back to reality again! D'oh!

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that we are back safe and sound in Wellington after a very exciting and enjoyable trip to the absolutely jaw droppingly stunning South Island in full snowy winter glory. We did Doubtful Sound, Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Franz Josef Glacier and various other bits and bobs including a wildlife park where the residents almost joined us on the road trip!

I promise I will write some more this week about what we got up to but I have posted a couple of photos here to show you we are both still having fun.

We also haven't even had a chance to mention Steve and Shona's wedding, meeting Ghyll and Morven from back home, going to Steve's 40th and other general chat but I will get on it this week!!!

Steph

ski

Hi,

We've been busy since my school term ended - we drove up to meet Lorna, Iain, Clare, Barry and Kareena up in Ohakune to go skiing and we had a brilliant time.

I will write more later but for now have a look at the wee video of Katie skiing and some of our photos!

Next week Clare, Katie and I are off to Queenstown for another sightseeing road trip - hopefully I will get a rest when I get back to school ;o)

Steph

Sparkly Sparkler!

Hi all,

We thought you would like to see some pics of the engagement ring! Again, a bit of a whirlwind as we didn't plan to get it so soon, but just before my birthday we decided to have a 'browse' for rings at a Jeweller in Wellington called the Village Goldsmith and only went and bought one! We looked at lots and then sat down with the designer (who was the owner) and he takes your ideas to draw and then make it from scratch. We thought this would be quite a long process and were quite thankful as hadn't worked out how to pay for it but to our surprise it was ready within a few weeks. The best bit (or most worrying) is we don't actually own it! They do an option here that if you are leaving the country even for a weekend you can purchase tax free which as you can imagine was quite appealing as the tax back just about covers the cost of a holiday! So basically, we hand the ring back 2 days before going on a flight, they clean it and send it to the airport where you pick it back up before going through departures. All sounds quite straight forward and by that time we will have saved enough to pay for it!

Anyway, we wanted you to see the ring and hope you like it! I think its really beautiful, exactly as I had imagined when describing my ideas to the Jeweller.

I love it!
Bye xox

Flippin' heck

Flippin' heck!

It's July! And i am back on holiday - well off school at least so should give me a chance to get myself more sorted and should give Katie and I a chance to get some more photos from some fun times.

We bid a fond farewell to Vicki, Adrienne and Kirsty this week - Vicki and Adrienne put us up in Melbourne and we returned the favour here in Welly. We cannot believe that it was back in November that we stayed with them in Oz - where does the time go?

Staying with people you know makes life so much easier - you can get a proper wash and get your clothes cleaned and dried. Not sure our house was much warmer than their camper van but at least they had cooking facilities. (And Adrienne is a fantastic chef) We hadn't met Kirsty before but we now love her as she pretty much completed the Wasgij for us. For those who don;t know a wasgij is a jigsaw where you don't have the final picture on the front of the box you just have a clue. Wasgij is jigsaw backwards but it's not really a backwards jigsaw if you know what I mean and it's pronounced Wasjig but spelt Wasgij. Crazy. Here was the result though for posterity:



They stayed with us here in Welly on route to the rest of the North island. Was great to see some familiar faces and it was also great to have an excuse for midweek drinking and going out to the pub! Good luck to the girls for the rest of their trip - we're so jealous now that we are stuck in one place again but the good thing is we know we will be moving around again really soon.

Katie and I are planning on going skiiing with Iain, Lorna, Barry O, his girlfriend Kaz (who is also working in NZ just now) and Clare Young from home. We are also planning a trip down to Queenstown and Milford Sound etc in the South island so all in all a busy old time as usual.

Questions on my mind this week:

1) Is anyone reading this blog anymore?
2) How much can I cram into 3 weeks off when I don't have a car?

Hope everyone back home is doing well, I will definitely be scheduling some get in touch time this week now that I am off during the day. So expect a phone call some night this week - I will be trying to get round as many people as possible!!!!!

Thanks to my Dad who sent me through a new Rangers top as requested - thanks Dad.

All the best everyone,

Steph