En nyårsrevy över året som har gått - vilket år det har varit!

Jag vet att jag är en priviligierad som har möjlighet att resa mycket vanligtvis med, men wow, detta år har verkligen levererat!

År 2015 hade sin början på ett oerhört tråkigt flygplatshotell i Madrid, men 1 januari flög vi vidare till Puerto Rico som en start på vår jorden runt-resa. Ett par dagar senare hoppade vi på en kryssning i Karibien, som tog oss till St Kitts & Nevis, Virgin Islands, Barbados, Dominica och St Martin.

Därefter bar det iväg till Panama City, Mexiko, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nya Zeeland(där Nicke hade en planerad arbetsintervju) samt Thailand och vi återvände till Sverige i mars.

Under våren utkristalliserade sig ett jobberbjudande på Nya Zeeland för Niklas och i somras fick vi till slut våra visum hit. På kort tid rensade vi och röjde hemma, slutförde saker, avvecklade, fixade och donade. Sommaren bjöd även på ett par resor till Spanien och en weekend i Istanbul.

28 augusti satt vi till slut på planet som ledde oss till Auckland med våra tillhörigheter nedpackade i 10 resväskor och ett äventyr på två år framför oss.

4 månader in trivs vi oerhört bra och är fascinerade över hur snabbt vi har byggt upp ett ytterst trivsamt liv här. På två veckor lyckades vi båda börja jobba, Caesar börja skolan, vi hade flyttat in i vårt hus, ägde två nya bilar och sedan dess har sak på sak fallit på plats. Jag har funnit min yogastudio, min gospelkör, min gitarrskola och nya vänner som jag värdesätter högt.

Vi har läst att de första tre månaderna som ny i ett land är de tuffaste och det hoppas vi på, för det har varit finfina månader.

Tack underbara 2015 och välkommen år 2016!

Most liked pictures on Instagram 2015

Here are apparently my most liked pictures on Insta from 2015 and I must say that sceneries from New Zealand is dominating.

There is only one picture that differ from that theme is one of recognition from other Instagrammers, the picture of two young, hip persons photographing their breakfast at a coffee shop in Paihia.

Wonderful Russell

We spent a weekend in Paihia in the Bay of Islands the days before Christmas. The weather was great and Northland really showed itself from its best side. Great timing we did book a motel with a pool, since we used it a lot after returning from our daily excursions.

One of these excursions took us to the terribly cute town of Russell and here we found a place for Caesar to play. I really like the playgrounds in New Zealand, since they always offer the kids some real climbing and adventurous way to play. The kids in NZ are very physical, climbing trees and playing around, and their playgrounds is a great way to improve those climbing skills.

Lika a jungle gym!

The whitewashed little city was the first european settlement and a long time it was described as the hellwhole of the Pacific. This place was crawling with bandits, boose and pirates, but today the city is really idyllic and totally safe. ;)

This town is very popular to live in for artists and crafty people and off course, a lot of people are involved in tourism here.

Too cute!

Whangarei falls

In the outskirts of Whangarei, a town in Northlands from where you can easily reach some amazing sceneries, there is a really beautiful waterfall, Whangarei falls.

The waterfall can be reached either a few minutes from the carpark or by walking by the river all the way from city center. Around the falls there is a beautiful walkway. At the carpark there are volounteers guiding the tourists, guarding the cars and they are also providing sun screen and drinking water. Excellent service!

Christmas home or away?

First of all I wish you a very merry Christmas!

I love the Christmas in Sweden, but I also love to travel. When you are married to a man with employment it´s so easy to travel in Christmastime, with all those extra holiday-days. This year we are celebrating in our new home country New Zealand for the first time.

2014: Last year we spent Christmas in Almunecar in Spain, as a starting point for our trip around the world. We visited Alhambra during Christmas 2014.

2013: We spent Christmas in St Nicolaus birthplace in Patara, a part of the beautiful Lycean coast in Turkey. The places we visited were magical!

2012: Christmas in Sweden and new year eve in Madeira in Portugal.

Back to 2015! In Sweden we are celebrating Christmas eve, so this morning we started with a coffee and some saffronbuns when opening the Christmaspresents. Caesar bought gifts for us in a cute shop that had a part only open to kids, so he picked out a gift each for me, dad and granny. So cute!

After that we had breakfast by the farmers market and then...

...we all went to see Star Wars, so no, we are not very traditional people, no. This afternoon we will have some drinks at our neighbours house and Skype with grandpa. A lovely Christmas eve for sure!

