Christchurch

Christchurch Overview
One of the best parts of our recent tour of Christchurch was going to an overlook adjacent to Sign of the Takahe. Unfortunately the sun was totally in the wrong place, so we don't have any spectacular photos to share ... but it was really cool to look out over the city.

High School in New Zealand
While we've been here in Christchurch, both Peter and Luke have been going to Riccarton High School with their friends. In New Zealand the schools all have uniforms, and the boys were given the choice to wear them or not (since they're only visiting). Peter didn't really have anyone to borrow from due to his height, but Luke was keen to jump into the whole experience, and has been wearing a uniform for the week. The boys are enjoying their time so much, they want to stay and not return home to America. Luke is still in middle school in the states, but there aren't many middle or intermidate schools here in Christchurch. Luke seems to really be enjoying his time in high school.... see Luke and his friend Jared in the photo below:

The boys have said they would like to stay in school with their friends, rather than continue on with the rest of the holiday.

Anna-Kate has been going to Primary School with her cousins and I hope to get an update from her today. We only have a couple of days left here in Christchurch before we head south.

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Thanks,
Colette

Akaroa - Long Harbour

Akaroa - Long Harbour
On Saturday I was able to have a day away with Warren while the kids were busy with their friends for the day. It was so nice to drive past the many paddocks dotted with sheep, and to see the lovely green grass covered hills and mountains along the way. We stopped for hot tea and a muffin at the Hilltop Cafe, which is on the ancient volcanic crater rim overlooking the harbour. Once down in the quaint French settlement of Akaroa, we were able to catch a small boat cruise out the harbour to the Pacific Ocean. The two hour cruise started relatively calm, but the ocean surge from the southern ocean got quite large, making for a "washing machine" type turbulence around the rocky entrance. We were happy to see a couple of small Blue Penguins, and also a pair of very rare Hector Dolphins - although it was very difficult to get a photo with the boat bobbing around so much. The water is a beautiful blue and the sun was warm and sunny! Akaroa is a small town of just 500 with many unique shops - including a place you can purchase blue pearls! We were able to spend a little time walking around the community, and stopped by to see the Maison de la Mer, a top 10 worldwide B&B. Wish we had more time in this wee town with french settlers, and it's deffinately on my list of favorite places in New Zealand and I hope we can take the kids back for a boat ride.

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Thanks,
Colette

Follow me on a trip around New Zealand

Greetings from Christchurch, New Zealand!
We arrived in the land of the long white cloud just six days ago and already our time has been filled with friendship, family, fun gatherings and an abundance of beautiful scenery. Christchurch is the second largest city in New Zealand yet has only about 400,000 residents. Wellington is on the bottom of the North Island and the capital city. Christchurch is on the East coast of the South Island and is commonly called "the garden city" and is truly beautiful in the Spring time. However, July is the middle of winter here - although so far it has been unusually mild. As you may know, Christchurch experienced a large 7.1 earthquake in September 2010, a huge 6.3 aftershock in February and another 6.3 in June. Altogether there have been nearly 13,000 earthquakes, although many are too small to feel. Yesterday was reportedly the first day since September that did not have a noticeable earthquake (which we're quite happy about). So far I have only felt one aftershock and it felt like a short, sudden shake, but it was 'only' a 3.8. Friends took us on a tour of downtown Christchurch to see the devastation firsthand, and it was very sad to see the crumbled buildings and landmarks, although many sites have already been cleared.

Please click the follow me button and you will automatically receive my updates. Please leave me a comment if you would like to receive a personal post card from New Zealand!

Thank you and have a lovely day!
Colette

City of Sails

After our time in Tahiti, we flew to Auckland, New Zealand. While flying south we crossed the International Date line and Peter suddenly turned 16. Auckland is known as the city of sails! There are more sail boats here per capta than most any other place. The America's Cup Yachting race was held here in 2000 & 2002, and we were able to visit the Viaduct Harbour where much of the action took place (see photo below). We stayed in a lovely hotel downtown. Warren has a couple of cousins that live in Auckland and they had us all over for a lovely dinner. We were finally in New Zealand and looking forward to heading further south. There is still trouble with volcanic ash from the Chilean eruption and so our pilot had to drop down and fly at just 18,000 ft. which gave us an amazing view of the Southern Alps. It was a lovely day and Anna-Kate and I had window seats - enjoying our view of the South Island. Warrens family were waiting for us in the airport and welcomed Warren home! Warren's sister, Carla, and her two daughters also came to welcome us.

