#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

Week 41 is a blur because it was so long ago and now lives in the dark shadow of week 42, which was FULL OF GINA!!! I guess of note, Gina arrived on Friday of week 41 and so the rest of the week was prepping for that. Oh and Kensley and I spent the day with Jacqui and Walt in Rangiora (about 30 min drive from Christchurch). We meet them at the pool and did our first public swim. Thank goodness I tackled this for the first time with Jacqui, who is the definition of super woman/mom. I didn’t at all think about logistics so she helped me through it. Kensley and Walt loved the experience! While we were waiting for them at the pool, Kensley decided to up and walk. She has been working on taking a few steps for a few weeks now but this was fully up and walk across the room. I wasn’t ready for it, at all! Insert crazy mom here = tearful, jumping to encourage her and scrambling for my phone. I think I scared her out of walking for the rest of the week.

So in all seriousness, I could not wait for Gina to arrive on Friday! Imagine my disappointment when her flight got delayed not once, but twice. She had to stay a night in LA and then AGAIN in Sydney. What are the chances!? So Caleb treated Kensley and I to a beer and fries out Friday afternoon to ease the pain. 24 hrs later, and Kensley and I made our way to the airport to pick up Gina. Gina was obviously exhausted but she was a trooper and ready to visit. Kensley had been saying “G” for days in anticipation of her arrival and that little girl was pumped to see her! Kensley LOVES having visitors and it didn’t take long for her to start showing of her tricks to “G” and insisting that she read her multiple books. On Saturday night, Gina and I went out for drinks and supper with Helen, Lucy and Michaela. We had a great time and drank lots of yummy wine. I was a bit worried on the walk home thinking about how much I was going to pay for the wine consumption the next day. However, I woke up and felt pretty decent and had a significant realization; For years I have had people tell me that they can’t drink red wine because of the hangover it gives them, even 1-2 glasses, and now I’m that person. We drank white wine that night and while I was still a bit sluggish on Sunday, if it had been red wine, I would’ve been a wreck. So now, I guess I’m going to have to try to limit my red wine consumption….eeek wish me luck! On Sunday, Kensley spent the morning with Sarah while Gina and I went for a run, for brunch and wandered the city!

Caleb was away for the weekend with Andy on a hiking adventure. They made their way to Cameron Hut in the Arrowsmith Range. This a basically 2 hour drive south west. He said it was a good hike on a trail that wasn’t well marked. They had the hut to themselves. I was pretty happy for Caleb about this weekend because most of his exploring has been on his own so I was pumped that he had a buddy. The hut was almost at the base of a glacier so they checked that out too. They ran into some snow so it prevented them for getting along the ridge as far as they had hoped.

Here we go week 42!!! The best week ever! Monday Kensley was off to daycare and I took Gina to my favorite place around Christchurch, Godley Head. We did a great trail run, in matching shirts that Gina brought for us. Anyone that knows me well knows that this is totally my jam – I want to be matchy matchy with all of my favorite people, all of the time! We then did some serious work (oil change, groceries, coconut milk lattes) to prepare for our roadtrip that was starting the next day. Kensley, Gina, and I were headed on a girls’ road trip around the south island. It started Tuesday morning with a 3ish hour drive to Lake Tekapo and a pit stop in Geraldine (or Grenedere to some people) where we hit the goat cheese jackpot. We checked into our airbnb, did a naptime (Kensley napped) workout, and enjoyed an impressive view of the lake. We checked out the lake and the very small town and then made our way back to the airbnb for a chill evening at home. Chill evenings at home were theme on this trip with a baby but we made the most of it.

On Wednesday we packed up and drove 2ish hours to Wanaka. We stopped at the AMAZING Wanaka Lavender Farm. This farm has been recommended to me by three people from different groups in Canada and was also recommended to Gina, so it was a must. An Ottawa gal married a NZ boy and the farm is theirs. We were really impressed by the farm, shop, and Kensley loved the animals. We then headed into Wanaka proper to check out the town and have an early dinner. On Thursday we did some more exploring of Wanaka, but this time on bikes. We rented bikes and Kensley joined us on her first bike ride. Although were didn’t go as far and I had hoped she’d tolerate, it was a pretty good success. On Friday, Gina’s favorite day, we drove an hour to Arrowtown for a quick stop and café visit. We then went to Amisfield winery where Gina did a wine tasting and loved the Pinot Gris (although 4/5 is a pretty tough rating). She thought they were all good but that was her favorite and our bottle to enjoy that night in Queenstown. We then drove straight into Queenstown and made our way directly to Fergburger to get a famous burger. We enjoyed them along the awesome waterfront. Now to get to our amazing airbnb, which had the most stunning view and was an amazing space in general. I didn’t want to leave but we did end up going out in the afternoon and Kensley started walking (May 10). I define it as walking when she’s walking more places than crawling and that day, at the park, she seemed to decide that she was done with crawling. We downed that bottle of Pinot Gris that night and reflected on how amazing our lives are, seriously! In NZ, with our favorite people, just living the dream! On Saturday, we started our journey back to Christchurch but broke it up with another night in Lake Tekapo where Caleb met us. He took Kensley duty that evening so Gina and I could go to the hot pools in town and again, reflect on how much life rocks (and chat about Trenton)! We got home to a great spread of charcuterie and cheeses and wine poured for us. And Sunday was back to Christchurch and the real world (well not really, Gina’s visit continues and that means lots more fun!)

It seems needless to say but week 42 was nothing but perfect! I am super thankful for this experience and our year in NZ but to share it with one of my favorite people (other that Caleb and Kensley) was awesome. The week was actually so smooth. It couldn’t have gone any better in my opinion (ok, maybe I could’ve planned for one more night in Queenstown). Gina is my perfect travel partner – we are completely on the same page (workouts, food, wine, relaxation, sleep, fresh air, laughing). And Kensley was an absolute gem. She slept well, she tolerated the car well (no pukey), she laughed a lot, and she started freaking walking! My heart is beyond full after fun (sometimes serious/sometimes ridiculous) conversation, scenery that pictures just won’t do justice, too much cheese, a reasonable amount of wine, a perfect baby with the cutest rain pants, and even a little thievery!