hello & happy new year from sunny NZ!
but first - I'm going to be an aunty!! my brother dave & his wife win are expecting their first baby in july. I actually found out this great news on our first day in new zealand... <:s ... I'm going to have to work on being a cool aunty from the other side of the world.
so, we had a nice christmas in christchurch with friends from sheffield - emma & dan andrews, nail & natalie shepherd and matt & jo parkins. full roast turkey and the trimmings for lunch and the rain just made it all the more homely - none of us felt christmassy with bright sunshine everyday and our of place snowmen & santa claus decorations around. fran and I actually missed lots of the christmas build up without tv and shops around us which was really pleasant and bought each other a book for christmas.
for new year we went to arthur's pass, which cuts across the north-south mountains from christchurch to the west coast. there we played in narnia, or at least where they filmed mr tumnus' house and the battle scenes - amazing limestone boulders and rock formations. on new year's eve we did a crazy walk from valley bottom to mountain top of avalanche peak which involved 7km walking and 1000m ascent and descent, our legs were hurting for days afterwards but the scenery was well worth it. that meant we saw in new year sound asleep as we were so pooped, but not before we popped the party popper the hotel had provided!
now we're back in christchurch waiting for fran's course to start which is sometime in february, we're just not sure exactly when yet! in the meantime we plan on visiting queenstown as that's the 2nd main skydiving area in NZ and feels like a preferable place for fran to be working other than taupo which we weren't so enamoured by.
we've found an english shop to buy decaf typhoo tea in, they're not into decaf here yet really. most other food in the shops seems to be buscuits which just amused me, especially as there were no rich tea buscuits!
well, love to everybody & missing you. x
but first - I'm going to be an aunty!! my brother dave & his wife win are expecting their first baby in july. I actually found out this great news on our first day in new zealand... <:s ... I'm going to have to work on being a cool aunty from the other side of the world.
so, we had a nice christmas in christchurch with friends from sheffield - emma & dan andrews, nail & natalie shepherd and matt & jo parkins. full roast turkey and the trimmings for lunch and the rain just made it all the more homely - none of us felt christmassy with bright sunshine everyday and our of place snowmen & santa claus decorations around. fran and I actually missed lots of the christmas build up without tv and shops around us which was really pleasant and bought each other a book for christmas.
for new year we went to arthur's pass, which cuts across the north-south mountains from christchurch to the west coast. there we played in narnia, or at least where they filmed mr tumnus' house and the battle scenes - amazing limestone boulders and rock formations. on new year's eve we did a crazy walk from valley bottom to mountain top of avalanche peak which involved 7km walking and 1000m ascent and descent, our legs were hurting for days afterwards but the scenery was well worth it. that meant we saw in new year sound asleep as we were so pooped, but not before we popped the party popper the hotel had provided!
now we're back in christchurch waiting for fran's course to start which is sometime in february, we're just not sure exactly when yet! in the meantime we plan on visiting queenstown as that's the 2nd main skydiving area in NZ and feels like a preferable place for fran to be working other than taupo which we weren't so enamoured by.
we've found an english shop to buy decaf typhoo tea in, they're not into decaf here yet really. most other food in the shops seems to be buscuits which just amused me, especially as there were no rich tea buscuits!
well, love to everybody & missing you. x
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