Where in the world is Nell...??

Here I am! In Westport, New Zealand, which is where Jo's family lives! And Lordy is it cold. Thankfully as i write this i am sitting by the fire, two kitties purring next to me, feeling very cosy indeed.



So what have i been doing, apart from freezing my butt off? We started with 4 days in Christchurch, where Jo's Dad and his Niece Kayla live at the moment, because Kayla is attending a music college down there for a couple of years. On Wednesday afternoon, after a pretty smooth plane ride over the Tasman, we caught up with them for a little while before dashing off to dinner at Sezn, which, let me tell you, was absolutely delicious! We had such a great dinner, all organic ingredients. and the greatest service - we were both greeted by name as soon as we got there, and were presented with menu's with out names on them too, saying "Jo and Nell, Welcome to Sezn"! I thought that was pretty cool :)


Anyway, so was stuffed the gills afterwards, so we headed back to the hotel to sleep it off before our tasting tour in the morning. Thursday was clear skies all around, yay - so we headed off with Mavis, who runs the tasting tours, and she took us to some great places, including Dux De Lux which is a brewery (beer tasting at 9am? awesome.), a walnut farm, a winery and Mona Vale homestead for high tea! It was all yummy of course - in fact it felt like all we had done thus far in NZ was eat. But hey - as one who can be heard mumbling "I'm hungry..." at approximately 4 hour intervals throughout the day, it suited me.


On Thursday evening, Jo's brother Matthew and sister-in-law Rochelle joined us - they drove across cause we were all going skiing on Friday, and also, lets face it, someone needed to cart us back to Westport at some point. Jo, Matthew and Rochelle were helping Kayla with a college project she had to complete, which was to record a song in a studio, so we headed over to the college to practice. Kayla kindly allowed me to feel like i was contributing by showing me some notes to play on the keyboard, so even i had a job to do - the song was Last Kiss by Pearl Jam, except i found out it was originally recorded in the 60s by some other band, so there you have it. Anyway, let me tell you - those Hursts are great music players, but they frequently got carried away "jamming" (I believe that's the technical musical term) and not practicing for the recording at all...


Friday it was up at 6am (totally gross) to head to Mt Hutt to go snowboarding! It was very exciting for someone who has only seen snow once before (that's me), and never in such enormous quantities! Snow snow everywhere, and it was lovely. What was disturbing though was how hard it was for me to stand up straight on the snowboard at all, nevermind actually riding it, while other little kids put me to shame by whizzing by as though they were born on the board. Needless to say my bottom was aching by the end of the day, along with other muscles in my body that i didn't even know existed...still, it was great fun, and i did end up being able to fly down the hill without falling down more than once or twice. Jo and Matthew did really well though, they really got the hang of it! The views from the top were stunning too, NZ really has the most amazing scenery and landscape I've ever seen.



Were were so tired by the time we got back that night into Christchurch, but we struggled on and went to dinner and a movie - we saw Transformers 2, which was WAY too long, and frankly a bit too cheesy for me, especially the last 40 minutes - typical Michael Bay. Not as good as the first one, but still enjoyable enough, and funny too.



On Saturday we had the official recording of Kayla's song, so we headed off to her college to do that. Since i wasn't actually playing, i went up into the recording room which was interesting. And that night - we went to watch the All Blacks play Italy which was great! Well, the game overall wasn't that spectacular - actually i thought Italy was playing really well, and were definantly not as dominated by the All Blacks as i thought they would be! But it was exciting to see all my favourite players in the flesh *beams* We all gathered back at our hotel room to watch the Australia vs France match afterwards too.



Sunday we were up and at em again pretty early, because we were heading to Westport which is a 4 hour drive across the South Island, eek! We said our goodbyes to Kayla and Jo's dad (but not before engaging in a lively discussion about drugs and the music industry...) and then headed off. It was evening by the time we got to Westport, but the kids - Jacob and Lauren, Jo's niece and nephew - had been waiting all day for us to get there, and had made a huge sign welcoming back "Mummy, Daddy, Uncle Jo and Aunty Ornella", which was rather cute. Lauren has changed so much since last year, she is talking like an absolute pro, and is really quite hilarious. We showed her some video of her when she was a baby, and she kept saying "Is that me??!! Is that me??!!" over and over again in this incredulous little tone, like she really couldn't believe she'd ever been that little. Jacob is as curious and engaging as ever, and loves to ask questions about anything and everything - "What did you have for dinner Aunty Ornella? Did Uncle Jo have the same dinner as you? What about breakfast? Is there porridge at Nana's house? Can i use the camera now?" Etc etc.

