Return to NZed!!

Er, a few months late, but wanted to share some piccies from our Easter trip back to New Zealand!  It had been about five years since we had been back and four years since we had seen Dad Laidlaw and Mary-Ann, so we were so thrilled when the Internal Revenue Service gave us an unexpectedly large return!  We promptly made plans to leave the country and stimulate the New Zealand economy. 

 

Here is a cute little guy we found hanging around the cemetery one day when we went for a walk. 

 

 

 

And here is another cute guy hanging around his dad’s place.  It is so incredibly relaxing to stay with Ian’s dad and Mary-Ann.  The garden is gorgeous with a beautiful view of the mountains.  Mary-Ann always has some sort of delicious homemade bread or cake on hand and the porch is a perfect spot to read a book with a cup of tea and forget all about the fast pace of life back in New York.  We also really lucked out one day when we went for a little wander.  Just down the street from Ruary and Mary-Ann’s place is a horse showground.  We managed to sneak in and watch one of the jumping events.  Very cool!

We went down to wine country to visit our good buddy, Sean, from Okinawa days and meet his lovely girlfriend, Claire. We left early on Easter morning so we could meet them by the afternoon, and soon had a few of those little slightly horrifying realizations.  1:  There is barely any petrol in the car.  2:  We have no idea where the nearest petrol station is.  3: All we keep seeing is fields and fields full of sheep and nothing looks even close to a town.  4:  I don’t think we’ve even seen a sign for a town in ages… 5: Should we happen to find a town or a petrol station, it is Easter morning in rural NZ, so the chances of it being open may be slim to none.  6:  I don’t even see any houses on this road…what if we run out?  7:  This is really the sticks.  Not only are there no houses, we can’t get any cell phone reception, either.  8:  I don’t like the way that sheep keeps staring at us…  Sooooo, despite the fact that Ian kept saying everything would be just peachy, I think we were both pretty relieved when we managed to roll into a town with a petrol station just as the car was about to run out.  I also had to go to the toilet pretty bad by then, so I was doubly relieved.

Once in Hawkes Bay, we had a great reunion with Sean and Claire and got to relive the good old days through our various stories and the boys hassling each other.  We decided to do something that I have to say is not really something that was on my Bucket List:  go clay shooting.  It was actually really fun and an experience!  Ian actually turned out to be really good and I managed to get one by accident, so it was all pretty ironic that we left the land of guns never having touched one to go shoot some in New Zealand.  Afterwards we went to a fabulous winery for lunch.  Mmmm…

  Ian and I did the Tongariro Crossing aka The Mt. Doom Trail on our way back.  Last time we were in NZ we threw ourselves into a 4 day backpacking adventure without any real preparation or idea what we were doing and nearly crippled ourselves, so we thought this one 9 hour hike would be a cinch in comparison.  I blame the fact that I turned 30 this year for the reason that the hike pretty much kicked my butt and that there were senior citizens passing me on the mountain while I “stopped to take in the view”.  Sad, but true.  Just to prove I did make it, here’s a pic of us at the top.

  It was a beautiful trail; very different to any we have done before.  It started out in grasslands, went up volcanic rock, through an amazing red crater, past aquamarine sulfur lakes, through the crater of despair (Frodo, don’t wear the ring!), through a hot springs area on the other side which overlooked a lush valley, and then back down through a forest to the beautiful parking lot.

 

 

 

 

What else… 

Oh, you want more pretty pictures of New Zealand?  Ok.  The one above is from a walk we did with Ruary and Mary-Ann at this really cool enclosed park that has lots of native birds and freaky-deaky Weta.  This other one is sunset on Lake Taupo.

Ian’s birthday was the same week that we went to NZ, so Lianne, Dirk, and I planned a surprise birthday party for him!  Lots of friends came from near and far to shower him with New Zealand sweets.  Good times!  It was so great to see so many of  you there, you mean so much to us even though we don’t get to see you often!  Ian was so excited –-----> Look!

 

 

 

 

So, Ian, how does it feel to be back in New Zealand?

One last family photo!  Cheese!