For anyone who has forgotten where we are, we are in Wellington, NOT Christchurch. Thankfully. It is a sad sad day for NZ and most of us are glued to our TVs with breaking hearts for Christchurch. It was apparently felt by thousands in Wellington but neither Kyle nor I felt a thing. There are 75 confirmed dead and up to 300 "missing" or trapped.

It is a wake up call for New Zealanders and a reminder that this is truly a living and breathing country. I had a sleepless night of course thinking about the huge fault line that we are living on…yes, overactive imagination but also very aware that the one here would be 100 times more devastating than that of Christchurch.

Our prayers go out to those that have lost loved ones today :(

My legs are finally long enough for a bike!! 

Barefoot downtown Wellington, not all that uncommon

Old Parliament on the right, New Parliament on the left - "the beehive", and some important dude

Downtown day with Great Nana! 

4 Generations of Girls!

Hard at work - Ben, perhaps NZ is of interest after all? 

Classic NZ gumboots

Great music at our community festival/fair

Converted Hurricanes (Rugby) fan!! 11pm return and still pumped! 

Some differences I have noted with kiwi living:
-you hang your laundry out to dry (not a dryer in sight!)
-you drive on the left hand side of the road, on the opposite side of the vehicle of course - right of ways are all messed up so I just let everyone go all directions and then tentatively advance
-you pay $4.50 for a muffin in a cafe
-you say what is on your mind and then get on with it
-kids backpacks, appliances, tupperware, furniture, outdoor gear, etc etc, are shockingly expensive
-electricity costs are out of this world and homes aren't heated/insulated - joy!
-gasoline costs double here - thank goodness we walk mostly everywhere!

I am happy to report we have settled easily enough, Kyle has successfully completed his first week of real employment and is still alive! I shuttle the kids back and forth from school, playgroups and am studying my butt off right now - I am not sure I mentioned that I am sitting my PMP exam on March 5th….well, I am. 4-5 hours of studying a day is not the highlight of my life at the moment but there you go…it is what it is!

We are looking forward to taking Great Nana into Wellington this weekend. She is fairly immobile these days so we are renting a wheelchair to see the sights. Kyle is taking Grayson to the opening game of the Hurricanes tonight - professional rugby at its finest. Will keep y'all posted.

Hope you are all keeping warm in Canada!!

Some images from our surroundings these days!

Cable Car, view of Wellington

National Pastime...aside from Cricket and Rugby. 

Downtown

Sea Shepherd Activists about to set off to fight Japanese Whaling Ships

Ky's workplace in the background - ANZ building

Cuba Street - Colorful crowd

Beach just steps from our house

Couple getting their wedding pics done one evening

Wharf down the street from our house

Community Festival - they call them Sausage Sizzles here 

My little Pirate

What an amazing New Zealand weekend!!

We started by attending the International Rugby Sevens Parade on Friday.
The Sevens is a shortened game of Rugby where international teams compete all weekend for the cup but for some strange reason, ALL 55,000 spectators dress up in hilarious outfits - usually coordinated in large groups; a group of geishas, kenyan long distance runners, nuns, Christmas trees, etc etc etc!

It is a prerequisite to consume excess alcoholic beverages so you can imagine the city is entirely taken over by crazy and boisterous groups of kiwis. Next year Kyle and I are going to assemble a Canadian cast and dress up like Mounties (minus the excess alcohol) - tix to the games were all sold out this year :(
The game itself is fast paced and so exciting to watch. Canada got pummelled (boo) but NZ WON! (hooray!!). They played so well - Kyle and I are now super fans. Here is a link to some images from the press to view some of the costumes: http://www.nzisevens.co.nz/galleries/2011

Saturday, I hit the Martinborough Fair with my mom - it is in a wine growing region of NZ and from Wellington it is a 1.5 hour drive up switchback mountain pass with a 1000m cliff just a few inches from the car - my stomach loved it ;) The market itself was fab (and huge) and I loved checking out the amazing NZ creativity (and YES, I spent way too much money on a one-of-a-kind skirt).

Sunday was Waitangi Day in NZ - the day that NZ was founded by the signing of the treaty of Waitangi (1840). It is still very controversial as it was between the Maori and Pakeha (European settlers) and disputes land/land rights. As you can imagine, NZ has similar issues to the land claims of Native Americans in North America. Approx 25% of NZ population is Maori so the traditions/language/culture (or resurgence of them anyway) is very apparent. They are not to be messed with as they are all big dudes and covered in tattoos! We went to a concert where Maori performances (Haka, etc) were very cool. 

Finally, we thoroughly enjoyed a lovely visit to my Dad's sister who lives here in Wellington. They have a daughter with kids the same age as ours - yet more cousins and playmates for Adelyn and Grayson :) 

L

Just a few pictures of our retro/baroque pad as promised. I haven't been shooting a great deal these days -  much that we do involves sand and I can't bring myself to risk my gear. The wind here is ferocious these days thanks to La Nina - an ocean-atmospheric weather pattern that is wreaking havoc in the Pacific. Cyclones are prevalent as a result - we are waiting to see what this Category 5 will bring to Queensland, Australia tonight - not great news for them I am afraid :(

Long corridor or cricket pitch, whatever suits. 

Gmans room! 

Off they go together...

First day of Kindy!