And so here we are, Monday all of a sudden, and we've spend the day lounging around, reading, watching TV and generally recovering from the 4 day whirlwind of Christchurch. Tomorrow we are due to pick Jacob up from a playgroup he goes to at 12, and then hang out with them for the rest of the day - which means i better rest up because those two have plenty of energy to spare.

Two important shout outs before i go - firstly to my good friend Sue and her husband who is living over in London at the moment and is pregnant with her first baby! Congrats guys - I can't believe you didn't tell any of us until now, GRRRRR - better not let that happen with baby number 2 or there'll be trouble.

Secondly to my brother Andrew and my soon to be new sister-in-law Ashley - because they officially got engaged over the weekend! Congratulations guys!!! Ashley - welcome to the family, you poor thing. You have no idea what your in for *winks* Don't let us bully you too much...

Phew, what a long post, i will leave you finally with some pictures that we've taken so far....goodnight from the land of the long white cloud!

On the plane listening to some groovy tunes...

Jo's dad and i discussing something...probably global conspiracies

Cathedral Square in Christchurch by night

Me, snapped by Jo

Sitting in the square

Indulging in High Tea, yum!

Jo, having just fallen down during snowboarding at Mt Hutt

Me in the wintery wonderlandy snow

Freezing at the All Blacks match (note i am supporting Italy with my blue jersey!!)


All Blacks about to do the Haka! I love that.

Gloomy gloom gloom

All i have seen this weekend is RAIN! Yesterday especially, it was torrential. However. Let the weekend round up begin.

Friday night we were at my parents for a BBQ and Friday night football, which was fine apart from my Dad's tirade on the price of Barilla pasta staying exactly the same even though the number of grams per packet had reduced. He apparently demanded an explanation from a poor old Woolworth's employee - of course Mum and I both agreed that we were very glad we weren't there to witness it - after which Dad accused us of never being on his "side" about the these things, and that we make him feel like "a bully" all the time. Well. I mean i didn't want to say it...

Saturday it poured all day! But we still ventured out in search of a new camera for Jo - a digital SLR in fact, which is awesome and takes very good pictures. Then we raced home because Leah and Chris were coming over. Leah and I made pizza for dinner, including one particularly delicious one with provolone cheese, prosciutto and rocket lettuce, YUM. We watched the All Blacks beat France (thank goodness) and then a movie called Quarantine, which was very....intense, to say the least. Leah and I screamed several times because we are real girls, just like Pinocchio was a real boy. Where oh where did this brilliant analogy come from, i hear you asking yourselves? Alas, my cleverness astounds even me.

Today we were at Maria and Pete's for a lovely, fresh cooked breakfast of bacon and egg rolls and pancakes. We were only supposed to be there for a few hours, but somehow we were still there at dinner time, which was fine by me because we had RIBS, one of my most favourite things. Jo had fun testing out the camera all day long, particularly as Jack was for the most part a very willing subject.

Today he particularly enjoyed sitting in the front seat of Jo's car, occasionally making the horn beep by accident, to which he would let out a shocked "ooooooh!" He is a funny fellow.

Here are some pics from our day:

Up and away - Jack's favourite game

Cheeky grins

Eating my pancakes

Bird watching

We're about to settle in now to watch The Sixth Sense - only two more days till holidays in New Zealand, yaaaay!

Three cheers for Friday!

What a week it's been too. Between unwelcome doctors appointments and finishing off a bunch of things for work before i go on leave next week, it's been very hectic indeed.

Tuesday saw me back in the saddle on Bruno, a lovely horse who used to get shown a lot actually, and now works mainly with the adult riders - i needed a break from the troublesome Benjamin this week.

Wednesday we were at my parents for dinner with Maria, Pete and Jack, who had us in hysterics as always. He loved seeing the three dogs - yes, did i mention my brother and Ashley got a dog? Reggie is his name, though for reasons unknown to me my father is unable to say Reggie, and has taken to calling him Riccardo instead. Regardless, he is very sweet natured and Cooper absolutely loves him. Comet, on the other hand, seems incensed that yet another four-legged creature appears every now and then in his backyard.

So yes, Jack loved the dogs - he doesn't call them dogs though, he calls them "barks", which is rather amusing, and is in fact another tidbit to be added to my growing collection of embarrassing anecdotes to share with his girlfriends when he gets older.



He's also become a fan of listening to music via YouTube (technologically savvy even at 16 months). Songs he loves to groove to right now include Wes Carr's "Feel's like Whoa" and pretty much anything by Pink. He almost fell off the bed he was bopping and dancing so hard, and was most confused when Comet refused to join in. The kid tried everything to encourage some sort of movement - including screaming in his face - but to no avail. The most the dog would commit to was the occasional lift of the head and roll of the eyes in Jack's general direction.

Enjoying a nutritious biscuit with his friend Bear.

