Happy New Year!

Our life here has been far more exciting lately than it normally is - I wish it was holidays all the time! With my sister and Steve's brother both here, we have been making the most of the sunny weather and getting out to see the city and surrounding areas. Uncle Chris arrived on the 26th, so we went to the beach that afternoon for a sausage sizzler (bbq).

We all enjoyed a pancake breakfast on the deck one morning.
We hiked up the Belmont Trig to take in the views of Wellington harbour.
We also hiked up to the top of Castlepoint's big cliff and had a picnic lunch before going back down to explore the beach and lighthouse.
We've been getting lots of use out of our new baby backpack, and Madeleine seems to enjoy the ride. The main issue is keeping the sun and wind off of her, and remembering to take the head cover off for pictures...
On the 30th, we all flew to the South Island to spend New Year's in Queenstown. We had some spare time at the Wellington airport so we set Madeleine on the luggage scale (she weighed in at 9.8kg or 21.6lb). We realized that the flight back to Wellington was her 10th flight already - no wonder she's such a good little traveller!
In Queenstown, we did a full day (12 hr) tour to Doubtful Sound on the 31st. The journey to and from Doubtful Sound took longer than the tour itself, but it was beautiful scenery the whole day. Both ways involved a 2 hr bus ride to the town of Manapouri, then a 1 hr boat ride across Lake Manapouri, and another 45min bus ride across the Wilmot Pass to reach the boat that would take us on a 3 hr tour of the fjord called Doubtful Sound. Madeleine did really well the whole day, either sleeping or talking and looking out the window.
The mountain and sea vistas of Doubtful Sound were beautiful and we had perfect weather for the entire day.
Madeleine mostly stayed inside the boat, where there were tables and big windows all around.
On the way home, we got to go to the Manapouri Hydroelectric Power Station. The bus drove us down a 2km long tunnel to get to the entrance (193m underground!), where you can see the tops of the 6 turbines. 80% of the power generated goes to an aluminum plant on the South Island.
We had New Year's Day in Queenstown to explore the city.
We walked around the gardens, which are on the edge of the lake.
And we took the gondola up to a lookout over the city and lake.


We flew back on the 2nd, and spent the next couple of days relaxing at home. Kristin made a Pavlova - a traditional Kiwi dessert that she had always wanted to make. We were very willing to be her guinea pigs, and it was scrumptious.
We took Kristin to the airport yesterday, and she is now on her way back to Canada. Chris has another week here before heading back to Ontario. It has been so fun for us to have them here, and Madeleine clearly loves the extra attention.
She is a great traveller, but she always loves coming back home. She especially loves having real baths again. She has also finally gotten her first tooth! The little white fang is poking through on her bottom gum, and except for a few rough moments in the middle of the night, she seems to be coping pretty well.