We are Home!

We spent the first three weeks living at my parents’ house. It worked out really well. They were so amazing with Madi and looked after her when we needed to get other things organized. Madi fell instantly in love with both of them! We went to our house the day after we arrived to inspect the place and see what needed to be done. We were anxious to get started on things as we knew there was so much to do. But, we also were very busy trying to see everyone, which was lots of fun too. We were very fortunate to have Charla’s Mom, Debbie, come to our place to help us choose colours for our paint. She drove down to out place, on her only day off, from Burlington, just to help us! And Thanks to Debbie, we LOVE our home! The moment Debbie walked out the door we drove straight to the paint store and got all of our paint, colour was on the walls by morning! Steve painted the entire house, almost top to bottom. While he was doing that, I was cleaning and shopping for new carpet. But as each day passed everything came together. We had a fantastic mechanic helping us find two cars, which was great, as sharing my parents cars were a huge inconvenience to my parents! We ended up buying a 2004 Nissan Maxima for Steve and a 2005 Chevy Uplander for me, we both love our vehicles! Our shipment from Singapore arrived in the midst of it all, which was great, because we had our stuff safe and sound, but we had a lot to do before we could tackle unpacking. The carpet was changed, our previous furniture was moved back into the house and we began unpacking all of our treasures. Our Shipment from India arrived safe and sound somewhere in there as well. We then made a date and sent out the invites for Madi’s third birthday party, the only thing Madi wanted when we moved to Canada was a Princess Birthday party, so this created a great date to be finished the house. By the time the party came along we were almost totally unpacked, the art was hung and everything was looking fabulous! We couldn’t believe how quickly time passed and soon it was time to begin school again. We have Madi at a fantastic Daycare so we took some time to ease her into the transition before school. We were also able to go to my parents’ cottage for the Labour day weekend. School is going really well for both Steve and I. Steve went back to his same school, teaching grade 7 science and a bit of math. He has a great staff and really enjoys the students. He is coaching almost every team, which helps him not miss PE as much! I decided to come back as a planning time teacher, so I teach JK/SK PE, Grade 1 and 2 Science and PE and Grade 3 Social Studies and the Arts. I really miss having a homeroom and teaching math and reading and writing and I am constantly amazed at how far behind we are in certain things in relation to what we were doing in Singapore. However, I am really enjoying the job, I love the kids and of course they love me because I teach PE! This job also allows me to leave straight away after schools o that I can pick Madi up and get home to be domestic! We are certainly missing Singapore and all of people we fell in love with, especially as everyone is now sharing all of their adventures on October Break! But, we are also loving being home. We love our home and being near my parents and seeing friends and watching their kids grow up, seeing Madi play with the kids…we feel very fortunate that the move has gone so well. Hope you enjoy the pics!
We went away for a few days to a water park in Niagara Falls and the States with friends
The kids in the tub

My friend Paula and I on the tubes in the Waterpark!

Steve and Madi enjoying a ride too! Madi loved it and went up again and again!

Madi and her friend Leah! This weekend made them best buds!

The men and the kids, George and Sophie, Steve and Madi and Sean and Leah and Blake

My parents with Madi and her new wagon that they got her for her birthday

Steve and his new car!! He loves it! 2004 Nissan Maxima, fully loaded, heated steering wheel even!

Our home, 100 Rush Meadow !

Steve and Madi on the porch

Madi using the new Sheep's skin from NZ

Playing on the swings!

Small country fall fair! Madi on the rides by herself!!

Madi's princess birthday party with all of her Princess friends, Leah, Ava, Mary, Madi and Sophie

My first try at being domestic! I had a bit of help from my friend Paula!

Princess Madi in our front hall answering the door to our first guests to the party!

Our backyard

THE table! This is it! I realize in te picture it doesn't look so great, but we LOVE it! this is the 1000 pound table from Malaysia that just came yesterday! The Chairs were hand made in India (and are not that yellow)

Our consol table from Malaysia and Mirror from Singapore in our front hall (notice in the reflection te singapore art that we got as a departing gift)

Our bedroom, the cabinents that we bought in Beijing, the top parts did not fit

Another angle of the bedroom

Our living room, or part of it, with Steve in the background in the kitchen

Our living room

Our chiar from Beijing and our chest from India and the stool from Singapore, all on the main floor

Our kitchen table from Dubai and art from Vietnam

Powder room with art from Singapore, as our departing gift from the school

Madi's nursery from before

Spare room...if you ever want to visit

Madi in her 'pink room'

Loves to jump on the bed!!

