A New Zealand Christmas

December 2016 

Heading off to New Zealand from the UK felt utterly surreal, even as I stepped on the plane I couldn't believe I was coming home after over two years away! 

My flight from London to Auckland was a long one (though short in terms of possible flight paths) with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. It was nice to know I didn't have to worry about making my way home, with Shyla - one of my best friends - coming to pick me up at some stupid hour of the night!

Seeing Auckland again as I landed and we then drove through the city late at night was both achingly familiar and so very bizarre at the same time, I felt overwhelmed by the sense that I had finally come home to this beautiful, ugly city. 

I was staying at my dad's place, and organised with my brother Christophe for us both to go over to my mum's to lunch and give her the surprise of her life! It was the most satisfying surprise I've ever given.

Christmas was only around the corner and I was craving a proper one, as it would otherwise be my third christmas in a row without a real tree. Mum didn't take much convincing and we were soon on a mission to find a beautiful REAL tree! I am of the firm opinion that if one doesn't have a real tree (and most importantly that lovely christmas tree scent) it can't really be a real Christmas. I had the time of my life decorating the tree, and then staring at it all lit up in pure satisfaction. Thanks mum!

Christmas itself was lovely, spending it with my family felt awesome, though I missed the presence of Yannick and Necia. My brother and I enjoyed a pre-christmas walk at Shakespear park before heading for mum's house, as it was such a stunning summer day I was wishing I had brought my togs!

Mum made her traditional Christmas cake (yet another integral part of christmas that I had been missing) and I thoroughly enjoyed our pre-lunch Appletiser and salt and vinegar chips!

I was quite proud of my own Christmas cake attempt, creating a french 'Buche de Noel' which is meant to resemble a log. Dad and I were especially proud of our pine cones!

It felt so good to be back in NZ again, I had to indulge in a number of very kiwi things that I had been missing, including my favourite thing of all, Potato top pie! No-one does Pie like we do! (Note the all important Tui-mato sauce too). Until proven wrong, I can happily state that the best potato top pie comes from Little Manly bakery, where we have been going for as long as I can remember (and the shop owner remembers me too!). 

My next port of call for a dose of nostalgia was off to New Zealand's only theme park, Rainbows End. Since I hadn't been here since my 19th birthday I was rather excited! My old school friend Ben had invited me along, and it was brilliant to catch up as we had been good friends for seven years by now, though a few of those had been by keeping in touch via the internet when I disappeared off overseas.
We had a fantastic day, spending lots of time on the rollercoaster (probably fairly tame for most, but exhilarating for me!)  Although a fairly small park when comparing to others in the world, I still think it's worth a visit if you're after a day of fun. And if you go in average weather, the lines are practically non-existent! #protip.

























Our favourite ride was the log flume, where we took turns sitting at the front and getting splashed by water and almost attacked by pirates (well, not really. But it might feel like it to a very small child).

I also spent a lot of time catching up with Shyla, and we tried to make the most of my time in NZ by doing lots of things, from beach walks and spontaneous swims to sleepovers and baking black forest cakes! 

Returning to all my favourite haunts was strange but fantastic. Fish and chips on my favourite beach (Matakatia) with friends was another of my highlights,  and sitting on the grass watching the sunset. Whangaparaoa (the area of NZ I'm from) is a brilliant place to go if you're interested in beaches, as it's full of them. From Shakespear park, Manly Beach (and Little Manly!) Tindalls, Matakatia, Stanmore Bay, Orewa Beach, there really is a beach for everyone, from small coves, to big walking beaches. I love New Zealand.

London: An early Christmas

November 2016

Returning to London after my time in America felt strange, almost like returning home as finally I was in a familiar place again. A few months before I had laid plans to finally return to New Zealand for the first time in a few years, and it had all been planned without my mums knowledge so as to surprise her, so I was very much looking forward to seeing her over Christmas (finally a summer christmas again!)

Because of this I would be unable to spend the festive season with Yannick and Necia, so we had decided to have a small Christmas celebration of our own before I left.

 Necia's dad was also over and visiting for a bit, so it really was like a miniature Christmas! We had decided to wait until the weekend however so Yannick wouldn't be working, so Necia, her dad and I had a few days of exploring in the meantime, whilst my poor brother slogged away at work.

The leaves were still in beautiful autumn colours in many places, so Necia suggested we make a trip out to Primrose Hill which was a lovely park with a walk up to a gorgeous view of the city of London.

