baby – Page 5 – Around the world with Evie Bean

Mt Cook national park

So this is where our first major trip alterations were made because we now have a baby. We had booked a night in the Meuller Hut, a 3-5 hr steep walk up from Mt Cook Village. But we decided against going, with avalanche warnings on alert and freezing temperatures with high winds…. not what we felt was the right conditions to go with Evie, so our plans were abandoned. Looking down the valley as we drove past Pukaki we wouldn’t have seen anything anyway.

We also didn’t go the next day…. similar reason.

Thankfully we did have one small window of opportunity to see the Mt Cook range the morning that we were moving on, as for a few hours only the clouds parted and the sun came out. We got the classic amazing view down Lake Pukaki.

Walking the Hooker Valley Trail with Granny & Grandad, meeting up with the rest of Tims family briefly there,

we didn’t quite make it in time for a good view of Mt Cook, but we did get a glimpse.

And the opportunity just to take in the beauty of the Hooker Valley

Watching as the cloud rolled in and feeling the first drops of rain, it was time to walk away from Mt Cook and carry on our journey. Looking back down Lake Pukaki on the way out there were no longer any views to be had.

Evie can thoroughly recommend the lavender ice-cream from the Lavender Farm on the way out of the valley!

Lake Ohau – nr Twizel

If you drive long the aqueduct you can park at Lake Ohau, which is great for a dull day as it has a low level path around the lake shore suitable for both biking (we did this on the previous trip to a nice lodge for lunch) and walking.

Although lesser known on the tourist trail, it is worth a visit if you have a spare day as it has a stunning backdrop, and is otherwise pretty quiet, so nice if you are tired of the crowds.

Wrapped up warm in layers, daddy & daughter enjoy the view.

Tekapo

When we passed through Tekapo three years ago we were super lucky as it looked like this and we jumped straight into the lake for a swim!

No such luck on this occasion despite visiting it on three successive days, they have been pretty cloudy. On the upside, it didn’t rain much! And the water still looked a beautiful vivid blue.

Known for the Church of the Good Shepherd, a tiny little church that sits on the shores with a window that has the most fabulous view that looks on to Lake Tekapo, it is an idyllic spot and great stopping point.

At this time of year the lupins are in full bloom and add another element of beauty to this region of New Zealand.

You can go down the road towards the observatory and walk in fields full of lupins, of all different colours. Or if you are a crawling baby you can play hide and seek amongst the lupins!

For a spot of luxury, at $27 per adult, head to the Tekapo springs, a great place to chill out. It has adult only pools and a kids pool and fun area. Or for Evie the best part was lots of time being able to practice her walking in the water! Quite happy going back and forth and chasing small balls!

And if you fancy a short walk, there is a 1hr walk up Mt John, to the observatory and cafe on top (you can also drive up to it). Easy enough for the whole family to manage. On a good day I’d imagine that you would get splendid views for miles around. For us we watched a storm roll in whilst the thunder was booming…. didn’t bother Evie though!

No swimming here on this visit, but still a gorgeous place and one not to be missed.

Cave stream / Broken river cave

Our friends Mary & Andy treated us to a day out from Christchurch to go cave-river walking. 40km from Arthur’s Pass, this cave sits just off the road side. We had driven away from drizzle in Christchurch and after going over Porters Pass via a pie shop, we landed in glorious sunshine.

Having Evie with us (who we clearly could not take caving), we split into two and took turns.

The boys went first whilst the girls had a picnic and took in the view.

We then went to meet them coming out, and they had had a great time.

Before swapping over.

At 594m long, it took a good about 45 minutes to get through. A bit scrambley in places getting up small waterfalls inside the cave. For us the water was surprisingly warm which made it a ‘pleasant exciting’ rather than ‘cold exciting’. A good quality head torch is required, without one you wouldn’t get further than the first corner as you can’t see you hand in front of your face with the lights out.

Climbing a ladder to exit the cave Mary & me had a nice welcome party!

From here we whizzed to the top of Arthur’s Pass to make the most of the weather and amazing views before returning back to Christchurch.

Thanks Mary & Andy for a day with a difference and heaps of fun and showing us a place we will hopefully return to.

A Christmas walk around the base of Hallin Fell

On a damp December morning we set off for a Christmas walk with Evie’s new baby friends (Bella, Willow, Oliver and Evan) and their mummy’s (Helen, Paula, Claire and Lou).

