7 family activities in Queenstown that won’t break the bank
If throwing yourself head first into canyons doesn’t suit you or your bank account, don’t worry. There’s still plenty to do in Queenstown.
All posts tagged: blog
14 Ways to Make Your Trash Someone Else’s Treasure
I’d love to be able to tell you that I’m on day 30 of my 100 Day Declutter and that it was all going swimmingly. Truth is by Day 7 I’d already given up. While it was a nice idea – and I’d prepared a huge list of things to declutter in advance – the reality of doing a little every day just didn’t work for me. I’m always one to look for silver linings. I didn’t achieve what I set out to do, but in the process I did put together a list of great ways to turn your trash into someone else’s treasure. Work Clothes: Dress for Success help women get back into the workforce so they can be financially independent. They accept good quality business clothing, shoes, handbags and jewellery that would be suitable for someone to wear to a job interview. They have branches in Northland, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Wellington and Christchurch and lots of convenient drop off points. All Types of Clothing: The Clothing Collective is a second …
Me, My HRV and Why Two Out of Three Aint Bad
For years I’ve banged on at husband about wanting a ventilation system. His counter argument has always been that a) what we really need is a heat pump and b) there’s no point doing anything until we do the ‘Big Renovation’. As the ‘Big Renovation’ is no longer happening the time has come to make a decision one way or the other. Our house doesn’t have the open plan kitchen/dining/living that so many new and renovated houses have. We’re a big family for our small house so for us it’s better to have a kitchen/dining space that is separate from the lounge. It gives me respite from the kids (and them from me I guess) and as we don’t have space for a rumpus room, having these two separate living spaces is a must. This, I’ve always argued, means a heat pump won’t work for us. So husband got a man in to try and talk me round. His recommendation was to install four separate, yet small, heat pumps – one in the kitchen/dining room, …
Give the gift of: 48 Hours in (Roto)Vegas
Keeping the kids entertained during school holidays is never easy, especially when you’re self-employed. Being dragged to meetings or having yet another ‘movie day’ while Mum gets her work done isn’t what my kids call fun, so rather than bribe them with toys I promised them an experience focused totally on stuff kids want to do. Where we went For this, Rotorua is perfect. There’s plenty to do and lots of fun to be had for kids and parents alike, even if the weather isn’t great. What we did We found a package at Quality Inn that offered two nights’ accommodation plus vouchers for the Gondola and Luge, Rainbow Springs and the Polynesian Spa all at a price that made a fun-packed weekend away very affordable. Normally I’d be disappointed that the definition of a ‘family’ is 2 adults and 2 kids – but with Miss 10 away at Horse Camp we fitted right into that box. How it went We checked into the hotel on Friday afternoon. The room was basic, but comfortable, with …
Giving the gift of: Social Cooking
In our busy lives the most precious thing we have is our time, which is why this year I’ve decided to #givepresence instead of presents to everyone I know – young and old. Choosing an experience for my best friend was easy – something we both love to do is eat good food. Taking her out for dinner would have been way too easy and predictable so instead I took her to a place where you get to learn, cook and then eat your own tasty creations. Where we went I chose Social Cooking as they were located not too far away and offered a range of different styles of cooking. Plus they do vouchers which makes it an easy – give the gift then sort out which class to go to later. What we did We booked into the Celebrity Chef series to learn to cook MasterChef Dai and Dal’s famous Pork Larb – one of the few dishes to ever get 10 out of 10 from the judges. Just a word of warning …
Project One: The Hallway Renovation
I am many things, but one thing I’m not is a DIYer. This is why after 17 years my home is more ‘student flat’ than ‘House and Garden’. That’s about to change – it’s time for action. Only problem is, I have no idea what I’m doing. I have more experience painting the town red than painting something like a wall or a door. Which is why I’ve decided to start with the hallway. It’s the smallest room so figure it’ll give me the most reward for the least effort. The changes are mostly cosmetic and as it’s the first room people see when they visit, it’ll have the most positive impact. What I want it to look like is this (you can click here for a 3D Panorama view) Here’s a list of the projects I’ll be undertaking: Create a photo wall: not only will it look great and really set the whole tone for a family home, it will also mean I can declutter my lounge bookcase which currently looks like this: Get …
Making a Life or Debt Decision
I’m a strategist by trade. My professional brain thrives at 30,000 feet. I can develop concepts. I can see the big picture. And I watch in awe as teams of people bring ideas into reality. And that’s my problem right there. In my personal life, there have been no teams of people swooping in to create the home I want. Lately our family motto seems to have been “why do today what can be put off indefinitely”. We’ve been busy building our careers, raising three kids and working on a multitude of other excuses. Whatever the reason it’s fair to say my home is more student flat than “House and Garden”. A while back we’d decided to undertake a massive renovation that would have given us the big, beautiful home you see in all those magazines. You could say we were about to make a life or debt decision. We chose life In line with our family motto, we chose to do nothing. Well actually, we chose to do everything – overseas trips, camping holidays, …
Giving the gift of: Skiing
For some reason my kids have ended up with a passion for hobbies that are both expensive and very much unsuited to inner city living. Miss 10’s passion for horseriding can be fulfilled any time of year, and summer was perfect timing for Mr 8’s Monster Slide birthday experience. Miss 8, however, has settled on skiing. Now I’m pretty good at organising most things, but skiing in the middle of summer is a little out of my league. Where we went Thankfully Snowplanet is only a 30 minute drive north of us. What’s more they aren’t terribly busy this time of year so it’s easy to pick up a ski pass deal on Grabone. What we did We snapped up some $15 all day ski passes. You had to buy passes for a specific day so we chose the Monday after Miss 8’s birthday. It meant everyone taking a day off, but that made it feel all the more special and – given we still had to pay for boots, skis and other bits and …
Giving the gift of: Monster Slide.
There’s nothing Mr 8 likes more than water play, so what better experience to buy him for his birthday than tickets to the Monster Slide Festival. What 8 year old boy wouldn’t want to spend the day riding a 300m slip and slide! Where we went The venue for the Auckland Monster Slide event was changed from a central location to Whitford – a good 40 minute drive away. Still, the venue change was well communicated and was made for safety reasons. Plus they moved it to a vineyard which sounded like a fabulous idea. What we did We bought a family pass which gave 2 adults and 3 children 6 slides over a 6 hour period. I didn’t opt to upgrade to the queue jumper pass – in hindsight it would have been money well spent. How it went We arrived at 10.45 ready for our 11am entry. There was plenty of parking and the vineyard setting looked magnificent. Opening was delayed due technical problems but by 11.30 we were registered and in the …
Giving the gift of: Horse Riding
Miss 10 is mad on horses – which is unfortunate given we live in the middle of a big city. So as part of my commitment to #givepresence instead of presents I decided the perfect experience to give her for her 10th birthday would be a horse riding experience. Where we went I chose Horse Riding Auckland for our experience. They offered a few different options most attractive of which was the opportunity for a mini-trek around their farm. They were also really easy to deal with, responding quickly to my request with all the information I needed. What we did I opted for a ½ hour horse riding lesson for all three kids, then a ½ hour mini-trek around the farm for Miss 10 who is a more experienced rider. Total cost was $135 which I thought was pretty reasonable for a private booking. How it went The horses were saddled and ready to go when we arrived which meant we could get straight into it without any mucking around. The kids were fitted …
Polly Unsaturated 