Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

We finally threw a party here! If you know me you know I love entertaining so it's been a bummer to not have a space big enough to invite people over until recently. So we had some friends over on Saturday night and although the place doesn't have a great party flow, it was a great time. Late night but lots of laughs! So this weekend was mostly about cooking and baking party food (had a chance to dig deeper into a couple Annabel Langbein cook books Dustin's got me for Christmas and my birthday last year!!) and then Sunday we just watched movies on the couch and a couple friends dropped by for a visit. So a nice weekend. Such a far cry from doing paperwork and running around doing errands. I liked the change! I didn't have any hospital shifts last week but now am into 3 weeks of work there. We have a public holiday this Thursday so that's sweet. Anzac day which is similar to Remembrance Day but it's about the soldiers who died in Gallipoli. There's always ...

Before I get into the introduction, guess what? We finally mailed off our residence application on Friday! Only a couple weeks early but at least it's off our plate in a big way. Now the waiting... I think I've heard between 6 to 9 months and between 9 to 12 months. I think we'll hear more specifically in about 2 weeks after they check that we have all the documents they need. Bringing back the patience! So think we should rename late summer/early fall to Fruit Time. I forgot to rave about how many grapefruits we had when my parents were here! I had fresh squeezed juice with them each morning and that was about 9 grapefruits or so per day. Good thing they were here or I wouldn't have been able to get through them all! (Dustin's not a big juice guy.) The timing was so funny, the week after they left the grapefruit nearly slowed to a halt even though I still see some big yellow fruits hanging up there! Might have to climb up for a picking instead of wai...

Hello long-neglected blog readers! Many apologies for such a long absence. Who knew I could keep quiet that long? It's been nearly a month so lots to catch up on... My mom and dad came to visit us for a couple weeks so there was lots going on then! We drove up to Rotorua to meet them as they bused down from Auckland. The main reason to visit Rotorua (aside from its lovely sulfurous smell) was to Zorb. My mom was keen to check that off her NZ must-do list! So we stayed 2 nights up there and did all the adventure touring we could handle! We also placed fifth in the local pub quiz night! Ever heard of Shweebing? Neither had we but it's a full on cycling battle! And then there was Shwooping... And of course Zorbing! On our way from Rotorua to New Plymouth we stopped over to tour the Waitomo caves and marvel at the millions of glow worms that live in them. Then it was due south to show them our home. Thoug...

News this good is too tough to hold in. I was going to wait until we had a photo to post but decided that I had to tell you all first! Ok, not quite first first but first online. Unless you follow me on twitter @kablally but definitely the first blog post about it! Ok so what is it? I assume you already know you loyal readers... we got our new visa! So that means we are sorted for 12 more months. Which means there's plenty of time for our residency to be processed without us having to leave the country at any stage (except when we choose to). We haven't gotten our passports back with the sticker in them yet but we got the notification email. Good enough for me! What better way to celebrate than to welcome my parents into New Zealand this weekend and tour around a little bit, lapping up every bit of beauty we can handle! Then maybe we should have a BBQ celebration next weekend. Get one in before summer decides to wind down. So the moral(s) of the story are: If you wan...

Last week we finally checked "work visa application" off our list. Well, we submitted it with one piece missing that we're just waiting for in the mail. But the big part is done. We also moved house last weekend which means two major things off our list lately! Almost back to having free time! Dustin's application needed a binder for all the many many papers but luckily mine required a little less information. Not much less but a little less. Sort of a partial virtual tour of our new digs below. Friends of ours own it and they are moving overseas for a couple years. So if all works out the plan is to do some small renos like painting and maybe floors, and who knows what else! The current design is kind of busy so if we are approved for visas, we'll have all sorts of projects to keep us busy through the winter! The property borders the hospital so I am one fence jump away from work now, great commute. Living room that you enter via the foyer -...

Back in December we booked a little house in Kawhia to stay so that we'd go to the Kai Festival this year. Good idea! We had a lovely weekend in a beautiful village and lots of eating and relaxing. Those were the rules, the only activities were either eating or relaxing. Breakfast whitebait fritter and manuka lemonade Hula hoop mania Kapa Haka Mango drink More Kapa Haka Wild kunekune sausage with kamokamo pickles Our place was just down the street from the entrance Lining up for Hangi! Lunchtime hangi back at our place Cool crisp watermelon and ice cream Relaxing Dessert with a view Fire hula hoops! Seafood sampler! Ok, it was impossible to photograph the beauty Hot pools beach - dig your own spa! Marokopa Falls Natural limestone bridge Can't wait until next year's festival! Didn't have enough stomach space to try everything this time!