so the pictures here run the span of christmas time celebrations. the images all down the left are from andy's apartment where i spent all christmas day. his family came over for christmas lunch: we ate prawns, oysters, pork, ham and turkey with stuffing that i made (and manage to make taste quite good)! andy, oh so kindly, told his whole family it was a recipe passed down from generation to generation in my family - in reality i found it on epicurious.com the day before!
the two dogs below are andy's cute bichons named ferris and georgie - adorable. we took the dogs on a nice walk to three different parks in the area post feasting and pre dessert.
lara s, rav, david, simon and ajita joined later in the afternoon and thus ensued an evening of card games, vino and even some dancing - possibly by just me. also down towards the bottom is a pic of the molasses cookies lara s made for christmas - so delicious. and also the wind up monkey mum sent as part of my stocking and was an amusing hit throughout the evening.
the picture of lara and i at the very bottom is from lara s's paddington inn christmas party where the whole staff was dressed in holiday atire: elves, santa, mrs clause, and lara dressed as an angel! good fun evening.
the bloody mary's above were from boxing day afternoon, woke up and spent the day relaxing and watching test cricket, which is a five day match between australia and south africa. i now actually understand the sport thanks to wikipedia, so it was much more interesting to watch then my past attempts.
was a nice holiday period, though you all at home were certainly missed!!!
tomorrow is new years eve and lara and i will be going to simon's office in the city, which overlooks a place called darling harbour. some bbqing and beers, should be nice and relaxed with a balcony view of fireworks.
pictures to come...
lara f.
Our guide was a really funny Kiwi boy who spent the whole time making fun of the Aussies that were there and generally just answering in ways that were funny, yet unnerving. (Ex. Lara Fuller: So, just out of curiosity, how long have you been doing this? Kiwi Boy: *Checks watch* About twenty minutes. *Silence*)
Included in this outing was a warm muffin upon return, along with your choice of alcoholic beverage, both to be enjoyed with your fellow cavers in a real sketchy hot tub.
Afterwards I wondered how we were able to participate in this activity without some sort of licensing or training - it was no joke. Then my mom informed me that there is no such thing as liability insurance in New Zealand, and a lot of things got a lot clearer.
The town itself was creepy but we resisted the urge to flee straightaway because we had seen a brocheure about caving and had gotten kind of fixated with it. The next morning we drove up to check out the Pancake rocks (middle pic) this crazy national rock formation. It had been raining quite a bit and the water crashing about in the center of these formations sounded very close to thunder and left you feeling a bit awestruck. Also notable about this stop was we met THE ONLY RUDE PERSON IN NEW ZEALAND. He fixed Lara Fuller a tea, and a proper, yet unjustified, scolding to go with it.
After the Pancake Rocks we went on a little hour hike to some waterfalls. It was just meant to kill time before our caving adventure, but it ended up being a very beautiful trek through the rainforest and we were the only ones on it.
The next day we went to the New Zealand National Museum, which I thought was better than any of the museums in Sydney. We got ice cream and walked along the water. We wandered into a bar with a big beer garden. There was lots of little cubby tables and people were playing board games and enjoying the sun. We and bought a pack of cards with the idea of playing rummy and having a glass of wine... four bottles of wine, fifteen hands of cards, and one huge Deep and Meaningful later, we had a bit of a photo shoot (as we do).
Was so nice to see Doug, and so nice to be taken around to his favorite spots. Wellington is a cool city too. A bit Northamptonish, with a big focus on music and arts.
We hiked for only a few hours because we were on a tight time schedule. The trail was through a rainforest, with a leaf canopy overhead, and lots of tiny rickety wooden bridges and baby waterfalls. The dozen or so people we passed all have these big packs and canteens and boots, and we were skipping along in our hoodies and trainers clutching Diet Cokes. Best day ever.
LS.
It was really cool to see some of the places that produce some of the wines that have become our go-tos. Cloudy Bay and Dog Point, and a few we just learned about there too.
We finished up the day by having a cheese plate and a glass of wine at the High Field Estate vineyard, on a patio with a pretty sick view that overlooked the whole valley. You were encourages to borrow straw sun hats during lunch.... so cute.
We found a hostel, which turned out to be the most interesting one of our trip. It was "Far Side" comic themed. There were a horde of octogenarians occupying all the rooms around us. The only bar in town (located directly to floors below our room) played Fergie's "London Bridge" on repeat to two or three toothless fishermen. Truly bizarre.
The next day we walked down to a rock beach where we poked around and collected shells and annoyed the sunbathing seals by getting entirely too close. Fact: Seals smell terrible.
Schmitttttttt