The year of the 'Ns'...

so, I suppose it kind of accidentally started with Narrabeen Lakes...  well, that's where I'm going to say it started.  haha.  Then I decided I was going to go to New Zealand to visit Mon and Matt and their two adorable kids.  I can't believe they are 7 and 8 years old already!!!  It seems like only yesterday when they were 6months and 18months!!!

Actually, it started with Julie, a friend asking me last year if I would be interested to go hiking and singing in Nepal?!?!!  ummmmm...  YES!!!!  So, i asked my boss if I could take 2 weeks off in November and he said, yes.  So now I am going to Nepal.  THEN...  New Zealand...  THEN Kato asked if I wanted to go hiking with her and Stu in Northern Territory...  Why not?!?  The hike will help train for Nepal right?!?   So, NT, Nepal, NZ, Narrabeen Lakes, Netherlands...  why not make it the year of the Ns!!!!  So it is!

Anyways, it's school holidays both in NZ and Australia, so I'm here visiting my lovelies and playing school holiday things like - visiting the snow, Te Papa museum, going to the park, going swimming and then the severe weather warning meant staying inside for today so we baked, made jelly and did science experiments.  We've also had chill time and watched movies and I've crocheted for the boys...  hopefully op shopping and if the weather fines up tomorrow, park, bevore heading home...  what a great trip and chance to see these beautiful people again!!!  Love you all greens!!!!

oh, and woke up on Monday morning to an earthquake...  only small, but i heard the sound like a truck crashing down the street and then the bed moved, and one of the kids ran down the hall saying to mon, mum, an earthquake...  ahhhhh...  the joys of living in NZ.


now, hopefully a few photos will load for me to share with you...

yep...  the land of thr long white cloud and volcanic making

then chairlift up the snow... nit much snow, but that was just fine for us!!!

NZ has big things too!!!  the big carrot!!!  in Ohakune

the actual big carrot with mount ruapehu

a numberplate with my favourite kiwi word!!!!!!!  i was so happy, you igg

another big thing...   the big gumboot - taihape...  oh yeah!!!!  so happy taihape!!

wellington city one of thr awesome bridges

the rooftopat TePapaMuseum... free museum and hours of fun and learning!

mon and me in an igloo up the mount.

thanks for these lovely photos of the snowflakes dalling on us at the mount...

me holding onto one of the kids so they didn't fall off the chairlift. and it was cold

what to do when there is a weather watch on and you shouldn't leave the house...  multi layered jelly, science experiments, the game of life, and bake cookies!!

the two little monsters i crocheted for mack and finn. (quite happy with this effort!) they loved them  so  much!!

and everyone loves jelly!!!!!!!

and that is almost New Zealand for this trip... i don't want to leave mon and matt and thr kids, but it is cold and i  am loving my work and study at the moment...  so return i will..l  yay.

enjoy.
:)

glitching blog... sorry!!!

been trying to upload radom things to the blog...  it keeps glitching, but hopefully today will work...  i think i need a few posts to catch people up on life and the amazing me!!!

i need to try and find some elsewhere photos to show what we've been up to recently...

well, actually, i've been up to a bit, but poor elsewhere has mainly been back in the garage...  sorry elsewhere!!!!  she was homeless for a bit, cos I was inbetween houses and her garage spot was minding my stuff...  but we are all sorted now...



so...Merry Christmas from Elsewhere and me!

At mum and dad's with Elsewhere and wallaby

stand off with a bearded dragon

away at terrigal lagoon...  ahhhhh

camping in suburbia... we both just needed to get away.  Narrabeen lakes.

at home at last!!

and hopefully these blog glitches are sorted, and I can post more adventures...  hopefully!!

elsewhere in armidale...

making friend's with alain and rahki's van...

and some photos of country life with friends...

and the road back to sydney...  why why why did i decide to drive back to sydney?  i think to be away is where i want to be right now...

oh well...  soon...

happy bittersweet good friday

haha.  someone sent me a message last night and said Happy Good Friday!  Sorry, i haven't sent it, as I've inly had limited access to internet.  But yes...  HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY!!!   but sad, as I am having breakfast in a cafe on the street, I am getting ready to say good bye to this wonderful city.  

the sights...  the smells...  the sun... the sand...  the scammers...  everything.

i just over 2 hours to go before I start my long and slow journey home...  the 'cheapest' flight includes a 9hr stopover in singapore, although now I'm wondering why on earth I thought that was a good idea!  haha.

so many beautiful churches, so much ice-cream...  catching up with old friends and making some new ones...  what a great holiday!

hohum...  i hear it's VERY cold back in sydney...  lucky i brought some jumpers with me.

and finally...  i was in a bookshop with Andrés and stumbled across this book.  haha.  just a bit of what i'm thinking right now...

i like it the other way around...  why be normal when you could be happy!?!?

and finally, a quote that i have seen floating around, I liked so much... i decided to buy it on a magnet...

hasta luego.

xx

¡¡Barcelona, ahhhhhh, España!!

