Wander & Nest

What a week last week! We’ve been out of Christchurch for the past 7 days, first in Wellington on the North Island of New Zealand then to Aoraki (Mt Cook) for a weekend with some new friends. The theme of easy living in New Zealand continues, even while traveling around the country.

We needed to go to Wellington for a visa appointment at the French embassy and decided to make a week of it. We took the quick 35 minute flight up and got to experience windy Wellington first hand. We had a great Airbnb near the waterfront and city center. Mara loved looking out the windows and seeing dozens of buses drive by every few minutes.

I was able to continue working all week, we got time to explore a bit of the city, and of course we crossed the much anticipated embassy visit off our list! I love how my and Mara’s visa pictures look like an age progression, haha.

Mara had her fourth run in with a daycare friend up in Wellington. So funny that we ran into another Christchurch family at a playground on the other side of the country. Mara and her fellow two-year-old friend were completely unfazed of course. She made a few other friends at the playground, which was good because we’re really working on sharing right now. We’re starting to understand the very big feelings of toddlerhood and doing our best to be gentle and consistent. Then of course she gives us this look and completely melts our hearts. Is this not the most toddler picture imaginable… no pants, shoes on wrong feet, hair a mess from getting into a bottle of lotion, and what’s on her shirt?!

Wellington was nice, but we both missed the South Island. At another time in our lives we probably would have loved Wellington more, but from the little we saw it couldn’t compete with how toddler friendly Christchurch and Canterbury are. We flew back to Christchurch on Friday and within 2 hours were on the road for a trip down to Aoraki to meet up with some new friends we made.

We did two incredible hikes together. It was some of the most stunning scenery any of us had ever encountered. Day 1 was the Hooker Valley walk where we were surrounded by towering snow covered mountains and crossed three swing bridges along the way. The weather was spectacular and somehow the hike was super easy with almost no climbing.

Day 2 was a shorter walk to Tasman Glacier Lake, it was unreal. Again, perfect weather. And seriously cold water.

Mara made two new best friends in Maggie and Fin. She adores them and it’s so much fun to watch her connect with new people. The adults even got to go out for dinner while Maggie babysat Mara! This was our first ever babysitting experience with a non-family member, and, well… it’s a game changer! We feel so lucky to have met Jay, Sarah, Maggie and Fin (check out their blog here!). And in an amazing coincidence, they will also be going to Toulouse next Spring so we’ll get to overlap with them again there. We can’t wait!