is that he will park the cars in the space that matches and he loved it! He was super good at matching them, even though he hasn't learnt all the sounds yet! He even grabbed the letters from Darragh's learning bag and matched them up too! It makes me super proud to see him excelling because of what I've been doing with him.

We also brought their scooters home from their old house, and Cillian was super excited to try out the skate park! It was really cute, he did his 'tricks' (jumping on and off the scooter) and I could tell he really wanted to go down the ramps but was way too scared! 

This week I have also discovered Centennial park, a scenic reserve in Timaru, so I took the boys there twice after school this week. It was pretty cool, there's a few bits of playground equipment around the place and a huge duck pond - obviously we had to feed the ducks! I'm trying to get them more used to longer walks as Wade and Mary have asked me to do this so they won't whinge as much when they get taken on hikes! 

Luckily it was a nice day on Friday, so Fabienne and Fie were still at the playground after I picked up cillian from kindy. We had a blast playing hide and seek and playing with the bat and ball!

This weekend I decided to have a chilled weekend of not spending any money so I have more saved for next weekend when I go to Dunedin. Saturday evening I ended up doing a few lifts to town for some of Wade's friends so that was a nice easy way to make some extra money!

Birthday Week 🎉

Monday 8th - Sunday 14th May 2017

The boys were still pretty tired from the weekend so we had a chilled start to the week. But with my birthday and Mother's Day coming up I had plenty planned! Although, saying that, we've spent most of the week making some awesome forts!

It was Julia's birthday on Tuesday, so we all went back to Koji for sushi to celebrate. There's quite a few au Pair birthdays over the next week or so which is pretty strange! I met Marion and Anka, two other au pairs that aren't doing it through Au Pair link. It's pretty cool to meet up with the girls, especially as they all know what Au Pair life is like, we share funny stories and give each other ideas for activities and, most importantly, arrange play dates!

Cushla came for her second visit on Thursday, and brought a castle defender kit with her which the boys love! You build a castle and then use a catapult to shoot knights at it to knock it down. There are also numbers on some of the items so you can play it more competitively, but right now they just like knocking it down!

That evening, Fie, Mara, Fabienne and I met Cushla at coffee culture for our monthly au Pair catch up. As au Pair link is having its 10th anniversary, Cushla bought us all hot chocolates which was amazing! So then, as a start to my birthday treats, I got the hot chocolate cake, basically marshmallow on the top, layer of chocolate cake, layer of chocolate mousse and a bottom layer of chocolate cake. Safe to say it was delicious!

I was pretty lucky that the boys didn't wake me up mega early on my birthday, as I'm pretty sure they were way more excited than me! Darragh was waiting for me in the lounge and then as soon as I got up he went and got everyone else to come so I could open my presents! They got me some chocolates and biscuits as well as a passport cover and luggage tag to remind me of New Zealand when I'm off on my travels, which was super thoughtful!

I also got a few cards from family back home which was really lovely - always nice to know that people are thinking of you on your birthday, even if they are in the other side of the world! Dad and Nickie also surprised me with flowers, chocolate and a bear from a local florist! Was a total surprise did not expect it at all!

Wade took the day off today, and Mary went to pick up Cillian from Kindergarten and then Wade took him upstairs to watch a movie so I had an extra few hours chill time which was awesome! I finally got round to finishing Martin Chuzzlwit - just in time for it to go back to the library! 

After he school run, I made some Mother's Day cards and presents with the boys before making another huge fort surprise surprise! We got an Indian takeaway for dinner, my choice! Mary had made me a white chocolate tim tam and Baileys cheesecake and oh my god it was amazing!

 I then spent the evening chilling with a few beers and watching blind spot so all in all a pretty good day! 

Mary and Wade let me stay in one of the motel units so I could have a lie in the next morning which was a brilliant treat! So nice to not hear the kids fighting over what to play with or watch at 7am! We had a big fry up breakfast Saturday morning and then I pretty much just read for the rest of the day! In the evening, Marion picked me up and we went to Mara's to watch a few movies. 

Sunday again was pretty much a chill out day as well. It was Mother's Day and I had forgotten I had all the cards and bits in my room so I forced myself out of bed at 9 so that the kids could give their presents to Mary. I went to coffee culture with Marion after breakfast as she was driving through Timaru anyway! In the evening I went for a walk with Mary and Cillian but other than that I didn't do a whole lot this weekend! 

Tekapo & Lake Benmore

Thursday 4th - Saturday 7th May 2017

I was back to work Thursday and Friday, it was lovely to see everyone again and I got huge hugs when I picked up the boys from kindy and school!

On Friday afternoon I went up to Tekapo with the host family, as they were going to a family friends 21st birthday and I said I would babysit the boys! We stopped off at the same place we stopped at with Contiki, and it brought back fond memories of Emma finding out she was allergic to almonds and me dying of my horrific hangover. Good times! The lake is even more beautiful without a hangover for sure!

We had dinner at the Thai restaurant there, and it was pretty good! The restaurant had awesome views of the lake as well.

We then headed to Mark and Sherie's farm before heading to the lake house at Lake Benmore where we're staying for the weekend. It was pitch black when we got there so when I woke up the next day the sheer beauty of where we were hit me. We are right on the lake and the mountains in the background make for a truly amazing New Zealand view.

Wade and the boys had been rabbit shooting this morning, and when they got back Wade gave me a lesson on shooting which was pretty cool! Managed to hit the tin twice out of the four times!

