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...