(sagrada familia, 10 years on, still not finished, but VERY different to the last time I was here.  Due to be finished in 2026)

I can't believe apparently, I didn't postanything  last year.  haha, I mustn't have been having an adventure last year. oh well...  i think i was, maybe just nothing I felt like celebrating.  

well, 2016 brings who knows what!?  It's half over and I'm skipping over winter for a summer in spain.

I have spent many days wandering the streets of barcelona and being reaquainted with the smells, sounds and sights of a town i love.  

Clem, a flatmate from London, 10 years ago came and joined me for a touristic weekend in barca and we caught up with Lucia, who we also lived with all those years ago.  I have also caught up with Andres and Irene (in Zaragoza) both whom I met in Australia.

Thank you Jose, for giving a place to stay in barcelona and Irene for a place in zaragoza.

Lots of time to think, read and be in my favourite country on earth.  I am very lucky to have the opportunity to be back here.

loving the sculptures in barca.  this is one paying homage to the cataluña tower men

ahhhh...  segway tour!  haha.  yay

me and clem infront of another sculpture

me and andres at beer o'clock

i'm in love with some of the artwork/designs for the sagrada familia

the church in plaza pilar in zaragoza.  i love the coloured tiles on the roof.

i love the fact the shopowners are smoking and drinking in the doorway at work...  haha.  different world!

still loving the old street lights.  i don't think i'll ever tire of them.

Lucia, my old flatmate from London, reminded me, I once said I was going to live in Barcelona.  I somehow forgot that dream...  I am now wondering how I can go about actually living that dream!  (or maybe live somewhere else in spain).  Let's see what life throws my way!

anyways, at least I have posted something for 2016!  more adventures in life to come! 

welcome to windy, wet wellington

well...  another day in beautiful wellington.  the kids are at the grandparents house and it's rainy and wet, so we don't know what to do with ourselves...  

maybe go pick the kids up.  haha.  well, none of the kids are in hospital...  yay...  mon and matt are well enough...  and well, it's just lovely to hang out with them all.

the kids that i met when they were 6months and 18months are now 4 and 5 years old.  it's crazy to watch kids grow so much from a distance...

hanging out has been so much fun!  picking kids up from school, going to an open mic night in a community hub centre, watching pixar films, getting help with my sick computer...  you know how it goes...  playing bubble soccer!  haha. 

matt and i have been set the task of painting the house and mowing the lawn whilst mon is at uni but the weather hasn't been good enough yet, too cold and too wet.  

i haven't taken many photos, hopefully i'll take a couple more next week.  :)

hope you are well.

xx

ahhhhh...  the neightbours house that matches the day... mon and matt's house is blue.  well...  mostly!  haha

and this is me in a bubble...  about to play soccer.  bizarre!  

back to Elsewhere...

ahhhhhhh...  it's nice to be away again in Elsewhere.  Another quck trip to Jindabyne before a week in New Zealand visiting Mon, Matt and the boys.  

And how lovely it was to be away.  A leisurely daytime drive down to Jindy.  How nice it was to cook in the light and see the sunset at the campsite...  our jindy home.  then a school holiday must...  a SLEEP IN!!!!  oh, how lovely.  a quick yoga and then a day by the lake in jindy, just enjoying the holiday pace.  back ro our campsite to cook by daylight again.

Quick drive up to perisher, but the groomed trails for cross countey skiing were long gone.  to hire skiis or just play in the snow??  just enjoy the snow.  it wasn't to be this year.  but we still enjoyed the relax out of sydney.  and the coffees from cbd cafe in jindy.  a coffee by the lake and start the leisurely trip home.

stop at a rest area outside cooma and cook in the light by a river and then rest well for the drop in to the grandparebts and the drive back to sydney ready for a volunteering shift.

a quick unpack and pack ready for new zealand for tomorrow...  ahhhhhh.

hope you are enjoying too!!!

xx

our visitor to our camp the first night...

elsewhere settles in for the night

using my new hammock for the first time!!!!  woohooooo

strike a pose in jindy

our newly discovered campsite outside of cooma. ahhhhh

xx