The Wairarapa

It’s school holidays again, already! (Where did that last term go?)

We kicked things off this time with a few days holiday in the Wairarapa, a beautiful region north-east of Wellington which is famous for its vineyards, farming and wild coastline. For a change, we’d decided not to stay at a beach house this time, but chose to stay on the most delightful farm about half an hour inland from the coast - we had a little tin & wood cottage next to the farmhouse, very basic, but just perfect for us. 

On arrival, the kids belted out of the car and just ran and ran for hours around the farm, while Jake lay down on the sofa and read the paper and I tried to explore a bit. Unfortunately I didn't get very far as I was bullied by 3 large cows who blocked my pathway and gave me evil menacing stares, as if they were daring me to walk any further. I chose not to risk my life and returned to the cottage where I found the kids still running around (now caked in thick mud) and Jake still on the sofa (now playing games on his iPhone). 

By day 2 we were well and truly into the swing of things. The kids were now proudly responsible for feeding the farm's pet lamb 3 times a day and checking the chicken pen for fresh eggs,  and had both decided they wanted to remain on the farm for ever and never go home again.

But I persuaded everyone to explore a bit more and we managed to get down to the river, where we found the biggest pile of driftwood and set about making a teepee, digging mini rivers, and having stick throwing competitions. 

Meanwhile back at the farm we all completely and utterly enjoyed the feeling of being away from everything, with no phones, no internet and no TV. We played tennis, walked around the farm collecting big bags of pine cones, had pine cone throwing competitions (!), read books, drew pictures, and had plenty of very much needed sleep. 

The Wairarapa is an extremely beautiful and wild part of New Zealand and we feel very lucky to be living so close to it. In fact, much as we love our home city, we found it very difficult to return to Wellington - Molly in particular was in tears when she had to say goodbye to "Lamb Lamb" (named by the farmer's 2 year old Grandson, not by us!).

It was a great trip - big thanks to Karen & Clayton at the farm for making us feel so welcome! Next I need to plan loads of distractions for the rest of the holidays to take the kids' minds off their dearly missed animal friends!