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Adrian, Gemma, Lori and Siena – February 2009.

The girls had a good play outside but found in quite cold so soon came indoors to find something else to do.

We then drove to Aramoana, via Port Chalmers. The sun came out while we were there but it was rather blustery. There is a Spit named Mole Spit at the end which is a home to seals. So the girls got quite a good close up view of them sleeping and awake but none of them roared at us fortunately!

On the way back the girls fell fast asleep in the car. This gave Adrian the opportunity to go into The Warehouse and Pak’n Save (the girls go mad in these two places). The Warehouse sells all sorts of things at fairly cheap prices and Pak’n Save advertise as selling the cheapest supermarket items in NZ.

We had another picnic in the garden and the girls spent the rest of the afternoon on the trampoline and swing (having a brief break doing some writing practice).

This evening we had our last family meal – Take Away Pizza (No where near as good as Claire’s!).

We had a short shopping trip in Dunedin City Centre, a picnic in the garden, and then down to the beach for a couple of hours. The girls loved every moment of the beach but not the shopping trip.

In the evening Elaine (Claire’s mum) came and looked after all the kids while the adults went out for a great meal at a place called Plato – lots of seafood dishes.

Lori seemed to have done a bit of sleepwalking before we got home and ended up in our bed, along with the quilt she had dragged from her bed! When we got back to the house she came downstairs and had no idea how she had ended in our bed. She turned up later at 1.30 trying to get in our bed too.

In the morning we set off for the Albatross Colony at the end of the Otago Peninsula (26kms from Tony and Claire’s). We drove along the top road and were able to see the coast pretty much most of the way. It was a long winding, narrow road with steep drops on the sides. I’m glad I wasn’t driving!!!!

We had a tour at the Colony and saw three Juvenile Albatrosses flying – absolutely amazing. There were 20 pairs with babies but we actually saw about four from the veiwing gallery. They have a wing span of up to 10 feet, and watching go past us was fantastic. We thought the girls may have got fed up with the tour, but the lady who gave the tour had two little “followers” who were able to repeat back pretty much all of what she told them about the albatrosses.

Albatross

On the way back we followed the lower road along the coast and stopped at Portobello to get some Happy Hens. We had hoped to have a picnic but we ended up coming back to the house and having a sandwich in the garden. The girls were happy with this as they could play of course!

At 3.30 Claire and the kids got back from school. Claire had arranged for Lori and Siena to go to a little ones gym class from 4 – 5 so they were really excited. They borrowed leggings from Lily and off we went. Lily joined them too. They had a great time and wanted to know when they could go back again. They were split into groups and had little courses to follow eg  bouncing on the trampoline, onto the trampet, along a low balance beam, jumping through hoops and back round again or climbing up ropes, making there way across parallel bars, swinging on bars, back/forward rolls.

They were pretty tired and went to bed as soon as they had finished dinner (mutton – yummy).

Adrian and Tony went out for a drink in the City and I picked them up at 10. So Claire and I had a quiet evening at home.

Lori, Siena and I got up early and went to the local church, St Brigids. A very small church which had the nickname “Tennis Court” because the Altar was in the middle of the church and the congregation sat on each side looking at each other, but with a side view of the priest. The girls were too shy to go out with the other children for the liturgy so sat very quietly with me.

When we got home they rushed out into the garden again to play with Lily before she had gymnastics at 1pm.  They played on the trampoline and swing.

Lori and Siena jumping.

After lunch we went to watch Lily for a while at her gymnastics. The girls really enjoyed it and didn’t want to leave. Lily looked amazing doing her warm ups and then floor work exercises. I eventually tempted them away after an hour (Lily session lasts 3 hours on a Sunday – she does 11 hours a week altogether!!) by suggesting we either go swimming or to the dinosaur playground near the beach. Surprisingly they chose the playground.

Just after 3 we met Claire and set off for her mums. The girls really enjoyed themselves and made them self at home as soon as they walked in. They got Elaine doing everything with them, dressing up, putting on jewellery. Elaine gave us a lovely aftertoon tea with pikelets and muffins. (Afternoon tea is still very popular here in NZ – I think we should set it off again at home!).

The girls were sad to leave and move on to Fiona’s but once there they settled in and played with Laura, Daniel and Matthew (And Lily, Ally and George). They had a good run around up and downstairs, inside and out. We had a lovely time there. The evening was rounded off with Fiona reading the children a story.

We packed and set off for Dunedin for the last time. We took the girls to see the Roxburgh hydro dam on the way back, and they had a good look at how it worked.  And we stopped at the playground in Roxburgh for another picnic finishing off our meal from the night before. We got back to Tony and Claire about 4 and the girls played in the garden with Lily.

We had a snack lunch sitting watching the Earnslaw Steam Boat, other boats, people passing us.

