Forgive me… it’s been 6 months since my last post.

I feel like I’m giving a priest my confession – and I’m not even catholic haha 😉

When people used to say to me ‘retirement is busy’, I rolled my eyes. But here I am, saying I’m busy. Not crazy busy but keeping our days filled up without too much trouble!

Retirement is great. Best decision we ever made. I’ve loved all of the last 13 months – spending lots more time with the ones I love – who wouldn’t want that!

Last time I blogged (in August) we were on our way home from the Cook Islands. Since then, we have had a couple of great holidays including three weeks in Vietnam with our besties Claire and Steve in September, I’ve had a week in Fiji with Dad, and Dave had a week in Bangladesh in November. We’ve also been to Sydney and back quite a few times, I spent a single day (!!) in Coffs Harbour in January, an amazing few days was thoroughly enjoyed away for Victoria and Justin’s wedding in Bulli in November, and of course a week of cricket in Adelaide with 14 other family members in December for the Ashes Test.

I talked in my blog last year about 2025 being ‘the year of travel’. Well, 2026 is shaping up to be a similar scenario. Theres not a doubt in the world that Dave and I love to travel, and for me at least, planning a holiday is almost as good as the actual holiday. 2026 has a few holidays organised already, although our plan to have 11 weeks in Europe in March/April/May has been put on the backburner for now. You can have too much of a good thing!

And so, here we are in New Zealand. Right now, we are in a place called Hamner Springs, a small town in the northern central part of the South Island of New Zealand, about 150km northwest of Christchurch, where we flew in on Tuesday evening. Hanmer Springs is a tourist destination, and the town’s population swells during holidays, although it’s more of a winter destination, so it’s not too hectic at the moment, despite it being a long weekend in New Zealand. The town is popular for snow skiing, jet boating, white water rafting, mountain biking and hiking and its hot thermal pools are probably its most popular attraction.

After landing in Christchurch at close to midnight on Tuesday, we picked up a little hybrid Corolla hire car and made our way to check in at our hotel which was right in the centre of Christchurch, directly across the road from the Christchurch Cathedral. Earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the Cathedral building since it was built in the late 1800s. The February 2011 earthquake destroyed the spire and the upper portion of the tower, and severely damaged the rest of the building, and, like much of the city is still 15 years later undergoing significant restoration.

We spent much of Wednesday reacquainting ourselves with the city. We were last here in 2017 and it’s wonderful to see so much new construction has been completed following the earthquakes. Our first stop for the day was a suburban Anglican church, where we visited the grave of Captain Charles Upham, the only man to ever win two Victoria Crosses in combat.

We also took a short drive to the coastal suburb of Brighton, where we took a long walk out on a pier high over the ocean, as you do at places called Brighton. We stopped at a second-hand bookshop on the way for Dave, who apparently never has enough second-hand books.

On Wednesday night, we boarded an old electric tram which had been converted into a mobile restaurant, having enjoyed ourselves on the same tram during our 2017 visit to Christchurch. In my opinion gimmicky restaurants often fail on the food side, but not so with this one. Both the food and service were excellent, and the atmosphere while travelling around Christchurch’s streets in an old tram was lovely.

On Thursday morning we grabbed a quick coffee/hot chocolate and shared a Danish pastry for breakfast, then headed north out of Christchurch. Last time we were on the South Island we headed south, all the way down to Invercargill in fact, so this time we thought we would see the North of the South. For those readers who have been to New Zealand you will know that while there are lots of similarities between the two islands, they are also quite different. The South Island is obviously cooler, being further south, making summer an ideal time to visit. The North Island is known for its beaches and forests while the South Island features high mountains, glaciers and lakes. The North Island offers lots of cultural experiences for visitors and wonderful urban living with heaps of great restaurants and shopping; whereas the South is famous for outdoor activities and Hamner Springs is a great example of that.

I love horses. I love all animals actually, but there’s not many outdoor activities I like better than riding a horse, especially in beautiful country settings. I’d booked a 1.5 hour ‘Mountain Ride’ a few weeks ago and was really looking forward to it. When I contacted them on Wednesday to confirm the start time, I wasn’t happy when the reply came back with, “Oh no, there’s been a mistake – we are closed tomorrow”!

After a couple of messages back and forward the news changed from bad to good – she had found someone to take me on a private ride!

I’ve only been riding a dozen or so times in my life – so ticked ‘beginner’ on the pre-ride forms. It was, however, the most challenging ride I’ve ever been on. We went up hill and down dale, quite literally. Kevin (my horse) was such a good boy – an older and very calm horse who was very obedient and well-behaved. After about 20 minutes riding across the plain beside the river, we headed into a densely wooded pine forest that sat on the side of a mountain. It was steep going, quite muddy and there were soon lots of scratches on my left leg where Kevin took the corners sharply. I had to lean forward a lot on the steep inclines, but the spectacular scenery once we got to the top was well worth it. What goes up must come down, so after a short break to admire the view, we began the ride down on the other side of the mountain. While it didn’t have any trees to scratch me, I did have to do a lot of leaning back so I didn’t slide off! I think I used muscles that haven’t been awoken in years – my backside, legs and especially my knees were aching! Once on the flat area again we rode the horses to the river, where they had a lovely splash and a drink of the rapidly flowing cool water, before I successfully dismounted and found Dave reading a second-hand book in the car. For those of you who know the story – a few years back I had an accident getting off a horse and broke my leg and ankle… but just like falling off a bike – only thing to do is get back on!

By 5pm we were heading back to our accommodation for a much-needed spa to soothe my very sore muscles – our room here has a spa on the veranda with gorgeous views over the mountains. Life is good!

A few other random snaps: (Hotel helped us celebrate our 35th anniversary. IYKYK.)