The day I jumped off a bridge

Kawarau Bridge - plummeting 43 meters down to the river. It was an amazing experience.

The only time that I got really freaked out was when I was shuffling towards the edge and I looked out, over and down. My heart was thumping as I realised I was actually going to free fall all the way down. The guy who was there on the platform with me asked if I was scared. "Oh yeah, now I am!" was my response, to which he replied, "Good!". Next few seconds were spent smiling and waving at cameras, and then everything happened so quickly after that.

I was giving Thumbs Up to Jef and Kien. I wasn't even sure I was looking in the right direction.

And here's a video of my Kawarau bungy jump taken by Jef. They wanted us to shell out $45 to purchase their CD/DVD - that's a tad bit steep, don't you think?



I did that. Finally.

The Remarkables and Glenorchy

On Sunday morning we went to town to purchase snow mittens so Kien's fingers didn't freeze off in the snow. While we were at the store they were selling these cheapo plastic sit on sled things so we got that as well. We asked the dude in the store if he could recommend anywhere with enough snow for us to play in. He suggested The Remarkables - the ski field hasn't yet opened since there hasn't been enough snow fall, but it would be perfect for what we wanted to do.

There was definitely enough snow for playing in! Beautiful, powdery fresh snow that crunched under our feet with each deep step. I've never experienced this much snow before, because I haven't experienced much snow at all. This sand loving summer girl doesn't like being cold and ladened in layers to keep warm! But I've come to appreciate how wonderful it is to be somewhere you can be cold and sunburnt at the same time.











When there is snow what else are you going to do if not build a snowman with the white stuff.



And what else are you going to do if not eat the white stuff.

"Snow is so yummy!"



Frosty the Snowman, himself.





It's so weird to imagine that in one month's time (if not sooner) this place will be full of people and these lifts will be completely occupied. Right now it looks like a ghost town, save for some staff and a handful of other tourists who took the steep route up here.



As we drove back down the hill I made Jef stop so I could get out and take some photos of the scenery.





Since there was no one there to take a picture of me with the lovely backdrop I took a selfie.



Next stop - Glenorchy. It was like we were in a quiet alpine village somewhere far, far away.













A brief drive back to Queenstown as the sun was setting meant more stopping for photographs.



This is what it looks like from Jef's point of view while traveling with me.



But this is my point of view.

Winter in ZQN

It’s nice to be distracted from everyday life, and what’s a better distraction than to get out of town for a long weekend to the winter wonderland that is beautiful Queenstown. Yes, we woke up at 5am to catch a 7am flight yesterday morning, and after checking in to our hotel room and blobbing out for a few hours there, we were up at Coronet Peak throwing snow balls at each other.

These snow mobiles are so cool. If I lived in the snow I’d would want one of these - and maybe dogs pulling sleighs. That would be awesome!



The last time we were here it was dry and empty. Now the place is buzzing, and wet, and (almost) white.







I feel so fortunate to be here in this amazing place. We are lucky to have this experience, and this view from our balcony at the Heritage Hotel.

Honesty vs over-sharing

I flicked back on a few of my blog posts recently and I realised that they sound a lot more upbeat than what I've been experiencing on the inside. That is the conflict I have here on this blog. I often present the best side of our life here. I am conscious that family and friends are reading, and I don't want anyone to be worrying about me (and really, you don't need to worry about me after reading this!) - hence I hold back on pouring out my er, um, stuff/neuroses/internal dialog. Some of it sneaks through, and sometimes I want to write and share more of myself, but it's a fine line between being honest online and over-sharing. So what ends up in my blog posts is a snippet, a fraction of what is going on, and it more or less comes across like we are always happy and our life is bliss. Man, I wish that is the truth, all of the time. But this is life. This is a normal part of the ups and downs of being human, and I pretty much only ever want to recount the good times here, because that's what I want to remember and document. That is authenticity too. If I want to pour my guts out online I need to do it elsewhere, not here on my family blog.

Lately the best part of my life has been parenting Kien, and a close second is being Jef's partner. Both those aspects are the most important, right?







Oh, and this is pretty exciting.


Before any work has been done to our new house.

Work in progress.

More on that later, sometime.