A Kiwi Summer at last.

I have decide that I am extremely British in that I have an obsession with the weather. Living in New Zealand suits me as the weather here changes from hour to hour and is highly unpredictable. At this time yesterday we were paddling in the sea watching the crabs crawl over our toes. Today is grey and cold with driving rain and we are sat huddled inside watching commando guinea pigs on DVD.

This week has given us our first real taste of a Kiwi summer and its been great. We have been swimming and building numerous sandcastles on the beach, horse riding and cycling. If you love the outdoor life this is the country for you.

The only problem with this hot sunny weather is the fact that I have to continually smear sun cream on the girls every few hours. The sun is so strong over here that if you fail to do this they will go bright red in less than an hour. This has been proved unfortunately by the odd red patches I have on my arm from where I failed to spread the sun cream evenly enough. I also seem to always forget to spread cream on our feet - so we all look a bit freaky at the moment with our incredibly bronzed feet.

Due to my obsession with the risk of sunburn I insist that the girls both wear their wetsuits on the beach no matter how hot it is. I am clearly a very cruel mother!


A doing a bit of body boarding.

I have really begun to notice the influx of tourists to this area this week. We spent the day in the city this Friday and travelling in on the highway towards the city we noticed the large cruise liner docked in the harbour. Once in the city you could immediately see the impact of this. There were tourists everywhere. They were easy to spot - all looking a bit lost and wondering slowly around looking in the shops or queueing for the tram ride up to the Botanic Gardens. This was in sharp contrast to the other bunch of people who had come to watch the ACDC concert at the Westpac stadium the previous night. They were all nursing coffees in the cafes and trying to recover from the night before.

Wellington is a great city to roam around in and people watch. We were amazed by the number of people jumping off the waterfront into the harbour.

People climbing up having jumped in the harbour. The bronze crouching figure in the centre is a statue - not a rather depressed Wellingtonian!

The Inter Island ferry in the back ground and the helicopter giving trips over the city.

I love New Zealand in the summer. The countryside and outside activities are so easy to access. The beaches are clean and safe. Everybody heads out in the countryside and the beach with their boats, canoes and kayaks in tow. Every evening this summer the Pautuahanui inlet near us has had several cars parked on the beach whilst their owners mess about on the water with their jet skis. It really is the ideal way of life. I love it!