We then went and helped set up for the party, went to Fairlie and then back to the lake house to get ready. I was babysitting, so went to the party with them for a bit before heading home with the boys! We pretty much went straight home on Sunday and then I just chilled out for the rest of the day. All in all another great weekend!

Return to Queenstown: Part 4

Wednesday 3rd May 2017

So the plan today was to hike up Ben Lomen before departing each other for Timaru and Melbourne. Unfortunately, we woke up to rain and low cloud so we decided against the idea (mainly because Kieran doesn't have a raincoat). So we decided to just chill around town instead after checking out and leaving our luggage in the luggage room.

Kieran was set on getting some stickers for his laptop, so we had a look around a few souvenir shops and he grabbed a ferg burger for breakfast - with the intent of having as many as possible today before leaving! We headed back to Nomads to chill in the lounge area by the fire.

As the shake was so good yesterday, we went back to cookie time to grab a cookie and shake. They are so good but so sickly! The weather was still pretty awful, so we chilled out and played a bit of pool for a bit until the rain started to clear.

As the weather looked like it might clear up pretty nicely, we decided to walk up the Queenstown hill trail. However, after about fifteen minutes the rain clouds came back in so we decided to go back into town. It wasn't long before we had to go anyway, so it was probably best. 

We met with a couple of people Kieran knew when he was living in New Zealand, and went to fat badger as they had chicken wings for 50 cents. I didn't get any though as I saved myself for my last fergburger! I went for the bun laden which did not disappoint! 

It was pretty sad saying goodbye to Kieran - turns out I probably won't see him until next year which is pretty crazy! But who knows... I've ended up seeing him on the other side of the world so I could end up seeing him anywhere! 

Return to Queenstown: Part 3

Tuesday 2nd May 2017

Today is the day. The big day. The day I never thought would happen. It was time to bungy jump.

I woke up early thanks to a million different alarms going off. So I went and grabbed breakfast earlier than planned. Waiting around is the worst part!

Just before 10 we headed off to the station to check in. We entered in our details on an iPad and then got weighed before they wrote our weight on one hand and what we were doing and what bus we are on on the other hand. It's a pretty good way to make sure everyone does what they've paid for!

After twenty minutes of waiting, it was finally time to board the bus to get to the Kawarau bridge. Surprisingly, I wasn't as nervous as I expected and I was also a little excited.

Yeah that feeling didn't last long! We went straight to the jump area and I made sure I was one of the first ones as I feel like the waiting would make me even more nervy! About 4 people jumped before it was time for me to get the kit on. I was pretty calm, even though I was freaking out on the inside. I hopped from the side to the very front of the ledge, with the help of one of the guys. He then points to two cameras to smile at and, as you can tell by obscured false smile smeared on my face I was freaking out big time!

That was the worst bit for me, I thought it would be the being upside down for such a long time (that really freaks me out hence why I didnt do a bigger bungy!). Those few seconds when I looked down at all the open space in front of me. My mind knew I was attached to a rope, I could feel the weight of it tugging me forward but for a split second I panicked. Why the hell was I paying to jump of a perfectly stable bridge 43m above a river? But then the guy counted down and I knew that if I hesitated it would not only make it worse for me in the moment, but would be a little embarrassing in the video. So I jumped.

In my head I was going to do a majestic, graceful dive and it would look amazing. In reality that didn't happen. Instead of going head first as planned, I just panicked and jumped/ stepped off which meant I was going feet first. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen as it jerks you up again harder to make you go upside down, hence my frantic flappy bird demeanour (I was trying to get myself to be upside down before the cord got strung out).

But honestly after the initial completely all consuming terror all I felt was bliss. Those 2 seconds of free fall and then the bounces after wards made me feel weightless. Made me feel free. Made me feel happy. There's something about an adrenaline rush that you can't compare. And it was so different to my skydive, a totally different feeling but both completely incredible. Unless you've done it you won't know!

L

It was a little struggle to try and grab the stick that the guys on the boat were waving at me, mainly because I was slightly deliriously happy. And as soon as I slumped onto the boat I couldn't believe t was over. All that fear for a minute of full adrenaline fuelled bliss. I could not stop smiling.

I then made my way out of the boat and watched Kieran do his jump. Obviously he did his more gracefully than me, not that that is hard, but he did end up with super blood shot eyes... serves him right for doing it hungover haha!

We had an hour to kill before getting the bus back to Queenstown, so we had a look round the shop,I bought my video and went and had a cute cousin photo in our matching t shirts with the bridge in the background because we're cute like that.

As soon as we got on the bus, feelings of hunger and exhaustion hit me all at once. We went to fat badger to grab a slice of pizza and then I got a milkshake and cookie from cookie time... treating myself!

We then just crashed out for a bit, Kieran slept and I binged watched Grey's (shock). I kinda wish I'd napped though as I still felt super over tired. We had to make the most of the free meal again, and his time it was chicken wings and baked potatoes... yum! Or so we thought! When we got there it was a really bland veggie savoury rice that had next to no flavour. So that was a disappointment.

On the upside, I got given loads of free drinks vouchers for loco, mainly for a rum punch that was pretty good! So, although we didn't stay out too late, I basically had a free night so win win! I'm sad to be leaving Queenstown again tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be back whether that's before I leave New Zealand or way way way in the future.

If I hadn't have done it I wouldn't have regretted it. Not one bit. But that is because I would not have known what I have missed out on. Over the past couple of months I have done so many things since leaving England in January that I would never have dreamed I would do. I am simultaneous proud of myself and overly grateful for all these opportunities.