We heart NZ

An invitation to a wedding was as good an excuse as any to get back to New Zealand for a visit; the stars aligned, the timing was right, and the country was just finishing up one of the best summers on record so the weather wasn’t looking too bad either. The main purpose of the visit was to attend the wedding of friends, but also to catch up with friends and family. Our two weeks there were super relaxing and reminded us of the very different pace of life we’re living in London. 

During our two week stay we got to:

Akaroa: the home of Dean’s extended family and one of our favourite places on earth.

 Sunset on the bay

Our favourite tree at the family farm, Paua Bay

Wellington: the home of Dean’s family and Lou’s home for her last ten years in the country. Also the capital city and enjoying spectacular weather confiming you really can't beat Wellington on a good day.Caught up with friends and family, and visited some of the favourite old haunts including Oriental Parade and catching a Hurricanes game.

 Wellington's Civic Square

Enjoying Feijoa gelato on the waterfront where we used to go running. And by the way, why does no one grow fejoias outside of New Zealand? It's a conspiracy.

Hawke’s Bay: Lou’s hometown, known as 'wine country', and another of our favourite spots. There we saw more friends and family, and once again indulged in food and wine. This trip, while shaping up to be an excellent one, was not good for the shape of our bodies...  (Check out this cool ad about why you should visit Hawke's Bay). This was where we attended the wedding of our friends too, and had a blast at their ceremony and reception at one of the beautiful local wineries, Craggy Range.

 Supporting the local economy by bolstering our wine collection at Ngatarawa. Check out the colour co-ordination with our local guide (aka Lou's mum)

 Celebrating at Craggy Range

Auckland: for a night with friends and to mentally prepare ourselves for the 28 hour journey back to London.

In between leaving on 27 March and arriving back almost three weeks later, the UK had increased its temperature 15 degrees and gone through daylight savings, both of which made for a pleasant and mostly jet lag-free return to real life.

To our kiwi friends and family: we’ll try not to leave it so long between drinks! For now: haere ra xxx

Singapore - the perfect stopover

March 2013 saw a long-overdue visit back to the homeland, New Zealand. In the past, we’ve flown directly to New Zealand and squeezed in a short stopover on the way back to London, but this time we decided a couple of days in Singapore to shake off the London winter ahead of our kiwi break was in order, so we spent three nights there.

Singapore turned out to be an ideal stopover:

• Hot weather? Check
• Great food? Check
• Enough to do without having to visit all the tourist joints? Check
• More great food? Check
• Easy to get around? Check
• No language barriers for jet-lagged brains? Check
• And a bonus feature: two sets of friends to catch up with while there and get the inside scoop on how best to spend our time.

We really wanted to use the time to thaw out and de-stress so we’d arrive in New Zealand relaxed, and Singapore delivered the goods. From our central hotel, we managed to see the following (suprise, surprise, a von Yarrall holiday featuring lots of eating):

• East Coast Lagoon Food Market, where we joined friends and tried Singapore staples chilli crab, sting ray, carrot cake (nothing to do with carrots, rather stir fried globs of raddish and flour dumplings) and satay washed down with cold beers
• Lau Pa Sat hawker market, set in an old cast iron Victorian structure - for more food
• Breakfast each day of kaya toast (a kind of jam made of coconut, sugar and egg) and kopi (local coffee with sweetend condensed milk)
• Raffles Hotel – just the outside for a nosey
• Little India – like being in another country
• China Town – like China town in any city really
• Orchard Road – famous for its shopping, spent most of the time nipping in and out of giant shopping malls to either soak up air con, or avoid downpours
• The light show, viewed from Bar 33 (on the 33^rd floor of the Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1) – didn’t really get the point of the light show at all, but the views were fab
• The MerLion, Singapore’s mascot
• Clarke Quay at night, a great wander down the waterfront with a stop for dinner followed by an ice cream sandwich (ice cream in bread – actually delicious)
• The Singapore Zoo, visited first thing in the morning and even then by the time we left we were melting. A pretty amazing zoo as the animals aren't in cages or behind bars, but rather separated from the public by ditches/streams of water. Included an entertaining elephant show and well worth the visit.
• And plenty of quality time pool-side in between

Three nights was plenty of time to get a feel for the city and definitely enough to relax and get over the jetlag before having one final swim and jumping on a plane. Next stop, Aotearoa.