It's all about Rugby

The big news here this weekend has been the All Blacks shock loss to England on Saturday night. A pretty disappointing end to the season for kiwi supporters but England did play amazingly well (there, I've said it!)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's taken a while for Callum to get his head around the news. This was only the AB's eighth test loss since Callum was born and their third since he turned two. Given he's turning four this week, he could be forgiven for being a bit confused about it all..

Here he is talking about the game:

Domestic bliss

So the kids are proving to be quite helpful when it comes to housework... Sort of. I wonder how long it'll be before I can get them into ironing though....?

Busy bees

Well here we are in Wellington (or Lower Hutt if you want to be pedantic). It's great to be "home" though it does seem strange to be saying that when I've never lived here before!

Our wee house is fab and it's really starting to feel like home now, particularly after all Mike's hard work over the past few weeks and now that we're getting close to being unpacked.

The boys were over the moon to be reunited with their own beds (as was I if I'm being honest!) and literally squealed with delight when they saw all their toys in the playroom :) They LOVE the back garden and have spent hours riding their scooters, kicking balls, picking (and throwing) lemons and "making fires" - pulling up grass and putting it in a wooden box in case you're worried I'm raising two pyromaniacs!

Mike and I are obviously being kept busy with the boxes and attempting to get the house into some sort of order but we've also managed to buy a car (a lovely, shiny Mazda 6 wagon) and I've been spending plenty of time getting reacquainted with my cook books and trying to make friends with the oven (Shacklock, circa 1990).

One more sleep!

Tonight is our last night in Christchurch and tomorrow the boys and I will be taking "one more plane" to Wellington. It feels strange to be looking forward to leaving, but I am already referring to it as going home. Not because I love Wellington more or because I haven't enjoyed being here with family, but because wherever Mike and the boys are is home to me. (soppy I know!!)

I'm not sure why I didn't see it coming but these 2 weeks in Christchurch since mike went to Wellington have been harder than any stage of our trip round Europe. The kids have been clingy and very quick to lose the plot, not to mention total PITAs at bedtime. Right now I am lying in the dark typing this instead of packing because I can't leave the boys awake in the bedroom or they both scream their heads off.

Our Long Way Home is almost over.. But now the fun really begins! Mike has been working hard on the house up in Lower Hutt and has painted and carpeted the living room and bedrooms in preparation for our arrival. Our furniture arrived from storage on Friday so there are lots and lots of boxes waiting for me to work through too.

Stay tuned for the next chapter - kitchen and bathroom renovations and dealing with culture shock in your own country ;) I'm still getting used to all the small talk when you go shopping. It's just so weird!

THIS is why we came home

The boys and I have just got back from a weekend on Mum's farm on the Coast with Julia. From the minute we arrived the boys had smiles a mile wide plastered on their faces. They had acres of room to run wild, make friends with calves, lambs, chooks and Nellie (the dog) and also tried fresh farm milk, homemade cheese, bread and sausages all for the first time.

It truly was an idyllic weekend and we were all sad to leave this morning. Fortunately we'll be back again after Christmas for a bit longer.. AND with Daddy in tow.. Callum has a rather long list of things he wants to share with him ;)

Home. Sort of.

Yes, strange title considering we ARE home - back in the Chur and back in EnZed. But, as many of you will know (and have experienced first hand), Christchurch is nothing like the place I left 10 years ago or even like the place I last visited in 2011.

Just backing up for a second, I do have to say it is great to be home. To be here with family, spending lazy afternoons in the sun with Nana Rosie or talking shit with my Dad or drinking Uncle Mark's Bombay Sapphire... It feels like nothing at all has changed. And yet EVERYTHING has changed.

Mike and I went for a drive into the city on Sunday with the boys. It was mind blowing. When we were last here in March 2010, we couldn't get anywhere near the centre of town and I don't think we'd have wanted to go there anyway. Now, you can drive down Hereford St (I think) and see what's left of our beautiful Cathedral and try to remember what was where or which partially demolished building is which. It was strange seeing the pharmacy and Ballantynes but looking across the road to an empty lot where KFC uses to be (so many memories!)

We have been having a great time here though. We spent the first few nights with Dad and Pauline. The boys had lots of fun playing footie with Grandad (and throwing things on the roof - oops!) and an absolute ball at Kirsty's 40th on Saturday night.

We came to Shirl's on Tuesday after Mike flew up to Wellington start work on the house - our next Big Adventure. HOPEFULLY he will be able to get through most of his To Do list in time for the new carpet to go down and then the delivery of our container. It's going to be crazy, busy couple of weeks for all of us!

Welcome Home

If you've ever flown with Jet Star Australia, you'll understand why I was feeling nervous and sick this morning about checking in. Mike called the "help" line yesterday to ask about their policy on carrying car seats and strollers for children. He was told by two people (two phone calls) that the answer was categorically NO. Only infants get to take those things for free. Cue panicked weighing and repacking of three months worth of clothes, toys, books, food, gifts and junk. And two large car seats and two strollers.

