LEGO Advent Calendar

 The kids had a busy morning opening all the lego advent calendar windows while we were in NZ.

Kylie arrived in Singapore before we got home! Nice to have her with us for Christmas this year. She is super good with the kids - such a bonus!

The longest stopover

We planned our return flight through Brisbane.  There was a three hour transit time which gave us enough time if we had to collect our bags and check in again.  We were at Auckland Airport at 5am for our 6:30am flight.  The good news was that they could check us all the way through, so we didn't need the 3hr transit, the bad news was that our flight to Singapore would be delayed so we would be in transit for more than 5 hours in Brisbane!  Brisbane Airport is not really a transit airport, it's pretty small with not much to do.

We had a nice breakfast on the first flight to Brisbane.

The 5 hours in Brisbane Airport seemed to take forever.  We finally got called to board and as we were boarding the Captain came running up to report a technical fault and to cancel boarding.  I hoped they would let us stay on board but no, we had to disembark and wait in the terminal.  It took another 3 hours to fix the fault, by the time we boarded again we had been in Brisbane Airport for over 8 hours!  That's longer than the flight to Singapore!  It turned out to be a very long day.  Luckily the children are experienced travellers and wasted no time making themselves comfortable once we were on board. 

And slept well during the flight!

Auckland Zoo

We managed to squeeze in a zoo visit for Luca, Oliver and Harriet. Another great activity in the very last part of our NZ holiday.

The last day in NZ

On the last day of our NZ summer holiday, we spent the afternoon on the North Shore. We caught up with Matthew's sister Kylie and the boys. We decided to meet up at a beachside cafe. While we waited the kids had a last run around on the soft green grass, and admired the wonderful view of Rangitoto Island.   

And of course my favourite pohutukawa trees. 

We also squeezed in a short visit and early dinner with Bronwyn and Scott. Luca had so much fun with Eli.

Since we spent a while in South Island this holiday, our time in Auckland was limited. We are already looking forward to coming back. See you next year everyone!

Lunch at Auckland Sky Tower

As a birthday and Christmas gift from Merryn and Dennis, we had a posh lunch at the top of Auckland Sky Tower.

Here is Auckland from 220m above the street level.
The restaurant rotates 360 degrees very slowly while we dined. We spotted several interesting things.

A big Santa:

A person bungy jumping off the tower:

The brand new PINK cycle route. According to the article I read, this $18 million cycleway links Upper Queen Street to Quay Street via the Nelson Street off ramp, which is no longer in use.  They cycle route is also to be used by pedestrians and connects to the northwestern and Grafton Gully cycleways for access to and from the city centre. Next time we visit Auckland, we would like to try to walk on it with the kids.  

Rangitoto Island

The Auckland Harbour Bridge

Oliver and Ashley shared some macaroni cheese and chips with green salad.

Luca had some of Matthew's beef steak. 

I really enjoyed this yummy risotto and fish dish. 

The kids even got treated with some fancy ice cream for dessert!

Thank you Merryn and Dennis for a very special treat. We really really enjoyed it!

Visit to the Lieshouts

What a great afternoon we had with the Lieshouts in Pukekohe. They moved to a new place since we visited them last. Not too far away from the last place, just 20min on the highway from Auckland City but this time they have a much (much much!) bigger section and a huge backyard - a farm!!!

Their boys have grown so much. On the front yard the boys played swing ball together.

But once our kids discovered this amazing backyard, they only wanted stay on the farm!! They had horses, cows, chickens and sheep! How cool is that!? 

Luca and Ashley were extra keen for the horses. Heather was so good showing the kids how to take care of the horse and got her ready for little rides. 

Oliver had a go first. He was the most hesitant of the three but he ended up with a big smile :)

Then time for Luca, he is natural I think. He just loved it. 

And here is Ashley, she hasn't stopped talking about the white horse she rode since this day. It was such a special experience for her!

It was so nice to catch up with you Greg, Heather, Will, Tom, George and Monty! We hope we get to see you again next summer! Thanks for the lovely afternoon tea and fun activities on your backyard farm!!! It was just AWESOME!

Greenhithe Santa Parade & Dennis's birthday picnic

We had such lovely NZ summery day to kick of the Greenhithe Santa Parade. Both of Matthew's sisters now live in Greenhithe, on the North Shore side of Auckland. It is very nice we could all get together for their local Christmas event.

Here they come!

Ashley was so happy she was given a candy cane.

All sorts of different groups of people:

And this guy, all the kids were waiting for - Santa!!!

Unfortunately the float the Fenwick boys were on went past before we sat down at our spot. But we managed to find them in the field and checked out their wonderful work. They made a little camping scene on the back of a truck. With a tent, a Christmas tree and a camp fire - very very cool!

Here are the Rose offspring

Very detailed campfire:

Rory even sang a song for us!

I quite enjoyed the bagpipes by the New Zealand Police. 

To finish off the event, Santa came out for a lolly scramble!

After the parade we moved onto another family event, Dennis's birthday picnic in the park. 

Here is Dennis kindly posing in the Japanese way for me :)

Caroline and Richard

Each time we see Corin he is growing so much! He is the oldest of all the cousins. 

Ashley and I with birthday hats :)

Time for a home baked chocolate birthday cake! Happy birthday Dennis!!

Merryn's chocolate cakes are always a great hit! Yum Yum Yum!

We stayed on a little while and the kids played on swings etc. I really loved how gentle Corin was with Ashley. He looked after her very well. 

The weather was just too nice to call it a day. So we went for a bush walk by Caroline & Richard's place. I wish we lived somewhere like theirs, such a perfect location. 

Ashley and Luca did very well considering they had been active all morning and afternoon. 

The bush walk led us to a boat club and a little harbour. It was such a beautiful spot. 

What a great family day we had. We are already looking forward to doing this again next summer!