Summertime is here!

Here we are last day of November 2025!

Summer is starting well in this part of the world. Plants that have never flowered before are suddenly coming to life!

We embrace outdoor living rather feverishly I have to say, opening the house up fully feels wonderful!

Meals and coffee on the deck reinforces the holiday vibe. No biting bugs here, so at any time of the day or night you can be outside without listening for the dreaded sound of a mosquito!

This year my flowering plants are well established and they are thriving, so pretty! I am a very lazy gardener; I need things to be easy care, hardy, with minimal weeding and watering.

Having enough pasture for the animals, means no lawns to mow, but I have needed to be mindful of what is being planted as the ponies and chooks free range around the property, (except for the vege garden), so it needs to be something they won’t eat.

We have just over 3 acres, the aim was to have a purpose for every square inch of land, for it to look esthetically appealing but be functional, productive and easy care. We needed it to be the sort of place when we go travelling someone can come in and take care of it with very little effort. It has been a delicate balance with a lot of trial and error, but we are there.

On the 3rd of December Luca turns 17!!!! How did that happen so fast!?! For those of you who have followed our path over the years, Luca turned 10 as we crossed on the ferry to the South Island, back when we first arrived in NZ. Seems a lifetime ago now 😲

This weekend there was a marathon session of Dungeons and Dragons, I got home from work, and they were playing, it went on well into the early hours and into the next day. I love that the kids play this awesome 1980’s board game. I think Stranger Things has had a hand in its comeback for this generation and it is proof that they are not all about the digital world, despite what the media would have you believe!

The flax to the left of the ponies were a few fronds knee high, when I transplanted it into the ground 6 years ago, this year it is flowering for the first time. All the flax and the cabbage trees, (of which we have many of both), are prolifically flowering the smell as you enter the property is absolutely divine!

The smell from cut flowers in the house is pretty nice too 😊

I work up to late Christmas Eve, then off until the 18th of January! Very much looking forward to a break. It has been a tough year work wise; I need time to recharge and reassess. Plus, we have exciting plans and have been planning for months!!!!

We head off to the West Coast on the 26th for some outdoor exploring, then up to Picton to drop Luca off to board the Spirit of Adventure. Rich and I are then heading into the wilds of Queen Charlotte Sounds for complete time out away from civilisation. We will pick Luca up from Nelson where he docks post voyage, and head on down to Christchurch for a bit of city exploring.

We want Luca to check out Christchurch, seeing it through the eyes of a 17-year-old will be different from when he was 10 when the playground was its biggest draw. It is a much bigger city than Dunedin and a lot more going on, we are interested to see what he thinks. I lived there many years ago when I worked in its hospital emergency department, loved my time there.

We were living in Nova Scotia when the earthquake happened in 2011, it was utterly devastating forever changing the city. It has rebuilt itself slowly but surely, and since our last visit in 2018 it is reportedly now a vibrant progressive place, so we thought we would check it out.

This is Luca’s last summer of no real responsibility; we want him to take advantage and embrace the freedom of it. Sailing on this beauty for 10 days, with 39 other 16–19-year-olds, is a good start ….