The forest

Just some more pretty pictures as we were on our way down through the beech forest!

Easter 2009

Lucky with some fabulous weather over the Easter weekend. Out for a day walk up the Bealey Spur Track near Arthurs Pass. Great views as you can see!

Hagley Park, Christchurch

Just love the stunning floral displays in Hagley Park this Summer.

New Brighton Kite Festival- Feb 09

A couple of weekends after we got back the kite festival was on so we headed to the coast. A very colourful site seeing everyone down on the beach flying their kites down at New Brighton Pier, Christchurch. 

Willowbank

Willowbank is the local wildlife park which we have an annual pass for. Lots of native Australasian animals and you actually get to see real live kiwi birds in the kiwi house! They are nocturnal flightless birds, not allowed to photograph them though so you will have to take our word for it. The photos are of a Pukeko (wading bird with the red beak), the kunekune pig (a real looker!) and the kea, a mountain parrot and extremely brave and mischievous (my favourite). Beth loves hand feeding the wallabies, who are very cute.

Views of Singapore

Just a few more photos! 

Little India, Singapore

Little India was also really colourful. Coming out of the train station it was as if we had been transported to a different country altogether! The sari shops were a real treat, so many vibrant shades of colour, and the lovely aroma of spicy food. 

Raffles

No visit to Singapore would be complete without a visit to Raffles Hotel and a Singapore Sling!

Chinatown Singapore

We were lucky enough to hit Singapore for a 3 day stay on our way home to NZ during the celebrations for the Chinese New Year. Very bright and colourful!

Oxford

We also managed to fit in a visit to Oxford for the day to visit my aunt. A lot of my childhood was spent here so it was great to be able to show the kids where I went to school and lived when I was their age! So many beautiful old buildings, the one thing I do miss living in NZ.

Bath

Whilst in the UK we visited the Roman Baths in Bath. What a great place to visit with a really good audio commentary. Both the kids enjoyed it too although we could not say the same about the glass of water we sampled. hard to believe folk in days gone by though that it was good for you!!

UK visit - Kenilworth

Time has flown past since our last posting! We had our first visit back to the Uk since moving out to NZ just after Christmas. 

It was great to catch up with old friends ( as in long standing rather than aged!) and also family. It was a very hectic 3 weeks and we managed to see nearly everyone we had hoped to see which was fabulous! Very many thanks to everyone for their kind hospitality and all the great meals. The kids certainly made the most of the chance to see old school friends and whilst they may have grown up a bit since we left the friendships remained which was good to see.