Wander & Nest

The last two weeks have been the grandma and Mara show! My mom and her boyfriend, Andres, arrived in New Zealand two weeks ago and we’ve been having a great time exploring Christchurch and Hanmer Springs.

They jumped right into life in Christchurch! My mom joined me at my regular workout classes, we took lots of bus rides, fed the animals at the wildlife reserve, and spent time at home just hanging out.

We discovered an interactive art installation in central Christchurch where you can connect your phone to huge Bluetooth speakers and light up the dance floor. Mara understood the assignment!

We got some good outdoorsy time with a couple of hikes. In Christchurch we did the same hike that Wylie and I did a few weeks ago, but this time with Mara in our new hiking backpack. She did great even with some seriously strong winds! We also did a short hike during our weekend trip to Hanmer Springs. Hanmer was a really cute town with the most amazing hot springs. The Kiwis are right, it’s a must do attraction!

Overnight in Hanmer it was so unbelievably windy, probably the strongest winds any of us had experienced. None of the adults slept much because it was so loud we thought windows in our lodge were going to break. The power even went out! Luckily Mara’s room was the most protected so she slept all night. It seems that’s pretty normal for Hanmer though, we were just total newbies. We’re learning that wind is definitely a thing here. Mara and her bud don’t seem to mind at school though 🙂

We’re looking forward to our next trip together at the end of this week. We head down to Queenstown then Milford Sound! We may be trading in wind for rain, but we’re prepared thanks to all the great outdoor gear available here.