Parking at St Peters Church in Martindale, with the normal faff factor of multiple mums and babies, we set off down towards Howtown with the wind and rain on our backs.

What used to be one of my favourite easy off road runs makes a nice easy walk with a baby in a pack and lovely views without going up, perfect for wet weather days.

The other nice thing about this walk is it’s circular. On nicer days there are a number of gorgeous picnic and swimming spots and even a cliff jump into Ullswater. Maybe save that for when this bunch are a bit older!

Of course a damp walk must be rewarded with a nice cafe for a warm up tea and food! Granny Dowbekins in Pooley Bridge fulfils this job very nicely, especially with a big table and multiple high chairs.

This is where the Christmas outfits could finally be shown off !

Around Christchurch

We had a few days to get over the jet lag, buy a car and have a look around Christchurch. Having been here 3 years previous soon after the destructive earthquakes, it has been interesting to see the changes. Now a modern city but still with a few stark reminders, the most obvious one being the cathedral.

We visited the botanical gardens, where Evie paddled in the kids pool and hankered after our ice-cream!

She then fell asleep as we met up and walked around the greenhouses and rose gardens with a good friend I left in New Zealand on my travels over 10 years ago for a year, and she never returned to the UK.

And climbed the massive tree!

There are also some big redwoods in the gardens with branches so big you can swing on them

And of course as a baby you may consider trying to climb one (not much different to everything else she currently tries to climb!)

We will definitely be returning to Christchurch a couple of times in this trip as we know there is lots more to see, but we ran out of time, with buying a car and catching up with friends taking precedence .

Long haul flights

With an 8 month old, we were not expecting an amazing flight experience getting from one side of the globe to the other. But we did try to make it as easy as possible, or so we thought.

We booked basonette’s on both flights and allowed ourselves plenty of time. And because we were going through Hong Kong we thought it sensible to have a nights stop off to catch up on sleep that we neither anticipated, or got, on the flight.

In reality that meant that we had three days of minimal sleep as opposed to two! The stop off went against us with Evie waking bright as a button at 3am. It left us good for nothing the following day and certainly no better off or re-energised for the 2nd long flight.

So our advice to you is to get to your destination without planned delays. For us at least, the stop off didn’t work.

The adventure begins. Penrith,UK to Christchurch, New Zealand – getting there

It’s a very long way from Penrith to NZ, but the first conundrum was how to get to Heathrow with a lot of bags and a baby. Not wanting to take our car when this trip is a long one, we looked at the train as an obvious option. But both the train and the ‘getting across London’ elements were very costly and not very easy. So we hired a car, which worked out great and allowed us to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare and was a lot cheaper.

Our first flight was a late night flight, straight away getting Evie out of sink. But Heathrow has a great play area hidden away with soft play and even a sensory room. So that kept us occupied.

On the plane and Evie has the option to fly in luxury on a basonette…. or she could instist on sleeping on one of us most of the way instead.

She will never know how probably for the only time in her life she turned down sleeping on a bed on a plane… oh to swap places with her!

So we thought it sensible to have a night in Hong Kong. Could have a relax, get a good nights sleep, then be fresh the next day for a bit of sightseeing in Hong Kong. How naive! Reality was exhausted on arrival, minimal sleep as Evie didn’t know what time of day it was, so I ended up walking around the airport and hotel in the middle of the night, and exhausted the next day, meaning no energy to go into Hong Kong for sightseeing!!

Middle of the night entertainment!

Hong Kong airport does have great buggy trolleys so if you don’t have a buggy, you can whizz your baby around!

On to the next stage of our journey – Hong Kong to Auckland. Evie gets a different style of basonette, which she generally chose not to be in for most of the flight !

Would rather sleep on us!

So she did ok, we got tireder…. too tired even to watch films….

Eventually we arrived in Auckland and it was a beautiful day there. Blue skies and warm.

But we weren’t staying. We had to pick up the bags and go through customs (baby food in packs and milk formula allowed into NZ). Then drop them again for our internal flight to Christchurch and back through security.

Well the last part of the journey is often the longest, or so it seems. But we did finally get off the plane in Christchurch, achy and exhausted.

And we somehow got all our stuff and three of us into a Suzuki Swift ready to start our New Zealand adventure!

Little Mell Fell – 03/08/18

For a small walk so close to home, this was a walk new to me as well as Evie. A blustery damp August day meant it was perfect for a brief bit of fresh air.