Merry Christmas!

We were fortunate to have Nana and Gipa join us for Christmas in Sydney this year. They flew out a few days before Christmas and stayed for about 3 weeks. We had a wonderful time. Here are some highlights of our Christmas...

Christmas Eve - ready for church

Christmas Eve dinner at home joined by a good friend from church. First Monaco Italian followed by Happy Birthday Jesus cake!

Family tradition of new matching Christmas pjs each year -
this one is getting harder!

Merry Christmas!

Hatcher's Manor, The Heritage Highway and the rest of the Great Tasmanian Adventure

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened to our relaxing Tasmanian holiday after four days. Well, at least it came to an end for J. He had to fly home and put his nose back to the grindstone. Someone does have to pay for these holidays after all! We did not let that spoil our fun though... the kids and I carried on and continued our Tasmanian adventure.

We spent the next night in Richmond at Hatcher's Manor. This was an interesting place. A working apricot farm with animals and plenty of entertainment for the kids. The room we had was an explosion of pink that had its own charm is a pepto bismol sort of way.


The kids were most impressed with the animals. There were horses, goats, Larry the sheep, a chook (that's chicken for you Americans), a duck and some kittens. They were in manure heaven!


We woke in the morning and the kids immediately set off to the find the owners so they could take part in the animal feeding that morning. Our hosts were very gracious and put up with four squealing children and let them participate to their hearts content. What a fun way to spend the morning. Perhaps our next stay should be here...


After feeding time, it was time to move on to the next stop in our Tasmanian adventure! We planned to meet up with some friends from church so the kids and I started our 3 hour drive to the East Coast of Tasmania to a town called Falmouth. We made a few stops along the way.

Our first stop was in Oatlands. It was a good place to stop and stretch our legs and check out the windmill in town. We did not actually go in, and honestly the kids mostly enjoyed the playground next to the windmill. But, it was a good stop either way!


After that, we carried on down the Heritage Highway, took a right and landed in Falmouth. The house we stayed in with our friends was breathtaking and we had a fabulous two days. What a treat for me and the kids to just relax with friends and breathe in that clean Tasmanian air. It is just too bad Jason had to miss this part!



Then, all good things really did come to an end and we had to go home too. Never fear, once we got home, it was only 4 days until Nana and Gipa arrived for a 3 week visit over Christmas and New Years!

Port Arthur, Doo Town and the Tasman Penninsula

One day we took an outing to Port Arthur. It was striking to see the old convict jails contrasting with the green grass. It was the coldest day we had and there was a little drizzle making us feel like we were back in England. They have set up some great interactive exhibits that allowed the kids to learn a lot about convict life and the sort of crimes that landed you at Port Arthur. The kids were amazed that there were prisoners who did something as small as steal a loaf of bread that were sent across the world to prison.


The more recent history of Port Arthur includes a massacre that occurred there in 1996. While we were visiting the site, we had no idea this had happened and only found out afterwards in talking to our Australian friends. I am glad that we only knew of the far distant history of the place or it would have really changed our day.

The Tasman Peninsula in general is quite beautiful. The house was located on a beautiful beach with squeaky, white sand. Yes, the sand actually squeaked when we walked on it. The house was located a 5 minute walk from the Tessellated Pavement. This is a place where the water has formed the rocks into what looks like tiles. It was very interesting and hard to believe that it was just the water that has formed it.

Tessellated Pavement

This stretch of beach was also a little sea shell collectors paradise! The girls loved how many shells there were and spent hours digging through and finding their favorite ones!


We also walked around several of the other Tasman Peninsula sights. Again, the natural beauty of the area was striking!

The blowhole

The Tasman Arch

To get to the Blowhole and the Tasman Arch, we had to drive through a little town called Doo Town. This was a silly little place where every house had a name that included "doo." We all got a kick out of the names (well, most of them at least!)

and the PG-13 house...

Tasmania

Caution: Tassie Devils Crossing!

Before Christmas we took a little family holiday to Tassie. We were excited to see this lovely place that so many people talk about. It lived up to expectations for sure. It was beautiful. The weather was cool BUT... it was mostly dry. This could be a first for our family that is plagues by rainy holidays! We flew into Hobart and started our day at the Salamanca Markets. It was a fun market and the kids all enjoyed picking out a souvenir.



After that, we headed to the house we rented near Eaglehawk Neck. It was right on the beach and was suited perfectly for our family. Tasmania is pretty empty and we were very secluded. In fact, we had to shop for groceries on our way down at the nearest supermarket which was 45 minutes from the house. Fortunately, I knew this in advance and had planned our meals and had a comprehensive shopping list all compiled for when we arrived. I was quite proud that I had even thought to ask if the washing machine was a front load or top load so I could get detergent. Clearly I have learned that hard way that these questions need to be asked! Shopping done and we were ready to go.

