Day 2

Friday was the EKKA - check it out on Google. We caught the train in (I think that was the highlight for Libby) and went on some rides, got to pet all the farm animals (ok maybe that was the highlight!) and brought some showbags - dressups for Libby and hi5 as well as chocolate for me of course! That night Claires mum "nanny" came to stay with the girls and Claire and I joined some of her friends for dinner and saw the show "Grease is the word" performed by a local private school. It was a fantastic performance.

Off to Australia (Take 2) day 1

Starting the day at 4am twice in one week is hard work! My poor Libby coped so well. We arrived at the airport and had to wait around 45 minutes in line to check-in. Then we had to wait for another hour before boarding. Eventually got on the plane and left early which was nice....until we were up in the air - the plane had a malfunction and we were diverted to christchurch! So we ended up being 2 hours late. Libby coped so well with being cooped up in the plane for so long. We had a spare seat so she sat in that some of the time and fell asleep for about 45 minutes. We arrived in brisbane and went to the outlet mall close to the airport for lunch and some shoe shopping. Later that night Claire cut both Libby and my hair, and coloured mine...what do you think??

Going to Australia - who thought it would be so hard!

I was so organised...had my bag packed....activities for Libby to do on the plane....and arrive at check-in and find out my passport expired! In March!! I was so shocked. I had organised Libbys months ago, but hadnt even checked mine.

What to do? Thankfully the woman at the counter got her superior and he printed the forms out for me and rebooked my flights.

Then I had to go home, get a new photo taken - you're not allowed to smile anymore people! Get my forms witnessed and take it in to Wellington for an urgent new one. Unfortunately I got to Wellington and found I had brought in Libbys passport instead of mine - so finally got it sorted on the third trip!! $300 later...

Have flights now booked for Thursday, and coming home the following Friday, so a bit longer than we were originally going for but Im just pleased I dont have to worry about missing work or anything like that. Only thing is missing swimming lessons for a few weeks in a row but never mind. Libby was a little disappointed to leave the airport but thankfully shes too little to really understand what happened. Im so looking forward to getting away and having some sunshine and doing some shopping for ME!!

Lets hope the actual trip is a little less eventful than this start....