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