happy new year ...
man, it's been a while since i've updated my rhubarb pages ... apologies. summer time in nz rocks and it's hard to justify sitting in front of the computer when the sun is shining. that being said, i've missed bloggin' and i'm ba-ack.
christmas and new year's were a blast this year. in nz, you get a ton of holiday from work - christmas day and boxing day (which is the day after christmas), and then you get new year's day and the 2nd of january (kiwis know you really need two days to recover from new year's eve). my coolest cousin jacquie was visiting from l.a. and got in quite the tour of new zealand. she started on the north island hitting poor knights (ranked by jacques cousteau as one of the top 10 dive spots in the world) and the coromandel, to the bay of islands and the tongariro crossing (the best one day walk in nz, and one of the best in the world). oh, and let's not forget about two of the cutest ponies jacquie has ever met - i swear they are somehow related to bon jovi. no joke. can you see the resemblance?
eventually she joined mark and me in wellington on christmas, and her younger brother henry arrived on boxing day. it was so good to catch up with family on the other side of the world. we did the welli thing for a few days before ferry-ing it across to picton and driving over to nelson. which was absolutely gorgeous. we stayed at the loveliest little cottage, with the kindest hosts (murray and karen) and a 'secret' garden to die for ... literally. every morning karen left a basket of breakfast goodies for us on the porch, including home-made (hot out of the oven muffins) and fresh eggs (not hot!) from her chickens. now that's the life.
jacquie and henry continued down south hiking franz josef, bungee-ing in the extreme sport capital of the world (from 134m high!) and hitting some of the most beautiful scenery i've ever seen (queenstown, wanaka, milford and everywhere in between). henry's off in australia now watching the men's semi-finals of the aussie open (nice!) and jacquie's back to the grind of a non-hobbit and kiwi(the people)-free l.a. hopefully i can coax them back out to this side of the world for my wedding ...
christmas and new year's were a blast this year. in nz, you get a ton of holiday from work - christmas day and boxing day (which is the day after christmas), and then you get new year's day and the 2nd of january (kiwis know you really need two days to recover from new year's eve). my coolest cousin jacquie was visiting from l.a. and got in quite the tour of new zealand. she started on the north island hitting poor knights (ranked by jacques cousteau as one of the top 10 dive spots in the world) and the coromandel, to the bay of islands and the tongariro crossing (the best one day walk in nz, and one of the best in the world). oh, and let's not forget about two of the cutest ponies jacquie has ever met - i swear they are somehow related to bon jovi. no joke. can you see the resemblance?
eventually she joined mark and me in wellington on christmas, and her younger brother henry arrived on boxing day. it was so good to catch up with family on the other side of the world. we did the welli thing for a few days before ferry-ing it across to picton and driving over to nelson. which was absolutely gorgeous. we stayed at the loveliest little cottage, with the kindest hosts (murray and karen) and a 'secret' garden to die for ... literally. every morning karen left a basket of breakfast goodies for us on the porch, including home-made (hot out of the oven muffins) and fresh eggs (not hot!) from her chickens. now that's the life.
jacquie and henry continued down south hiking franz josef, bungee-ing in the extreme sport capital of the world (from 134m high!) and hitting some of the most beautiful scenery i've ever seen (queenstown, wanaka, milford and everywhere in between). henry's off in australia now watching the men's semi-finals of the aussie open (nice!) and jacquie's back to the grind of a non-hobbit and kiwi(the people)-free l.a. hopefully i can coax them back out to this side of the world for my wedding ...
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