Our Canal Barge Holiday

Posted on July 18, 2017 by megan

Today once school was finished for the holidays we went down to England and visited Jill and Aaron. For dinner we ordered some delicious curry. Then we went up for bed.

Saturday – In the morning we got some breakfast and then Grandma and Grandpa took Aidan and I to Liverpool. First we went on the Liverpool Eye then we went to a lovely sweet shop. After that we went on a bit of a walk. Later on we drove to the boat marina and we went to a place near there for lunch. After lunch we un-packed our stuff into the boat.

Our boat Ava and Aidan and I’s room.

After we had un-packed we were off!!!

We sailed our boat for half an hour then we moored by a lovely loch. After we moored we had a barbeque for dinner. Which was very nice. Then we went on a walk around the loch. Then we went to bed.

Sunday – We had a very early start this morning because there was a tunnel that takes 45 minutes to get through. While we were going through the tunnel Mum, Grandma and I played quirkle which we really enjoyed. Once we had finally got through the tunnel we made quesadillas for lunch. Then we cruised for the rest of the afternoon.For dinner we had fajitas.

Monday – Today we cruised for most of the morning which has been very relaxing. Then we moored the boat and went out for lunch. I had a delicious pulled pork burger. After lunch we cruised a bit further along the canal. Then we discovered that the canal was being closed further ahead so we moored there for the night. For the rest of the afternoon we explored Macclesfield. For dinner we had some delicious gammon. Then we went to bed.

Tuesday – Today we explored Macclesfield a bit more. First we bought some pies for dinner and then we explored a very nice church. After that we went to a sweet shop. later on we went to a very interesting Silk Museum. Afterwards we had some lunch. After that we started going the other direction. Meanwhile Mum and I walked along the side of the canal doing some geo-caching. For dinner we had some delicious steak pie and chicken pie.

Wednesday – Today we did the 12 locks. The locks took us about 2 hours. Then we had lunch. After lunch we set off again and Grandma, Mum and I did some more geo-caching. Then we went out for dinner. I had a Hawaiian Chicken Burger and then I had a Brownie for dessert. Then after a while we went to bed.

Thursday – Today was a more relaxing day. We explored Congleton. First we went to Victoria Mill and I got some very nice buttons. After that we to a lovely park and got some lunch. I shared a pizza with Grandpa. Then we got some cake. After that we went back to the boat and set off to one end of the tunnel. Once we arrived we moored the boat and had another barbeque. Then we went to bed.

Friday – Today is Aidan’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!! This morning we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we went through the tunnel again. While we were going through the tunnel Mum, Grandma, Aidan and I played quirkle. After we got through the tunnel we had lunch. Then we stayed in the boat for a bit. Later on we went on a walk round the loch. We stopped at a lovely cafe for afternoon tea. Then we set off to the marina so we could get some packing done early. Then we went out for dinner. I had a delicious steak pie. Then we bought a giant eclair for pudding. When we got back to the boat we split the eclair. Then we had to go to bed.

Saturday – Sadly today we had to leave our boat. 🙁 So we had some breakfast. Then we packed the car. After that we said goodbye to our lovely boat and got in the car and went home.

Banff Holiday!

Posted on April 25, 2017 by aidan

This year, during our Easter holidays we stayed in a static caravan in Banff, a pretty little town situated on the south coast of the Moray Firth, about 30 miles west of Fraserburgh.

(The image to the left was our view of the town of Banff along the beach on the first evening)

The journey north was pretty long, due to the fact we chose to follow the coast, but it was beautifully sunny, and we had plenty to do, so it wasn’t that bad! I got some very pretty photos at the spot where we had lunch in Forfar, looking out across Forfar Loch at all the birds that were swimming in the water there. It was a very sunny day, which made traveling that little bit nicer!

Tufted Ducks. I didn’t realise they weren’t just mallards – so I didn’t get any closer up pictures 🙁

Swan on Forfar Loch

In addition, I was lucky enough to stumble upon two butterflies perched elegantly on a dandelion – this was probably the closest I’d ever been to a butterfly! The pictures I got with them really prove how powerful my new camera is. Looking closely at the picture, you can see just how “royal” they look, with the gold colourings, the vivid orange and black – I now know why it’s known as a monarch butterfly!I also got some pretty landscape shots with the trees and the sunshine, experimenting with various angles.

