Haere mai Aotearoa

We've arrived! Landed safe and sound on Friday 2nd December and it was a stunning day to arrive, clear blue skies and warm sun.We spotted the Interislander ferry on the way in too, we'll be catching that for our New Year holiday with the family to Nelson on 26th December.

Nigel and Justine and our beautiful niece Maapihi met us from the airport and we got some very inquisitive looks in the car on the way to Daya and Sam's place!

Straight into the fun and games that night at The Garden Club for a gig by Oscar Mike - Izzy's mate Nick is the lead singer and guitarist and they put on a cracking show! I got to jump around like a total groupie and Izzy displayed some serious air guitar. Was awesome to see Nick and his gorgeous girl Janine.

On the road again...

So, two-and-a-bit weeks in the UK involved much packing, catching up with people, organizing what is and what isn't essential when you're moving to a new country, and spending some lovely quality time with my folks and family.

We had a quick stopover in LA to break the journey and be total Hollywood tourists for 3 days...

Went to Universal studios where Izzy unleashed his inner 11 year-old, roller-bladed from Santa Monica pier to Venice beach, went on a 'Stars Tour' of Beverly Hills and Belair (clearly all made up!), and saw Happy Feet 2 3D at Sid Grauman's Chinese theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Pretty cool. Pretty deep-fried too, had to work pretty hard to find anything green to eat....

Some highlights...

The Do of Hens

I could not have asked for a nicer way to celebrate the end of my singledom and spend some quality time with my bestest girlies before jetting off to the other side of the globe! We had a fantastic weekend in Padstow, the weather was amazing, the food was heavenly, and there was as much sillyness as expected.
Some highlights:
Rick Stein's fish and chips (best EVER) and a delish meal at his cafe
Crazy crazy golf complete with afro hair in honour of 16-year-old Sarah's curling disaster
Being pampered in the cottage by a lovely manicure lady and re-living my 15 minutes of fame (I say that loosely) on 'Junior Big Break'
A 'how well do you know Izzy' quiz that I failed miserably, but learnt a lot in the process!
Cock fighting (see photos!)
General girly chats

The Gorges de Verdon

Last weekend we decided to rent a car and get up into the mountains just north of the Cote d'Azur, and investigate the Gorges de Verdon. It was a gorgeous clear and bright sunny day, and we drove through some stunning scenery on the way up.

The bridge I took this photo from provided the setting for some sillyness with the boys:

We started the day in Cannes for some breakfast (nutella crepes, natch) and had lunch at a really picturesque village called Castellane. Walter, the bosun on Twizzle, and his lovely girlfriend Josie joined us for the day as well as Ali. Sadly, we didn't make it to see the most spectacular part of the gorge, or to investigate much of Draguignan on the way home, but we had Izzy's leaving meal to get back for!

Here's a collection of pics from that, and the rest of the day.


I can't believe we're only here for another 3 days, these last two months have gone incredibly quickly but then we've had plenty of funtimes to distract us! We're off back to Bath for a couple of weeks with mum and dad and the rest of the family, before departing for New Zealand at the end of November. Looking forward to my hen do weekend with all my dearest girlfriends in the middle of November, so watch this space for silly photos a-plenty!

Engagement Party Photos!

Thank you so very much to all who came and made it such a fabulous day and night! Izzy and I loved every second, and were lucky to have you all there. Lots of great photos and memories to hold on to, and a real prelude to what I just know it going to be an amazing day next Feb. I can't WAIT!!

Siblings reunited

Alex finally arrived back in France last week and we've caught up with him at our apartment in Antibes and Cannes - where his boat is based for the winter.

Here are the boys looking pretty 'Riviera' on the weekend, hanging out in a cafe at lunchtime.

Food and friends...

I am starting to think I may have an alternative career ahead of me as a food photographer. Either that, or my photo-taking is starting to reveal a total obsession with meal times. Those who know me closely need no photographic proof of that though I suppose ;)

This weekend Izzy and I had a visit from Penny and Tom, neither of whom had been to Antibes before, and I think they loved it. We had a fab evening in Cannes on Saturday night, then spent Sunday mooching around Antibes, looking at boats, swimming in the sea, and yes...more eating. And Tom made friends with a lizard.

Here are a selection of pics:

At dinner in Le Caveau 33

Mine and Penny's oysters

Some of the delights at the Provencal market in Antibes, including the shiniest apples EVER!