We also made a foray into Regent's Park, and wandered through some lovely Japanese gardens as well as enjoying the many strange names of different varieties in the Rose garden. We also popped into 'The Attendant' a cafe with a twist, as it was quite obviously once a Victorian public toilet. The idea at first seemed vaguely unsettling, but knowing how well it would have been cleaned and how long since it was last used for its original purpose made things better. It was slightly claustrophobic as it was underground and rather small, but it was quite a nifty idea.

Finally our early Christmas arrived, and our food celebration began. It was a fun day of cooking in the kitchen, from roast chicken and vegetables, to our nibbly starters of many cheeses and salamis, to Necia's stuffed peppers (inspired from our Greek trip) which were the highlight of the night for me. We also indulged in Prosecco, and overall had a lovely eart Christmas (finishing with homemade apple cake and three tiered chocolate mousse!)

America: A new Continent

November 2016

My next grand adventure was a rather spontaneous one, after a long time of talking about how fun it would be to visit my friend Joe in America, we suddenly found cheap plane tickets and decided we should go for it! Having never been to America, I wasn't sure what to expect but I was really excited to be going somewhere entirely new. I was also hoping to catch up with a bunch of my American friends I had made over the years, but unfortunately ran out of time (maybe next time!)
I would be visiting the states of Indiana and Michigan, as Joe went to Notre Dame university and thus lived in the university town of South Bend, a few hours from Chicago. The university grounds and buildings were beautiful and I found myself a bit in awe at how fancy they were.

























To my absolute delight, I also discovered that squirrels ran freely around the campus! I got super close to this one for a photo, before deciding it might run up my leg and bite me, and backed off a little.

















I wandered the university a few times, going for runs a bit while everyone was at class, and enjoying the beautiful buildings.
Staying in a student house was a cool experience, and I often felt like I was in the movies, with games of beer pong and red solo cups! The contents of the fridge were also amusingly student-like, and one of my first ports of call was to the supermarket to get some ingredients for cooking. The amount of packaged and processed food was something I had expected, but there were still things I found bizarre, like the cleaning of raw eggs which stripped the outside protective layer off (turning the shells white) and then spraying them with a chemical sanitizer before selling them on the shelves. To me the idea was strange, unnatural and a waste of time and money, but I suppose some would argue it made them more hygienic? It was interesting to think about.
I found  out of everything I missed the fresh produce of Europe when I was in America - though that isn't to say one couldn't make healthy food if you knew to make informed decisions on the produce.

























Thursday nights all the people from the flats' old dorm would come over and much beer pong and singing along to music would occur, which was always fun. I also got to experience BBQ wings on a cheap student night, Trivia night at the local bar (and proved quite useless as all the questions were aimed at Americans) and attempt beer pong myself (and fail rather miserably).
My first experience of note  -aside from the small every-day things - was Thanksgiving.
We had a long drive ahead of us to head into Michigan to visit Joe's parents for the big event, which had all of his extended family there too! I felt slightly awkward tagging along as the random friend, but it actually was really awesome, and everyone was very nice and friendly. Joe's mum even gave me a Michigan t shirt!
I had unfortunately gotten sick and so was battling a bad cold and cough - but one of the numerous relatives gave me a hot toddy which turned out to be honey and strong alcohol and I'm not sure what else but it certainly soothed my throat! The day ended with the kids getting cream pies to the face which was rather entertaining though I had no inclination to join in.
 I also tried sweet potato pie (and to be honest I really don't get what the big deal is) and stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce (which I could eat far too much of).
The next interesting trip I took was to Chicago which I was really excited to see, to get a bit of my tourist fix!














Chicago was a big city, full of beggars and people rushing, but I enjoyed it regardless - though by the end of the day I was very ready to leave.

















Our first stop was the Field Museum, which had a really interesting collection and I spent far longer in than I expected. The first area we went through was a huge exhibit of taxidermied animals which whilst slightly creepy was also quite interesting as I saw many animals that I had only read about. This sabre-tooth deer was especially interesting (it was also interesting how obvious the age of taxidermied animals were, as they varied in how well they had been done, and how moth-eaten their fur looked).

The most mind-blowing exibition for me was the entire ancient Egyptian temple with two huge chamber rooms that had been literally lifted up and taken from Egypt and transported here, in a time when the taking of such things by the British and Americans was done without the blink of an eye.

