As though we never left...

It's been just over a week of being back in California. We left early fall in New Zealand, to be in early Spring in the States. How lucky are we?

We are also very lucky to come back to the generosity and warmth of friends and neighbors, of beautiful weather, and nature all around.

With fondness, we look back at our experiences in New Zealand: the people we met, the beautiful landscapes we explored, the culture that is just a little different than our norm. We will take all the lessons learned, and hopefully use them in our next chapter of adventures yet to come.

Images above were taken today at Greyhound Rock Beach - the site of our wedding ceremony almost eight years ago now!

Lay Over

If you had to wait 7 hours at the Auckland airport for your next flight, this was not such a bad place to hang for a few hours.

Out of his generosity, Jeff Masson invited us to his home, on the beach just outside of Auckland. The day was warm (almost sub-tropical compared to what we had left in Dunedin), and the water was calm.

We enjoyed lively conversations, a delicious lunch, and the beach thanks to Jeff.

Well fed, and well rested, we hopped on the direct flight from Auckland, to San Francisco.

And our adventures continue, on the other side of the Pacific ocean.

St. Paddy's Day

Celebrated St. Patrick's Day (in honor of my mother-in-law since I have NO Irish-anything in me), with style in Dunedin...well, actually Port Chalmers, but very close to Dunedin. Many people in green, clanging pints of Guinness all around!

Almost...

Our time in the land of the penguins is coming to a close. It was meant to be a longer adventure, but we decided that we have had enough of this adventure, for a variety of reasons. And so, my friends, we will be going back to the so called 'land of opportunities'.

Until then, remember to enjoy each day to its fullest!

Oamaru weekend

It was our second time to Oamaru, this time with grandparents in tow. We wanted to show them the smallest penguins in the world: the little blue penguins. We achieved that quite easily since we had learned from our last visit where and how to spot these cute creatures. Though Oamaru may be known as a 'Penguin town', we managed to enjoy other things the city had to offer as well.

In the old days, Oamaru was a rather large, thriving New Zealand city. It boasts beautiful Victorian buildings, with local Oamaru stones used to build and decorate the town. There is a bit of an art scene here as well which was felt today a the Market fair in the old part of town.

Riverstone Kitchen

The kids enjoyed a 'wee' train ride at the Botanical garden, finding horse chestnuts under the large trees, and letting off their jitters at the playground. We also dined at quite a fine dining restaurant a few minutes outside of town called Riverstone Kitchen. All in all, a lovely visit to be remembered.

500th

Student studying under a tree by the Otago Museum

When I started this blog 499 posts ago, I did not really know where it was going.

I used to be a journal keeper. From the age of 13, I kept a journal that had details of my daily lives, so detailed that you might fall asleep reading it.

Now that life has gotten busier, this blog has become than a journal (although I do have a real journal that occasionally gets opened...but don't ask me when the last time it was that that happened).

It does feel odd to think that other people get to read about our mundane lives. Okay, maybe not so mundane.

I do hope that you have enjoyed the journey of this journal. It does bring me peace, and actually, joy, to share glimpses of our days with you all.