on a wing and a prayer.: side tripping.

after a few days to acclimatize ourselves to the timezone, get over the illness that pervaded my head and start to get control of the allergies that have besieged both of us, we took a side-trip to a lovely little place called hanmer springs. it's an alpine town with a series of natural hot springs and we were excited to get a little bit of r&r!

the drive up included a stop in a small town called oxford where le boy was placed in the stocks for naughty behaviour.

i pause our regular programming to pay homage to what might be new zealand's greatest achievement. some might say it was being the first country to give women the vote, this self-proclaimed feminist would counter with the pie. oh my. the pie. they are individually sized, come in a variety of incredible flavour combinations and after eating one you quite possibly could die happy. the best part - they are most frequently sold from small independent bakers and are clearly made by hand, fresh that day. swoon.

we now resume our regularly scheduled programming.

le boy outdid himself with an early christmas present - treating us to a lovely b&b in hanmer and most wonderfully - a session at the hanmer springs spa! the whole trip was absolutely perfect and included some spectacular food at a new local restaurant - chantellinis. not quite over jet-lag we woke early and took advantage of enjoying sunrise! followed swiftly by a pre-breakfast walk to invigorate the appetite - who am i kidding? i rarely need my appetite invigorated.

for our friend mr w-p! you have your own forest!

another incredible nz sunset over the mountains in hanmer.

the next day it was time to drive. the generous use of the family car was much appreciated and le boy was clearly happy to be back on roads where driving includes a certain amount of skill.

which way? take the long way.

the scenery of nz is most definitely arresting. it's all golden fields and green hills and bronzed mountains. big blue skies and lazy puffs of white cloud. a favourite roadtrip game was adapted for the county specifications. miss neate you'll be happy to know that horses, cows and cemeteries can be changed to horses, cows and sheep in this country. we played to ten. i won. (i'm just saying).

we visited some of le boy's favourite surf spots and i came to appreciate all the nz road had to offer.

self-timer - but i love the wonkiness of it.

we stopped in a beach town for lunch, as we were eating our fresh fish lunches, sitting on the patio, in the sunshine and 30 degree heat, a car pulled up with a pair of skis on its roof. now, i'm a hopeful person and i love skiing, and i know that the weather here is subject to change in a moment's notice - but i think this might have been a stretch. needless to say, we think this might be the most ridiculous thing we've seen yet.

the drive home took us via the brew moon cafe. nz is known for it's coffee and cafe culture. almost everywhere you go there is coffee that competes for best in show - although le boy's brother is probably one of the best baristas i've ever seen (tasted?). behold below the caramel slice. think caramel and chocolate on a vanilla cookie base. pretty incredible. way too sweet for me.