Whale Bay and Matapouri beach - a beach and a hike

Oh my, oh my, we just returned home after a visit to Whangarei and Bay of Islands. We have had marvellous days and we have seen and done so much! We have been on a farmers market, Kauri museum, Kauri forest, hiking, dolphin safari, the cute town of Russell, swimming in the sea and pool, seen a waterfall and gourgeous beaches.

The most beautiful ones we visited was Whaly Bay and Matapouri beach at the Tutukaka coast outside Whangarei. This is just a 3 hours drive from Auckland which is pretty amazing, since it is pure heaven!

We spent some wonderful hours on the beach and in the water at Whale bay. You reach the beach through a short and bushy walk from the carpark.

Our cute, little dwarf. :)

Another great thing about these two beaches is that there is a gourgeous walking track that links them together. You can park at either of the beaches and then walk by the coast is a bit steep at times, but there are staircases whenever needed. The walk takes about 20-30 minutes one way. The views are just amazing!

It is said that on a clear day it is possible to see fishes and sting rays at the clear water down below, but unfortunately we had no such luck.

Hello!
When living in New Zealand you just have to have a sunhat, since the sun is terribly strong and dangerous. Niklas bought a new one the day after this hike, since he became quite red after this day even though he put massive sunscrean on and even though we only use SPF 30 or 50 here.

The stairs leading down to Matapouri beach.

Another beautiful beach, that we visited in february 2015. We made a quick stop here and then we went back to Whale bay where granny, a sip of water and a dip in the ocean was waiting for us.

Whale bay - we will be back!

Matakana village market - Vacation time!

I have not forgotten about you! So busy with life, a hectic time and a flue that won't really go away. We have been enjoying Caesars birthday party at the Aquarium, a swedish Glögg-evening at our house and have been picking up granny at the airport. 

Niklas started 2 weeks of vacation today and we are heading up to Whangarei and Bay of islands for a long weekend. We made a brekkie-stop at Matakana village where they have a lovely, very hipster market. I had a green smoothie and vietnamese fresh spring rolls for breakfast. 

We also made a stop at Omaha beach on our way to Whangarei.

Is Europe grey and boring? Colourtherapy the NZ-style

To be honest, this country is so beautiful it really hurts sometimes.

A girl in my choir asked me about London where her brother lives:
"It looks so grey, isn't it boring there?"

Well, for a girl who has grown up in Samoa and New Zealand that is true. A lot of Europe is quite grey. Don't get me started about France, where I have lived before, totally grey!

The colours here are such a bless, but I told her she would love London, such a vibrant, creative city! Europe has so much to offer when it comes to history, different cultures, citylife, art and culture and creativity.

Back to the Pacific life then. Life here is truly colourtherapy in it's most natural form. The light, sun and colours of the wonderful nature really feeds my soul. Gratitude is an understatement of how I feel for the years I am able to spend here!

Our garden

This is not how our garden in Sweden looks like in december, not anything like it. Even in the summer those plants can not grow as well in our cold climate. Our summers are too short and the winter is to harsh back home.

We hoped this would be a banana plant, but our landlords told me it looks similar only, but gives no fruit.

We bought this limetree, since we wanted to grow something we can not grow back home. In our garden in Stockholm we grow raspberries, wild strwberries, blackcurrants, apples, pears and herbs.

Such a proud mom!

I got a text earlier this week that my son would get a certificate from the headmaster at assembly on friday. Caesar was complaining about headache on friday morning and I could see he was not all well. I told him there was a special event in school today, so he went anyway.

You can look me up under the name Resefamilj on Instagram to view a movie of the shouting mother(that´ll be me) when he gets the certificate. That´s why he looks a bit surprised on this photo. :)

Since his teachers go on and on about how fast he´s learning english I had almost figured out what the certificate would be about, and yes, I was right.

Such a proud boy!

Saturday afternoon

...and I am sitting on the balcony after a lovely day in the sun. We were supposed to go to a Christmas play and a birthday party today, but Caesar had fever last night so we skipped those activities today.

We had dim sum for lunch and then we went to Devonport for walking and having a coffee in that lovely part of town. I will show you some pictures of it later on.

Already december - how did that happen?!

This weekend I saw a lot of pictures from Sweden where the first weekend of Advent is a really big deal! I had totally forgot it and lack all sence of Christmas feelings. My sister just asked me on Skype if I had made some Christmas decorations around the house. I haven´t even started and I think there won't be that many either.

In Sweden I decorate mainly with candles and flowers, but here the evenings are too light and the flowers I have seen are summer flowers. Well well...

Here is a collage showing my pictures from November.

A beautiful walk to and from school as always. Today I am working and later on I'm having my first guitar lesson - fun, fun, fun!