We enjoyed our 2 night stay in Christchurch but were massively excited to be nipping to the airport early on the morning of 3 April and jetting off to Nelson. Well prop-planing off to Nelson really, God Bless the Dash-8! Locals were still wearing t-shirts, though at least with long-pants, but we were well into our down puffy jackets in the chill of the early Christchurch morning. We really did not comprehend how relaxed domestic flights were in NZ. Turn up at airport. Drop bag off. Tootle onto plane. Sit down for a cookie and a coffee and then, very shortly thereafter, get up, tootle off and get bags. It only took an hour to get from Christchurch to Nelson (and that was because it was a Dash-8). I had a window seat seemingly under the wing - first time in a long while I’ve actually seen the landing wheels coming down. We enjoyed the Air New Zealand hospitality and the stunning views of the southern Alps with a smattering of snow. We certainly had a laugh when they announced “Checked baggage will be waiting outside the terminal’. Surely they jested and it would be waiting on a conveyor belt like everywhere else. Nope. Outside the terminal. In a pile. Classic.

We met our lovely host next to the luggage pile (there and we’d been worried as to how we’d spot her) and then it was into the car and off to Hope (near Richmond, near Nelson... top end of the bottom island of NZ. Can’t miss it.) Our plan for the next few days was simple - finish our remaining 4 days of jetlag. The scientific wisdom of the curse of jetlag is that it takes a day to recover for every hour of time zone change. And that seems to work perfectly for us. Our charge for the next almost-month was Maybe - the cocker spaniel. Truly the loopiest and loveliest of the breeds we’ve looked after so far and she was, undoubtedly, true to breed. Apparently the family had always promised the children... when we move back to NZ (from Singapore), maybe we’ll get a dog, maybe, one day, we’ll see. So thus Maybe was christened when she was adopted in Singapore and came to live in Hope, NZ. (She also regularly lived in hope at breakfast and dinner...) The only thing funnier than saying at the top of your voice, Maybe! No! would literally be naming your dog ‘Stay’. Then you could send them round the bend by saying “Come here, Stay!”

We had an absolute ball during our time in Hope. First order of business was taking a lovely, relaxed lap around the vineyard and revelling the clean, green, pure New Zealand-ness of it all. We took Maybe for long walks around the vines, made rhubarb crumble from the garden and ate fresh kale, tomatoes and limes at every opportunity. We caught up on the blog, photos and Tripadvisor reviews from India and Sri Lanka and took many naps. Early in the piece, our second order of business was cleaning out the jacuzzi, filling and heating it and then, from evening two onwards, spending around 40 minutes every night staring up at the stars, the moon and the miracle of the Milky Way hanging right above us.

Whilst the Tasman region of New Zealand is an adventure lovers paradise and full of lovely scenery, kayaking opportunities, vineyards and very expensive places to eat out, we were, essentially homebodies. We stocked up on bottles and bottles of local (Marlborough) sauvignon blanc from the supermarket, enjoyed the ability to cook for ourselves in a fabulous kitchen, spent ridiculous amounts of time with Maybe and made the odd venture out into the real world. A trundle around the shops in Richmond periodically, a scenic drive to pretty, coastal Mapua (home to all types of smoked and fresh seafood) and then, in our final couple of days after our great host family returned, we drove up to the Motueka Sunday Market.

Being a kiwi myself I’d heard about the sunshine in Nelson and certainly mentioned to James, in passing, that we’d probably have good weather for the month of April. Having never lived in Nelson however I had no idea that when they say Nelson is the sunniest place in New Zealand, they mean it. We had probably 2 days of rain, total, in the course of the month and a couple of days when we were even back in summer linens. Stunning place and now we understand why it’s a retirement mecca for New Zealanders (and foreigners lucky enough to stumble across it).

Eventually this glorious housesit drew to an end. Most of the time we miss the animals we care for. Sometimes more than others. Sometimes, rarely, not at all and we can’t wait to see the furry back of them. In this instance we were quite torn up to say bye-bye to Maybe and will no doubt be back to see her again down the line. It was extra sad because she couldn’t understand why her new bestest friends in the world were getting in the car with their big bags and not taking her along for the ride. Thankfully it was early in the day and we had our next destination on our minds when we made it to the airport at 6.30 am on 30 April and took the shortest flight ever, Nelson to Wellington - over Cook Strait and a mere 35 minutes. We zipped through Wellington airport (wow - actual security!) and onto our next flight... back over Cook Strait in a ‘real’ plane this time and down to almost the bottom of the south island... Sunny Dunny! Dunedin! The Edinburgh of the South - due to it being the gaelic for, funnily enough, Edinburgh!

PS: We watched with great sadness as news of the events of Easter Sunday in Colombo, Sri Lanka spread across the internet like wildfire. We had been driven past the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo several times as we were staying just 5 minutes down the road and slightly further out of town. We’d even joked that it looked like a gorgeous place to stay and ‘maybe next time’. We were inordinately lucky to visit Sri Lanka when we did, just 2 weeks earlier, and can only hope the nation eventually sees its way safely through the darkness and hatred that has descended upon it.