The sun was still shining as we arrived at the caravan, so we got to go to the park for a bit, before heading to bed. The caravan was a 12×35 ft model, so the rooms were a little narrow, but they were definitely comfy and cozy, so I got a good night’s sleep (except being woken by the sun at 6:45…)

On Monday we went on a walk along by the river Deveron, the river dividing Banff and its neighboring town MacDuff. Part of the reason we chose a walk down the river valley was because of the ridiculously high winds that day, causing weird effects in the breaking of the waves, and large sprays flying across the waves; not to mention the rivers of sand streaming across the beach!

But under tree cover by the river was a nice pretty walk, and was actually pretty calm and quiet despite the wind. We encountered many landmarks and old places of significance of our walk, including a mausoleum, an ice house and a large bridge towering at least 20 meters over the river, providing for a stunning view.

It was on Tuesday we decided to go and visit the cardinal point of Peterhead, the Eastern-most point in Scotland; thus completing our visits to the Northern-most Point, Dunnet Head (2014), the Western Point, the Ardnamurchan Peninsula (2012), and the Southern, the Mull of Galloway (2016). And, after the stunning views at all 3 other points, as well as them all bragging about being a famous landmark, as well as cliff-top geocaches, we weren’t expecting an industrialised oil port with just a road barrier to look at. Also, someone had the idea to call the Eastern-most publicly accessible point in Scotland, North Street… The geocache was on a bridge that had recently been dismantled, so we set off for Fraserburgh for geocaches. Fraserburgh had a cool museum about their history, and it also had the cool gold and white lighthouse design we’d seen at the other points around the country. But it was a very fun day, despite the slight disappointment in Peterhead, which did have a nice bay where we had lunch by.

Thank you for reading about our holiday in Banff, and I will be back soon with a post about Burgie House!!

Our holiday in Banff

Posted on April 18, 2017 by megan

Saturday: Today we went to Banff! We got ready in the morning and off we went. It was a beautiful sunny day too.☉ It was a very long journey there especially given we took the coastal route. It was very pretty though. When we arrived I went straight down to the beach and enjoy the sun.

It was really fun. Then Aidan and I un-packed. Later on Aidan and I went out on the beach to go check out the park. Then we came back and had a delicious dinner of steak pie. After dinner we played a fun game of Qwirkle and Mum won!!! After that we went to bed.

Sunday: Today we slept in. Then once we were all awake we had breakfast. We had poridge with brown sugar. After breakfast we played a game of Ticket to Ride. Dad won. Then we had lunch. For lunch we had steak pie remains and cheese and ham panini’s. After lunch we went on a lovely walk to Banff. There was lots of lovely views on our walk.

Once we got back from our walk we had afternoon tea. Then we had some time to relax. Later on we had dinner. It was absolutely delicious. Then we went on another lovely walk. After that we got back and had supper.

Monday: Today was lots of fun. We had normal breakfast. After breakfast we played a really fun game of Pandemic. 🙂 🙂 🙂 After that we had toasties for lunch. Later on we went to Banff to go on a woodland walk. On our walk we passed an Ice House.

It was very interesting. Further along the walk we came across a Mausoleum. After that we went on a very long walk to get back to the car. Once we got back from the walk we went to the co-operative for afternoon tea. Dad and I had an oreo doughnut and Mum and Aidan had a salted caramel doughnut. They were delicious. Then once we got back to the caravan we relaxed. After that Aidan and I made gnocchi and cheese for dinner. Then we got ready for bed.

Tuesday: Today was lots of fun. For Breakfast we had DOUGHNUTS!!!!!! They were delicious. We had the doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and golden syrup. After that Dad made us a picnic lunch for in Peterhead. After that we went to Peterhead. Once we arrived we looked for the Eastern most point of Scotland. Sadly we couldn’t go right up to the edge because it was private. 🙁 🙁 So after that we went to a nice view of the sea and had our lunch. Later on we went to Fraeserbrugh to do some geo-caching. We found all 5! By that time it was getting near to 5:00 so we headed back to the caravan. When we got back Dad made us Pork Stir Fry. It was delicious. Later on we played 3 games of Bananagrams. Then Aidan and I went to bed.