We spent our 4 days exploring the Tasman Penninsula. We walked on the squeaky sand beaches outside the house and saw lots of Tassie Devils. Most were road kill but we also took a trip to the Tasmanian Devil conservation park and saw a few live ones as well. Stay tuned for more pictures of our Tasmanian adventures!

From the balcony of the house

Gorgeous scenery from the beach outside the house

Bula!

Our family has done the near impossible. We have successfully executed another holiday where we secured the never sought after, unseasonable, unlikely, downright annoying, rain storms! Yes, that's right. We just spent another week playing cards in a hotel room. The destination this time - Fiji. By all accounts early October is one of the best times of year to go to Fiji. Mild temperatures and virtually no rain make it a holiday makers paradise. If only I had a dollar for every holiday rain drop our family has felt. I would be rich!

But, alas, all that family time spent together in cramped quarters makes me rich in spirit! Despite the rain, we had a lovely time in Fiji. We flew into Nadi and took an hour boat ride out to none other than "Paradise Island." Paradise it was. The beaches were gorgeous and there was nothing for us to do but relax. Even with the rain, we were able to have a wonderful holiday together.


The resort itself was very basic but perfect for our family. I had a very hard time finding accommodations for a family of 6 during school holidays. Paradise Island is a 3 star resort which can be a little scary. But, it was perfect for us. Our first bure (that is a little fiji cottage) was not renovated and was awful. We complained (of course) and were moved to a nicely renovated bure which was great. Nothing special - no tvs even - but we knew that coming in. It was 3 rooms with beds for everyone and views of the ocean. What more do we need?

So, what did we do in the rain? Most days there was at least an hour or so where the rain slowed to a sprinkle. So, we swam. We snorkeled. We ate. We had a great time. The snorkeling off the beach was fantastic. There was a reef just a short swim off shore so we were all able to see some amazing sea life. In fact, our snorkeling here was much better than the Great Barrier Reef. It was nice and shallow as well so we were able to paddle the little girls out in kayaks so they could see the reef too. We all saw tons of butterfly fish, huge bright blue starfish, and J even spotted a sting ray! The resort also had a kid's club with an indoor bouncy castle and slides. They had activities like hat making, crab racing, limbo and more. All the activities they had planned helped pass some of those very rainy days. In the end, the sun even decided to join us and our last 2 days in Fiji were the gorgeous sunny days you expect!

My forty precious toes...

Coconut time! The kids collected coconuts all week and had plenty of fresh coconut milk.

The resort had several pools and two waterslides. One in the baby pool and one in the big pool. We loved them!

We had lots of fun kayaking through the week. The resort had kayaks scattered around the beach that we could take. With the water so calm and shallow, we were all able to enjoy paddling around.


No vacation would be complete without a little adrenaline. The big kids had fun on the banana boat. The only complaint - it did not go fast enough!

Ahhhhh.... milkshakes by the water. Life lived on Fiji time is well worth it!

Oh my nose...

After leaving Queenstown, we headed to the North Island to Roturua. We chose to go here for a number of reasons. We wanted to take the kids to see all the thermal activity and volcanic sights in the area. We stayed here because it was easy to fly into and we flew home from Aukland so we did not want to drive further South. That being said, Rotorua is not really that wonderful of a place. There are not many restaurants and the hotel/motel selection is quite limited. Oh, and it STINKS! But, we knew this going in so it was fine.

We did enjoy our day at the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. The bubbling mud pools and other pools were amazing. Poor little C could not handle the smell and cried most of the time. The older two were in awe of God's creation. It was a really neat place to go.

Lady Knox Geyser


Bubbling mud pools




The famous Champagne pools


Some serious sulphur in this water...

We also enjoyed a day trip down to Lake Taupo. The town itself is a big step up from Rotorua and the lake was lovely also. We also liked Huka Falls. The highlight of this day however, was the Debretts hot springs pools. The kids loved the waterslide and various pools - all hot water of course! If we had stayed in this area longer, and did not have to fly home from Aukland, I would have wanted to stay in Taupo.

Huka Falls

Loved this sign.

All in all, we had a wonderful time in New Zealand. If you ever get to this part of the world, New Zealand is not to be missed. I would go back in heartbeat - but next time I would steer clear of the smell!

Queenstown again!

I took so many photos on this vacation that I need one more Queenstown post. A few other highlights of our trip were the Gondola in Queenstown where we were able to luge at the top of the mountain. Here we are with our helmets on before our first luge down the mountain. Everyone had a blast!


We also went to see the notorious Kiwis at Kiwi Birdlife. I was not overly impressed with the park but we had to see those kiwis. As a side note, not a good place for a stroller so bring the ergo if you go here!


Mostly we just enjoyed being together. This was one of those vacations where things just went right. The kids did not bicker, they played nicely together, they enjoyed the freedom of just entertaining themselves outside, they napped well, and had a great time.

We had lots of ring around the rosies happening...

A little wrestle mania...

Some good daddy play time...
...and a wonderful vacation!