Travel and Tahiti

While we booked our flight to New Zealand with Delta - Delta doesn't fly to New Zealand. But thankfully Delta is partners with Air Tahiti! I couldn't have even dreamed up a mandatory lay over in Tahiti - for 12-18 hours! Warren decided that was too long to hang out in the lobby and he booked us a hotel in Tahiti to catch some much needed shut eye. We landed in Tahiti at night - drove to the hotel in the dark - found our rooms and we all crashed and slept about six hours. Imagine our surprise when we woke up, walked out onto our patio and saw the beatutiful ocean! An ocean view of Tahiti! What a blessing for this family of weary travelers. We also had time for a quick dip in the pool! Radisson Resort Plaza was a wonderful stop over!

Making a list and Checking it twice

We, the Ladbrook family of five, have been hoping, dreaming about and planning a trip to New Zealand for five years.  Warren is from New Zealand and we all lived there for three years, 2002-2005.  More recently we have lived in Alpharetta, Georgia, for the past six years.  While Warren has a job based in Atlanta, he travels for his Engineer work to faraway places in the dusty regions of the Middle East.  Frequent trips to the Middle East mean lots and lots of frequent flyer (ff) miles have been saved for a special trip.  This past year Warren was even inducted into the ff Diamond Medallion Club and we finally saved up the 800,000 ff miles that were needed for us all to travel to New Zealand!  Warren subsequently booked our overseas adventure and we had to renew our children's passports and wait for summer to arrive.  The kids are out of school and counting down the days till we take off and fly around the world.  The boys remember traveling to and living in New Zealand and have been eagerly looking forward to returning.  Anna-Kate was just three when we moved back to the states, so this will be a new adventure for her.  Warren and I sat down today and made a packing list for everyone which includes both bathing suits for a stopover in Tahitti and Australia and warm weather clothes and ski gear for our time down south in the winter time of New Zealand.  Stay tuned for more pictures, updates and budget travel tips from this adventurous family of five.
p.s. - the kids don't read my blogs and don't know about our extra stop overs and please click follow if you would like to read more about our travels! :)

All about me and Etsy!

Hello!  I have been helping my mom with her new blog and etsy site - so I haven't been by here in a while.   I hope to drop by more to write and share!  My mom has a new shop at http://www.allthingshomey.etsy.com/ and we have a shop together at http://www.treasures4ewe.etsy.com/
I have always loved sheep and collecting treasures - hence the name - Treasures 4 ewe!
For my new followers I wanted to share about me.....

Q.  Are you married - kids?
A.  Yes, I am married and have three kids; Peter, Luke and Anna-Kate.

Q.  What state/country do you live in?
A.  Currently we live in Alpharetta, Georgia (USA) and have lived here (just north of Atlanta) for five years.  Prior to that we lived in New Zealand for three years, and before that, Texas for three years.  I am so thankful to be settled down for a bit.

Q.  How long have you been crafting and selling on Etsy
A.  Well....my mom is an artist - so I was raised around crafts.  I am not nearly as crafty as her.  And I have always loved vintage things!  I live in a great area to shop for treasures at garage sales and thrift stores.  I started selling on Etsy this year - 2011!

Q.  Which of these three would you prefer to do...Hang glide, bungee jump, or sit by the pool? 
A.  I would rather sit on the beach and watch my children play!  I love going to the beach!

Q.  Where is your family going on their next vacation?
A.  We are all going to New Zealand on an overseas adventure.  My husband is from New Zealand and we have been saving up frequent flyer miles for six years.  My husband travels for work - so with all his miles we have saved enough FREE MILES to ALL travel to New Zealand.  I will be posting pictures and updates on this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Colette