Mabel Island
One the of things we miss about New Zealand is the vegetation. I can't just say "trees" and be done with it, because it's way more global than that. The default colour of the vegetation in Ireland is an intense green, where in New Zealand it tends to be much darker. This isn't just a trees vs. grass difference, and I guess it might be because there is inevitably less light for the plants at 53 degrees north, than there is at 41 degrees south. It's simply had to pass through more atmosphere to get there.
Our last newtonmas in New Zealand was spent in Kaikoura, so we had to take the ferry to get there and I took this picture of Mabel Island on our way down. Unfortunately taking a holiday back there now is awkward with secondary school-aged children. The idea of taking them out of school for a few weeks during January or February, or the thought of spending 60+ hours on planes and airports to visit for a few days. Not to mention the cost of four adult flights, essentially right around the world.
Maybe sometime in 2016 we'll get a chance to visit home as tourists, but not this year.