Bonfires and back to work...

Well. We're back to the daily grind. Work the last two days has been...tiring. When you're used to getting out of bed at 10, doing very little most of the day and ending up back in your pyjama's by 5, it's a rude shock to the system to be up and at work by 8.30am.

Saturday was out last full day in New Zealand. Since we will not be able to be there for Christmas, Jo's mum arranged a delicious "Christmas Lunch" for all of us that day, with a huge roast chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce and even Christmas crackers! It was such a yummy meal, my stomach was enormous by the end of it, but i couldn't stop eating!

Kayla, me and Rochelle at lunch

My New Zealand stout, mmmmm

After our late lunch, we decided to head down to the beach to make up a bonfire (which you are not allowed to do on the beaches here in Oz, and so was a huge novelty for me) and toast some marshmallows! It was such a lovely evening, and we were treated to the most glorious sunset, it was a wonderful way to end our wonderful holiday!

Jo building the bonfire!

Jo and I and some funny kiddies...

The gorgeous Lauren with not one but TWO marshmallows in her grips!

Me toasting my marshmallow, yum yum

Sunset by the beach

Our little bonfire!

Sitting around telling tall tales!

Me with a brilliant sunset

Jump for my love (Hugh Grant in Love, Actually anyone? Ooh, me, me!)

Amazing.

We got back and found even more dessert waiting for us, so we burst some crackers, continued to stuff ourselves silly and were treated to Jacob doing a "Pie in the face", which i will save for another post i think, as it deserves one all to itself!

That night Rochelle and I headed out to one of her friend's house for a birthday/girlie night, and it was nice to meet some of the other women of Westport! They were all lovely and made me feel very welcome. Rochelle got her face all made up and she looked beautiful! It was a fun night out. She dropped me back home later and i had to pack my suitcase, something i detest doing once the holiday is actually over, and then we took a look at our bonfire photos, which made us feel very sad because it was such a perfectly lovely time that we felt even sorrier to be leaving!

But it was to bed soon enough, because we had an early rise in the morning, for the long drive to Christchurch and the airport for our flight home. It's never nice to say goodbye of course, but especially to the children who i have really come to love! But we will be seeing Jo's mum soon enough when she arrive for a visit at the end of August, and i hope Rochelle and Matthew and the kids will come as see us soon too!

Our flight back was uneventful, except that i watched the movie The Boat that Rocked, which was excellent, if a bit long. I actually got teary a couple of times, which was totally unexpected!

And now, we are straight back into it, with work, and our social calender filling up quickly as always. Dinner with Mum, Dad, Ashley, Andrew and her friend Cathy last night was...rowdy! Great to see everyone of course. Tomorrow night i am off to see the new Harry Potter movie on opening night as per tradition with Daniel and Romina, exciting! And then another busy weekend coming up.

When can we go on another holiday Jo?