Daniell Street

The first stop after arrival in Wellington was Daniell Street. We had to go see the finished house. I must say we were both pleased with what we saw and are looking forward to returning to Wellington and living there with the kids. I think it's fair to say that there's a couple of things we might change with the benefit of hindsight, but on the whole we love the extra space that's been created. We can't wait to get home now.

Sliding at Victoria Park

Victoria Park is on the Cashmere Hills between Christchurch and Governors Bay. I remember coming to this park and being too scared to go down the slide ... Hence I made Duncan take Alex down on our first visit. I don't know what I was afraid of ... after a couple of visits to the Park, Alex was sliding by himself.

I love the WEEEEEE at the end of the clip.

Billy Boy

Dad has been restoring Billy Boy for a very long time. We were honoured that he arranged for the second ever "on the water" test to be carried out while we were there. Phillip the steam engineer met us at Lyttelton and we got steam up on the hard. For a short while there was concern that we wouldn't get on the water because a valve was stuck, but they got it fixed and into the water.

We created quite a stir ... not only is "she" beautiful but the steam attracted people to come have a look.

I wonder what Alex really thought about it all.

Fun with Emily and Grace

We had some fantastic times playing with Emily and Grace. It was so nice to be in a home with kids the same age as Alex .... and therefore lots of fun toys .... and where there was everything we could possible need in terms of snacks and supplies. Even when Oliver's nappy leaked all over his carseat, we had everything we needed to give him a bath and clean up.

Thanks Jane - we had a fantastic time - I hope we can reciprocate some day.

Videos of Alex and Thomas in Blenheim

Alex (20 months) and Thomas (31 months) seemed to have a great time playing with each other. I'm sure Thomas taught Alex lots of new fun things like "body slams" on the trampoline .... although Alex had more fun just falling backwards onto the trampoline mat.

The jury is out on who turned the lights on .....

Blenheim with Duncan's side of the Family

We were really spoilt that the whole of Duncan's family descended on Blenheim for a long weekend so that we were able to catch up with everyone at once. We booked out 3 rooms, a bus park and a motorhome park at the Blenheim campground and had a fantastic time.

Deb and Ross (Nana and Grandad) were in Blenheim living in Nudge the Bus,
Kimberley, Andrew, Thomas and Riley made Blenheim part of their South Island MotorHome tour,
Shaun, Megan and Emma took the ferry over from Wellington and
Brian (Grumpy) and Hilary flew down from Katikati
We of course drove up from Christchurch.

We were spoilt by the weather and were able to spend a lot of time outdoors relaxing and chatting. We had BBQ's for dinner and the kids had a great time on the playground. It was heaven and really made Duncan and I realise what the boys are missing out on by being so far away from their cousins and family.

Thomas and Alex "driving" the Motorhome

Grumpy and Riley

Emma and Oliver

Just sitting relaxing and planning our next move

Andrew, Thomas and Alex on the "go kart". We had to limit the boys to half an hour a day.

At the plane museum.
and a display inside
Alex and Thomas reading and playing

The "boys" installing a solar panel on the top of "Nudge"

I think Alex wanted "more" of something

Grumpy and Riley again

Oliver
Hilary and Oliver

Alex ate Ice Cream for the first time when we had dinner at the RSA

Emma and Oliver

Nana had to give Oliver at least one bath

Nana and Alex on the swing

Dad "pacifying" Oliver with the magic finger

"Nudge" in all her glory

New Zealand Family

This is Alex's "older brother" George, who is 9 years old now and went to live with Grandpa when we moved to The Netherlands. Interestingly, he tolerated Alex really well ... he used to run away from anyone less than 5 foot. Maybe he has mellowed in his old age?

And here is Alex with Uncle Hamish and Archie the dog. These three were as thick as thieves. Hamish did a great job looking after Alex although he never really got the concept that he had to modify his behaviour when Alex was around. Instead, Alex tried to do all the dare devil things that he saw Hamish do.

Easter Egg Hunting

We arrived in Christchurch on Saturday 11th April. We had a day to take it easy and acclimatise, before the excitement of Sunday 12th April. Not only was it Mum's birthday but it was Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny had hidden some eggs in the garden and Alex and Hamish had a great time hunting for them.


After the hunt came the best part .... eating! The Easter Bunny spoilt us all. Thank goodness he knew that Grandpa had visitors.



Uncle Hamish and his loot!

Travelling Light

Is there such a thing for a family of four? Actually, I don't think we did too badly. We "only" had two packs, two carry on small suitcases, Alex's backpack and Oliver's carseat. We were lucky that we were able to borrow a lot of "baby stuff" from people in NZ which reduced what we had to carry.

On the way to the airport.

Alex asleep on the first flight from Amsterdam to Shanghai. We were lucky and the plane was semi empty so we were able to stretch out a little.

And on the flight from Shaghai to Auckland ... two boys asleep


We were so lucky. Both of the boys travelled amazingly well. I never worried about Oliver, but I had thought that Alex might be a handful. We had no tantrums from him ... a few grizzles of course, and the worst moment was when we were coming into land at Christchurch and had to turn off the DVD. Who wouldn't be upset?