Another angle of Madi's pink room!

Our ensuite bathroom to our bedroom

Madi's bathroom

New Zealand June 23 -July 9, 2009

This is an exceptionally long entry…we were there for two weeks, so there is a lot to say! There are also loads of pictures, we cut out sooo many, but could not part with these. No need to read the entry, it is more for us and our aging memories!
New Zealand
We arrived in New Zealand at about 4:30pm. Both New Zealand and Australia are very strict on what you can bring into their county because they are both small islands and many things can upset their unique ecosystems. So you have you declare anything that you have listed on the customs form. We thought about each one and answered no to each one. Well, as it turns out, they had the dogs out in the baggage claim area and the dog sniffed out bags and indicated that we had food…so we open our bags, and the dog finds a small, open, old bag of apple slices from Mc Donald’s…had the lady been mean, she could have charged us a 250.00 fine. So then off we go through customs and Steve has his brand new didgeridoo with him and the customs guy says…this is wood, you didn’t declare it…of course we totally forgot about it. However, he decides not to fine us, but we are not allowed in the country with it, so we have to store it there for our trip…we were actually quite thankful because now we did not have to lug it around our whole trip. Anyway, all of this time Julie and her Dad, Rich, are waiting for us. It was so great to see them! Julie is a very close friend of ours and Madi adores her, so all Madi could talk about was going to visit Julie. They took us back to their place, which was so nice! It was so great to see where Julie lives and get to visit with her and both her parents. Viv, Julie’s mom made us a beautiful dinner, of roast lamb and all the fixins, including Pavlova for dessert!! We thought we would never leave! We spent the evening sitting by the fire, drinking wine and getting all caught up.
The next day Julie drove me to the Laundromat and we got to drop it off and pick up a few hours later all done for us, which was great!
When we got home Steve had begun making breakfast for us! Viv had bought everything for a delicious breakfast for us!
After breakfast we Julie drove us all around New Zealand, we got to see her old school and we went down to the water front, to a look out and to a beach. We had lunch at the beach, drank New Zealand wine and enjoyed the afternoon. Madi played at the park and then we headed home. The family had a few other visitors staying at Julie’s sister’s, Helen’s place, so they had a huge BBQ with all of Julie’s family. Julie is originally from South Africa so we had some SA sausage and wine as well as many other treats. It was so great to meet Julz’ family! She has a nephew who is about 9 months younger than Madi, so they had fun and it was great to meet him because we have heard to so much about him. It was a great night.
The next day we had a 10am flight to Christchurch, so Julie drove us to the airport, I really have no idea how we would have done it without her!
We arrive in Christchurch at midday, the campervan people picked us up and then we got sorted with the campervan. We then ventured into Christchurch to take a look around and have some lunch. As it got dark, about 5:30, we went grocery shopping. We found a great shop and had a great time getting all the things we needed for our home on wheels. It took us ages, as we have not been in a proper grocery store in a while. When we were finally done and all put away, we had to do a three hour drive in order to make it to our destination the next day. So off we set with map in hand. We eventually made it as far as we could and found a spot to park, we did not plug in as it was too late to check in and we were all powered up anyway. It was fun getting settled and spending out first night in the campervan.
The next morning we got up early and headed out…very nice to just roll out of bed and begin driving. This was our earliest morning of the whole trip because we had made reservations to be in TeAnu for a tour at 2pm and TeAnu was 6 hours away. Off we set and only a few hours in we began to have car trouble, we had to call the Road side assistance guy and see a mechanic; we thought we were going to miss our excursion, but sure enough Steve got us there.
The drive was beautiful! This was our first day of enjoying the NZ scenery!
We finally arrived in TeAnu and got to where we needed to be. We headed out on a boat to see the Glow Worm Cave. It was very cool, the boat ride was fun and we got to see a pristine lake where the fog was settling in neat places. When we arrived we walked through a really cool cave and then got into a tiny boat where it was pitch dark and went and looked at the glow worms. It was like looking at stars in the sky, so many of them! You could see the sticky trail that they left to catch their food. Madi didn’t know what to think, it was so dark and so quiet, she sat quietly the whole time and thought it was pretty neat.
Afterwards we had hot chocolate and got to explore the surroundings for a bit before heading back on the boat.
When we got back we looked around the very small town and found a camping spot to park. We got all plugged in and made dinner, which we found quite fun because we haven’t been domestic in a while. We enjoyed playing in the campervan with Madi, she loved going up and down the ladder, and there was a TV and DVD player for her to watch a video before bed. Once she was in bed Steve and I would get out the wine and the backgammon and play for hours each night.
