#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do New Zealand Triple Edition

This is my first (and hopefully last) double edition…make that tripe edition now! The holidays got the best of me and I didn’t find the time to write and then we were away on holidays and I doubled up on an edition but we didn’t have wifi for 4 nights so I wasn’t able to post….and now here I am writing this past week as well. So I’ll try to recall as much as I can.

Week 22 was Poppa’s last full week in NZ. He had been dying to run with Kensley in the stroller so we made sure it happened. We went for a great run around Hagley park and Poppa pushed the stroller basically the entire 7k and also got to experience Kensley hooting and hollering with joy along the run. That afternoon we met Liz and Harriet at the splash pad for Kensley’s first splash pad experience. Poppa spent a morning with Kensley while I ran some errands and had lunch at my friend Lucy’s. I was a bit worried about how the morning was going to go because I knew Poppa and Kensley were heading to the shopping centre and I was worried about what Poppa was going to buy Kensley. We are trying REALLY hard not to accumulate too many things for our move back to Canada and my dad basically wants to buy her everything he sees. However, to my surprise….I didn’t come home to any new things for Kensley! Thanks for your self-control, Poppa! We had hoped to get out for another run in the Port Hills this week but a lot of rain ruined that plan for us. I still had Sarah come to spend the morning with Kensley while Dad and I went out for breakfast and to finish my Christmas shopping. On Friday, when Caleb was finished work, we all took off for Hanmer Springs to enjoy Poppa’s last weekend in NZ. On Saturday morning, Caleb headed out for a trail run and Poppa, Kenz and I did some shopping around the cute little town. In the afternoon we all hit the hot springs for a little soak. When Caleb, Kenz and I came a few months ago (recall this was when I built Kensley a tent in our hotel room – we haven’t shared a space with her since) I didn’t go to the hot springs and Caleb felt they were sub par. However, I was pleasantly surprised by them and Caleb said they were better than he remembered! Following the springs, we hit a patio for a beer (or three, Poppa :P) and some food. In the evening, Caleb and I were able to head back to the hot springs and out for a glass of wine. On Sunday, we hit the road at a decent time so we could get back and do our grocery shopping for our Christmas festivities!

Week 23 entails Kensley’s first Christmas and all of our first summertime Christmas! While the weather hasn’t been exactly glorious here the past few weeks (grey and cool for the time of year), it still didn’t feel like Christmas was approaching! Truthfully, it felt like a bit of a fake Christmas (no snow, no cold, no darkness, no Christmas lights due to long days) but we made the absolute best of it and had an amazing time! On the 24^th, Caleb and I were able to head out for this AWESOME run along the coast on a trail called Godley Head. I can’t imagine a better way to spend time with Caleb and to kick off our Christmas festivities. I actually loved the run so much that I ended up taking my dad on the same run on Boxing Day because I felt this was a great way for him to spend his last day in NZ. Anyways, after Caleb and I finished the run we got home and got things sorted for our Christmas Eve. We invited Mary to spend Christmas with us and in the late afternoon we made our way out for a drink on the patio, then back to our place for appetizers (crab dip by Poppa) while we got Kensley sorted for bed, then homemade pizza (of course!). On Christmas morning, Caleb, Kenz, Poppa, and I did presents bright and early. I feel we were all pretty spoiled! Kensley’s highlight was her xylophone from Poppa and the homemade blueberry rolls we had for our first breakfast. Mary joined us when she woke up and then we all made our way over to friends, Liz, Andy, and Harriet’s, for bubbles and our second breakfast. We came back to our place for the early afternoon, then hopped in the car and made our way to Pegasus beach. We felt that even though it was a bit grey out, it was absolutely necessary to spend some time at the beach during our Christmas in NZ. After a quick surf (Caleb) and hang out at the beach, we then made our way to Jacqui’s for a late afternoon drink and dessert. I felt like this was wayyyyyy too rushed (insert tired Kensley here) but it was SO nice! Jacqui had homemade Christmas crackers for us all and put on an amazing spread of cheeses and snacks and made the MOST GLORIOUS New Zealand dessert, Pavlova! Well-done Jacqui! Kensley was pushed past her bedtime (it was Christmas, after all), however, when that girl wants to sleep, she wants to sleep (she screams!!!!), so this meant we had to cut our stay at Jacqui’s pretty short. We made our way home to get Kensley to bed, and then enjoyed a great salmon dinner prepared by Poppa! As I mentioned before, on the 26^th, I took Poppa to Godley Head Trail for a run and he loved it as much as I did! Then we made our way back home and I had an afternoon pedicure booked with Mary. It’s safe to say that that evening we all felt like crashing!

And Boom….just like that, December 27^th, Poppa’s departure date (and Kensley’s 9 month birthday) arrived. He got to spend a few hours with Kenz in the morning and actually got to experience her first crawl with a purpose! She’s been moving herself around for a bit now, but this was the first time she actually crawled to get something and I was super happy that Poppa got to see it! There were definitely some tears but we feel absolutely blessed that we got to spend so much time with Poppa and that he stayed to spend Christmas with us! There is no doubt that Kensley does and is going to miss laughing, singing, dancing, and playing with Poppa – he has way more energy for her than Caleb and I combined. He has also cooked her the best fish and given her the best hair washes she’s ever had – it seemed like he had been dreaming of washing a good head of hair for quite sometime :P. We were sad to see him go but thank god for Facetime (not quite sure what the birdies will do…)! The rest of our day the 27^th was spent preparing for our two-week road trip around the north island.