After reading a couple of recent online forums and hearing from others who have flown with jetstar recently, we decided to bite the bullet and pay for another 5kg checked baggage (taking us to 95kg between three of us, still less than our flight from Paris to Melbourne) and requiring us to take the maximum carry on allowed. At around 10:30 last night I found a current jet star page claiming they charged extra for none of those things but it still wasn't clear (and still at odds with what we'd been told on the phone and with others' experiences).

When we packed up daniel's cot and added in PJs for four and all those last minute things we were just over our 95kg. We decided to leave our trusty Carrefour stroller in Melbourne for another time and hope that we'd get a nice person on the check in counter.

Next we all piled into two cars with Elly and John acting as chauffeurs. Traffic wasn't too bad despite a supposed delay on the freeway and we arrived with lots of time to spare (yay!) which was fortunate since the carparking is such a maze!! We said our goodbyes to John and Elly and waited for our turn to check in.

I was even more nervous by this stage, and the stress continued to build as the unsmiling check in girl confirmed we had 95kg luggage allowance and she'd do the car seats first.

WELL. A few minutes into the process Mike asked a question about the weight of the carseats (they seemed heavy) and finally we got our answer - they do NOT charge for carseats, strollers or portacots and you can have four of these items for free. Yes, we'd paid for approximately 25kg too much baggage. Sigh. On the bright side, something in this conversation cheered up the check in woman and she was all smiles after that.

Even more surprisingly, every single person we dealt with after that was charming and cheerful! The flight even took off sort of on time ;)

So far so good on the flight too. Mike is sitting with the boys at the mo while I have a turn on my own (yay again!), the kids have been great and the in flight snacks were half price since its the last flight of the day. Nice one.

Postscript..
Arrived in Christchurch to find stunning blue skies and warm weather, helpful kiwis and only 9 out of our 10 checked in bags. They lost the one with the kids PJs and all Daniel's bedding (and our shoes!)
Regretstar indeed.

The Long Way Home in numbers

No prizes for guessing who kept track of all these important numbers on our trip!


95 days
11 countries and 27 cities
21 beds slept in
2 suitcases, 1 Chindiwi bag (thanks Nina), 2 strollers and 2 car seats
9 flights on five airlines
10,000km driven
11 rain days
570 nappies filled
35 friends and family visited
2 Disneyland parks
2 rounds of chicken pox
6 kids drink bottles lost
1 birthday
Untold gelati

And still another two weeks in Christchurch before the holiday is REALLY over.

On the road again

.. Or we will be tomorrow! Hard to believe that after 3 months of flights, road trips, tram rides and train journeys we are only one flight away from being at home. If anyone wants to welcome us back to Godzone with a band and waving a banner our Jet Star flight arrives at Christchurch airport at 5:45pm tomorrow ;)

We are still enjoying our time in Melbourne and will be sad to leave. Yesterday was a stunner so we joined the rest of Melbourne at St Kilda beach for a paddle in the sea and fish and chips for tea.

Photo: Daniel and Callum enjoying their fluffies made by Aunty Jelaine this morning.

Just relaxing!

Not quite so many interesting, new destinations to blog about now we're almost home. Things have slowed down to a more holiday-like pace and the boys have even stopped napping in the day time again (though they've yet to stop waking in the night from being cold and/or hungry).

Mike and I had a day to ourselves in Melbourne on Thursday. It was our first day "off" from the kids since we left Singapore in July and felt very strange! But was also a fantastic break (thanks John and Elly!)

We took the train into the city in the morning, which almost needs a blog post of its own - Melbourne could learn A LOT from the rest of the world when it comes to public transport options. Long story short, it's not possible to buy a single fare at the train station and it was cheaper to go buy a day pass from a bus at the interchange than to get a Myki card. Ridiculous. Anyway, we figured it all out and made our way to the Big Smoke for a walk along the Yarra River and late breakfast of Eggs Benedict.

After breakfast we walked some more, sampled more coffee, shopped, lunched in Lygon St, shopped some more and then found Little Creatures Dining Hall for some more drinks and snacks under the gas heaters. Meanwhile the boys had a ball back in Yarra Junction with Nan and Grandad and apparently barely noticed we weren't there ;)

On Friday we drove down to Mt Eliza to catch up with Liz, Ned and Sophia. Another fantastic day of play for the boys and it was so nice to see some old friends from Singapore. Fingers crossed our paths cross again sooner rather than later x

We're now down at Jelaine's till Thursday. Since we were here last, Jelaine and Tez have knocked down their house and rebuilt a new home on the section. It's beautiful! Loads of room for the boys to get up to mischief while we enjoy the sun. Who could ask for more?!

