Christmas is here!!! so this is our first christmas spent in the southern hemisphere, and i gotta tell you, it's so bizarre that it is summer here! just doesn't really feel like christmas..at all. But we are REALLY looking forward to flying over to Aussie for christmas to spend it with Ann and Manu! christmas on the beach, here we come!

here, pictured is our cutie little christmas tree...that is growing in a pot, so if i don't kill it, i can use again next year! hehe.

missing home

Well as i was organizing my pictures on my computer (something i've been trying to do for about 3 years....) i found this great picture of mom and dad and decided to post it :)

Miss you guys!!

a second post today! Our kayaking trip.....

For Labour Day weekend, Manuel and I took the ferry down to the south island to do a 3-day kayak trip through Marlborough Sounds. We had 3 days of VERY different weather conditions, which is pretty much typical of new zealand, but it was gorgeous nevertheless. We didn't end up spotting any dolphins or whales (which are abundant in the sounds apparently), but i did see lots and lots of jellyfish. I was so surprised at how much those kayaks can hold! we each brought big packs with a tent and sleeping bags, camp stove and accessories, and clothes for all weather, and food and water for 3 days. and it all fit right inside! and we didn't sink!This was Saturday afternoon, after we first headed out on our journey. It was bright and sunny when we were packing the kayak, and we shed our fleeces and warm clothes....headed out of the harbour where it promptly started pouring down rain. we paddled for 3 hours..in the cold rain...to our campsite. I would have slayed a dragon to have a nice hot shower that night, but alas, no. we pitched our tent, brushed our teeth, and went to bed really early. that night my "self inflating" sleeping pad did not inflate. and i sort of hated camping....but only for that night :)
Day 2 the weather seemed much better. at least it wasn't raining! and we had a very nosy duck visitor who tried to take my granola bar and bit my toes. this picture is of me asking if he wanted to fight....he did not.
packed up the kayak again.....
took a few pictures..... this is us with our neoprene kayak skirts on.


and headed out of the bay to the main sound again, hoping to make it quite a ways out to sea this day....well it turns out there was a really strong southerly wind coming up from Antarctica. yes. it's strange to think that there are no land masses between the south pole and new zealand...so quite often we get really strong arctic winds. well, the water was really really choppy because of the wind....which made it really really hard to paddle. not to mention i was a little nervous about capsizing....(and when i say a little nervous i mean i was almost in tears..) My irrational fear of the ocean was not entirely my fault though, you see. During our kayaking debriefing they showed us a safety video about self rescue and how to get back in the kayak if it flips over...fine...all things we should know. well they also showed a clip of a giant orca whale breaching in the middle of a group of kayakers and landing on one! ....so clearly the whole trip it was hard for me to enjoy the beautiful scenery because i was scanning the water constantly for killer whales and sharks.....

here is the video



This is the little beach we stopped at to have some lunch and a bit of rest on the second day.

further in the bay there was a gorgeous little lodge and restaurant for boaters....with a nature walk on the premises... so we explored. this was a cool Maori carving on the stone.



The wind eventually died down and we were able to make it to the next bay and find a camping spot for the night.
we cooked dinner on our new cooking stove that we got as a wedding gift (thanks tara and mrs. winters!) instant noodles sure do taste better when you've been kayaking all day!

Day 3 the water was PERFECT. the water was so still and the sun was warm :) we didn't even need our jackets that day!

we went back to the Picton harbour to return our kayaks at about 2 in the afternoon and then lazed around the town until our return ferry to wellington (at 10pm)....putting us home at about 2 in the morning and then i had to be at work at 7 the next morning.

Totally worth it!

i know...it's about time...

So, I have about 3 million things to update about.....and tons of pictures to post. So i'll get started with TODAY...which is my birthday already in New Zealand, but not until tomorrow at home. This morning we had the couple that helped us out when we first moved to Wellington, Mark and Johanne, over for brunch! They let us live in their house for a whole week and fed us...the least we could do was have them round for coffee and croissants! so i took a few pictures of the table set up, and the apartment because it was actually clean!


here is a little view of our bathroom and sink...with the hot and cold water on complete opposite sides.......we have no warm water. only ice cold or burning hot.

This is our itty bitty yellow couch and my plant that i haven't killed yet :) yay!


This is the practice climbing board i got for manuel last christmas....that he hung above our bedroom door. charming.




Mark and Johanne brought me a beatiful bouquet of orchids! and this is the wooden cabinet that i sanded down and restained......though im still not done. the hole where the missing drawer is will become a shelf...eventually.
Tui birds! this is taken from our balcony (please dont look at the gross eaves..) these birds are native to new zealand and make the most unusual noises all the time! if you're interested go here
and lastly, here is our kitchen with the shelf manuel hung for me last weekend..to house my kettle and kitchen scale :)

okay so more pictures to come of kayaking and our adventure to Red Rocks!

my new job

so blog fans (mom. aunt les. you know who you are...), i'm finally going to write about this awesome new job i've started over here in Kiwi land.

well the thing is, I can't say too much because of the secrecy clause in our contracts (this is the big-time guys)....but i am painting scenery for a the new hollywood-funded movie that they're filming here in the "Peter Jackson studios" out in Miramar (a suburb of Wellington). I'm basically bouncing off the walls. Not only am I doing EXACTLY what i came here to do (even working with the people I've been reading about for the last few years)...but I waltzed myself right into this film industry in just 2 months!! I had a lot great contacts along the way too. The film is called Kingdom Come and it the story of Christ's life from the beginning of time up to the crucifixion and resurrection. A lot of the big people working on this film designed and worked on the Narnia movies as well. I'm way excited.