I was adamant that a trip to Chicago was not complete without trying deep dish pizza, a phenomenon famous to Chicago alone. More like a pie than a pizza, the toppings are mixed with cheese and tomato sauce in a very thick layer. It was interesting to try, but I could see why it hadn't spread beyond Chicago. The pizza was rich without being particularly satisfying, and didn't have that crunchy cheesy goodness that pizza should have - I'm glad I tried it but in the future I'll stick to the original! 

Our next port of call was the Bean (also known rather pretentiously as the 'cloud gate') where I got slightly excited.

Tired of the city and fatigued by the cold, we hopped on the train to head back to South Bend. 

As the days passed in my stay, it grew steadily colder until at last the thing I had been hoping for - snow!!!!

 I had spent my winter before in Annecy and had hoped for snow then, being in the French Alps, however I was unlucky enough to experience an unusually warm winter and there was barely any snow at all. Here finally, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, until in some places it was almost as high as my knees! 

Excited by the initial snow, we braved the fact that it was still falling to build my first ever snowman - and with all the Doctor Who watching we were doing, we gave him a cool little fez out of a red Solo cup.

Like the nutcases we are, we soon decided a BBQ would be a great plan once there was a break i the snowfall. Huddled around this contraption cooking sausages and drinking beers whilst wrapped in many layers and wearing hats and gloves, we looked ridiculously homeless. 

My favourite thing was how we could scoop up snow and shove it into the chilly bin (even just leave the drinks in a snowdrift) to keep our beers nice and icy!

Before I knew it I was already nearing the end of my trip, with only one more weekend before I would be flying back to the UK. 

Joe had sneakily come up with the idea of a surprise trip to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a beautiful area around part of Lake Michigan.  The drive itself was also really fun, as we passed some lovely landscapes on our way.

It was an icy cold day, and snow scattered the ground. We had the woods to ourselves and it made for a lovely walk. It was strange for me to be in the nature but hear no birdsong, like the world was asleep. 

Once we walked down onto the beach I was shocked to realise the sand was frozen in places! It crunched beneath my feet, and there were icicles on the driftwood! I had never seen icicles before, so a picture was needed.

Feeling rather like icicles ourselves after our pleasant but chilly walk along the beach, we decided one last road trip was needed, and headed towards an Amish town!

Amish people are one of those stereotypical things that we think of when we think of America, so I had been quite keen to seem them (at times it felt like I was looking excitedly for a snow leopard or something equally rare, as we stalked them into their natural habitat of the Amish town - it felt rather weird). 

It was snowing heavily when we arrived, and also a Sunday, so there wasn't a soul in sight and unfortunately everything was closed. Although disappointing as this meant I didn't get to spot an Amish (A rather culturally insensitive  sounding game I had started to accidentally play in my head) wandering the town itself in the falling snow was sort of lovely. I could almost imagine this was the lamp post in the woods in Narnia. 

The town itself was called Shipshewana, where quilting seemed to be a big deal (I feel like this sums up the town quite well, as it was lovely, but rather small and just a little quaint). 

 I did get very excited to discover that the Amish go around in sleighs in the snow! Like Father Christmas! Alas, I did not see one in action, though I was pleased to spot an Amish lady walking along the road as we were driving out of the town. Success! 

 Overall, my trip to America was awesome, and went by far too fast. It was so interesting to explore somewhere I had seen so much about on TV, and see what it was really like (at least in this geographical area). I would love to return and see more one day!

One of the funniest things for me was how patriotic people were, with American flags in people's gardens and all about the place! Why the flags?

'Because 'merica!' As my friend Joe would say.

A month in Leicester

October 2016

Arriving back in England, I headed for the next housesit I had lined up, this time near Leicester. The couple I was housesitting for turned out to be really lovely, and they also left me the contact details of their best friend, should I need anything. I really enjoyed this house as it had its own little private garden, was only a ten minute walk from the village and supermarket, had a very cosy lounge, and best of all the kitchen was fantastic! The lady was an ex-chef and so I found her kitchen gloriously equipt with everything (including a fancy kitchen-aid) I was also here for over a month, so I attempted a large number of recipes in this time and had a great time experimenting in the kitchen.
My first recipe to attempt was a traditional French onion soup, which I was pleased to say turned out rather delicious, though I decided the next time I make it, I would use belgian beer instead of wine as I think it would turn out even nicer.

I also continued my morning runs that I had started on my last housesit, and was quite proud that by the time this housesit had finished, I had gone from running for bursts of two minutes, to bursts of ten! It might not sound like much, but it felt like quite an achievement. The area I was staying in was called Markfield and was a rather cute (and small) village, made prettier by the turning of the leaves as summer faded away and we entered autumn with full force. At times I was running in frost so thick the grass turned completely white! Luckily the heating was fairly decent, and there were lots of blankets, so I didn't freeze too much.