The next day we made our way from TeAnu to Manapouri for another Boat tour with Real Journey’s company. We were spending the day on Doubtful Sound. We checked in and boarded the boat. Because it was winter there were only 19 of us, so we had lots of space! Usually there are almost 200 passengers. We took a boat across Lake Manapouri and then drove for about 40 minutes to another, much larger boat, to cruise on Doubtful Sound. We spent the day looking at scenery and listening to many neat facts about New Zealand and it’s unique eco system. We learned that both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound are not Sounds at all, they are Fiords, which are lakes created by Glaciers.
The day was beautiful, we could not have asked for better weather and it was so serene and so beautiful, a fantastic way to spend the day!
After the boat ride we got to see the underground power station and then we headed back to Manapouri.
We found a place to park for the night and settled in. Steve is winning in Backgammon, but I am learning!The next day we began one of the most beautiful drives of the trip to Milford Sound. It took about 3.5 hours with many stops along the way to take pictures. It literally was every time you made a turn in the road something more beautiful made you pull over.
We saw icicles and Madi ate her very first icicle. We arrived with lots of time and made lunch in the campervan while in the parking lot, while Madi slept...ahh the beauty of having a campervan!! And Milford Sound is just a dock basically to go on the boat tours, the whole way to Milford sound and in Milford sound, there is no gas station or anything, so you need to come with a full tank and leave before the sun goes down in order to navigate the road on the way back.
We boarded the boat with about 25 others. Again, these boats are usually jammed with about 200 people during the summer months, so we were pleased to have loads of space!
The cruise was about 2.5 hours and it was so amazing! We had a great man doing the commentary and we learned lots. The scenery was unbelievable! We saw seals on the rocks and a pod of dolphins, they were too quick and too amazing to stop watching and get the camera ready, so we only have one pathetic shot of a dolphin under water, but it was so neat.
The tour was super, we are so glad we went on all of them.
We then began the ride back home, the road was incredible, every turn so beautiful! Driving through a mountain, very cool.
We drove from Milford Sound back towards to Queenstown and found a spot on the way to stop and have dinner and sleep.
The next day we drove the short distance to Queenstown. It was a beautiful day! First stop was the i-site, in each place, big or small; NZ has an information place, always staffed with the most helpful people. We loved them and stopped in each place to get information.
In Queenstown we had a great girl who set up our reservation for Steve’s Canyon jump the next day, recommended wineries, told us which park to go to for the night and where to have great lamb, it was great!
We then spent the next few hours wandering around the city. It is a beautiful place! It is on a lake, surrounded by mountains! We wondered into shops and found Madi some proper mitts, as we had finally hit their cold winter…which was anywhere from-
Degrees.
We went back to the campervan, had our showers and got ready for dinner. We went to the place that was recommended by the girl at i-site, as a ‘local hangout’. The place was packed and we waited at the bar watching rugby and having a drink. We had a fabulous dinner, Steve has ribs and I had the lamb, we sat near to the fireplace and had great wine! Madi was such a good girl, as always!
The next morning we had to be up and at the place for Steve’s swing by 9am. We took the short drive out to the canyon and walked into the jump site. It was very cold and the canyon very deep! Steve got all sorted and Madi and I went to the warm viewing area!! It was freezing!
Steve totally calm, not nervous at all! He took his first jump and loved it, so he was able to do two more! He did one up-side down and one strapped to a chair (it makes it more unpredictable). We got some great shots and a DVD, Madi loved seeing Daddy on TV and said, when I am bigger I can swing too…
From there we went to the Queenstown Gondola. We got the beautiful view of the town and Steve went on the luge. When he got off, he convinced both Madi and I to go too…so we took the chair lift up and Steve took the luge with Madi and I went on my own.
From there we went to the wineries in the area, so fun! We went from cellar door to cellar door, tasting beautiful wines and enjoying the drive and meeting new people. We then had dinner at the winery that was voted, three years running, the best winery restaurant in all of New Zealand! We had the “trust the Chef’ which is 5 courses that the chef makes and you just have whatever he is serving. We paired it with some fantastic wines and had a fabulous evening.
The next day we were heading to the Glaciers, but we stopped in Wanika along the way, we had lunch, fed the ducks and did a bit of shopping. We found some art work by a New Zealand artist that we loved, so we bought it, then when we got to the end of our trip, we left it at the campervan place. They offered to take it to the airport for us the next day, we never got it, so they are mailing it to us in Canada…we’ll see if we get it. Otherwise we will order it again and have it mailed to us.