Wednesday: Today was AWESOME. 🙂 🙂 🙂 For breakfast we had eggs and bacon. After that Dad and I went out on a walk which was really nice. When we came back Dad made us toasties for lunch. Later on we went to the Marine Aquarium. 🙂 It was great when we arrived we saw lots of cool fish like: Rays, Sharks, Salmon and all kinds of others being fed. It was really fascinating watching the way they reacted to the food. Then we went and saw some other fish. Here are some pictures.

It was great fun. Afterwards we got ice cream and a drink. I had an original cornetto. Then we went back to Banff to go to a yarn shop. Aidan bought two lovely balls of yarn and I bought a purple, pink and white ball of yarn. After that we went back to the caravan. For dinner we had potato pie which was very nice. Then for pudding we had some pecan pie which Aidan made. It was absolutely delicious. Then we got ready for bed.

Thursday: Today was a bit sad because we were leaving Banff. 🙁 🙁 🙁 So this morning we finished packing and Dad packed the car. Meanwhile Aidan and I had a last walk on the beach. Later on we had lunch. Then we went to Burgie house. On our way there we stopped at a silk art and pottery shop. I got lots of excellent craft ideas. Then we went back on our travels to burgie house.

Scone Palace

Posted on October 17, 2016 by aidan

Sorry about the lateness of this post, I decided it was still worth posting though!

One weekend, before the summer holidays we decided to go out in the beautiful sunshine to Scone palace – but, just like Culzean Castle, which we did last year – when we went to Scone palace, the only thing we didn’t do was visit was the palace itself! The weather was just so brilliant we just took a walk around their stunning grounds and had some scones to eat afterwards (ba-dum crash??).

We had a delicious lunch, straight from the Tesco deli!! Pork pies, cheese, ham, bread – was very nice – and the perfect start to a great afternoon. From there, we went down past the castle to the river – the palace was in pretty good condition for its age, though it was covered in vines! Once down at the river – Megan and I went down onto the stone beach – while Mum & Dad walked through the bluebell covered forest. Looking up the river was pretty spectacular – one of the nicest views since New Zealand! It was so nice, in fact – I later turned it into a felt picture!

We then moved on to continue our walk around the grounds – and we encountered a huge hedge maze – in the shape of a clan tartan – using two different colours of hedge. Megan thoroughly bet me to the centre – she was waiting for me in the centre – because I essentially went the entire circumference of the maze, and some more! Megan took a more direct route. We also encountered a large wooden shelter, with a modelled pineapple on top – and inside it explained about how in the 17-1800s pineapples were known as the food of the rich!

Towards the end of our walk, we encountered white peacocks, roaming around – something none of us had seen before! They were just strolling around the park, where Megan and I were. After we had left the park and made our way back along the road to the castle – we went inside to get afternoon tea, and then came back out to enjoy it in the beautiful sunshine. And then, after a lovely day out, it was time to head home – but with the intention of returning at some point, in the future – to explore inside!

White Peacock!!!

Wheeeee!!!

Holiday in Liverpool

Posted on July 30, 2016 by megan

We are in Liverpool! We had a very fun travel from Caenarfon to Liverpool which Aidan will explain about in his blog post. Anyway today [Wednesday 6th July] we had a delicious breakfast then we got ready to go out to Formby. Once we arrived at Formby we went to the beach which was really fun. Mum and Dad sat around on the bank though. Then after that we went on a very nice walk around the place and we saw a red squirrel which was really cool. Then later on we got some ice cream; I had a chocolate sundae and Aidan had just a vanilla ice cream with a flake in a cone. Then we went back home. For dinner we had a chicken stir fry which was very nice.

