One year away from home

What a week! This week has been jammed packed with special days; pancake day, Valentine's Day and our travelling anniversary. Nick and I had the same days off this week coincidently which was rather awesome because we were able to celebrate these days together. For our first day off we had a well deserved lie in and then headed to a lovely quaint little cafe in Geraldine called Cafe Verdi. It has a beautiful rose garden outside and it's a very cute place to sit and enjoy the sunshine. We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed a stroll around town afterwards before getting our passport photos taken for our visa extensions. Unlike the UK, photo booths don't seem to exist here so getting our photos taken required sitting in a chair in the chemist getting photographed by a lady with a digital camera. It did feel rather old school. After our trip out we headed home and jointly made our first home cooked roast dinner we've had in a year! We made so much food and ate way too much but it tasted so amazing. What I had forgotten was this day was actually pancake day so when we woke up the next morning it finally dawned on me that we had missed it. We therefore started our Valentine's day with a breakfast of wholemeal pancakes before heading out on a day trip adventure together. We drove the 1 and a half hour journey to Lake Tekapo, a place so close to us but still one we hadn't gotten around to visiting yet. On route we passed through Fairlie and stopped at the Fairlie Bakehouse which is known for it's amazing pies throughout New Zealand. They were so good! So much nicer than the ones at my work that's for sure. We eventually arrived at Tekapo and it literally took our breath away. As you drive along you turn a bend and start going down hill and suddenly this turquoise blue beautiful lake comes into view and you can't help but say "wow". We stopped by the lakeside and after some photos sat on rocks and just soaked in the surroundings with the dominating mountains setting the backdrop. We headed next up to the observatory which is at the top of a hill. You pay $8 to drive up there if you're lazy like we were being and don't fancy the hike up. The winding road is narrow and steep but you are treated to beautiful 360 degree views once you're at the top. There's a cafe up there so we sat and had lunch while overlooking the lake. There's a very picturesque looking church called the Church of the Good Sheppard which is on the lakeside. We'd seen beautiful photos of it but found when we arrived to try and get our photo the place was swimming with tourists so it was impossible to get a photo without someone in it. Luckily on our way back from the observatory there was a wedding service on so the area was closed to tourists so myself and another woman sneakily climbed up the wall to get that one photo I was after. Before heading home we relaxed in the hot pools down by the lakeside which was nice and relaxing although it would of be so much nicer after a hard day's work. This week also saw us hit our one year away from home anniversary. I cannot believe it's been a year, its flown by but at the same time felt like the longest time in the world. We've decided to do at least another year away while we have this chance and we're so excited to finish this section of working so we can finally hit the road and explore this beautiful country we now call home.Les mer