Our last two days

We sailed into Tauranga on the Mount Maunganui side of the harbour on a gray and misty morning.

It was raining quite heavily overnight, and everything was slippery and wet on deck. But once we docked the rain eased.

We went and had a leisurely brunch (as leisurely as possible given a toddler who wouldn't stay still for longer than 1 minute and we had to take turns chasing him), then decided we would enjoy our time on the boat instead of exploring Tauranga - we can drive to Tauranga any day of the week! So we hang around poolside, Jef enjoying beers and me sipping Beverly Hills iced tea.

We had to wait for Kien to decide if indeed he wanted to go swimming.

Loving it!

One of his favourite things right now are showers, so you can imagine the joy he had with sitting in the outdoor shower playing with shampoo that made lots of bubbles, and with the water constantly streaming down and tickling him.

It was getting way too hot in the sun, so we made our way to the covered pool area on the other side of the ship. There we did some acrobatics.

The expressions on his face speaks volumes!

We went back to the room and cleaned ourselves up before heading to the Atrium lounge just in time to watch the beginning of a string quartette performance.

It was bliss while it lasted, as Kien was fascinated by the music and sat still for a little bit. Then he was off again, and once again we took turns chasing him while the other parent had some quite time.

We were up in the Crooners lounge where they specialized in the most delightful array of martinis.

Sour apple martini was delicious, and Kien was treated to ice and strawberries.

That night Jef was good enough to let me have the night out while he stayed in the room watching our boy sleep. I went to the Vista lounge, where the brass band was playing people were ballroom dancing. It was so much fun to watch spritely couples in their golden years twirling to the swing and the cha cha. Everyone was so good, and I wished I was on the cruise for longer so I could take advantage of their dance classes. I must admit, I can do a passable cha cha, and if I had consumed another cocktail I may have been on the dance floor embarrassing myself all by myself.

The following act was a comedian who joked about cruise ships, old folks, marriage and divorce - suitable topics for the evening, I suppose, and even though I found him a little too "middle of the road" he was a hit.

I wandered through the casino, and the most interesting of games being played was electronic Texas Hold 'em. There were at least 10 people sitting around the table with individual screens for betting and the main table where all the bets and cards are (electronically). They tap their screens, look at the table, tap their screens some more, and....all over again. It was strange I tell you, no one said a word. I would have observed this for a good 15 minutes while hundreds of dollars were transferred back and forth across the table electronically, but not a word! I wonder what 007 would have made of this game in Casino Royale?!?

So all good things must come to an end as we sailed into Auckland harbour yesterday morning.

The view from here of The Cloud and Princes Wharf is certainly different.

We said goodbye to the boat as we made one last stop into the Crooners lounge on our way out.

Four day escape on the high seas

Day One

It was destination Wellington Thursday morning, and as the shuttle drove to the airport Kien was flanked by us as he held our hands and dozed.

We didn't have any issues with our flight down, perhaps due to John Key being on our flight.

After running around Wellington for a bit so Kien could let off some energy we boarded our ship bound for Napier.

This ship is massive, and it's not until I got on it and walked around did I realise just how big it really is, compared with, say, our yacht (a Tasman 20). This is a floating hotel after all, with a stage theatre for live performances throughout the evenings. We hung out there for a bit whilst the toddler did his typical thing.

We attended a traditional afternoon tea with scones, tea sandwiches and white-gloved service, and Kien was interested only with eating the strawberry jam. He got restless pretty quickly we promptly left before he thoroughly disturbed the peace for fellow passengers.

As the ship left Wellington harbour on a beautiful sunny evening we were enjoying the main pool area. It was fabulous being able to see Kien enjoying himself so much in the water.

I left the guys in the pool as I went to the next level to bid farewell to Wellington.

Even though the pools are heated Kien chills pretty quickly. I took him into the spa spool and we stayed there for ages as we watched the movie they were screening.

It was a perfect first day of our escape.

Day Two

Kien didn't fall asleep until almost 21:00, and it was a 5:30 start yesterday morning. So what's a girl to do at that hour except go and admire the beautiful sunrise over Napier.

After breakfast we ventured into Napier township, stopping at the gardens that acted as the main markets after the 1931 earthquake.

