Maori Rock Art

Maori Rock Art from Peter Potter on Vimeo.

We'd been meaning to do the trip to see the rock art since we've been here. They were good and W loved it. He's the new expedition leader and has really taken to his role with enthusiasm and rigor.

Afterwards we went to the river with the camping stove and sausages. W led the expedition there with purposeful stone throwing and careful navigation of the river crossing. E managed the river crossing too, although she did let off some wind! It was a good day with fine weather and and peaceful escape.

Little Princess

Little Princess from Peter Potter on Vimeo.

E is now 7 months! And as we are hitting the first warm days of spring, we decided to put E in a dress! I'm off for 2 weeks now and he weather has just started to get nice a warm. Unfortunately this will also mean more hours working the garden. In the second week we are going up to Christchurch for a few days which will be fantastic to check out more things to do with the kids and also see the extent of the equake damage.

Today there is one main thing on the agenda - Potty training! W seems well prepared with 2 hats on and his pirate underpants.

Earthquake!

There was a long shudder at 4.40 this morning as Chrsitchurch was struck by a 7.2 earthquake. N and E were already awake, W slept through and there were lots of after shochs for the next hour and even a few this morning. We are all fine.
We got up to check the news SKY News NZ was showing the lights being turned on by Robbie Williams in Blackpool, but CNN gave it some coverage.
Thankfully there was no loss of life full story here

Brother and Sister

Parallel Lives from Peter Potter on Vimeo.

E is now 6 months old! She is beginning to get up on all fours and I'm sure that it isn't that long before she starts to crawl. I looked over some recent footage and noticed that it was similar to footage taken of W and a similar age.

E is now smiling lots, eating everything, and loves her big brother - he is so entertaining! We're hoping it wont be long before they can play with each other too!

Zoo!

Orana Wildlife Park from Peter Potter on Vimeo.

The start of August took us to the zoo in Christchurch. After spending most of his life so far making animal noises W was more interested in the puddles and throwing stones. The lions and tigers were impressive and I'm sure that they will be remembered for some time to come.

After almost 2 years here we also saw our first kiwi! If you watch on the video you can see two of them dancing together. Also look out for W declaring that the pig has a bowel motion. The weather was good, but we'll definitely go back in the summer.

Winkle Winkle

Winkle Winkle from Peter Potter on Vimeo.

The blog is now over a year old! Thanks for reading, we have kept it up to date where possible with our antics, but more importantly with the progress of W and E!

W is hard to catch on camera now as he always wants to see himself instantly on the camera. I suppose that he will never have to develop a film in his life? Who knows what technology will be like by the time that he starts school never mind the time he finishes.

W is a very protective big brother and puffs his chest out with pride when he talks about his baby sister. He often involves her in his games by giving her wands (felt tips) whilst he casts spells around the room. E thinks that he is wonderful! She is progressing with her backwards commando crawling and has a contagious smile.

B and G arrived safe and sound - all their hair seems to be here too! They have been full on entertainment for W to the extent that he doesn't want to go to bed. He loves his Aunt and Uncle that he has only cyber met through Skype before. We're all off to Tekapo next week for the snow.

Karitane

A break to Karitane was the order of the day for me birfdee!

The home place of Sir Truby King the founder of Plunket. About 1.45 South form here and 25 mins from Dunedin.

A surprisingly easy drive down with a sleepy girl and wide awake boy who sang 'off to Wiggle Bay' on the way down. We arrived at dusk and quickly got the ourselves settled with a toasty fire!

The next day we went into Dunedin to go to the Museum. We

drove down the high Street and were amazed to see lots of people and shops! Dunedin is a University town so there are plenty of unicyclists and jeans with holes, students make up 20% of the population. We found somewhere to park and took W to the Museum that has a discovery zone with lots of hands on science stuff. His reaction to the place at first was a bit of bewilderment and was cautious when pressing buttons and touching things, this soon turn into a little boy taking the lead, pointing where he wanted to go and seeing what was next.

There was a massive Eden Project style room with waterfalls and plants that was a massive home for butterflies, fish and turtles. Again W was in his element and ran in circles under the waterfall just stopping to point at turtles before running under the waterfall again. This came to a stop at we found it too hot and carried him out.

We found this special pearl in a giant clam!

The accommodation was unique. They had gone to the trouble of having a nautical theme and continued this throughout the house -with everything! There was a lifetimes collection there. We spent time on Sunday morning roaming around the beach and harbour in Karitane and then drinking tea on the deck back at the bach. It was a really beautiful spot. The drive home was good and then to top it off it had been pissing down in Timaru all weekend. Result.