“We’re Going On A Bug Hunt and We’re Not Scared...”

"Uh Oh....A Weta Hole!" 

Alfie and I went on a bug hunt today!

Thanks to the help of a very lovely gardener at Otari Wilton Bush we learnt all about how to recognise Mahoe (Whitey Wood) trees and how to spot weta holes in them.

Alfie of course thought this was a fantastic activity and spent the best part of two hours searching for weta holes, all the while hoping very hard that he’d find a real weta. 

Thankfully we saw none. Alfie was gutted but I was secretly relieved as wetas actually scare me more than the Redback spiders we used to find in Alice Springs!

However, we did forage around in the mulch and mud a lot, looking for fungi and little bugs and worms, and we managed to collect a number of fallen fern leaves and a dead caterpillar (all of which were returned to the bush when we left). We had endless games of Pooh Sticks on the bridges across the stream and managed to complete one of the walking tracks with almost no complaining from Alfie. 

It's a bit of a secret little corner of Wellington, but Wilton Bush is starting to become one of our favourite places in Wellington: it has amazing plants and trees, heaps of native birds, barbeque areas, good walking tracks - and lots of bugs! 

Countdown to Spring

The winter weather is just about hanging in there - we’ve just had a very blustery few days – but we’re all very aware now that Spring is just around the corner now (just a week away, officially).

I recently managed to win meal for two at one of our favourite south coast cafes (The Bach Cafe), so we went for a very luxurious, cozy Sunday lunch yesterday, and then spent the rest of the afternoon at Lyall Bay, where the beach was empty and the waves crashed in and the wind blew sand in our eyes and we were reminded a little of the old days at Surf Bay...

But it’s almost September, the daffodils and hyacinths are out in the garden and the evenings are lighter for longer. Molly is as busy as ever and Alfie is permanently outside on the deck with the hosepipe and a large bucket of water. 

Meanwhile, Spring being so near means house hunting season is about to begin again. During the winter hardly any new houses are put on the market, with people preferring to sell during the drier, sunnier months when their homes look more appealing. Not that it's stopped us: since March I've viewed 64 houses (with my 65th viewing due tomorrow). 

This is our 3^rd time purchasing a house but it’s proving to be the most difficult. Perhaps it’s because we’ve become more fussy over the years, and there are now 4 people’s needs to consider (both our previous house purchases were made pre-children).

Or perhaps it’s just Wellington’s unique market. Wellington is a small city so there’s not as much choice (our previous homes were bought in Auckland and London). Only a handful of suitable houses are listed each month. 

Each property is individual and unique so it’s hard to compare prices – unlike London where there were whole streets (if not entire suburbs) full of terraced Victorian flat conversions, all identical and all similarly priced. In fact more often than not there is no price here - auctions and tenders are popular selling methods instead.

And just to make things super tricky there’s the city’s topography to consider. So many houses here are on the wrong side of the mountain or road and hardly see the sun, and it's so difficult to tell which houses they are when you're on a 15 minute viewing.  Thank goodness for iPhone apps: we're using a great one which tells us exactly where the sun rises and sets in relation to the property we're looking at. 

We're all looking forward to the day when we can move. There's certain things you can't do in rental accommodation. The kids are desperate to plant strawberries and get a pet. I am desperate to buy new furniture and hang our paintings up, and Jake is just desperate to stop paying rent / somebody else's mortgage. 

Wish us luck - it's got to happen soon! 

Working Hard (well, some of us are!)

We sometimes go through periods when Molly has quite a significant level of homework (for a 6 year old, anyway) to fit into a regular week. This term we're having one of those periods.

Once you factor in a couple of after school activities and some rest time, plus allow a bit of time for playdates, it starts to become a real challenge to fit in all the spelling, writing, reading and news preparation each week.

(Especially when you have an attention-demanding 4 year old in the house whose main goal in life is to distract his sister).

Last week's news topic was to perform a song or a dance for the class and Molly spent roughly 3 or 4 hours - at least! - practising in total. 

This was mainly due to the fact that she kept changing her mind about what to do. After starting off the week by learning the dance to "Hoedown Showdown" from Hannah Montana she decided it was too fast and after a lot of frustration on her (and my) part she then changed the plan to choreographing and rehearsing a dance to "Everybody Walk The Dinosaur". 

Then, at the eleventh hour when she realised how hard it was to keep in time to the music for that one, she broke down in tears and eventually decided to sing "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars instead. Which involved a lot of time learning all the words. 

Thank goodness this week's news topic is simply to talk about your two favourite places in Wellington - although currently Molly has a list of eight places to talk about so I'm expecting more dramas over the next few days. 

(For the record, these are: Makara Beach, Nairnville Park, scootering on the waterfront, the Sunday food markets, The Beehive, Frank Kitts Underground Market, Te Papa Museum and Raumati Beach). 

Meanwhile I am loving the fact that we’ve now got WiFi in the house so I can finally move my workspace out of our small, dark, cold, uninspiring study and mix it up around the house instead. I work so much better when I have natural light, warmth and big windows near me. I have some lovely clients at the moment and I’m sure they’re benefiting from my moves!

But when it comes to mixing up your working environment Jake definitely wins the family prize. His job frequently seems to involve hardly any time sitting behind a desk in the office and plenty of time outdoors instead doing the kind of stuff the rest of us can only dream of. 

His last few months at work have included helicoptering around the mountains in the South Island, hiking three of the famous "Great Walks", a total immersion week on a Marae learning the Maori language and protocol, attending team meetings at the Monkey House in Wellington Zoo .... and more. I won't go on, except to say that the rest of the family are insanely jealous!