All in a Day's Work

Andrew is on Easter break now and has about 1 week off. We are taking the time to explore a lot of the city and do some little outings. Yesterday we visited Hagley Park (which we frequent quite often). We like to hang out in the Botanical Gardens. It's absolutely massive. When we went with Sue in February, I didn't realize we didn't even explore the half of it. Here's some of my favourites from yesterday. It's Fall here and the leaves are beautiful.





Today we did a few things. We went to St. Albans Park and Logan played on the playground for a while and I went on the Flying Fox. Flying Foxes are sooo fun! Then we went to Spencer Beach. Spencer Beach is really neat because there's so much to do there. We actually went yesterday to the animal park at Spencer Beach, and today we decided to check out the actual beach. There's all kinds of trails and hikes through marshlands, forest, and beach. We will definitely have to go back and check out more of the park because there's so much to do.



Then after the kids naps, we headed up to Victoria Park in the Port Hills. It was absolutely magnificent. After you get past the drive which is reminiscent of the drive up to Abel Tasman and the vertigo, you land at a beautiful park (although I have a hard time calling it a park because the Toronto notion of park is very different than the Kiwi one. Think like Algonquin park maybe?). There is everything to do from downhill mountain biking to picnicking to hiking. There is even a children's playground at the top. We checked out the Visitor's centre in Victoria Park to get some info on the trails but unfortunately it was closed due to Earthquake damage. We decided to just hang out at the kids playground for a bit and just take in the magnificent view of the city, mountains, and ocean.




I almost can't comprehend that all in one day we hung out at the beach and chilled atop what I would say is a small mountain and that each was only a 15 minute drive from where we live. I am absolutely in love with this city. I can't believe how much there is to do and how much more we have to explore. We live in an absolutely stunning city (even though the Earthquake has damaged some of that). I can't believe how much there is to do for free and as we are becoming locals, we are learning about all kinds of spots and things to do that aren't in the tourist brochures.

For more pictures of Hagley Park and Victoria Park check out our albums on the right.

Logan's First Steps

Logan made her first steps today. She started taking a few and I quickly grabbed my ipod and started recording.



Here's another video of Logan playing peekaboo with Fox



And Logan and me singing everybody's favourite purple dinosaur's song. Ok seriously nobody likes Barney and he's super irritating but all children just seem to love him and hey lets face it, you can't say a 20 month old singing a tune isn't cute.

Westburn Bike Park

This is a sweet park near us where kids can ride their bikes on a course. I put some pics in the Beach and Babies album.

New Brighton and Woodend Beach

This past week, we went to 2 different beaches: New Brighton and Woodend. Both are about a 30 minute drive from where we live (mostly because of traffic not distance). New Brighton is a general area of where we'd like to move when our contract is up here at the University. I took some pictures and from the pictures New Brighton looks really nice, but we've discovered is really ghetto. We were told it was ghetto before we moved to NZ but couldn't understand why when it looks so nice.

Our plan for that afternoon was to go to the New Brighton Library so Andrew could study and I could take the kids to the library and the playground. I first took the kids into the library which is really nice, and Logan was being miserable so I decided to take them outside to the playground. The playground was deserted and it's Ocean front and really nice. We were having an ok time except for Logan being miserable and then the junkie that decided to come and pass out on the picnic table at the children's playground. At the Countdown (the local supermarket) in New Brighton we've also noticed lots of gangs hanging around blasting their music and giving people a hard time as they enter/exit shops. I guess this is what people meant by ghetto. We still would like to move there, just to North or South New Brighton which is a 3 minute drive down the road and a totally different world. You still get beach minus the ghetto-ness. If the city put some money into central New Brighton, it could be a really nice tourist destination.

Yesterday we decided to go to a beach outside of Christchurch called Woodend to have a lunch picnic. It was a pretty nice day, a little drizzle (which stopped quickly) and about 15 degrees I'd say. We walked the short trail to the beach which reminded me a lot of an Ontario type trail and then we were at the beach. Ocean front, beautiful sand and not a single other person as far as we could see. Another couple eventually came and took a quick walk on the beach, but for the most part, we had this massive beach to ourselves. It was awesome!

I still can't believe you can go to the beach and it's not really ever busy. Right now they are empty because the water is polluted from the sewage from the earthquake. However even in summer, when everyone is at the beach, it's still never really busy.

For pictures from our beach adventures, check out the link on the right.

Up The Coast pt 2

Sorry for the delay in posting the 2nd part of our trip north when we first arrived. Been busy with things like school and children etc. So I'm back (Andrew, incase you hadn't figure it out yet) with an update on the rest of our road trip from the first week in NZ.

