Heat, baby and car journeys

I am pretty slow on the blog front and time is flying by. It is stinking hot in NZ! Apparently they are having a heatwave which is far more manageable than a UK heatwave given they are set up for it. You’d think that the beach would be an ideal place to cool down but they are like basins and therefore far too hot with a tiny person unless they have some sort of shade. If we do a beach it is usually at 7pm! I have a couple of life lessons, one is sports cap bottles are great for washing sand off babies, second is babies will crawl into the sea and the sea will knock them over….. turns out they do not learn and they will try and eat the wave coming directly at their face but I have a beach babe for a child and she can’t get enough! She will be somewhat disappointed with the Welsh coast after this.

We have travelled through New Plymouth which is absolutely stunning. The further away from Auckland you get the more authentic New Zealand towns you find. Heidi has been in a nappy most of the time with a vest top for car travel just so the straps don’t bother her skin. She is slathered in factor 50 several times a day, I had to buy one specially for sensitive skin and it turns out she is a bit allergic to Nivea (of course she is…the stuff for sensitive skin is mega bucks, it’s a good job she is cute and it helps sell CDs!) We keep her out of the direct sunlight as much as possible and use a snooze shade for the pushchair which is fantastic for keeping the sun off and has UV protection. The seat of her pram has a sheepskin liner which helps to keep her cool when it is really hot as well as making the pushchair more comfortable. Travel cots are brilliant and I am buying one for when we get home as the cot we have has sides that are too high for me to get her into bed easily. Once she is a little bigger we will go straight to a floor bed rather than piddling about with cots. 

For long drives we try and time them to start with her naps so that we can at least have a few hours of peace and it’s less miserable for everyone in the car! Heidi is eating sod all because she is teething and it’s hot so if i can get a chip down her it’s considered a win at the moment!! Thankfully she is quite happy to drink water from her tippy cup and she can have as much breast milk as she likes.

Dan had a brilliant collaborative gig last night with Mishra. The set up was ideal as Heidi and I would watch from the atrium without disturbing the crowd, she crawled until the tops of her feet were filthy and she finally conked out in the pram. We are currently in Foxton staying in a lovely little apartment not far from the beach. We have managed to get Heidi to sleep and are enjoying a glass of wine. Tomorrow we head to Taupo where Dan has another night off, I am told it is a lovely part of New Zealand so over and out for now.