Christmas in Sunny Nelson

                                 

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We are house & cat sitting in Nelson thanks kindly to Fran (hope you enjoy Hanmer).
Hope everyone enjoys a relaxing time with family and friends.
Shannon, being the only one of our children to join us with the other two celebrating Christmas in Perth, will be spoilt rotten and over indulged.

Shannon with her Daddy looking out over "The Cut"

Shannon & Bill at the top of Trafalgar St
The street is looking very leafy at this time of year.

On Shannon's early arrival into Nelson a couple of days before Christmas, we picked her up (driving through the chaotic road works as Nelson's airport is having a major overhaul) and headed into Nelson's famous Market. The Christmas Market I feel is the best market of the year with lots of variety and a relaxed atmosphere. Well it was for us! With no pressure to rush anywhere, we browsed around the stalls, and then had a coffee on the Cathedral steps.
Looking down on Trafalgar St from here, you can see how mature the trees are now that were planted in our early days of arriving in Nelson in the late 80's. How plain the main street was in those days.

Christmas Day - Rabbit Island

Christmas day was spent out at Rabbit Island - a beach for those of you who don't know it, where we use to go a lot when the children were young as it was a lovely safe beach for the kids to play and swim in. We took Bill's mum Joan with us in the Bus and met up with Bill's brother Alan & Eare and their son Mathew. It was a very quiet Tyler affair, no arguments or robust discussions like the Nicholas's (my family) would have. But a very pleasant day till late afternoon when the wind came up creating sand storms. So we all headed back to Frans for a bbq dinner - Lucky was happy to see us return.            

Boxing Day was spent at Pippa & Johns where Simon & Nicki joined us for lunch with their girls too. Pippa offered her place to meet as the weather looked unpredictable but as it turned out we could have met at a beach. It turned out sooooo hot and sunny that it was good to have the shade. And the young Girls certainly enjoyed their time in the pool. Thanks P&J for a lovely day. And Simon & Nicki, lovely to see you get some time off over what is one of your busiest times of year- it was lovely to share the day with you all.

Hot enough to cool off in the pool
(well the little ones thought so with Johnny - Simon supervising)

Lucky waiting on his dinner

As we had Fran's bike available for Shannon to borrow, we did a cycle on The Great Taste Trail - Nelson / Tasman cycleway. We had a perfect day and the trail wasn't too busy. We were ready for a nice cold ale on our arrival at Brightwater where we also had lunch before returning to Richmond. A very pleasant 31km cycle, although Shannon did say the next day it had been a while since she had been on a bike so parts of her anatomy were a little tender. Poor Shanny :(

Which direction is the right one!

Half way!!

Very refreshing ale at HQ

With Christmas bringing lots of families back to Nelson, it was good catching up with friends at the Market and at their homes. It had been a few years since we had caught up with some of our friends children, so it was lovely catching up on their lives too.

Shannon's time with us went too quickly and before we knew it, it was time for her to return to AC in Wellington where they were to attend a wedding the next day with an old school friend of Shannon's, Darko.

Rocky and Daniel went away camping south of Perth over the Christmas break, which was quite a different one for them but very relaxing after their busy year. And Nick & Emily celebrated with Em's family - his first real Aussie Christmas. Hopefully they missed us a little bit even if they did have fun!

So Christmas was over for another year. They seem to get quicker each year, but the best part is they are certainly less stressed. Well for us at least - or should that be for me! Bill's have always been relaxed!