Last night we called on the babysitters again and the four of us (adults) left the kids at home while we went into town for dinner and drinks. We ended up a MoVida in Hosier Lane which was bloody brilliant! I wish we could go back again before we go home just to try the other half of the menu.

Photos are a bit out of order below but apart from the Eggs Benedict, all the food photos are from last night :) see if you can identify the dishes!

Almost there.

It's strange. We're not quite "there" yet, but being here feels like home. Perhaps it's the chilly mornings, brilliant sunshine and Monteiths from the supermarket.. But I suspect it's really just being with family at last :)

We are having a ball! We've been busy catching up with Elly and John and also Jelaine, Tez, Caden and Elliott. The boys have been digging up the garden, slip n sliding round the back yard, riding bikes down hills, making friends with galahs and koalas at Healesville Sanctuary and eating chicken and rice (some things never change!)

Tomorrow Mike and I are off to the city for the day. Our first day "off" since we left Singapore. Any restaurant or coffee suggestions appreciated!!

On Friday we hope to meet up with Liz, Ned and Sophia, friends from Singapore who we haven't seen since 2010 which is very exciting. On Saturday we'll all head to Jelaine's place to spend some time with them before we leave.

Tonight we are eagerly awaiting our first BBQ down under ... It smells amazing already. This is almost as exciting as Paris! Or it will be once the kids go to sleep. Sigh.

Family time x

We survived!! 31 hours from door to door - 19 hours on two flights, 2 hours on the playground in T3 and another 2 hours going through immigration and quarantine in Melbourne (they've got a bit to learn from Changi!) John, Elly and Jelaine met us at the airport and we were all home at Yarra Junction for tea and toast around 11:30. Kids in bed by midnight and AMAZINGLY they both slept till after 10 when Mike and I woke them up.

It is SO NICE to be home with family. The boys are enjoying playing with Nan, Mike is in heaven talking house renos and computers with John and I am trying to stay awake :o)

Photos below from the epic plane journey and Daniel's first night in a Big Bed.

Au revoir

It's actually here. October 17. The day we leave Europe. We are off to Melbourne today for the next exciting chapter of our trip home. I am sad to be leaving Europe but at the same time I am really looking forward to being a little bit closer to home. I am hoping that a couple of weeks in Australia will help us ease into antipodean life and make arriving in New Zealand less of a shock.

I'm sure the boys will be happy to have some time with their cousins and Nan and Grandad and also lots of outdoor space to explore without us worrying about the downstairs neighbours. Callum is certainly looking forward to to journey to Melbourne - he asked yesterday whether we would be going on a plane with TVs in the backs of the seats and when I said yes he shouted, "THANK YOU for letting me go on a plane tomorrow Mummy. I love you" Sometimes being a Mum is a pretty easy job ;)

Disneyland Paris (and fun with the Griffiths)

Our long-awaited Paris Part 2 finally came around this weekend. We had a cold, wet drive down from Belgium but arrived to find a lovely haven in our apartment in Paris. The host, Monica, is an interesting old duck. Like many of the Airbnb apartments we've stayed in, there are shelves FULL of interesting books - Shakespeare, art history, divine cookbooks, Bill Bryson and DVDs galore in English, French and Spanish (including plenty for the kids). It has been great as our first two days were cold and wet - a bit different from our first Paris stay in August!

On Sunday the Griffiths gang joined us from England. They came round in the afternoon and Callum was so excited to see Maia again, it was very cute to see. We drank wine, ate too much and had a lovely few hours catching up.

Monday was Disneyland Paris. We felt extremely lucky to wake up to blue skies and sunshine and only a 5% chance of rain (according to Google's weather forecast). We met the Griffiths at the gate and spent an unforgettable day meeting characters, riding in teacups and flying elephants and eating burgers and popcorn. We stayed right till the light show and fireworks and when we got home at 9:30 Callum asked if we could go back again tomorrow. If only!

Today has been a bit crazy as we have been packing, clearing out the kitchen, washing and drying clothes, weighing baggage and looking for missing shoes... In the midst of all that we met up with Nina and Giles and the kids again for a trip up the Eiffel Tower and pizza for dinner. We had a great afternoon despite a couple of chunders from Callum, poor thing. He seemed ok by the time we got home this evening so fingers crossed for our flights tomorrow!

So here we are. Our final night in Paris and in Europe. It has been noisy, funny, interesting, stressful, confusing, diet-busting and more fun than I ever imagined possible. I know a lot of you thought we were a bit mad taking a toddler and a preschooler round the world for three months but I can say now that all the sleepless nights, roadside nappy changes, chicken pox dramas and tantrums have been WORTH IT. It's been amazing and I wish we could do it all again. But fortunately we have another adventure to look forward to now - 10 days in Melbourne with Mike's family and then home to New Zealand.