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.

Nice day for a walk.

While we spent most of the weekend continuing to unpack boxes and move furniture around, we did get out for a short walk in the sunshine. This is what we can see when we walk across the street and down the hill about 5 minutes. Karaka Bay. The plant life here is amazing too.

French Fry Sandwich?

No joking....This is a "Chip Butty"

So while this apparently is not a delicacy born here in New Zealand, it apparently comes from the UK, but has been adopted.

White bread, butter, french fries or as they call them, "chips" and topped with tomato sauce(or ketchup)

These were served at the office on Friday and yes, I tried one.

Certainly nothing healthy there, but actually doesn't taste half bad.

Because you asked

It was quite a stormy day. Photo ops were few. But we intend to go back with better weather.

Moving in

This is exactly what you DON'T want to see, and unfortunately what our container looked like when we opened it.

The good news is that believe it or not we got lucky and nothing of great value was damaged. A few of the plastic flip top bins wee bent out of shape and probably trash now, but if that's all the damage we are thankful. We are still in the process of unpacking. Probably about another 20 or so boxes and I am guessing another 2-3 weeks before we feel entirely set up and done.

We will take some photos of the rooms as we complete them.

Right now it's more of a chinese fire drill where we move everything from room to room while we set up the next space.

We did get our last appliance - the Dryer. Bought it used off of Trademe It's in great shape and only 2 years old. We had to drive up the coast about an hour to pick it up. It was a fun drive and we got to see more of the area around us. (photo above)

The weather is still bouncing all over the place. We are getting wind and rain mixed in with some sunshine. They say spring is near but that only means more wind for a bit. October is supposed to the windiest here.

Cheers for now,

Stacy & Eric