Last time I got as far as the arrival at Kaiteriteri. It was a lovely little town, the kind that must be absolutely dead in the winter, but during the summer its filled with tourists and cottagers (or whatever the NZ equivalent to cottagers are). And when I say town what I really mean is a couple restaurants and a handful of shops. It's really quite quant.

The view of the town from our Cabin.


The place we stayed was called the Kimi Ora Spa...though it really wasn't much of spa, not sure why they called it that. It was a nice little place, good service, pretty rooms, and interesting attractions like glow work walks and bike trails.

The next day we opted to just hang out in town and check out the beach, we really weren't in the mood to drive anywhere after the full day of driving to get to Kaiteriteri, so this seamed ideal, that and Shary and I were pretty eager to get into the ocean as we hadn't had a chance yet since we arrived.

The Kaiteriteri West Beach


The Kaiteriteri East Beach


The next day we decided to check out Split Apple Rock. It was a bit of a hazardous drive to get there, and despite the listed speed limit of 100km/h we only went about 40. Anyone who drives that fast on those roads has a death wish.

View from the road on our way to Split Apple Rock


It was a short hike from the road to the beach that Split Apple Rock was located, about 10-15 minute walk through thick forest, but at a few points it provided a pretty nice view of the ocean.


There were also some remarkable looking ferns along the way too, not sure what they are called, but they created a really cool lighting effect on the forest floor.



Finally we arrived at the beach.


That a beach can be this beautiful and only be 10 minutes off the road and still be this deserted is remarkable. It was a saturday (or sunday, can't remember which) afternoon during peak season and there were maybe 8 other people on the beach.

Split Apple Rock



The following day we decided to go into Abel Tasman Park, a natural reserve on the tip of the South Island that is famous for its crystal blue waters and its golden beaches. We hopped on a water taxi, as by boat is the only way into the park.

The view from the boat on our way into the park


Abel Tasman has a whole series of beaches, some are only a few hundred metres long, others span a few kilometres. Each beach is connected by a series of trails and rivers with camp sites dotted throughout. You can choose to be dropped off at one end and walk back to the park entrance, or dropped at one beach and picked up at another, or even hang out for the day at just one beach. With the 2 kids, thats what we opted to do.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous. Truly remarkable. We just lounged, swam and then lounged some more.

The beach


Logans first time in the ocean...she was not a fan!


Logan and Fox chillen in our cabana...I think Fox has the right idea


More shots of the beach






If you want to see more be sure to check out the album at the top right of the blog page titled New Zealand Week 1

Our Weekend

Sometimes it's nice just to post a boring blog about what we did on the weekend. I know family will appreciate this and some friends too. It helps us feel closer to you!

So Logan is almost walking, she's began taking a few steps on her own here and there. She is very skiddish and careful and I think that's why it's taking so long. She's learned to go down stairs on her own and she bum scoots down them very carefully and slowly. She's just a cautious child. Fox is getting bigger and bigger and so placid. It's very difficult to get a giggle out of him as shown in this video:


So the past weekend marked some highlights for our little boy. He started eating rice cereal. I can't say if he loves or hates it. Like I said he's very placid and doesn't seem to care either way.



Some friends we made invited us to go to an A and P show on Saturday. I guess that stands for agriculture and something? On the way up we drove through clouds. It was a very weird experience. I tried to capture it on camera but it didn't quite turn out. Then all of a sudden we were out of them. It's very strange weather we've learned here.





So anyways we drove to Sheffield to go to this A and P show with 2 friends and their 3 children. It was a lot of fun and Logan loved seeing the animals. She didn't know what to think of this one:



This is Logan on the bouncy castle with her new friends (our friends children). We weren't going to let her go on at first since it cost $2 (yes we are cheap) but she cried so hard and got so excited when she saw it we had to let her go on.





All in all it was a fun day!

On Sunday, I did a bit of biking around the city and I have to say, it's amazing! Every street has a bike path on the street and the city is completely flat. I had to go pick up some clothes I won in an auction for Fox and I groaned when I looked at the map and saw it was 5k away. (We are trying to not use our car because gas is so expensive and also I really want to get in better shape). So anyways I groaned because 5 k in toronto is still a short bike ride but it's still up and down and tiring. Then when I went on the bike ride, it was sooo effortless which is great for commuting around the city, but bad for my workouts. No hills = no abs, lol. So I pretty much can bike ride anywhere I need to go in a very short amount of time. I've been taking Logan to Hagley park on a semi-regular basis in the bike trailer and it only takes me 20 minutes and that's with lugging the trailer behind me. We go to the playground there and I'm looking forward to next summer when I can stick both kids in the trailer and bike there and take them to the playground and paddling pool (wading pool).

