Hiking adventure in Eastbourne

On Friday, since it was a public holiday here in New Zealand (Waitangi Day)...Manuel didn't have to work, so we went on a little hiking adventure on the other side of the bay in Eastbourne. We took the ferry over with some of our Swiss friends that live here in Wellington...
Leaving central Wellington behind...




Something you don't see everyday.... these crazies were at the dock waiting to take the ferry over to the city. The rugby sevens were in town and everyone was dressed up...it's some sort off crazy carnival.
The beach on the Eastbourne side of the Bay
Giant sunglasses? Check. Ready for hiking.
This could be my dream house...and dream car.. seriously. such a cute little seaside village!
walking along the coast to the park where the track begins..
THIS was the police station! so cute!
The beginning of our walk.
A view from one of the lookout points. Gosh it was a gorgeous day


Getting higher and higher up in the mountains..
Our reward after a good day's hike! Homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream!!

When life gives you lemons....

juice them all into an ice cube tray to freeze for later use!


So I recently came into a HUGE bag of lemons...and with no immediate plans to make 5 Lemon Meringue pies, followed the advice of my cooking guru friend Wendy, and juiced them all into a ice cube tray! Now if I need fresh lemon juice, i can just defrost a few cubes:) I also zested several with my handy-dandy zester (courtesy of Mrs. Donna Martin), which I will also freeze in my little tupperware :)

Tomorrow's mission will be making something with the HUGE bag of rhubarb that I was also given.....

a glimpse of the happenings around here for the last 2 months...

So here is a picture of my freshly washed paint clothes. They haven't been getting much use lately unfortunately because of production delays...but apparently according to production management, we will be starting back "any day now.."...and according to Wellington newspapers, we already have.

And now: A few pictures from around my great city in the summer time :)

First up: Post Office Square, just outside of Manuel's office building, with Queen's Wharf across the street.


Lambton Quay. A main street in the central business district.

Manuel and I took a leisurely stroll through the Botanical Gardens one weekend. Gorgeous!

manuel strolling...

A view of the Rose Gardens from above



we couldn't stay and enjoy the roses too long because they made manuel sneeze. he is allergic to everything. everything.


This was a cute dog that was biting the sprinkler water. He would chase it around and just bite it.


THIS, my friends, is a Colossal Squid. On exhibit in the Te Papa museum. It was caught near Antarctica by a New Zealand fishing team and is almost 14 feet long! I had been trying to talk manuel into going to see it with me for about a month and we FINALLY went :)

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!