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The vet suggested I buy a glucometer to test Zeki’s blood sugar myself, at home. So we did and it has been a bit of a learning curve getting a reading from Zeki. The vet nurse was pricking the pads on his paw for a blood sample but when I tried it at home I…

Just so readers don’t think I’m a mountain of misery, here are some of Auckland’s finer qualities: It rains a lot. As someone who grew up on the driest inhabitable continent on the planet, I have come to appreciate water. I love it when it rains. I love the smell; I love the cool freshness;…

Some people may think I’ve been a little tough on Auckland but our judgements of a place are so often based on our previous experiences. I lived in Christchurch for 6 years so Auckland really doesn’t stand a chance. Christchurch, before the earthquakes, was superior in every way. I miss the cool temperate climate most…

My last review of Auckland was very one-sided and really just a rant, so I’d like to give a proper review of this city, highlighting the good as well as the bad points. Auckland has a subtropical climate and so is warm and humid in summer. The winters are very mild and very wet. There…

Daniel’s second week of school has begun and so far, so good. He got “super kid” in class yesterday for doing something good and he was quite chuffed about it. He also brought home his first reader and can read the whole book from start to finish. It doesn’t matter that he’s just memorised all…

I really love our new house. The lounge/living area has one level slightly raised and separate from the main part. This raised level we call the mezzanine and it has become the kids’ play area. Daniel calls it the “magazine”. Today he said, “I like the magazine because I can play with my toys away…

I forgot to mention in my Auckland tirade yesterday that it takes Ben 45 minutes to an hour to get to work. Which part of expensive housing, low wages, heavy traffic, long commute times and substandard housing equals good quality of life? I think I must have some disease that means I feel the heat…

We’ve been in Auckland for more than 6 months and I feel it’s time to give a review of the place. WARNING: This is going to be particularly negative because the past couple of days have been hot and humid and I got sunburnt today…again. I wore a hat all day and put sunscreen on…

Daniel’s first day of school today went really well, as far as I can tell anyway. He was happy when we dropped him off and happy when I collected him this afternoon. I asked him what he did at school and he replied, “Nothing”. But his uniform started the day clean and now it’s dirty,…

The butterfly has emerged at last! Our little caterpillar built his chrysalis just over two weeks ago and has been inside until yesterday. We noticed the chrysalis getting darker over the past two days and then  yesterday we started to see some orange. The butterfly’s wings need to stretch and dry out before it can…

Zeki’s days are numbered. We are considering putting him to sleep. Strangely, this is something I am more in favour of than Ben. Perhaps Ben is worried I may similarly take him to the Vet’s to be put to sleep once he starts going downhill. Zeki remains blissfully unaware of our plans for his future…

I’ve just gone through 24 hours of vomiting and diarrohea. It was pretty awful but I seem to have recovered now. I felt better when I woke up this morning and was so famished I stuffed myself with food but my tummy wasn’t quite ready and it all came back up again. It wasn’t down…

I haven’t made a blog post for a couple of days but we have been very busy with sick children and another visitor: my dad. The children are feeling much better and fortunately the rest of us have remained healthy. The following photos should provide a snap-shot of what we’ve been up to. Excitement at…

Elizabeth woke up last night at around 3am and vomited in our bed. I changed her and our bedding just in time to hear Daniel doing the same thing in his bed. Daniel had eaten lots of cherry tomatoes just before going to bed and it looked as though someone had emptied the contents of…

We have a friend and her daughter visiting us from Christchurch for a few days so we decided to entertain the kids with an outing to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World. It was great. There were penguins, sharks, sting rays, sea horses, lots of fish, turtles, snow mobile rides and a children’s play area. Sea Dragons…

Zeki is spending the night at the vet’s on a drip. It turns out he has diabetes. This means I’ll have to give him insulin injections twice a day for the rest of his life while Freud gets three pills every morning and two pills in the evening plus eye drops twice a day. Rather…

The cousins left us yesterday after a whirlwind few weeks. They will be sorely missed. Some photos from their last day here:

Daniel had the last of his swimming lessons today. He spent all of the previous two days in tears so I wasn’t terribly hopeful about today but it was the best day of all. He finally understood that he needed to keep his mouth shut before putting his head under water and that it’s not…

There is a group of New Zealand motorists who feel rage against cyclists. I notice in the news this morning that a couple of tourists from America are the latest victims of this rage and they are guilty of nothing more than cycling on New Zealand roads. The male cyclist was punched and tackled to…

Daniel got a habitat for Christmas last year (habitat = bug catcher). It is currently home to the caterpillar of a Monarch butterfly. We’ve had the caterpillar since it was very, very tiny: only a couple of millimetres. It is now about 4cm long and I read somewhere that they grow to about 5cm before…