Then … Adrian took the girls back to the playground while I had a quick look round the shops. By this time the sun had come out a little but it was still very breezy. Lori and Siena would have loved to have had a paddle/swim but it wasn’t warm enough.

A little later we decided to go back up to the Skyline on the Gondola again, and we had a little walk around outside and watched some people doing bungy jumps, and many others going down the luge (a bit like go karts going down  hill).

For dinner we visited a place that Adrian had been hoping to go to. It was a Pizza and Pasta restaurant called The Cow (with some reference to Queen Victoria). It was in a building that used to be a cow shed back in the late 1800′s/early 1900′s. The stone walls inside and out were the same and there was just one little window. Inside they had a huge fire blazing! We enjoyed our meals but couldn’t eat all of it so came out with what they call “people bags” rather than doggy bags.

By the time we had got back to our home the sky was clear and we sat looking at the views of a very light sky night and the dark mountains against it.

Night at Queenstown

Apologies for the sporadic posting of pictures, but I am having a few issues with the wireless provider, here in Queenstown. Just keep looking at the pictures section and the old posts, as I will add pictures as soon as it works !!!!!

Adrian.

Busy day. We drove out to the Shotover Jet which runs along the Shotover river. The girls were excited but unsure about what was going to happen. We had an hour to wait before our trip so we watched others enjoying their rides, and getting soaking wet when the boat did 360 degree turns.

Fortunately we didn’t have to pay for the girls.

Eventually it was out turn and we were kitted out with long waterproofs and life jackets.

Before the Shotover Jet

They recommended that people wear jackets, gloves and hats. However we didn’t have hats or gloves. The four of us sat in a row gripping on tightly to the heated hand rail.

The girls have their purple hoods on.

After the first 360 turn Lori asked if we were going back now. She snuggled up to me for most of the ride because she was worried that we might go into one of the rocks that we passed very closely to. However by the end of the trip she wanted to go on again! Siena loved every moment of it. We got off the boat soaking wet, very red faced from the wind and water, but glowing all over from the thrill of it.

After the Shotover....

After a short drive we arrived at Arrowtown, a very picturesque, old mining town. However it was raining and the girls were hungry so we headed straight for a Cafe for lunch.

In the car back to Queenstown the girls fell asleep, so I stayed in the car with them whilst Adrian went into our holiday home. He bought me a cup of tea and a book to read – fantastic as I had an hour of peace and quiet to read!

When the girls woke up we went to the Skyline Gondola, something the girls had been looking forwards to for most of the trip. One of the most asked questions had been “when are we going on the cable car?”. They loved every minute of it, although I didn’t really.

The view from the Gondola

While we were up at the Skyline we took the girls to a Haka show. The performers explained about the tradition of the Haka, and other things which I don’t know the names of.

A nice couple we met

By the time this had all finished it was about 6pm so we came back down and went home for dinner. An early night was ahd by all as we were still glowing from the jet boat ride in the morning. The last question from the girls was “Can we go on the Jetboat tomorrow?”.

We then drove on to Queenstown to our home for the next 4 nights, Turner Heights Townhouses. It is a three story townhouse, up the most  steep hill you have ever seen. The view from the lounge is amazing, straight over the lake. We also look at the Gondola’s disappearing up the hill to the skyline.

Queenstown Day One.

We opened the curtains to find a nice sunny morning, so we decided to go on the TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak. The Earnslaw is a 96 year old steam powered boat the goes up and down lake Wakatipu, stopping at Walter Peak. Walter Peak was an old livestock station of 25,000 hectares, which I am told is quite large. We had the opportunity to feed different varieties of sheep, deer, Alpaca’s and Cattle. We also enjoyed watching a demonstration of sheep shearing.

Feeding Sheep

Sheep Shearing

We all then enjoyed a traditional Kiwi morning tea, which consisted of Pikelets (with cream and jam) Cheese and onion scones, Cinnamen scones and a cup of tea. I am sure the girls will tell you how many pikelets they ate, but it was definately more than one !!!

After we had morning tea, the girls went down to the lakeside to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, one of them bit Lori’s finger !!!!!!

Feeding The Ducks - ouch....

We then got back on the boat to go back to Queenstown. The girls enjoyed a sing-a-long around the piano, which included ‘she’ll be coming down the mountain and ‘Head shoulders, knees and toes’ and a good look around the engine room and the Captains cabin.

Once we go back to the townhouse, we hurriedly got some food together and went to Frankton, so that the girls could have a little paddle and splash in the freezing cold lake, which they told me they enjoyed.

From Frankton we went to visit Gemma’s friends Simon and Gabby along with their girls Sophie and Poppy. All of the girls had a great play in the garden on the trampoline and then did colouring, playing with dolls and loads of other things that girls do!!

Simon did a barbecue for tea. The girls had Chicken Kebabs and Sausages, while the grown ups had Mallard, Hare and Steak.

Sunset at Lake Hayes