Kien was pretty restless and so we headed to the beach. From here we could see our ship docked all the way down at the port, and looking in the other direction the shore stretching out for miles with the waves crashing violently on the black pebbles.

As we caught the ferry back to the ship Kien fell asleep in the sling - so it was a nice and peaceful lunch for us both!

The ship set off again at 14:30, and to send us on a way was a band playing 1930s music with a precession of vintage vehicles. I was commenting to Jef how if I lived in Napier I would be constantly wearing 1920s attire to the point where it wouldn't even be considered "dressing up in costume" any longer. I mean, what period does this look like to you?

We left the harbour bound for Tauranga.

Wet puddle!

The creek

There is a stream that runs along the side of upper Mangatawhiri campground in the Hunua Ranges, and this was our picnic spot on Sunday afternoon.

It’s been a while since we were here last, and that time was on a mountain bike. This time I was happy to explore our native forest via the Nikon and watch my two favourite guys throwing stones into the creek.

It is no wonder that my favourite colour is green because, quite frankly, it's the only one that can provide such imagery of vibrancy and life in amongst the stillness.

I would have jumped right into the creek and frolicked around in the water, but it is still way too cold for that (although there were kids there that were doing just that - goes to show how much of a pansy I've become!).

The dam

The Mangatangi Reservoir is New Zealand's largest water supply dam and second largest earth dam (I’ve just found out from reading the Super City website). Jef has loads of memories of this place from his childhood where he spent hours upon hours exploring and playing here.

Lush fields of grass lead up to the dam where sheep grazed.

We wandered along the path to the spillway, and Kien played merrily in the tall grass.

When Jef lived out here they used to put Foxglove flowers onto their fingers. He has passed the tradition on.

As we made our way back along the ridge Kien decided wanted to pee like the big boys. So we let him try.

Even though he looks the part he wasn't really too sure of what to do next.

It was perfect weather for a lovely afternoon at the dam.

The falls

We made a brief detour to the Hunua Falls before heading home.

Kien was in the mood to run around. This is what he looks like running away from us as fast as he can.

When Kien first understood the concept of "wet" one of his first 2 word sentence was "wet puddle" as he pointed at the ocean at Coxs Bay. It always makes me smile when I think about that.

Inspired by water for this post our trip to the Hunua Ranges was timely yet completely spontaneous.

The art of balance

We don't have it fully sussed out yet, but we are getting there - albeit baby steps (no pun intended). Trying to get some balance back into our lives has been trying for the last 23 months. It has felt like our lives have been put on hold, waiting for things with Kien to get easier.

Now that he has been consistently sleeping through maybe once every 3 or so nights at least we've been managing to get a little bit more solid stretches for our sleep cycles, making functioning the following day a lot more bearable. More sleep makes loving life a heck of a lot easier for sure!

We found a babysitter to let us out on week nights, hooray! Once upon a time when it was just Jef and I (a distant memory now) we used to go out 3-4 times a week, mostly because a) having someone else cook for us was awesome, and b) it's just a lot more fun to be out drinking in the atmosphere (no pun intended). Now perhaps we can have some semblance of our pre-Kien life - maybe not 3-4 times, but definitely at least once a week/fortnight.

We went out on Thursday night! That sentence deserves an exclamation mark, and what's more, we didn't turn into pumpkins until midnight. We went up to Ken Yakitori Bar on K'Rd (our old haunt way back when), and savoured every bite of every dish that we ordered one-at-a-time, 'cause, you know, we had all night to drink and enjoy (pun definitely intended).

We discovered this place not long after we came back from our first trip to Japan in 2006, and just love the authenticity of this establishment.

After finishing our pleasantly savoured meal accompanied by hot house sake and Santory Malts beer, we ambled down Queen St.

Care for the Chef's special of fried and spicy chicken beer, anyone?

We stopped by Starks for some Long Island Ice Tea. They were playing some groovy Latin American music - I got Jef to Shazam it for me, and I'll definitely be downloading some tracks.

Babysitter said that Kien was so easy to put to bed, and there were no problems whatsoever - exactly what I wanted to hear.

There is an art to balancing life with a child and "having a life" that doesn't just revolve around his existence. I think we are finally getting that blend right, and I am glad.

I'm linking this with other bloggers posting about the things they are loving too.