My A-Z of Aotearoa

My little family and I have been living in New Zealand for 18months (lovely Hubby was here 7 months before us but thats another story). We were all born in Scotland and have lived there all our lives apart from wee Archie boy who was born here in Paraparaumu. Although he was born in New Zealand recent changes mean that he is British whereas in the last he would have been classed as a kiwi and granted an automatic N.Z. Passport, most frustrating but nevermind.

Anyhoo, the point of this blog is to begin my A-Z of Aotearoa! Changing country and sides of the world has had it's good and not so good points BUT we are great believers in the old adage 'nothing ventured nothing gained'.

I thought it might be interesting (or not) to share some of the things we have learned or found as an expat family in the form of an A-Z. So let's begin at the beginning ...

A is for ...

New Zealand by another name ... Aotearoa, the Maori name in fact. It is pronounced (to my ears) altearrrrrroa. Maori words are good for us Scottish people as we are good at rolling our rrrrrrrrrrs apparently!

Aotearoa is made up of the North and the South Island. Maori legend states that Maui (the son of Tane Mahuta the god of the land/forest) went fishing with his nanas jaw bone and caught a massive sting ray which became the North Island, his boat is the South Island and the anchor is Stewart Island. Maui's brother hacked up the sting ray after Maui caught it which created all the mountains and valleys on the North Island.

These stories and legends are awesome. Hopefully I will learn more and be able to share what I learn. Meanwhile I will. Bring the letter B to you guys soon ...

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Wordless Wednesday 31st October 2012

I'm linking up to Wordless Wednesday over at Nanny to Mummy.

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Saturday Project Week 1

You may (or may not) be aware of my blog about the idea of attempting to make glow in the dark bubbles. Well I gave it a go as promised. I probably would have reported back sooner but it wasn't really very successful.

I had the glow sticks ...

I had the bubbles ...

I even had a glowing bottle of bubbles once I put the two together ...

But sadly I have no lovely picture of actual glowing floating bubbles! Not sure what went wrong, I did what I was told but I failed.

Not one to be put off by failure I have again looked at my Pinterest 'I Must Try This' pin board for inspiration. Surely some of the things I covet are achievable!?!?! I find my self with a Saturday solo avec Cherubs this week, I think I will attempt to make these bad boys ...

I'm not going to lie, I'm slightly terrified, any attempt to bake tends to end in disaster for me! I'm told practice makes perfect though Success or failure I will report back ...

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Kapiti Island Today 31st October 2012

Kapiti Island today 6pm ...

It was pretty toasty down at the beach last night so we all rocked up at thebeach with shorts and t-shirts on and wee Archie with bare feet tonight. The house was hot so surely it would be hot at the beach! I will eventually learn that whatever is going on it will always be chillier at the beach. Plus point the dog didn't dive straight into the water!

I had planned to use the 'earlybird' filter on Instagram to edit my 'Kapiti Island Today' picture each time. I think it looks great and love the frame it gives BUT I don't think it shows off the colours I capture with my magic iPhone very well. So I've decided to just leave the pictures as I take them so those who look at the blog get to see as near as possible to what I have seen. Apart form adding text and a blog watermark I will post the naked picture straight from my photo stream!

Island Fact For The Day - Kapiti Island was used as a Whaling Station in the 1800's.

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Kapiti Island Today 30th October 2012

Kapiti Island today 10am ...

What a lush day. One month to go until summer and things are picking up.

I took The Cherubs and The Hound for a walk in Otaihanga along Waikanae River bank this morning. As you get towards the river mouth you get this awesome view of The Island. It was so peaceful, just us and the Whitebaiters!!!!!

Island fact for the day - Parts of the most recent King Kong movie were filmed on the other side of the island! Peter Jackson himself went to college (high school) here in Paraparaumu.

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New TRENDY Shoes

One of the benefits of having my 22 year sister living with me! Occasionally being able to share in the joy of up to the minute fashion! Granted some of the things these crazy kids wear these days baffles me BUT I am not ashamed to wear the same sandals as my little sister when they are as cute as this ...

Here's hoping that when I first step out with these babies on there's no young whipper snappers sniggering at the old fool in the jazzy sandals!!! My sister tells me they are a bit slippery, if I'm not making a tit of myself by the act of wearing them I'm sure to do so for falling arse over tit!

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Kapiti Island Today 29th October 2012

Kapiti Island today 6.30pm ...

Our first trip to the beach after work this spring. We would probably have been earlier but The Hound has had poorly skin for the last month or so so we have been avoiding it seeing as he can't help but dive bomb into the sea as soon as he hits the beach, not the best tactic for healing a scabby skinned beast. BUT his skin is finally clearing and he finished his antibiotics after 3 weeks of antibiotic filled cheese balls twice a day we treated him to half an hour terrorising other hounds and hound walkers trying to enjoy a leisurely evening stroll. I had to set an alarm to remind me to give him his medication, sweet boy began to recognise the alarm and got so excited by his cheese balls he forgot to try and forage out the mess!

The idea of taking The Hound to the beach always seems like such a good idea, he gets to stretch his legs and run without his lead on and we all get fresh air and to stretch our own legs. I always forget how much of a stress it actually is (they don't call me Stress Head Simpson for nothing). I spend most of my time yelling after him terrified he is going to get eaten by a bigger dog or piss off a little dogs owner. He's got small dog syndrome and makes a beeline for the biggest dog he can find and torments it! To add to the stress I then get to yell at him to stay in his basket once we get home because he's soaking wet! No sooner has he raced along the beach for two minutes than he is tired out and lying down in the sea to cool down! MESSY GIT.

Regardless I still love him to bits, he's my first born. In fact the other day at the vet (bad parent alert) Lovely Hubby and I were discussing how cute he was when he was a baby and we both agreed that between him and The Cherubs he was definitely the cutest baby....

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