Spring has sprung in New Zealand!!! The blog has been quiet through much of the winter…we’ve been in a state of hibernation I suppose. While it has been a pretty mild winter, there has been heaps (that’s Kiwi speak for tons or lots) of rain. Here is a bit of how we have kicked off the spring season.

The Dog Park at Victoria Park: Redd and Chloe are loving life in New Zealand. This park located in the Port Hills area and offers some spectacular views of Christchurch. The park offers many biking and walking tracks all of which require your dogs to be leashed and to stay on the designated pathways. However, there is a fenced off area where pooches can roam off leash and socialize with other dogs. Check out Redd and Chloe, enjoying the view:

Check out Redd and Chloe, enjoying the view:

Bottle Lake Park: Nice flat trail walks for the dachshunds, fun bike trails for the humans, both of which end with an amazing beach view. We had a nice walk through the park to the beach and hung out on the beach for a bit before heading back, for a total of 9.5 miles. I was rather impressed with Redd and Chloe’s stamina.

A couple of pictures from our stroll:

Gardening and Life on the Deck: It must be a Kiwi thing but everyone here seems to be into gardening of some sort. Now, as a girl who grew up in NYC, I don’t have much experience gardening and I can’t remember a time where I actually touched dirt…at least not intentionally. Given that I’ve moved halfway around the world, I figured it was time to explore some new activities.

So the first nice weekend of spring, we went out and started a garden. In addition to decorative flowers, we are attempting to grow tomatoes, bell peppers (called capsicum here), cucumbers, lettuce, snow peas, and onions. Stay tuned to see how our gardening efforts turn out…pictures coming shortly…hopefully.