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I arrived in Wellington (horray, bus came, and on time too!!) on Friday 23rd December, very very excited about seeing Emily Phillips! Em picked me up at Te Papa museum, with Jac in the car...was soo great to see her but felt weirdly normal too, like it was a regular thing for us both to be in New Zealand. My first introduction to Wellington was us stopping off to give wee Jac his bottle and then us driving off, leaving the lid of the bottle on the car roof...so then me running like an idiot out into the busy road to rescue it! It survived a lorry and a few cars though, as did I haha!!
They call it 'Windy Welly' but I was here from Fri 23rd Dec - Tues 27 Dec and had beautiful, hot, sunny, clear weather the whole time. Wonderful!!
On the Friday 23rd after picking me up we went to visit Matts work. It was his christmas work lunch do and here in New Zealand they are very big on families, so family are invited, kids get a wee gift for christmas from their parents work etc. A nice value really. Poor wee Jac had to go for some jabs then, so I tagged along, he was a brave wee soldier!! Emily and Matt are currently staying at a relatives house, at Sunshine Bay, Eastbourne. When Emily pulled up at the beautiful blue painted wooden water side house I couldnt quite believe it! Such a georgeous place to be able to spend Christmas. I was really really lucky and had a beautiful big double bedroom to myself (no dorm beds, no locking away all my stuff, ahh, the excitement) - plus the massive double bed, beautiful view and sound of the water lapping outside my window while I lay in bed was obviously an added bonus! What a lucky girl I am to have friends like Emily and Matt. Goodness me.
Em & I needed a good catch up and bottle (each!!) of wine, so we left Matt and Jac to it on the Fri night, and headed into a local town, called 'Petone' and went to a lovely wee italian restaurant there where we had a really lovely meal and really lovely wine too! Really small cute wee place with very friendly staff. Em had a voucher for it too - right up my street! Well done Emily!! We had lots and lots to catch up on so was lovely.
Christmas eve in Wellington New Zealand was lovely...had a nice lie in and then Matt cooked some bacon and eggs on the BBQ out on the decking at the house, overlooking the water, all very hard to take in really after roughing it backpacking for the last 2 months! Was a scorching hot day, so having to wear sun cream etc on christmas eve was bizarre to say the least! I managed to have a video skype chat home using theor laptop, so saw my family for first time since I left (ha ha, they havent changed much!!), Moss (the dog) even got involved, was great!! Was able to show my family using the video where I am staying and the view etc, so that was great! We took a wee drive into Eastbourne in the anoon then to have a look at where Emily Matt and Jac will be moving to in Jan 2012, so was lovely to be able to see where they will be, Georgeous spot too, by the sea, great place for Jac to be spending his early days. Just lovely. Christmas eve night we had another BBQ and matts mum, dad, sister, brother in law and niece came. Fantastic views again from the decking, all feeling very surreal on christmas eve!!
Chistmas day in Wellington, New Zealand. I genuinely had the most lovely day, with fantastic weather, food, views and most importantly...company. To be so so far away from home, on the other side of the world really and wake up and be so part of another families christmas day and made to feel so welcome was just...gosh, hard to describe! I felt so so lucky and fortunate to be able to experience that and I will never ever forget Matt, Emily and Matt's parents Clare and Jo and Matts sister Emma and husband Gregg & daughter Meg for that. We spent christmas afternoon and most of the evening at Emma and Greggs house in Eastbourne and what a beautful house they have. Set up quite high it has fantastic views over the water. I arrived with Emily and Matt and Jac to see the outside garden table and chairs out and ready for action, wine glasses and crackers laid out, sun beaming, water in view and was offerred a glass of wine! Now it doesnt get much better than that does it?! What a wondeerful day, I was so far away from home, but I was as happy as could be and enjoyed every minute. Thank you guys x x
Genuinely a Christmas that I will look back on and smile about every single christmas from now on!
Christmas morning I had some lovely cards to open from home and my star bar friends Kerry Snell and Edwina Maguire (named and shamed girls!!) had sent me gifts to open!! Was so so lovely, Kerry sent me some yummy M&S colin the caterpillar sweeties (YUM) and some earings - perfect as I lost 1 nice dangly earing in Thailand and now I have a new pair! Good work Ker! Edwina...I dont know how on earth you ever did this girl...but Ed sent me a mini bottle of rose wine in a glass bottle...and yep it made it in one piece!!! HAHAHAH!!! FAB ED!! Ed also sent me some dime bars...6 to be precise....and OMG did i enjoy those...the chocolate out here is not the same at all and I was mega excited to see those on christmas morn! Also the face mask and hair treatment is much much needed, good thinking girls!! Emily and Matt and Jac kindly got me a beautiful modern New Zealand Kiwi bird picture...very modern and funky...absolutely perfect as I haven't bought any souvenirs here in N.Z... that can come home with me and when I have my own place it can go up on the wall and remind me of my happy christmas with them in New Zealand :)
Boxing day Emily and I hit the sales!! HAHA! Practical reasons though, furniture shopping for their new house in Jan! Was nice to do something quite normal like that ha.
So tomorrow I head on the Interislander ferry across from Wellington to Picton, to move from the north island in New Zealand to the south island. Emily is kindly going to take me to the ferry point tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to having to move on and say goodbye to Em!
I have thoroughly enjoyed my christmas in Wellington with Emily, Matt and Jac and family. What a different christmas in the blazing sun! Happy happy memories that I will never forget...thank you all...missing you lots xoxoxo
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