New Zealand

You guy’s must be thinking by now, when are Rachel and Jamie actually leaving, everything seems to be still in NZ. Well when Rachel got back from her trip of the South Island we still had one more thing to do before finally leaving God’s own. Going to the Red Hot Chilly Peppers concert at the new vector area in AK.

And that’s all I thought we’d be doing, going to a concert and then crashing on someone’s couch in town. We’ll let me tell you Rachel had other ideas (no doubt trying to pay me back for all the surprises I sprung on her at the wedding). She’d booked us into the Langdon Hotel and not just a standard room we were in the club executive suite on the 9th floor just below the club lounge (which we had full access to). So after arriving early Sunday afternoon and checking in we received our complimentary bottle of champagne, went for a swim, spa and sauna before going up to the club lounge and eating canapés and drinking whatever we wanted to our hearts content.

We eventually dragged ourselves away and headed down the road to the concert. Pretty good really, I (if not rach) new most every song and had a great time singing along in the mad press of people. Here’s the bad news about 3/4 of the way through rach said she needed some air so I pulled her to the side of the mosh where she decided it would be a good place to collapse (faint), anyway it was as good a place as any as it was right next to the paramedics who took her to the side, sat her down and gave her some water.

Nothing to be concerned about we enjoyed the rest of the concert form the back of the arena (Rach says it was brought on by the heat and try to get over the flu that Emma gave her). Had a great night sleep in our extra king size bed and an awesome continental breakfast the next day.

Anyway this will most likely be the last post before we head off and no doubt the last post of us gloating about how great the accommodation was (I’ve packed a mini cricket bat to fend of the dog sized cockroaches in Bangkok).

Only good times to come

Jamie

Before I leave the country I thought I better remind myself what I’m leaving and going to miss. The trip was also to see my family and say good before Jamie and I head to Edinburgh and to play tour guide to Emma who had only been as far south as Franz Joseph.

Anyway 1st stop was Fox Glacier for a 4 hour guided tour of the glacier, sounds like fun… yes…! Think again! As you may be able to see from the photos the weather was not good. We walked to the glacier in sideways rain, fog and hail... crazy! Once we got there the rain and wind had not let up nevertheless we still walked on the glacier and saw some amazing beautiful sights.

That afternoon we drove our trusting 85’ Honda Accord (it’s got 460,000 km on the clock, no kidding!) to Wanaka to find a bed for the night. Lets just say this was quite a hard ask, as all 8 backparkers and campgrounds we called were full… oops probably should have booked somewhere earlier. Anyway it all worked out as we ended up sleeping at my granddads crib (batch) after tracking down a key from the neighbour.

Puzzling world Wanaka.

Next stop was Cromwell to say bye to my sister Kirsten and niece, Sophie. We had a few lazy days in Cromwell while Emma was fighting a bad cold. At this stage I’d realised how cold it can get in Central Otago wishing I’d packed an extra thermal and hat instead of my bikini and boardies.

On Saturday we headed to Te Anau via Queenstown. Queenstown what can I say – beautiful scenery, lots of tourists, yummy ice cream, the best fudge shop, a cool market and an information centre on every corner.

Te Anau was really fun and abit warmer then Central. The 1st day we were in Te Anau we drove to Manapouri and hired a row boat to get across the mouth of the river to the start of the circle track. If you are sharp you may notice something wrong with our rowing style………!

Yes thats right we rowed the boat most of the way backwards, SHAME! It was fun anyway. The circle track was a 3 ½ hour loop track. At the top the views were stunning.

At the top of the walk we made a little friend. This South Island robin (I think or that’s what Emma tells me) came within inches of us and the camera it was very cool!

That afternoon we took a boat ride to the glow worm caves. The cave was awesome and the glow worms beautiful but sorry no photos allowed in the caves so you’ll have to go see them yourself.

The next day, Monday, we drove to Dunedin. Saw the folks and relaxed in Mum and Kens warm house. We did go and visit the Albatrosses and their fat chicks but didn’t manage to get close enough to get a good shot.

The steepest street in the World - Baldwin Street, Dunedin.

Here’s a photo of my little sis pretending to be a grandma with my glasses on because apparently only old people wear glasses.

Thursday we headed to CHCH. We stopped at Shag Point, and the Moeraki Boulders.

Seals sunning themselves on the rocks at Shag Point. Shag Point is just off SH 1 about 60 km north of Dunedin and only 5 mins up the road from Palmy.

Emma and I having fun at Moeraki.

We stayed with Diz and Tim in CHCH, Thanks guys! I caught up with my little bro, Daniel, in CHCH and got a shock! His once light browny/ strawberry blonde hair had been dyed black and cut into a Mohawk by a ‘friend’ in his hostel.