Anyway, we had fun exploring this little town, it was a great stop along the way.
We continued on and got to the glaciers, but it was dark so we parked for the night.
The next morning we got up and we went straight to Fox glacier. When you drive in they have signs posted telling you how big the glacier was in what year, in the late 1700s it was gigantic! Then in the early 1900s it was still quite big, then you drive up and see what it is today, pretty sobering! They are melting fast! But seeing the glaciers was one of the things that I was really looking forward to and they were very cool! Just knowing that the ice has been there for hundreds of years and seeing how they are formed and why they are blue in colour, very cool!
From the Glaciers we began our Drive to Nelson, which was 7 hours away, so we stayed somewhere along the way when it got dark. It was raining so we went out for fish and chips for dinner at this great pub and played pool and darts. I actually beat Steve at pool and darts!! The next day we made it to Nelson, walked the streets and enjoyed the town. We did a bit more grocery shopping and found a top ten campground to plug in and have dinner.
The next day we went to Blenheim, which was quite close, so that was nice. We spotted a little market, looked around and then got the winery map!
Out first stop was a place that was the cellar door for three major wineries that have their vineyards in Hawkes Bay but also get many of their grapes from this Malbourough Region. And wouldn’t you know it, one of the wineries was Kim Crawford! My all time favourite wine! So that was a super start to the day. The lady was kind and patient and we were the only ones there.
We then carried on to many other cellar doors, a brewery as well. We had lunch at a winery, which was great and by that time I was full up and it was time to stop!
It was such a fun day! Who knew we would ever get to do wine tours in New Zealand!
That night we ate cheese that we bought along the way and had wine, it was great!The next day we made our way to Kiakura, this was a highly recommended place to go to do whale watching and swimming with the dolphins…but the weather was quite bad, rainy and cold, so all tours were cancelled… a bit disappointing but okay in the end because we ended up seeing seals up close! We went to the tip of the area and saw several seals who were just up for a rest, a few pups were only yards away! It was really cool. Then we carried on and stopped by a waterfall where there were about 100 seal pups playing in the waterfall and rapids! It was so neat! Madi was sleeping so we went in shifts, and the camera battery was on the fritz, so we only got a few photos, but it was really cool! They were very cute and quite friendly!
That was quite a long stop because we essentially did it twice, but was worth it. We then headed to Picton where we got ourselves sorted for the Ferry and then found a top ten park and set up shop for the night.
The next morning we explored Picton’s shops and had a bite to eat and then got on the Ferry.
It turned out that we were able to stay in a room with a couple of beds, so that was great, Madi had a nap and we played backgammon. The Ferry is three hours, so by the time we got to Wellington it was dark. It is quite difficult to drive around a new city in a campervan in the dark so we did a quick loop and then found a place for the night.
The next day we headed to Lake Taupo and Rotarua. En route we stopped at a place with boiling mud, very neat. We got to Rotarua and went to some hot pools, also neat.
The next morning, our last full day of new Zealand, we went to an agradome and saw a Sheep Sheering show, it was really neat to see and Madi loved it! They brought all different kids of sheep and showed the differences. They sheered a sheep and discussed the wool and stuff, that was neat, we got to feel the wool too. They had the dogs that herd the sheep and got to see them run on top of the sheep. They brought baby lambs out, so cute!
After the show we got to go and play with the baby lambs and play with puppies that had just been born too. Madi loved it!! She got to pet the lambs and hold a puppy!
From there we drove to Auckland. Julie and her dad met us at the Campervan place, which was really sweet because it was quite far from their house! It was so great to see them and share all of our adventures with them! We went to the park and had dinner with the family and got the opportunity to re-pack and get organized for our early flight the next day.
We had a 7am flight to Sydney and then a layover of 7 hours and then a 7 hour flight to Singapore, so a very long day.
It was great to end the trip with seeing Julie and her family!
We absolutely loved our trip! We cannot believe that we were away for a month! We cannot believe how much we saw and how much we did. We had a lot of fun as a family and it was so fun doing things that Madi enjoyed. We truly never thought in a million years that we would ever be able to visit New Zealand or Australia! We are thankful for the generosity of all the people that put us up, accommodation is so expensive and we would not have been able to afford to go without them. We really hope that we can repay the favour one day soon!
Now for three weeks of summer school, our final weeks in Singapore….crazy! Making breakfast at Julie's place