Showing his true colours - Peter, please note - that is NOT a Sharks football he's holding. Go the Doggies!

No idea what he found so exciting while this picture was being taken.

Scampering about. Lordy this kid is too cute.

Wednesday and Thursday night were spent mainly in a panic, about getting tests and then the results back from the docs - so i cheered myself up by watching two of my all-time favourite feel good movies - Father of the Bride 1 and 2, thank you very much. Who, i ask you, doesn't love Steve Martin? But today i got the official all-clear, so now i can relax and enjoy my weekend - before going on holidays to New Zealand next week! Yaaay!

And now? Friday at last. I'll leave you with the immortal words of The Cure:

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday I'm in love

Jo's birthday weekend extravaganza

And what a weekend it's been. Honestly, we haven't had a spare moment - mainly because all I've done is eat. We just got back from dinner at South, this great, tiny place in Neutral Bay that's owned by this American guy, so their menu is mainly traditional Southern American food, like a lot of the stuff we had in New Orleans last year and loved! We had crab cakes and hot dogs to start with, then Jambalaya and bucktown prawns to follow, and there i am up above enjoying my cherry cobbler for dessert - heaven.

On Thursday night, we went to Moretti's for dinner with Mum, Dad, Andrew, Ashley and Zio. It was a fun night with great food, most importantly topped off by great NUTELLA PIZZA, yum. Delicious.





On Friday night we had our traditional bowling night, with Daniel, Romina, Leah and Chris. It was fun except - you know how you're supposed to get better at bowling as the game wears on? Like you usually start slow, kind of clunky, the ball veering to the left and then eventually into the gutter just before it reaches the pins...but then slowly you pick up, you know? In this case, it went backwards. We all started strong (except me, as i am a terrible bowler), but then got much, much worse. In fact in the second game, Daniel - who, I'm sorry to say, is usually a worse bowler than me, and that's really and truly saying something about his bowling skills - was the dark horse of the evening and ended up beating us all!




Some pics of our evening:

Leah taking her shot




Jo with his special t.shirt - 'Joe's Disco Bowling'



Jo and Daniel, having a rockin' good time

The ladies

Trying to stop those pesky paparazzi from harassing us. I mean enough already guys.

On Saturday we headed out to Dee Why to celebrate all the important June birthdays - Jo, Turnsey, David and Maria. We had a huge, delicious lunch at Stella Blu, right across from the beach. Lightly bread-crumbed calamari, little arancini, linguini marinara...yum. After lunch we strolled the boardwalk with Jack, who was very excited to be on his trike - which he loves. Though he admitted to me later that watching the other big kids go by on their skateboards and scooters made him feel slightly inadequate.

That night we dined with friends at James Squire on King St Wharf - my chicken, mushroom and pine nut tart was SO good, yum. And so was the bocconcini and tomato salad. It was great to catch up with an old friend of ours Kirsty, who we hadn't see in a while. The boys headed off to the pub afterwards, but we decided to take a walk down to the rocks and had a hot chocolate at the Guylian Cafe - the BEST hot chocolate, seriously. Go there now.

Here are some pics from Saturday:

The beach in winter, one of my favourite things!

Jack - super cool in his super cool vest

Jo and I

June birthday babies - David, Maria, Turnsey and Jo. Love that face Turns - you look like a stunned mullet.

Jack on his trike

Last night when i came home i watched some of my favourite TV family - Jon and Kate plus 8. Who doesn't love those guys? And a great doco on the photographer Annie Leibovitz, who's portrait work is just amazing i think. Oh and i started a new book! Love in the time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

And today? Well admittedly today we did not much. I watched that movie Now and Then - wowsers, nostalgia anyone? Took me right back to my childhood, Yvonne and I loved that movie when it came out, and the song Sugar Sugar by the Archies is still one we love belting out. Then headed to South for dinner, as i mentioned at the top. In fact, that has bought us full circle, which is marvellous, cause Conan O'Brien is on so i have to go.

Happy Birthday Jo!!!

Awwww look at that face. So sweet. So innocent. If only everyone knew what really lurked beneath the exterior...just kidding *winks*

Happy happy birthday Jo, love ya!! Have a great day and prepare your stomach for dinner tonight! xxxxxxx

Bowral bonanza - a pictorial

So on Monday we had a public holiday - great stuff, cause we don't have to work. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to head out to Bowral in the Southern Highlands to explore the area (i.e to eat as much as possible).

Since the Porsche has been so neglected lately, we volunteered, our of the kindness of our hearts, to take her along for the ride...which i think was Jo's favourite part of the day. It was great fun, speeding along the motorway - sun shining, wind in our hair, music in our ears, Vogue in my lap, watching the green hills roll by...what an idyllic picture I've painted. Jealous much?

