Friday 26 August 2011

Wellington Wearable Arts 26 - 28th August

On Friday we flew down to Wellington to meet Mum and see the wearable arts awards. This was the first flight since Elsie flew from London and we weren't sure how it was going to go. She was pretty wriggly in my lap and had a good and proper howl as the plane landed in Wellington. Not sure if it was the pressure change (I was trying to feed her on the way down) or just a coincidence because she was bored and tired. Anyway, I'm glad it was a short flight and it made me nervous regarding our flight back to London in January 2012. Yikes.


We had an awesome weekend in Wellington. Mum and I went to see the Wearable Art Awards on the Friday night. It was a really impressive show - the costumes were obviously pretty amazing but I was also really impressed by the sets, lighting and choreography. They had the full cast of the Royal New Zealand Ballet in the show this year which clearly piqued my interest - sometimes I kept forgetting to watch the wearable art as I was mesmerized by the dancers.


We stayed in town at the Quest Apartments in Lambton Quay. Joel and I really enjoyed Wellington. It was really sunny all weekend which helped but it was a nice change to have a 'city break' in contrast to living in Huia. I really like the way that Wellington has a buzz about it - the waterfront has changed a great deal since I was last there and it was great to see it buzzing with people and all the wonderful public spaces being used and enjoyed.


We caught up with Gareth and Kiri for brunch on the Sunday and it was awesome to meet their two absolutely beautiful girls Izzy and Afi - they were so well behaved!


After brunch we headed along to Te Papa for a look and then caught up with Sarah, Wayne and their two boys Lachlan and Anders before heading to the airport for our flight back at around 10pm.


Elsie was really well behaved on the return flight - she sort of catnapped on me - the poor mite was dog tired. Luckily we had left our car at Auckland Airport so we could just drive straight home again once we arrived - oh except for the fact that it took over 60minutes for the courtesy coach to come and collect us to take us to the carpark. Grrr Grrr. Aeroparks we hate you.

In Grandma's car at Wellington Airport - LOVE this photo

Looking cute in my new stripey leggings

Yes - we did the Beehive tour. It was great!

The fascination with sunglasses continues
Love this photo too


Wellington Waterfront Sunday morning

Where could Joel's sunglasses have got to...

This guy was brave or stupid - it was sunny but it wasn't warm

Liking the Gormley style sculptures


He landed that...he must have been all of 10 years old

Sleepy baby waiting to board in Wellington Airport

Thursday 25 August 2011

First Tooth!

This morning Elsie cut her first tooth! You can hardly see it - just a split in the gum with a very white something submerged in there. I am dying to have a good investigate of this exciting development but Elsir has decided that the shop is definitely shut - no fingers allowed in her mouth (in stark contrast to the previous few months...). She doesn't seem to be too bothered by it...but she was grizzly for the last couple of days which explains that. I hope she isn't too bothered by it tomorrow on the flight to Wellington....

Thursday 18 August 2011

Northland 17 - 20 August

After swimming on Wednesday we headed up to Northland to visit John and Carroll. Northland did it's thing and the sun came out in full force during our visit. We spent a couple of great days exploring the locale - Joel showed me some of the old haunts around Okaihau and 'The Valley' where he and his mates used to live when they were kids. Then we headed up to Horeke Harbour, looping back via the Forest Pools and Puketi forest on the way home again. The next day we explored the east coast heading up to Tauranga bay. We spent a heavenly couple of hours at Te Ngaire Beach where we just lay on the sand in the warm spring sunshine. Elsie got to play with sand for the first time and we searched for 'treasure' on the beach (that's shells and driftwood to put in her 'Treasure Basket' at home).  As usual Elsie was happy and content while she was up North - Northland must be in her blood. We enjoyed a delicious brunch with John and Carroll before heading back to Auckland again.

A Johnny-style breakfast

Elsie meets the pigs on Waikuku Road

All rugged up for a stroll down Waikuku in the original Mountain Buggy pram

Here piggy piggy piggy...

With Grandpa Johnny

Horeke

Enjoying the breeze at Horeke

Horeke

Horeke

Forest Pools

The beautiful East Coast


Te Ngaire Beach

Te Ngaire Beach

Eating Treasure

Te Ngaire Beach

With Dad at Te Ngaire

Another scenic feeding spot

I didn't want to leave

Playing 'peek-a-boo' at John and Carroll's

There's Elsie!


Happy Bear

The happy chef

Oh yeah...

Elsie with Grandpa Johnny

Elsie tries her first French Toast with Carroll

Fond Farewells

A laden table

Jess the dog

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Heavenly Huia

Here are just some more shots of life in Huia...







Monday 15 August 2011

Eating

Here are some shots of Elsie in her highchair...solids are still going really well - she eats basically anything - well as much as you can with no teeth. We've tried her on a mildly curried stew with mash and peas and this went down a treat.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Avondale Market

Under Sam Devlin's guidance we found our way to Avondale's Sunday market. We were really impressed with the super-cheap produce and really good array of asian vege's that we've struggled either to find or afford in the supermarkets; fresh coriander ($1), won bok (chinese cabbage $2), radishes ($2), fresh tofu ($1), lemon grass ($1). On top of that carrots for 0.30 cents a kilo with apples and pears at $1/kilo some weeks has made this a weekly pilgrimage for us.

Avondale Market

Our Haul - for $20!

Sam and Felix Devlin