14 years and still going!! - part I

Fourteen years....where does the time go? In 2006 Eric and I celebrated Valentines Day in New Zealand. Specifically visiting Hobbiton and Rotorua. We had no idea then that we would be back in 2010 to celebrate our anniversary. So what did we do? We packed up the car and went exploring more of this amazing country.

Saturday morning we packed up the car (food and cameras) and headed North. Our first stop was a sculpture garden called Efil Doog. (Good Life spelled backwards) It was a beautiful garden with a variety of great sculptures scattered throughout. The Rhododendrons were in bloom, reminding us very much of Seattle. We spent a couple of hours roaming around and photographing and then took out our packed lunches.

From there we continued on toward Martinborough and Featherston. We decided to take a road on a map that said it went to Glendhu Rocks...We drove and drove and drove -to the end of the road -literally. I do not know where we were other than the road on the map but we never really arrived anywhere. It was just beautiful countryside with lots of farms and sheep and cows along the way. There was a dead rabbit in the road that had a great raptor(falcon-like bird) perched upon it eating away. We tried to stop and photograph it, but it just flew away each time we approached. (need a longer lens!)

We eventually drove back to Featherston and had a nice dinner at the Royal Hotel Restaurant and stayed at Benvenuto -a nice little B&B.

It was a great day!

14 years and still going! - part II

...the second day we got back in the car and headed for Stonehenge-Aotearoa.

"Although similar in size and appearance to the original Stonehenge in England, this is not a replica. It is a complete and working structure designed and built for it's precise location in the southern hemisphere." It was quite interesting and according to this our zodiac signs are not what we thought they were. the sun has moved over thousand of years and based on this I am not a Cancer but a Gemini and Eric is not a Capricorn, but a Sagittarius. Huh? Who knew.

But I am keeping my birthstone Darnit!!!! I like rubies - not to fond of pearls.

From there we drove down to Cape Palliser. It was a beautiful drive with great weather.

(on a partial dirt road). The end of the road is the light house along with a seal colony. We did see a few seals, but most of them were out in the water and not sleeping on the beaches.

On our way back we stopped at the Putangirua Pinnacles. We hiked about 40 minutes up to see these amazing 1000 year old rock pillars. These rock formations also served as one of the locations for LotR -Return of the King.

Our timing was perfect we got the most amazing sunset as we drove back towards home.

It was a great Anniversary, and we can't wait to do another road trip again soon.

Thank you to everyone who wished us a Happy Anniversary.

Love to all

Stacy & Eric

Hobbit Stays in New Zealand!

We fought for it and won.....

What a roller coaster ride it has been. Last Monday there were rallies held all over New Zealand supporting Peter Jackson, Weta, and everyone whose livelihood was on the line if the Hobbit filming moved elsewhere. Eric and I joined many of our Weta friends in the Rally.

The Rally was Monday and by Wednesday evening it had been announced that the Hobbit films would stay in New Zealand... And there was much rejoicing!

Now Eric can start to look for work on the film in some capacity. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Filming will start in February 2011.

I have been meaning to get back to the blogging, but have finally hit the point where I could no longer stand living out of boxes. Five month of living with boxes, piles and suitcases is too long. I had to focus my spare time on finishing the move.

And now it is completed!

The last few weekends have flown by. And what have we done?I made a large pot of spaghetti sauce. And learned that not only do these people call "ketchup" "tomato sauce", but that "tomato sauce" when bought in cans is actually "ketchup". Needless to say the spaghetti sauce came out very sweet. I added a LOT of garlic and other seasonings to try to help and it did. Next time we will be buying "tomato puree".

We have enjoyed some nice sunny days walking the neighborhood and sitting out on our deck. And we have made a very nice home for ourselves in our rented flat in Miramar. Spring is here and we are really looking forward to enjoying our weekends exploring the parts of NZ we have not yet seen as well as returning to some of the places we really liked.We are also crossing our fingers that Eric will hopefully find employment on the Hobbit if it finally goes into production here in New Zealand.