The next day it was AIDAN’S BIRTHDAY. So later after a bit of a lie-in we went to the center of Liverpool. First we went on the Wheel of Liverpool which was really fun even if I was a bit scared the first time we went round. Then we went into the Beatles Story Museum which was really fascinating. Then we went home to pick up Mum’s new phone. Later on we went back to Liverpool for afternoon tea (it was delicious). Aidan had a Rocky Road Sundae which he shared a bit with me and I had a Lemon Curd Cheesecake. Then we stopped by a Liverpool Rock place. Aidan got some Liverpool rock, sugar mouse, with choclate sprinkle disks and a broken chocolate piece. I got some sour blue raspberry bubble gum and a packet of blue raspberry nerds and tropical punch nerds. Then we went back home for dinner.

On Friday we went to Blackpool. First we went to the Blackpool Tower which was awesome. We then went all the way to the top of the tower which was awesome but it was freezing even though it had an incredible view. After that we went to the tower gift shop and I got a mini Blackpool tower and an ice cream flavoured Blackpool rock. Then after that we went to the Tower Ballroom which looked very grand. Later on we went on a tram to Pleasure Beach fun park. The beach itself was sadly was closed because it was high tide. Instead we went to the central pier which was awesome first Aidan and I went on the Dodgems which was awesome then we went on a ride called Extreme which was really fun but a bit scary. Then we got 10 fresh donuts and a lemon and lime slushie. Then on our way back we went through an arcade. Dad said to try not to get distracted but we failed I did a coin drop machine that had other prizes in it to. I spent about 5 mins on it and I then won a crystal lizard keyring. Then we went on a long walk which was really fun. Then we went to a shop to buy some Blackpool rock for my friends. Then we went home for dinner.

On Saturday we had a lazy morning because we where feeling quite tired from all the travelling.Then in the afternoon we went to a place called Knowsley Safari Park. Which was really fun. We saw lots of different animals like Rhino’s, Camels & lions. Here are 4 pictures.

Then we went to the gift shop & Aidan bought a snow globe. I didn’t buy anything but I did do a coin press for Knowsley Safari Park. Then we had a nice journey home.

Touring The Country [Part 3]

Posted on March 23, 2016 by aidan

Touring New Zealand was a very exciting time, though it did involve huge amounts of driving! I have split my diary of our six day tour into 3 segments, this being number 3. I hope you enjoy reading my posts, thank-you!

Day 6
Today was quite a mixed ‘touring the area’ sort of a day, which we began by a walk on the beach, collecting pretty shells, like spiral-shells, a fragment of paua, and some beautiful and weirdly coloured mussels. Then we went to one of the many Hawkes Bay vineyards, so my mum and dad could fill their up their travel wine bottle allowance with cheaper NZ wine (not fully); but also to have lunch. We then made our way up to Te Mata Peak (thought it was tomato-a!), which was a reasonably steep drive up and around the mountain, which we spent watching exhausted hikers scramble up, as well as watching the views – then looking down ever so slightly to see the almost unprotected 10-15m cliffs and 60 degree slopes going down hundreds of metres! From the top we peered over cliffs and steep banks, and watched a low flying Cessna aeroplane – except it wasn’t low flying, it was over the valley and we were just so high up! After attempting to find two geocaches, and only getting the second, we began our decent to the Strawberry Patch, a berry farm not too dissimilar to Cragies in Edinburgh – but the Strawberry Patch did something Cragies doesn’t – fresh ice cream made from your choice of berries which are blended into the ice cream right in front of you. Today had been an exciting day, but I am glad to be in bed now!

The beach…

SELFIE! (Yes… that is a 15m cliff right behind me!)

Some steep drop-off, isn’t it!?!

Day 7 -Part 1
We had to be fast this morning, 9am departure rather than the 10am we normally would have, we had a long drive in front of us, but then we had no clue quite how long! Here is the story of our weary way to Rotorua (beware: slightly over dramatised! P.S To be fair – it wasn’t quite as bad as I’ve described!):

