Friday, May 23, 2014

A Snapshot of Autumn - April 2014

LOVING Autumn in New Zealand.  In England the nights got dark, the skies greyed over and I only had the excitement of Christmas to keep me going.  Sure, here the days get shorter too, but the sun still shines and its actually been stiller than much of summer!  Most days are short trouser friendly which is good by me!

So here's April.

A trip for Tash and two very tired kids on a kayak around the harbour (whilst I saw with a baby asleep on my back and a beer in my hand!)




With evenings getting cooler Harry has loved having three kids who enjoy him and his cuddles.


Tash put me onto the Bhakti Lounge where every Wednesday I now pay $12 (£6) for an evening of Yoga, Kirtan, and a full Krishna meal.  I was sold on the food, but I've fallen in love with Kirtan!


Caught some fish.  To answer Alfie's question, which always gets asked, no its not the right sized fish!  This one lived to get caught again another day.


Went to a day out at a 'natural learners' group.  These guys live off grid and open up their home to these guys once every few months for organised outdoors activities.  The kids loved foraging and cracking open hazlenuts.  It also made me realise our land doesn't necessarily have to be by the sea.



Been to the cinema.  Our little local cinema has actually been voted the best in NZ.  You can take your food and drink to your seat, and its a wonderful place.  Its fair to say Alfie and Esme are big Lego Movie fans!





We took a 4 hour drive out to look at some land.  We stopped at a cafe (which we always stop at when going that way) and Alfie mastered balancing a spoon on his nose!  Kids got skillz!





The land was great.  The kids loved it.  We've put in an offer which has been accepted and we'll see how it all pans out.  Its ten acres, loads of tree, and the river alongside it.  Its pretty much perfect for us to go off grid in the future, and the river is ideal for a hydroelectric power source.

With Olive taking a liking to those chunky 'space' lego wheels Alfie and I built a little table from the crate our TV was imported in.  This is him with the air gun blowing the sawdust away!


Finally got my push bikes out and had a lovely ride around the bays of the Peninsula.  I feel so at home by the sea, I always have, and it wonderful to ride with the sea alongside me the whole way.  And a little way round at Breaker Bay I got to see a seal playing close to the rocks.  Things like this are just magic!  




We've been to the zoo a few times.  Alfie has a membership, I use it for Esme too though.  Esme loves the tigers, but especially the giraffes!  The heigh chart thing shows how crazy fast shes growing up!  Now 2 and a half, and just a few steps behind her big brother.  She started basic counting, is toilet trained (days), and is even more fearless when it comes to jumping off things!  She does have absolutely no sense of her own mortality though so perhaps her being the height of a dingo is quite appropriate!



With the end of May just a week or so away I'll probably end up doing another monthly update then.  After that point I'm determined to keep this regularly updated.  If you are on instagram follow me on there (@keithbatsford) as thats where all the good photos end up!