Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Last week Dustin spent the day creating a toolbox for Eric. It's not just any toolbox though, it holds bottles of their beloved MF brew. You see, Eric has a beer appreciation club at work and he brings varieties of MF Brew with him when it's available. Now he can do it in style... We were thinking about how to personalize it and Dustin wanted to brand it (like with hot iron) so we might do that if we can figure out how to! And to think that this wood used to be makeshift shelves in our hall closet. This is a much better use! I guess I should have posted a pic with some bottles in it just for the full effect but they were still drying from the stain.

Of course it was the reason we were touring the south anyways so it's only fitting that it was the best part of our time away as well - the wedding of our friends Katie and Mela! It was a three-part event starting with a welcome drinks event on Friday night, the ceremony up Treblecone mountain on Saturday and then the reception Saturday evening at the Edgewater Resort.  The ceremony was beautiful, both the setting, the brides and the words and sentiments. Mela's family did a haka to welcome her up the mountain and then another when Katie arrived too. They were practicing Saturday morning by the lake... Everyone was taken up the mountain in a bus - some of us were on a bus that even rolled backwards as he couldn't get it into gear! That was added excitement. Then we hopped on the chairlift (which felt really weird without snowboards on!) and assembled at the top of the lift where they had groomed an area for everyone to stand. And then we waited for t

We had a whole week to spend in Otago when we went there for the wedding so we spent a little time sightseeing and a little time snowboarding (emphasis for me on the little - I went up only one afternoon and quickly realized I am well out of practice in the sport. Dustin went up 3 days though so he was much more into it.) We stayed in Wanaka and went into Cromwell/Bannockburn one day and then for a lake cruise in Queenstown with the wedding group. We actually didn't end up doing much in Wanaka itself but I spent an afternoon wandering the shops and looking for something to feed my sweet tooth - the offering was disappointing though! It's very interesting to spend time in cities popular with tourists. We don't realize how far off the beaten track New Plymouth is and we definitely appreciate that fact even more after being around it again. I think when you are the tourist you just don't notice that it's all tourists because nearly everywhere you go, that is the ca

Photos and videos of the actual wedding are still to come but since these are just photos, it's much quicker to post them first. So, inside the bottom tier is vanilla cake with coconut icing. Inside the top tier is chocolate cake with chocolate icing and inside the middle tier is styrofoam. This cake wins for the most locations where prep took place with a total of 3: home, and 2 different holiday homes in Wanaka. It also wins for the most helpers: Dustin and Mela's two cousins. And it apparently wins for the most accolades as the chef at the resort tracked down the girls to tell them it's the best wedding cake he's seen and it was a privilege to serve it. That one was through the girls and although I don't doubt them, my modesty might just a little... haha. My lovely assistants! Surprise! It's a rainbow!

In Wellington, there's lots of artsy pieces all over the city and these are my favourties: Dustin said it looks like concrete letters attached to the backs, so another project to keep in mind for the house :)

Just a few shots from the plane flying over Mt Taranaki - though he was cloaked in clouds that morning.

We had an old tree in our front yard that was starting to look pretty sad as it was rotting inside the trunk and it wasn't too far from the power lines, so we hired a tree removal service to sort that out for us. I should have done a before and after of the yard but what I was more concerned with is how much we pulled out of the back yard because they were also chipping anything we left out... Yep it was a busy day taking all that out of the back yard.