Vietnam adventure in motion

A year flies by fast, doesn't it? This time last year we were in my birthplace; the bustling coastal city, Nha Trang, Vietnam. What an adventure we had, and how much Kien has grown and developed in 1 year is crazy!

Finally, one year later, here is a short film I made of our Vietnam experience.

Vietnam Experience from Lien on Vimeo. Music by Beach House, "Myth".

Here are my postcards from last year.

Blogging is a wonderful thing. It's my virtual scrapbook that I get to share with all my family and friends close by and abroad. Interwebs is cool, Man.

Solo starfish

Today's swimming session at the Tepid Baths was significant for 2 reasons.

1. Kien has started jumping into the pool and going under on his own volition.
2. He did his first solo float.

Floating by himself is a major leap forward. He is brimming with confidence, and it's so good to see how much he loves being in the water. Here's a little clip I made of the swimming session this morning.

First solo starfish from Lien on Vimeo.

Yay, onwards and upwards my little swimmer!

When the weather makes you happy

Oh how I love the inaccuracies of weather outlooks and it turns out to be everything that wasn't predicted. In the previous week leading up to the weekend (that's 2 weeks ago now) I had been keeping an eye on both the metservice and weatherwatch forecasts, and both said we were in for rain. Come Friday afternoon though it was looking up, with rain hitting in the afternoon. On Saturday morning we woke up to bright sunny skies and southeast 10-15 knots forecasted for Waitemata harbour and Hauraki gulf, so it was a green light for going out on Cariere.

You know how sometimes you get one of those weekends where it was unexpectedly fabulous even though there wasn't anything majority significant about it (even though every time we go sailing it always feels special), well it was kinda like that. Everything just felt happy. There wasn't a lot of wind but we managed to tack all the way out of the harbour, and once we were on course and heading straight to Motoihe we were relaxing in the cool breeze with the glorious sun's rays beaming down on us.







The gulf was full of boats. There were lots of racing going on.



Once again as we sailed past Rangitoto we were becalmed. The water was glassy and our sails were floppy. So we turned on the motor with West Bay in our sights. Kien slept through, as he usually does when we are sailing.



After anchoring Kien was keen to go to the beach, so the boys paddled off in the kayak while I relaxed onboard. But then it was warm, and I was in a beautifully sheltered bay, and my brand new wetsuit was calling for a test drive (or rather test dive), so I impersonated a whale as I flopped around squeezing myself into the thing and dived off the back of the boat. Ah yes, it felt heavenly, although my wetsuit that was supposed to fit me like a glove was letting in a tiny bit of water. (Urgh, the disadvantage of being an in-between sized person i.e. slightly tall, maybe medium build - the charts said I was supposed to fit a 6 whatever-that-means, but I couldn't because it wasn't long enough so I had to get a 7! And who comes up with such ridiculous charting/sizing systems that define you as normal or tall - where tall essentially means bigger.)





That night we had a spectacular sunset, and I love seeing the city from this perspective.





The following day we leisurely gave Kien his breakfast while I sipped multiple cups of coffee and contemplated life, then we kayaked to the rocky beach for a picnic.







We found ourselves a perfect spot down the beach right above the rocks. It was in a shady, flat and elevated position with a tree that formed an arch which made the picnic spot feel like an enchanted fairy garden (yes, I've been watching too much "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom"). But look! See what I mean?









After coming back to the boat plus a swim we headed home at a comfortable pace. Jef did the majority of the work, including a line out the back to try and catch me some dinner. Nothing caught, except a beautiful rainbow.





I know there's a philosophy about having contrast to make you appreciate the good times, and I agree almost 100% except when it comes to sunshine and the weather. Give me sun with blue skies 365 days of the year and I'll be the happiest person on earth.

What do gondolas, luges, lake cruises and a plane have in common?

Not much really except that we went on all of those things during the last 2 days of our brief little jaunt down the line. So yes, the last 2 days of our Queenstown holiday was a "touristy" type affair. It was a cold morning with low hanging cloud when we made our way to the Skyline gondola.



Jef and Rob were doing the Bike Park, and Phillippa and I with the kids in tow went up to see the sights, and get some luge action.




That low hanging cloud was persistant.

So Kien and I definitely got some luge action. It was way way fun!

Taking the lifts back up was nearly as much fun as going down.



Unfortunately the luge was for persons 2 years and over, so this time Phillippa and little Emily couldn't partake. Jef took a photo of them partaking in exploring the surrounds instead.



Then it was a cuddle for Daddy so he could go down the bike park again.



Kien and I hung around up here for quite a while. Kien would pose and I would take photos of him and the scenery.










I love these types of signs telling us how far away we are to places.

Then we tried to race Jef down - him on his bike and us in the gondola.




Hi Daddy. Good to see you! We won, right?

In the late afternoon we went to the Kiwi Birdlife Park so we could see these creatures getting fed. That was fun but for obvious reasons I have no photos to show you. There were also a bunch of other native birds we saw, most of which were very beautiful, and I took a few photos but it made me sad to see pictures of wild birds in cages so I haven't even processed them.

We made our way to the waterfront for dinner. One thing we've noticed recently is how he's taken an interest in colouring in. So it's great that restaurant we go to have this available, and he happily sits there and scribbles for all of 5 minutes.



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The following day was our last in Queenstown, and it was overcast and foggy. After dropping our rental car off we went back to the waterfront and the next available cruise on the lake.









Kien insisted on being inside, and then he got restless. So we quietened him down with some electronics.



We hadn't realised that the cruise we took, called "Million Dollar Cruise" was not referring to million dollar views of the wilder side of Queenstown, but rather the expensive waterfront homes. It was fun nonetheless as the captain/entertainer told us some interesting facts about Queenstown, so it was relatively educational.

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Our flight home - I've ticked something else off my list of "must do in my lifetime" - I was fortunate enough to be able to catch a ride in the cockpit right behind the captain. Here he is doing the overhead transmission to the rest of the passengers on the plane.


"This is the captain speaking..."

It was such an amazing experience. As we flew over regions he would point them out and tell me some facts. Besides the take off and landing, the other highlight was flying over Golden Bay and seeing the sandspit, then looking to the right and seeing Wellington, then seeing Mt Egmont and New Plymouth ahead of us. It was breathtaking.



We had an awesome landing. I loved how the runway was right in front of us and then next minute we were down on it.



Wow-wee, we were only away for 5 days but it felt like a true holiday, and I feel so rejuvenated and enthusiastic - so much so that I've booked us in to go back to Queenstown for the winter festival in June!