Me in the Porsche!

We got to Bowral in record time, with Maria and Peter closely behind us, and strolled down the main street. There were a ton of places to eat and shop, but we decided to head out of town to an old inn called Briars Inn, where they do a great pork roast, which we enjoyed for lunch! Plus delicious, creamy mashed potato, pumpkin, salad, damper...it was so yummy.

Jack and I, all rugged up

And again outside the Briars Inn

Jack discovering the magic of crayons over lunch

Maria and Jo

Me and Pete (he looks thrilled to be alive doesn't he?)

After a huge and satisfying lunch, we went back out into the sunshine (though it was still freezing) and wondered around the property. They had an outdoor deck with a huge fire going which was nice, and a playground that I enjoyed. I mean Jack. That Jack enjoyed.

Jack learns that standing to go down the slippery dip doesn't really work. A valuable lesson indeed.

The tunnel of lurrrrrve baby...Jack's checking out them girl chidden right now...

There was one swing, which i monopolised. Children lined up for a turn, staring at me reproachfully, but i showed no weakness.

After Jack and I grew tired of the playground...actually, only I grew tired of the playground. He could have stayed all day. Sadly, he has now learnt the word 'more'. Which means he was able to make it very clear he wanted 'more' slippery dip', 'more' swing. More more more. More. More. *sighs* Anyway, we headed back into town and browsed around some more, before deciding we could do with some dessert. I was on a quest for scones - which were bloody harder to find than you'd expect in Bowral! Every cafe in the place should be serving scones as far as i am concerned, because, hello, it's a country town staple. A Bowral is a country town. Right? It is, right?


We finally located some scones, so Maria and I shared them, along with melt in your mouth apple crumble, another favourite of mine. Jack found exercised his right to search other patrons handbags while they weren't looking, which amused me, but not so much them. He tried to get away with it by being cute and waving 'buh bye' as he left his destruction trailing behind him, but alas, it didn't always work. We let the warmth of our coffees and teas and hot chocolates seep through our veins, before realising it was getting on, and we should head back. We said our goodbyes to Maria and Peter, and Jo and I made one last stop before the drive home, to a lookout nearby.

I will precede this caption by saying that both myself AND Maria made is clear that it was going to be COLD in Bowral - but he scoffed at us, told us he was from New Zealand, and Bowral couldn't possible compare. Ladies and gentleman, i give you - freezing cold Jo. And i didn't say 'I told you so' or anything!

(HA, as if. I taunted him with 'I told you so's' all day. Hands in the air if you love being right! Ooh, ooh, me!!)

May i present....Bountiful Bowral!

It was well and truly time to leave after that, so we headed back to Sydney - encountering, of course, terrible traffic and angry drivers along the way. I think Jo may have been one of those angry drivers. But as the sun set and the clouds rolled in over the farmland, we both agreed it had been a very good day indeed.

In other news - we have finished Prison Break! And the ending??? WHY?? WHY I ASK YOU?? I devoted hours and hours to this series for THAT ending?? I won't go on and on about it. But WHY?? WHY I ASK YOU??

Anyway, we need something new to watch - suggestions welcome.

Woot for a 4 day week!

I am toooo tired to write about the last couple of days - so i will save our trip to Bowral today for tomorrow. It was a fun day out though, so y'all better tune in tomorrow for some really witty anecdotes about the whole darn thing. And if that doesn't sounds totally awesome enough (although hello, why wouldn't it), there will also be cute pictures of Jack.

On Saturday i did nothing all day. Literally nothing, and it was fabulous. I tell you, i do believe my social life is driving me batty.

We watched some Prison Break, and an interesting documentary called Alive Day Memories, which was about different American soldiers who have survived explosions and other horrible experiences in the war in Iraq. It was fascinating and horrible all at once - the soldiers were missing legs and arms, one was blind, one had severe brain trauma, and all, understandably, suffered psychological damage from their experiences. They talked about what they call their 'Alive Day', which is akin to their birthday - because it is the day they almost died, but didn't - a day of survival. Their stories and the footage that went with it were pretty terrifying, and served as a reminder that while we're over here enjoying our long weekend, there are soldiers fighting in this war-torn, broken part of the world - losing limbs and their sanity, or worse, their lives. And for what?

On Saturday night, we headed into town for a walk, and there were heaps of people out - i think because at the moment, Vivid Sydney is on, so there different light and music displays all over town. Looks great though. Here is the opera house all lit up, and me with Luna Park, in one of our favourite spots in Sydney.

I'm going to read my book some more before bed, cause i can't stop reading it - it's called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - strange name i know, but well worth the read because it's a very sweet book, and sometimes, all you really want to do in life is read a very sweet book.