Auckland city view

Lunch at Mission Bay

New Zealand wine...yummm

Madi meets Matty fianally!

Madi in her 'special seat' in the campervan

Christchurch

Kiwis are very proud of their All Black's Rugby team

Madi and Daddy in front of the church

Our home for two weeks

So much fun on the top bunk

On our first boat tour to the glow worms

Beautiful day

We could not take pictures in the caves

Beautiful scenery!

Sun set in TeAnau

Dinner and wine, our daily ritual

Madi loved the ladder!!

Madi decides to drive the campervan!

On our next boat tour of Doubtful Sound

A day full of incredible scenery!

the mosses and the forests were as beautiful as the mountians

Steve driving!

Icicles!!

Madi having her very first icicle!

On our way to Milford Sound

A quick stop for a walk in a forest

Sp beautiful!

Fun with frost!

Milford Sound!

Madi drives the boat!

Incredible scenery!

We saw a pod of dolphins!

The waterfalls were beautiful

Seals on teh rocks

We were going in a circle, having fun, I was not tossing my daughter over the side of the boat!!

Our boat

Driving through the mountian! The drive was as spectacular as the boat trip

Madi having her hot chocolate and marshmallows!

Our evenings...wine and backgammon

sheep!! More sheep than people in this beautiful country!

The crazy roads!

We went to this great place in Queenstown, a wine tasting shop...so fun!!

Madi with SNOW!

Steve ready to do his Canyon swing while we watched from the warmth

This is his second jump, upside down

On the gondola, that is more my speed!

Queenstown

The chairlift to the luge

The wineries were fantastic! We went to many cellar doors

Madi and I in front of one winery

Dinner at the best winery/resteraunt in New Zealand, three years in a row

We had the 'trust the chef' paired with amazing wine, such a nice dinner

More crazy roads

Feeding the duck in Wanaka

Random stone statues along a beach, there were thousands! We wish it was still light out!

Fox glacier!

We went closer than we should have...

Franz Josef Glacier

Touching and drinking from it

Steve with Madi in front of a waterfall

Amazing! But shrinking so fast!

Steve making us lunch. We just pulled into a picnic area while driving

A market in Blenheim

Wine tasting in Blenheim

The seals in Kaiakura!! They were so close to us!

We then dorve further to a waterfall and there were so many baby seals playing!

Our little sleeping angel

Madi singing to a big dog!

Black Swans in the wild

Boiling mud

Agrodome Sheep Sheering Show

The wool

Madi getting to pet a sheep

Baby lambs!

So cute!

Madi, very proud of herself, holding her very first puppy!

Dinner out! Steve had ribs and I had lamb...yummy!

On the Ferry to Wellington

Our little cutie! The best traveller ever!