So I have a one year contract and the filming will start sometime around february, and i'm thrilled to see that process of course!

Another "perk" of my cool new job: because of the distance to the studios, i've been taking the bus every morning and evening, which makes the journey even longer.......SO: I'm getting a scooter!!! manuel and i shopped around this past weekend and i found my dream scooter. it's got a classic body style like a vespa, but it's a german brand called Sachs. i've got to go to driving school to get my scooter license (and it wouldn't hurt for me to practice driving on the left side of the road either....). so hopefully i'll get that taken care of next weekend and i'll be posting pictures of my scooter (which i've decided to name sasha) very soon!!!

that's all the big news around here. but i'll keep everyone posted...

rain rain go away

well manuel is doing a much better job at updating his blog than i am...and i would just refer everyone over to it to read about the what's going on...but, well, it's in german.

Not a whole lot new going on. At the moment I am working on restoring a stock scenic unit for the Opera House here in wellington. It's not exactly a dream job, but at least i'm painting!! and i have a few other applications out there, so hopefully i'll hear something back soon.

It's unfortunately been rainy and cold here for ages...and i could not be more ready for spring and summer to get here! it's going to be really bizarre to have Christmas during the summer though...
due to the bad weather, the ship carrying all of our stuff from home was not able to come into port last week and had to skip new zealand and go on to australia! (with all my dishes!!)....so now we're looking at august 12 before we have anything. bummer.

here are a few pictures i've been meaning to upload..


This is the drop for the Iolanthe set for the Opera House that I am restoring...you can sort of see the cracking in the paint.
This is where Manuel works :) his office is on the second floor.
The one nice thing about all this rain all the time... this is a view from our balcony.

i should also mention...

so now i'm in "blog-update" mode.....

a few things have changed since i last posted: Manuel has a job! He's working as an "integration consultant" at a software firm here in the city. It's right at the harbour and only about a 10 minute walk from home (or 5 if he runs :) ).....It's a fairly small company and they are very new, but Manuel has already signed us both up to play on the company indoor soccer team...so I've had the opportunity to meet his boss and colleagues and they are very cool. and I get a team jersey! rock on! In honour of his new 'grown-up" job, we spent our saturday yesterday shopping for business attire. he sure cleans up nicely! (i'll try to get some pictures if he'll agree to a fashion show...)

and in news for me: I met with some guys at a design company out in Miramar (wellington suburb..home of Peter Jackson..) last week who are in the process of carving a giant styrofoam tree that will then be coated in fiberglass and installed as a children's interactive exhibit in a museum here....anyways, they've asked me to come and do the painting workup! so that will be a really cool project and hopefully a really great contact in the industry for me! and plus, unlike the theatre work that i paint and is destroyed as soon as the show closes, this will be around for years! cool!....so i'll update about this again later :)

Here is the view of our little love nest if you were sitting on top of our microwave :) and you can see a glimpse of the view of the city outside our door...
So here is a picture of our flat in wellington...with manuel pretending to cook! as you can see it's fairly cozy in size, but we do have a spare bedroom...so friends are welcome!!

our new digs...

clearly i am not very good at updating this blog.... well the truth is, we just finally got our internet hooked up, and manuel and i have to take turns using it, and i haven't had a long enough "turn" to update until now.

We've moved into our new flat, right in the city. looking out the windows in the living room you can see the Wellington harbour, which you just can't beat on a good day:) Yesterday manuel and i carried TWO sofas up our 300 stairs to the apartment, and today all of my muscles hurt! but at least we have a sofa in the living room:) we're slowly settling in, and still waiting for my shipment of boxes from home with all my house stuff....so at the moment we have exactly 2 plates, 2 bowls and 2 cups...so we can't very well invite someone over for dinner! But we managed to meet some really nice people here who have generously lent us some essentials to get by until our ship comes in. haha.

we haven't started working yet, (so pray we'll get jobs soon).....but i've just received a very encouraging email from my friend at Weta...so hopefully i'll have good news soon.

and as soon as i figure out how to post pictures, i'll get some up :)

that's it for now...my "turn" is up

almost on our way....

I cannot believe that we leave tomorrow! so my blog site is still really under construction... i'll try to get some pictures up from the German wedding for those interested... but i have REALLY good intentions of blogging our experience of journeying to new zealand and finding jobs and a place to live etc, etc....

stay tuned for way cooler posts and a better site layout.....