On Friday (Dec 28^th), we packed up the car and drove 4.5 hrs north of Christchurch to Marlborough. We actually booked this stay the night prior because Saturday we were catching a ferry to the North Island and we decided it’d be pushing it to try and make it that far with Kensley in a morning without any flexibility. Well, didn’t we hit the jackpot, staying in one of New Zealand’s largest wine regions on a beautiful vineyard that we found using Airbnb. We visit Villa Maria Winery (we can actually get this wine in Canada – but not their best stuff) and had an amazing tasting; Caleb even splurged and bought us a $70 bottle of a Malbec/Cab Sauv blend for NYE. We really aren’t into spending big money on wine because truthfully, there are so many $20ish bottle of wines that we really like, but this wine was so damn good that we felt it was worth it. Their black label chardonnay was also quite remarkable. Our Airbnb host (Alison) shared a bottle of that chardonnay with us followed by an amazing Marlborough pinot called Dog Point that I’ll definitely try to find! Caleb said they might’ve been the best two wines he’s ever enjoyed consecutively and I totally agree! On Saturday morning, we made our way to Picton to catch our 3 hour ferry across the Cook Straight to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital! We had a pretty relaxed weekend in Wellington but definitely think it lived up to its name as The Windy City.

Week 24 arrived and we packed up the car again and drove another 4 hours north east of Wellington to Hawke’s Bay – another wine region! This drive felt super long for some reason. We stayed at another great AirBnB hosted by Yvonne and her partner Allen. Allen actually skis for a few months every winter at Big White so he and Caleb hit it off. We enjoyed dinner with them that night (NYE), Caleb cooked burgers and we had some wine; I’m pretty sure we went to bed at 930pm. On Tuesday morning (Happy 2019!) Caleb went for a 40k bike ride around the city and I did a run, we checked out the beach, Kensley had her first Malaysian meal for lunch and Caleb and I enjoyed gelato from two different spots – obviously so we could compare the quality. We then made our way to Mission Winery – New Zealand’s oldest winery! The winery was beautiful, however the wine was subpar. We did enjoy a Chardonnay so we picked up a bottle to enjoy for dinner as Yvonne offered to cook for us.

On Wednesday, we made our way to Lake Taupo which is 2 hours north west of Hawke’s Bay and is the biggest lake in New Zealand – and basically the only lake on the North Island. We checked out the lake front and town and had lunch then made our way to our new home for the next two nights. It was actually a Canadian, Jen, who was renting us this place. She was backpacking in New Zealand a few years ago and met Colin (a kiwi) and basically hasn’t left. They met us at the house and were super nice. They actually cooked dinner (New Zealand meat pie) and brought it over to us the following night! On Thursday, Caleb took of to do the Tongariro Northern Circuit, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, at only 40k :P. It took him about 7 hours to complete. He says the hike was nice but the weather wasn’t great. The trail was nice but packed at times (for about 8k he says there were people every meter at least) and some good viewpoints. Back in Lake Taupo’s little town, it was actually my first day in 6+ weeks alone with Kensley; and I think she hated it haha. She was super fussy for most of the day but we made the best of it (really I wanted to pull my hair and couldn't wait for Caleb to get home) by walking into town and going out for lunch. On Friday morning I went for a great run along the river and lake front (to try to regain sanity from the day before) and then we grabbed some groceries and headed about 30 kms south on the lake to Craigalea. Craigalea is my friend Jacqui’s family’s paradise. They’ve had “a bach” on Lake Taupo since I believe Jacqui and her siblings were little. And they were super happy to share this perfect paradise with us! This place was stunning, right on the lake and the weather was perfect! Our first night, Caleb cooked steaks and we opened our 2010 Marlborough Merlot/Cab Sauv – it was fricking delicious – we both give it an easy 5+ and at $70 a bottle, it’s definitely worth it! Even though it gave me a horrible hangover….I wouldn’t change a thing! Saturday was super chill for us all. We lounged around the bach, went for dips in the lake, had naps, Caleb did a kayak and I did a very painful, short 4k run along the beach! On Sunday, we were sad to say goodbye to Craigalea, but so thankful to have had the opportunity to stay there! We hoped in the car again, and drove 4 hours south west to Titahi Bay, 20k outside of Wellington. We are making our way back home with a couple more stops along the way! We are really enjoying our time away, and although it is WAY different than what we would be doing if we didn’t have a baby, we are still trying to fit some of those things it and think it is still pretty damn great. Oh and summer has definitely arrived in New Zealand – it currently feels like it is July to us here, not January – we can’t wrap our heads around it.

Kensley continues to amaze us. She loves to show off her “tricks” and she absolutely LOVES engaging strangers. She will hoot and holler to get peoples attention and then will give them smiles (showing off her two bottom teeth) endlessly while they tell her how cute she is. Caleb likes to count her “tricks” so we will see how I do with listing how them…she continues to wave, clap, initiate peek-a-boo, find things in her books (bird, ladybug, butterfly). Her newest tricks are her dance moves (3 – head side to side, twist, and now moving her body front to back), she loves to blow kisses, now is crawling, pulling herself up on everything, she fake coughs to get our attention (and Caleb tells her that she doesn’t have to go to work if she’s that sick which I think super cute), she sings, rolls a ball back and forth with us, she loves to point at things she wants, she is saying mama and dada (Caleb isn’t convinced) and actually associates them with us. She has also started this squeal with her big smiles which makes her that much cuter (as if that’s even possible!) So far, 10 days into our roadtrip, she has been an absolute star….hopefully the remainder goes as well!