We say goodbye, it’s sad we were leaving again – it doesn’t get any easier, does it?
Breaking News! Crash on State Highway 5, the only route from where we are to Rotorua avoiding hours of detour
Took the many hours long detour…
Realise we have 90km to do on gravel roadways 🙁
After some really pretty landscapes, we remember that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’
Gravel road. 30km before the map says it starts. 😐
Tarmac road: )
Gravel road 🙁
Tarmac road 🙂
Gravel road 🙁
Gravel road starts on the map.
Twisty, turny! Twisty, turny! Up and down(y?)! Up and down(y?)!
Reach random massive lake 570m above sea level – for some reason it isn’t surprising that my dad has done the 5-day circumnavigation of it – twice…
Visitor centre by said lake – frozen pies that need to be microwaved in store for 12mins for all 4
Microwave for 5mins – I finally got to taste what frozen, cooked egg tastes like (because that’s what I always wanted?!?)
Patches of tarmac road 🙂
Three vehicles ahead: dust, Dust!, DUST!!!!!!!!
End of gravel!!! PARTY TIME!!! 🙂
5mins later: Hisssssss Poof! Out comes the replacement tyre – we’re so late it doesn’t actually affect us much at all!
End of mountains!!! Straight, flat roads and…. – we’re limited to 80kmph, (grrr) Still, it’s flat though!
ROTORUA!!!!!!! At long, LONG last!!!

Day 7 -Part 2
After a very dramatic and eventful journey to Rotorua, we decided to go in to relax in the Polynesian Spa, but sadly there wasn’t a private Spa available (at least not for half an hour) so we had a great time swimming in the public pools. After some pizza for dinner (and spotting a Pukeko!) we made our final journey back to Auckland, stopping only at McDonalds for supper. Megan slept most of the trip – at first, I was sure I hadn’t slept, but after realising we were more than 20 miles from where I closed my eyes I realised I actually had slept in the car- first time in many years! After our arrival at the Motel I finally fell straight asleep, after a long, long day!

A Pile of Steaming Rocks at Rotorua!

Boiling Mud!

Pukeko!!!! Finally!

Touring The Country [Part 2]

Posted on March 21, 2016 by aidan

Touring New Zealand was a very exciting time, though it did involve huge amounts of driving! I have split my diary of our six day tour into 3 segments, this being number 2. I hope you enjoy reading my posts, thank-you!

Day 4
It was Sunday morning and we all (at least in the tent) woke quite late, to the sound of being called to breakfast, which in my opinion is probably the best thing to wake up to! Church this morning was nice, I rarely get to stay in for the sermon, so it’s always interesting for me when there’s not Sunday School to go to. The sermon was about New Year’s resolutions and the book of James, we even sung a song we know from our church (I was surprised as I thought it wasn’t even known as far as Linlithgow!), but the actions were different(not surprising!). We had lunch with one of my dad’s cousins, and their children who we had fun playing darts and shooting each other with Nerf guns, we didn’t go anywhere else today except Great Aunt Elsbeth’s place for dinner, where we updated an old family photograph of hers in which I was a baby and Megan wasn’t present.

Wanganui Church

Day 5
Today was our second goodbye, and a third drive we’re going on to see friends, at least this one’s shorter though we still had the same time to get there which meant more stops. No giant carrots this time, but plenty of geocaches – of the hundreds there were to choose from, we searched for (and found) three – of which I can claim 2, unusual for me I thought (to be fair they were the easiest). We had morning tea and lunch on the road, which meant we did a little walking around the towns/villages, learning about the Scandinavian influence in the area. But the most interesting town was by far Bulls, which was very enjoya-bull! as Bulls is well known for it’s laugha-bull signs! Seriously, everywhere you looked were these horri-bull-y bad puns. I loved seeing all the hilariously bad jokes on all the signs in the town, pretty much everywhere, it seems everyone was taking part in the pun spirit, even the extinguish-a-bull fire station, it was probably the highlight of my day, other than arriving at our friends place.

Geocaching!!!

Touring The Country [Part 1]

Posted on March 20, 2016 by aidan

Touring New Zealand was a very exciting time, though it did involve huge amounts of driving! I have split my diary of our six day tour into 3 segments, this being number 1. I hope you enjoy reading my posts, thank-you!