And here are some daft shots that came out of the weekend...

Courtyard visitor..

...each morning I get a visit from this fellow, and no amount of chair-scraping, door-banging, or washing-flapping seems to deter him/her.

Birthday antics

Izzy celebrated his 33rd birthday yesterday and I challenged myself to bake him a banana cake...

It turned out pretty darn tastily so I then made him another one, with chocolate chips, and chocolate frosting. No photographic evidence of that one, but I did sneak a pic of the cake he got at work...

I hasten to add it was made by a professional chef!

We had a fantastic meal at Don Camillo's with the crew of Twizzle and various others, location chosen for it's proximity to our flat and also because DC's does amazing schnizel - Izzy's birthday meal of choice. Look how happy he is with it...

And here's me and the birthday boy with his recently-extinguished flame-decorated birthday profiteroles (which I ate)...

Thou shalt not covet...

...thy neighbours basil plant.

But look at it!!

Just imagine the pesto potential...

Anyway, this was taken from our courtyard at the rear of our tres charmant french apartment. Mum is staying in Antibes for a week, and here we are preparing for an aperitif.

French fancies

Here are a few of my favourite French things..

Des huitres..

Cool market stalls...

Yummy-looking (and pig-themed) patisseries!

Stockholm Syndrome

So I got asked at the last minute to attend this year's European Cancer Conference in Stockholm this weekend.. it will be my second trip here for work in less than 3 months, much colder this time than it was in June though!
Was sad to leave sunny Antibes, but a smooth and cloudless journey up to chilly Sweden afforded some incredible views from the plane...

The (snow-covered!) Austrian Alps...

And then, Sweden :)

Avast me hearties - thar she blows!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of sailing to France on the luxury superyacht that is Twizzle!

Many thanks indeed to captain Jon for letting me stowaway, and indeed to the rest of the crew for looking after me so well. Especially chef Olly... I don't think this happens every Saturday morning...

After pulling out of Palma, we rounded the south of Mallorca and found that the wind had dropped completely, leaving the water as flat as a pancake and allowing for much tomfoolery off the back of the boat! (Or the 'transom' as I believed it is technically known...)

Then we caught a tuna... gruesome but flippin tasty...

Then I 'helped' with a night watch, which was cool. Pretty different from the day job! Lots of stuff out in the sky (I saw Jupiter and her moons, and the Andromeda galaxy) and there was an eerie but peaceful feeling out on deck between 2-4am..

Next morning was a little rough and windy, but the tuna sashimi settled our stomachs satisfactorily... try saying that fast!
Then it was drill time, when yours truly was 'found' in a 'fire' in the laundry and then stretchered downstairs by hunky firemen and crew members... woe is me!

The Paella King

Last night we were invited for dinner at Cheesecake (Mallorcan deckie on Twizzle)'s parents house. We were in for a treat - Cheesecake's dad is known locally as 'The Paella King' and when I saw the size of his saucepan, I knew this man was serious about paella. As a lover of all things that dwell in the sea, I was in food heaven, while poor Izzy was in food hell, and try as he might, he couldn't trick his mind into eating more than two mouthfuls. Needless to say I happily polished off his leftovers ;)

 Thank goodness there was cheesecake for dessert!

Izzy having some pre-dinner playtime in the pool...

Some of the Salas family pets...

 The (tasty) remains of a past Salas family pet... RIP Porky...

Muchas gracias to the Salas family for their very generous hospitality.


 

Running in the sun

Struggling to get back into running in the heat... my muscles warm up quicker, but my head, chest, and general concentration levels are finding it tough. Didn't help that I got lost on my first outing pounding the cobbled streets of Palma.. what was meant to be a quick 20 minutes lasted an hour... ouch. This morning was better - helped by a fantastic view!

Out and about in Palma

I arrived last Wednesday night and have been re-acquainting myself with Palma over the past 5 days. The weather is gorgeous, and so far hasn't distracted me too much from my writing during the day! Went wandering around town on Saturday with Izzy and came across these vibrant chillies on display, made for a good test of our new camera's capabilities... Spent a little while chilling on the beach in town, visited Twizzle at the yard - she's up on scaffolding having her hull mended and looks forlorn stuck way up in the air - then rendez-vous'd with 2 crew members for some Saturday night rum drinking at our local bar, Atlantico. Did a bit of rugby- and Grand Prix-watching on Sunday, lazed in the park for a bit... all in all a lovely first weekend.