My charge for this housesit was a little old cat called Nigella, and she was adorable. As soon as you sat down on the couch she would beeline for you and snuggle onto your lap, quite content to stay there for hours (and look very put out if you moved). Unfortunately Nigella was a very old cat, and became quite sick which made this otherwise lovely stay quite stressful. I ended up needing to take her to the vets, and force-feed her medication which was quite awful, as well as a rather stressful but necessary talk with the owners on the phone about worst case scenarios (which in the end I happily didn't have to deal with).

























With being so close to Leicester I took full advantage and had a few daytrips there to explore the city. I didn't plan much apart from knowing I wanted to see the King Richard exibition (the famous king under the car park). Aside from this I just wandered happily, getting lost and enjoying the pretty streets.

















I was lucky that the first day I went there, there was a large vegetable market on, and as it was autumn the pumpkins were out and looking festive! It was rather exciting to see orange pumpkins, as I'd only seen them in movies before (it's only possible to get squash in NZ). I decided that I'd buy one later and maybe try my hand at carving one as Halloween was just around the corner, but thought I'd be best to buy it later as pumpkins are heavy!

















My next port of call was the King Richard III Visitor centre, built on the spot that he was found. To give some background on this, King Richard was killed in the famous battle of Bosworth in 1485, and the whereabouts of his remains were unknown. Legend told that they were thrown in the river, however more recently people became to question this, and a few researchers found reason to believe he was in fact buried in the long-destroyed Grey Friars church.
In 2011 these researches then approached the council about searching for these remains in Greyfriars carpark, and the council agreed as although finding the king's' remains were unlikely, they were interested in finding the old church.

















Within days of the excavation they had found not only the old foundations of the church, but also a skeleton with battle wounds and a curved spine. Dating of the remains found them to be around the time Richard lived, of a man around the same age as Richard (early thirties) and the final piece of evidence; DNA analysis matched the mitochondrial DNA through female descendants of his sister. With this irrefutable proof, it was publically declared that the body of Richard III had been found. Interestingly he clearly did suffer from scoliosis which would have been visible (and given rise to the popular idea that he was a hunchback). He was buried hastily in a grave too small for him (causing his head to be propped downwards onto his chest) and with his arms crossed in front of him (perhaps due to being tied). Richard III was exhumed and reburied in full ceremony at Leicester Cathedral (minus his feet which were lost in the 1800s when a cellar was extended, cutting into his remains and again driving home how very lucky we were to find anything at all of him).

















My favourite room in the museum was the original dig site which was overlaid with glass so you could see down into the excavated trenches. Using lights, Richard's skeleton was superimposed into the grave, arms crossed and all. It was also interesting to learn about the wounds he sustained, a break to his cheekbone, a cut to the back of his neck entering his brain (the fatal wound, and considered cowardly as it took him from behind) and a number of (thankfully) post-mortem wounds to his torso and buttocks. Ouch!

My next stop in history was to the Guildhall, built in 1390 and used for over 600 years, I had it all to myself to wander! I also rather enjoyed the enormous pumpkin that had pride of place for the coming Halloween.


Speaking of Halloween, I decided to make my own Jack-o'-Lantern like the ones you see in American movies - after all, if one could buy them so cheaply in the shops and with nothing better to do, why not! After watching a quick youtube tutorial (thank you internet) I set to work! I soon found that Pumpkins were a lot more difficult than I expected to core, full of sticky, stringy membrane which refused to to come out with the spoon I was using and I ended up resorting to ripping it out with my hands. Messy but satisfied, this was my end result.


Before I knew it, it was my birthday and Joy and her partner were coming up for the evening! During the day I decided to treat myself and made myself a fresh pizza but somehow food poisoned myself and ended up rather sick for the rest of the day (what exactly made me ill, I never worked out). When Joy arrived bearing gifts and beautiful food, we unfortunately had to wait for the next day to enjoy a lovely lunch instead of dinner.
Having Joy there, with flowers and chocolate and beautiful bottle of bubbly left me feeling very spoiled and was my best birthday since I had left New Zealand.

























We started with bruschetta, followed by pan-fried duck in cream and red peppercorn sauce with a side of potato dauphinoise and finished with chocolate mousse (all washed down with the beautiful bubbly of course!)