Day 1
Vvrrrrooom!!! Our two hour drive down to Waitomo had started, we were already practically out of Auckland because our lovely motel was right on the edge already. There wasn’t much to see on the road for quite a long way, just rolling hills on the massive Waikato plain, stretching out as far as the eye can see, and only farms, trees and houses dotted around. The Waikato plain covers hundreds of square miles, so we wouldn’t get out of the plains until we reached our final destination for today, which was not Waitomo, we only went out of our way to Waitomo to see glow-worms in a cave system there, and then we were going to head back north to Pirongia – where we are staying with friends. After finally arriving in Waitomo we went to see the glow-worms – they were amazing! In the cave we were taught all about stalagmites and stalactites, about limestone in the caves, about the Maori history of the cave and finally, glow-worms. The glow-worms were amazing – the cave was filled with tens of thousands of them – we were on a small boat in the undergrounds water, it was beautiful having no other lights and only the sound of dripping water in the background, it was so peaceful. After a long day we whizzed back north to Pirongia – where we then had fun with the friends we were staying with.

Day 2
Yesterday had been a long day, so we got up relatively late (for us!), but we were all excited because today was going to be a fun day as we were planning to go swimming in the river. After playing until lunch, we headed off – seeing some of the neighbourhood’s stranger sights along the road including:

A microwave on a pole for a postbox
A fence covered in literally Hundreds of Toothbrushes!?! (Click to view on Google Maps)
A car parked on the side of a 60 or so degree slope,
A Tardis postbox!

Before our swim we decided to go to see the Kaniwhaniwha Caves, which took a fair bit of walking to get to, but were definitely worth it – though not the sort of caves you’d expect. It was really just a narrow crack in the rock – 30m from one end to the other, between 40cm at the narrowest point to about a metre wide; but what was particularly interesting was that at one point it was 7.5m high, big enough for some curtain-like stalactites and a cave wetta. Now it was swimming time, sadly it was a mountain run-off river (aka freezing!) – but we had some fun boogie-boarding, both for and against the current, Megan also tried the rope swing, and overall it was a great time!

LANDSLIDE!!!!

Down into the cave….

Day 3
Today was sort of bitter-sweet, holding a goodbye to friends we don’t see much at all, long drives and then saying hello to other friends who we are going to be staying with for the next few days. After finally escaping the steep gravel driveway, we began our drive – which wasn’t particularly interesting, except: the giant 2500m Mountain Ruapehu which my mum still doesn’t believe exists! (it’s been in the clouds every time she’s passed it); a bridge over a massive gorge in which our great, great grandfather had some involvement in; and, a 18km detour to see… a giant carrot! After the 3-4 hour drive we finally arrived to see our friends, we had a great afternoon/evening with them before we (the children) went out to the tent where we were sleeping.

The Carrot Itself!!!

Ruapehu – Or is it?!?

The massive Railway Bridge, under some repairs.

The Final Part of our Trip

Posted on February 9, 2016 by megan

This is what we did when we were visiting some friends in New Zealand.

Then once we left Auckland we went to the glow worm caves which was absolutely beautiful and very fascinating. After that we went to see Mel and her kids Amy, Daniel, Noah and Cassia. Amy was 14, Daniel was 12, Noah was 8 and Cassia is 5. I spent lots of my time with Amy staying away from the boys. First Amy and I built a fort which was really cosy meanwhile the boys where setting up pranks. Then Amy and went out on a walk for 10 minutes then we had dinner. The next day we went to a river and went on a long walk to the caves. Then on the way back Amy, Noah, Daniel and I ran of ahead pretending there was a Zombie apocalypse. Then we went swimming in the river which was really cold first I went body boarding with Amy then we went on the rope swing. Aidan didn’t want to do it so I got ready to do it but I slipped just above the water and it was actually really fun. So I did it again I slipped but I let go too late and bashed my knee which feels much better now. Then we went back and Amy and I made rainbow cupcakes while the boys were out building a den. Then when they came back we put yucky stuff into their water to get them back for the other pranks. Then we said goodbye and went to see some other friends.

