Seb and I went up to Savill Gardens and watched the fly past from the polo fields. Fantastic spot – the planes flew right over our heads on their way down the long walk to Windsor.

https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsegham

Rather sleepy Sunday. Nice start with chatting to Lawson and Lee Ann via Skype video – both on our Android tablets. And free.

Easter service at St Johns. Involved eggs for the children.

A few website/Facebook updates and a movie for the children.

Now debating if we should watch this:

Finally got round to watching this on DVD yesterday. Kept trying to make it to the cinema with Seb in the UK and NZ but didn’t quite manage it. Lovely film.

Sebastian enjoys writing; short stories that usually involve some element of Star Wars or at least space and mild violence.

At the end of last year he wrote a story spanning several pages that we didn’t know about until the parent-teacher evening and we looked through his term work.

Recently one of his short stories has been selected to feature in a Young Writers anthology.

So we’re looking forward to the publish date and seeing Seb’s name and story in print.

Our NZ summer is a letdown. Instead of sunny, dry weather we’re currently getting drizzled on and looking for indoor activities.

Fortunately we found Chipmunks. Fortunate in the way only parents could see. But a happy few hours for the children (playing) and the adults (drinking coffee and eating wedges).

Then back to family tasks – buying the Cairns family a new PC from the very fine folk at TasTech Computers. They did a brilliant job of building a custom PC overnight and made it the easiest install I’ve had to do.

Since it’s Valentines Day we with the other Mr and Mrs (L) Scott and headed to Arjee Bhajee for a superb dinner – happily recommend the deluxe banquet.

Then home to see our nephew-in-law’s video debut – DeathCheaters. Not much I can add to that. There’s a one hour DVD of the complete production. Random tree-jumping is comedy genius.

So the usual early start courtesy of Seb and Bella. Well, mainly Bella. Since there has been a distinct lack of brunching so far on this trip, we decided to remedy this situation with a visit to the Cosy Cafe. Slightly lame name but they turned out an excellent set of pancakes and an accompanying latte.

Since the weather was not particularly summer-like we decided to do an indoor activity – so headed to the International Antarctic Centre.

Excellent afternoon for the children with a ride on the Hagglund vehicles, the 4D cinema and the general exhibitions. The cold weather experience was a bit of a letdown but mainly because we’re used to Polish winters so -15 isn’t a big deal.

Icecreams to end and a trip to the Northlands mall for Lila. Not too many days to go.

No earthquakes or aftershocks. Or at least none that we felt. Take a look at my twitterfeed site for Christchurch earthquake related tweets and info.

A lazy start to the day (if you don’t count getting up at 6am with the children), lunch at home and then into the centre of Christchurch for a look around. We visited the Re:START project which is attempting to kickstart the renewal of the centre of Christchurch. Dozens of shops are now open, housed in steel containers. Frankly the safest place to be if another shake comes through I would have thought.

Then out to the beach at Sumner for ice-cream and a wander in the sea. Finally home for one of Lila’s ‘Pampered Chef’ creations for dinner – brie, apricot, walnuts and a bunch of other ingredients.

We toured some of the earthquake affected areas on the way home – Christchurch remains ‘munted’ in many places. The houses above the cliffs, the Eastern suburbs and of course the central business district. So much to repair and no real certainty around future shocks.

Lovely evening in Tekapo; wandering around the lakefront, visiting the Church of the Good Shepherd where Ben and Maree were married last year and getting some dinner at Route 77.

Only downside was not turning on the hot water at the house and so we had warm, but not hot, showers in the morning. Small price to pay for staying in a great place for the night. Left behind a bottle of Te Kairanga pinot but ended up buying another bottle when we got to Christchurch as it looked too good not to drink.

Saturday morning involved a coffee run to Route 77, packing (again) and driving to Christchurch. Quick stop at Ashburton for lunch and into Christchurch early afternoon. Warm, sunny weather.

Watched The Guard on Saturday night. Glad my mother wasn’t watching. Mostly funny if a little slow moving.

We left Dunedin just after 10am and drove up State Highway 1 to Oamaru where we turned left on to highway 83 towards Kurow and Tekapo. If you haven’t driven through this part of New Zealand then I suggest you get in a car, train, plane, boat and get here to do it. Utterly stunning scenery, empty roads and brilliant summer sunshine.

The coastal weather was a little cloudy and gloomy but once we got behind the hills and headed inland the day got brighter and sunnier.

Then we hit the lakes. You see those stereotypical New Zealand summer landscapes; parched hills, mountain/alp backdrops, turquoise lakes and deep blue skies. We just had to keep stopping and taking photos. And there’s something about revisiting your home country with a fresh set of eyes.

We passed through Omarama and Twizel before stopping at Lake Pukaki for those amazing views of Mt Cook rising up at the head of the lake. We thought about driving up to Mt Cook but we’d been in the car for a while and the children aren’t quite so enamoured by the views.

So tonight we’re staying in Tekapo and looking forward to breakfast with a view over the lake and then driving over/up to Christchurch.