Well it all started with Jamie’s dad winning a golf tournament (and he never wins). The prize was free flights to Queenstown. Unfortunately (but fortunately for us) Jamie’s parents couldn’t use the flights so they gave them to us and we took an impromptu trip to Queenstown and Wanaka in June 2006.

On our last day in Wanaka I put the clocks forward and got Jamie up super early “for the bus”, instead we walked down to the lake and watch the sun rise. After freezing outside for an hour (and me trying to build up my courage) I finial popped the question as the sun rose over the peaks. Thankfully Jamie said yes and we could go back inside and warm our frozen toes. He was also happy to be inside once he realised instead of an engagement ring ‘for him’ I had brought him a top of the line power tool he has also wanted. He was stoked!!!

We begin planning our Palmerston North (PN) wedding from Auckland (AK). We chose PN because Jamie and I both spent four years at Massey Uni study for degrees in Engineering. We meeting on Campus in O-week in first year and lived together in fourth year. Also Jamie grow up in nearby Feilding.

During the planning months I had spread sheets set up for everything - lets just say I got alittle obsessed with it all. I just wanted to get it right! Jamie was also really enjoyed the planning. He there with me for every decision - except for the dress.

It was a long road finding my prefect dress. I think I visited most of the dress shops in Auckland. Then I found the dress of my dreams but it was $3000 (double my budget, oh no!). So I set out tyring to find a similar one for half the price. I found one similar in the Essence range in Alma J Bridal. Alma said she could make the dress I wanted without doubling my budget, Yay!

My Bridesmaids were my sister Kirsten and best friend Emma. The groomsmen were Johnson and Jamie's cousin Mark.

The flowers were amazing. Jamie’s aunty, Anne, did all the flowers. My bouquet was prefect. The Metallina Roses proved quite difficult to source as there are limited growers in New Zealand; it also didn’t help that our weddings was only 4 day before Valentines. But Aunt Anne pulled in a few flavours for us and ended up with enough roses for the girls bouquets and all the centre pieces at the reception.

Anne also decorated the ceremony with white rose petals down the aisle and posies tied to the chairs with ribbons. The ceremony was located on Massey University campus, PN. The spot we chose was a beautiful clearing in amongst some big old trees where Jamie and I used to come and have picnics and chill out during Uni. The garden is only assessable by foot through a short bush walk which made it a wonderful experience for the guests and very private for the ceremony.

Mum and I arrived in style. We rode in a dark blue BMW dressed with off-white bridal ribbons. My Mum walked me down the aisle to the Brook Fraser song - Arithmetic. My mum looked stunning in a red jacket and skirt she brought from Kooky.

I was an hour late to the ceremony, oops! I’d planned to arrive about 20 minutes after the time stated on the invites to allow late comes to arrive as the ceremony location was in a somewhat unusual spot. Just before leaving the house, where we were getting ready, Kirsten and Emma were packing my ‘first nights’ gear into my car. We were on time and ready to go when Kirsten, thinking we were all done, closed the door to the house locking it with Emma’s bouquet still inside. My friends, the owners of the house, were already at the ceremony location about 10 - 15 mins away. They had to drive back and unlock the door so we could rescue the bouquet and head off, now 30mins behind schedule.

That was the minor drama of the day! The major drama of the day was the photographer not turning up! He forgot our wedding despite Jamie and I having several meetings with him including a site walk over! He had leant his camera equipment out to someone the week before. Lots of stress and phone calls later we found out he was sending his friends to do the photography, arrrrrh! I was very anxious up until the point when I meet Susan Su at 12’oclock on the day of the wedding, 3 hours after Adam was meant to show up. Susan was really great and did an excellent job.

The ceremony was surreal. Jamie’s youngest sister, Ash, had even the hardiest of our guest welling up as she struggled to hold it together through a poem she read for us. We wrote our own vows which made the day extra special and personal for us.

After the ceremony we had afternoon tea on the grounds and mingled with the guests before heading off to take photos.

The reception was held at the Bathhouse where we were entertained by Jamie’s Dad, Murray, our MC and David Greer, our Soloist. Jamie and I wowed our guests with a choreographed first dance to Drops of Jupiter by Train and then the party began. Much to everyone’s entertainment we did the traditional bouquet and garter toss with my drunken 19 year old brother diving to catch my garter.

We departed from the bathhouse at around 11.30pm leaving our friends to drink the rest of the bar tab. Jamie had arranged our first night accommodation which turned out to be two wonderful nights at the Hiwinui Country Estate, Ashhurst.

We're just two New Zealand kid's who met, fell in love and got married.
We're off on our big OE April 2007

This is us walking back up the isle, (how do you spell isle, asile ???)