Then we met some friends of ours called Benjamin and Toby. They were really fun to play with. It was really funny to watch and help them out when fighting each other. Then we spent quite a while playing a game called Geometry Dash making levels for each other. One of my favourite parts was sleeping in a tent outside with Benjamin and Toby for two nights. The next day we went to church after that we had lunch then played some darts which I really enjoyed. Aidan was with Toby and I was with Benjamin. Aidan and Toby weren’t that good whereas Benjamin and I were very good. Later that day I showed them my back bend and asked them to try and do a bridge. I have to admit that they weren’t that good though I know that they did their best. Then we had dinner with Auntie Elspeth and some of her friends which was delicious. Then the next day she came to say goodbye to us which I thought was very kind.

After that we went to see Hannah and Alethea. Hannah is 9 and she had an adorable pet rabbit plus a swimming pool! Then we spent the rest of the day chatting. The next day we went up a mountain and went exploring. Then we went to get a fresh fruit ice cream. Then when we got back we went swimming in their pool. Which was so much fun. Then we went back to Auckland and the next day we went to the Zoo which was so cool we even saw Kiwis. Then the next day we said our goodbyes and hopped onto the plane.

Our New Zealand Holiday so far

Posted on December 28, 2015 by megan

When we arrived on Saturday we went to our awesome house and unpacked. Then we went to Nan and Grandad’s house and we spent a lovely afternoon with them. Then on Sunday we were going to go to church, but we were too tired so we stayed at home. Then we went to Nan and Grandad’s to see Auntie Heather and Uncle Martin. We had a lot of fun playing Qwirkle, but sadly I lost. Aidan won the game and Auntie Heather came second.

On Monday we went to Mission Bay with Auntie Heather and Uncle Martin. We went swimming in the sea and Aidan and I went foraging for shells and I kept finding oyster shells. Then we also had ice cream, despite the fact it was melting extremely quickly – it still was delicious. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it.

Selfie at Fairy Falls, Waitakere Ranges

Then on Tuesday we went to the Waitakere Ranges (the NZ rainforest near Auckland). We had a lovely walk through and we saw a beautiful waterfall as well as a massive kauri tree. Then later on we went to a place in Meadowbank and we got some chicken drumsticks (they were the best chicken drumsticks I had ever had).

Us in the Waitakere Ranges (Fairy Falls track)

The Summer Gravel Snowman (wearing my new hat!)

Then on Wednesday Nan and Grandad had an appointment to go to and Daddy was going with them. So while they were gone Auntie Heather, Aidan and I did some marbling and we made 16 really pretty sheets of marbling paper (it’s so easy to make hundreds!). Then for afternoon tea we went to Dunkin Donuts where Aidan got a cinnamon donut and I got a chocolate donut.

The next day was Christmas Eve and we went to Sylvia Park shopping centre for some last-minute shopping. I got a pair of gorgeous kiwi paua shell earings and necklace. Then Aidan got a mini Maori carving that had paua shell eyes. Then for lunch Mummy and Aidan had delicious sushi. I had got my lunch from Oporto (take away fried meat shop) and got delicious chicken drumsticks and chips (Again I know!).

Friday was CHRISTMAS AT LAST!!! First we opened our stocking presents and I got my first ever pair of dangly earings. Then we went over to Nan and Grandad’s house for Christmas lunch it was delicious. Then later that day two of Daddy’s friends came over and we had a lovely walk along the beach. We also had a walk through the water and discovered it was really warm so we all walked through the water.

Then on Boxing Day we went to Meadowbank and visited my kindergarten and Aidan’s old school. Then in the afternoon we went to Panmure Basin and walked all the way around it. Then in the evening we went to Tahuna Torea (a beach) and Aidan and I went swimming in the sea (it was lots of fun). Then we went to see the lights and we also drove up to One Tree Hill.

Then on Sunday we went to church and we had a lot of fun. [I’ll tell you more about our afternoon in another post].

Today, Monday, we went to Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Centre. It was a lot of fun we saw lots and lots of penguins. Then we saw some elephant sharks wich looked very cool. Then we saw lots of fish and we also saw some sharks too which was absolutely awesome. Then after that we saw some awesome sea horses and we saw some species I had never seen before. Then we had a look at some star fish, I even got to hold one!

Mr Shark

This was AWESOME! (megalodon shark)

Just chillin’

Two Adventurers

Aidan and Megan's blog

Category Archives: travel