Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Back in March (I'm slowly catching up!) Dustin's mom came out to visit us for a few weeks! We stayed in town a fair bit but we did take a couple little trips out. The first, of course, was driving down to Whanganui to pick up dear Porter! It was a lovely sunny day and we had lunch down by the river there so it was a little tour for Lena as she hadn't been there before. We stopped in Stratford for the glockenspiel show... it was, um, Shakespearean? Then we went to a St Patrick's Day party that our friends have every year (it goes for like 3 days but we only went to one evening of it). After that we hit the road going north. We had booked a bach in Whangamata for a few nights and wanted to show Lena some of the Coromandel. It's about a six hour drive (well, with stops) and because it's the east coast, the beaches have regular golden sand, not the black sands of Taranaki. The town is quite small and we've visited a couple times before...

Yet another amazing part of the South Island trip was the chance to see real live kiwis! The back part of the property where the wedding was held is a kiwi creche where they bring babies for their first couple months and it has a predator proof fence so they are safe while they grow. After that they are released into the wild. Lucky for us there were a few of them that had been there for a few weeks. We got to bring them food and then sat quietly and watched with a big red light (if doesn't freak them out like a regular flashlight does). Of course the videos from that aren't the best... We had to be so quiet and ever so still as they were very skittish. Once they braved coming close to us, we could barely breathe without causing them to run back into hiding. It was quiet amazing to watch and patience was key. On the wedding day, one of the caretakers took groups of people to see the kiwis in the daytime because she had to catch them for a checkup. So I missed some of the...

So, the main event we travelled South in February for was the wedding of Bridget and Andy (and known in short on text messages as Brandy). Andy's folks have a golf course/B&B and they hosted an amazing event. We went early to help set up and got to explore the local area a little too! We had a blast and just thought I'd share a few photos. The stories are numerous and some are funny but this post is mostly about photos :) Beautiful place to get married! It had rained and rained in the days leading up to it but it was nice for the big day! I made the cake(s) - it was just going to be the middle one but there was so much cake, I didn't want to waste any! The rowdy New Plymouth guests... um, that's not a joke. I wasn't kidding about the bonfire! The biggest rope swing I think I've seen! It was pretty scary. Especially at night. Our little yellow tent. Many of the guests camped out on the property, it was great. Da...

We definitely put the go pro to lots of use over the wedding trip and one of the fun things we did was set it up while I decorated their wedding cake. I think it was set for a photo every minute. I ended up decorating three cakes because there was lots of cake!

Keeping on the stories of our South Island visit on February, there was a really cool aspect of the wedding we went to - they had a craft beer tent. Ok, woo, doesn't sound that interesting but the fun part is that about 3-4 of their friends do homebrew so there was quite an assortment of beers to choose from - all made by friends! MF Brewing's contribution was a feijoa beer - which was quite a hit, although certainly a feijoa-lover's drink. The boys manning the booth were happy to share their brews and it was a great way to cool off in the crazy hot sun that came out. Those fireworks were for later, when the bonfire was cooking.

One of the big reasons we went to Niue was to see humpback whales. And to snorkel with them. There is no diving allowed with them so this was the best way to be in the water with them. We did catch some luck on our snorkel trip and we saw two hanging out for a minute or so. I think they sensed us so they turned to have a look and then swam away. Of course the video doesn't do the experience justice but it's still pretty cool to watch and remember what it was like swimming with these amazing creatures! We're about 30m away from the whales in this video. The day after our snorkel trip, Dustin was diving and I was hanging out at the hotel pool, just watching the sea. There was plenty to keep me occupied with all the whales and dolphins but then I saw another snorkel tour's experience and it looked pretty awesome. The whale actually stayed around for a while too so it must have been great viewing!

Back in February when we headed to the South Island for the wedding of good friends of ours, we also added a couple night stay in a little town called Akaroa, sort of near Christchurch. It's a little French settlement on the Banks Peninsula and quaint definitely describes it well. We had booked a B&B run by an older woman out of her 1920's or earlier house. The major attraction to Akaroa was the resident Hector's Dolphins that live in and around the peninsula. Of course, we had to take a dolphin swimming trip. We booked with a smaller operator and there were only 2 other people on the tour with us that day. Many years ago we took a trip to swim with the dolphins off Kaikoura and had an incredible time so we knew it would be worth it. Although the swell was nearly 3m that day, the sun was shining and the dolphins were out in full force! If I didn't look out at the open sea, I was ok (hey we were on a little zodiac!). The dolphins don't hang around in ...

Every time I think about writing, I'm doing something else. Anything else. And by the time I get myself in front of a computer, those inspiring words and thoughts seem to go hiding. But I'm so due for a catch up that I want to try anyways because there's so much general stuff to catch up that I can't even start in on my always-running-draft of ideas of past stuff that I still haven't caught up on. So, the past 2 weeks I've been officially unemployed. However, as my mom pointed out, two of the definitions of employed are: To engage the attention or activity of; occupy: To devote (time, for example) to an activity or purpose:  Judging by my photos from the last two weeks, I've been devoting time to Porter and engaging in the activity of demolition. So I guess I'm not technically unemployed. The living room (lounge) renovation I saw an article come up in my Twitter feed that is so appropriate for me at this time - it's all about ...