Another thing I'm getting excited about is TradeMe which is a used classifieds that is auction style. Yes it is a reality we are going to have to buy lots of things here. We usually bought 2nd hand in Toronto because it saves a lot of money and usually you can get great deals. So I'm excited about 2 deals I got yesterday. Fox doesn't have many winter clothes. We only have about 2 outfits for him and it's starting to get chilly in the mornings/evenings, so I needed to get him some clothes. After shopping around to get a feel for prices, I realized I couldn't get any good deals at any childrens clothing stores or even kmart. I mean $30 for a pair of baby pants is just stupid. So I bid on a clothing lot on Trademe and won it for $22 NZD and there is more than enough pants to get him through another year. We may have to add a sweater or 2, but the clothing bundle had a lot of sleepers, pants, one-piece outfits and shoes. It's definitely enough to get him through the winter. And the clothing is nice stuff too.

The second thing that I was super excited on Trademe that we won is a Miele Vacuum cleaner! We bid on it at the last minute for $41 NZD (about $30 CDN) and won it! I couldn't believe it! I thought it was too good to be true but we've picked it up and used it and it works wonderfully! It looked scratched up in the pictures so that could've been why nobody else bid on it.

I absolutely love New Zealand, they are going to have a tough time getting rid of us! There's also a lot to do here with the kids. A lot of stuff is closed right now. Once it reopens there will be more to do but there is still lots to do.

This past week we had plunket appointments for the kids. Plunket is a baby/childrens wellness organization that is absolutely fabulous. They take care of kids right from birth-5 yrs. They do everything from checkups to playgroups to parenting courses (and it's all free!). So Fox and Logan each had a checkup where the nurse measured the usual height, weight etc. Fox is now 16 lbs! They also give you a book where everything is recorded from each visit and it contains everything about their health. It's basically a baby manual/ record of every visit/vaccine etc. Let's just say NZ's system for babies and children is much better and much more organized than Canada's.

We also registered with a doctor and Fox got his second round of vaccines (which again was all free) and got checked out by the doctor and nurse. I was a little worried before we got here to what everything was going to cost us for health wise. We have insurance for emergencies but I was more worried about regular checkups for the kids, but so far everything has been free and we have noticed people are also pretty accommodating when they find out you are not residents and have to pay full fees. It's much more laid back in regards to cost when you are here than when you enquire about it from overseas.

On Saturday we are going to join up to a toy library which I am really excited about for the kids. It's $70 NZD / year. For that price you can take out 8 toys every 2 weeks (at no cost once you are a member) and you have to help out a few times a year. I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea for so many reasons. I don't know why that doesn't exist in Canada. This way we can get new toys all the time for them (because they get bored of them so quickly) but we can also try toys before we buy to see if Logan and Fox will really love it and it will have longevity in our house. Also for Fox it's great right now because he could really use some developmental toys (like an exersaucer) but it's the type of thing they use for a couple of months and then they are done with it so you can just borrow it every 2 weeks.

Also it seems that churches (like every church) run playgroups and music programs for the kids at no cost. So once I figure out one that's close, I'd like to get involved with the kids.

It's just such a family friendly country. I feel like you can be a stay-at-home mom here and you don't get looked down on at all for raising your children (not that I want to stay home forever but for now I love it). Also you can be a stay at home mom and never be at home because there is so much to do with the kids.

Anyways enough rambling, I know this post is incoherent but that is what happens when you combine Logan and Fox in a room for the last few nights (before that he slept in the living room). A combination even coffee can't remedy but they will get used to it!

Oh and a last picture of my cutie Fox. I love taking pictures of him :) and naked babies are always cute!

Mcdonalds Pt. 2/Logan's First Steps

So today Andrew and I embarked on a Mcdonalds Cafe date with some coffee and treats since it was pouring rain. By the way the weather here as we are discovering is sooo flip flop. It was cold and pouring rain this morning, by lunch it was sunny and warm. The treats were yummy and Logan learned some new things. Some people have not believed me about the Mcdonalds being super nice....so here are some pics:









Logan learned how to crawl up the 2 steps to get to the slide...here's the video:



Then while Andrew left to snap some pics of the Mcdonalds for your viewing pleasure, Logan did something so exciting. Andrew caught the 2nd attempt on film. Sorry about the sideways viewing, just turn your head to the left and enjoi...Andrew is not the best cameraman. lol.