We will see everyone soon! Our last post because we fly out tomorrow!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Last Saturday Blaine and I decided to join a group of resident doctors that I work at the hospital with to go on a hike in Arthur's Pass. I read up about the hike, Avalanche Peak, and discovered the night before embarking that it would include a 1000 meter climb (to me this classifies it as a mountain climb not a "hike") but the book labelled it as 'moderate' so we decided to go ahead.

note: 1000 meters=3,300 feet

Well, lets just say that our group left us within 15 minutes of starting the hike. Blaine and I spent the next hour discussing what could be making it extra hard for us: is it the altitude? did we not eat the right breakfast? maybe we need new insoles for our boots? if we only had a walking stick...

Finally we came to the inevitable answer: we are out of shape for this type climb.

Both of us wondered at different points if we were going to make it. But persevere we did.

I think what did it for Blaine was seeing a 70 year old man on his way down, telling us it wasn't much farther.

I will say it was worth it, once we got above the tree line you could see forever...waterfalls, the valley and river below, snow-capped peaks 360 degrees around us and even a glacier tucked in behind. At the top we encountered Keas (one of the few recorded alpine parrots, known for their curiousity and intellect to survive the harsh climate--only found on the S.Island of NZ). They proved their reputation by stealing a banana out of one of the hiker's backpacks and flying away with it in their beak.

To give you a hint as to how long the 'climb' was...it took us a little over 4 hours to get up and 3 hours to get down. When we got home, Jonny asked us if we would go back and do the hike another time with him at some point and Blaine and I answered simultaneously "NO".

We come home in 8 days!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is anyone excited???!!!!!

I know we are.

Petra and Tim's wedding

I flew up alone to attend the beautiful wedding of Petra and Tim, two dear friends of ours in Christchurch. Several of us CCU girls stayed together and got to see some of Gisbourne, where Tim's parents live on the North Island. The weather was warm and we got to go to the beach...I swam in the ocean for the first time since we've lived in NZ (without a wetsuit on). We had a girls dinner Friday night at Fettuccine Brothers; then on Saturday got to help Petra get ready and dressed--she looked stunningl! The wedding was at the EcoLodge, a gorgeous Bed and Breakfast surrounded by hills, overlooking a lake and pastures. The ceremony was held underneath a canopy of trees by the lake. At the end we all released the white balloons that were tied to our chairs and toasted the new couple! They are now on their way to Germany (where Petra is from) to have their church wedding with all of her family! Then a honeymoon in Mexico!

Congratulations Tim and Petra!

The Lake Sumner Weekend

Across the river from our campsite

A few rocks

My blue truck and getting ready to scare some trout

Lake Taylor

Lake Sumner with a couple of hills as a backdrop

So the weekend went pretty well apart from some sandflies and a bit of sunburn....and no trout, at least on my hook. Unfortunately, we weren't able to drive all the way up to the campsite, but the walk wasn't too bad. At one point though, we had to use Jonny as a scout (why he likes to run so much I will never know); he ran ahead to see how much further the hut was - way too much energy. We didn't end up staying at the hut; instead, we camped beside the river, which was nice. We do plan on going back; next time I might have a better plan for fishing. The pictures really speak for themselves.

Auckland
Where our journey began...

The Sky Tower...and a man jumping off (from a freefall platform at the top), no Dad I didn't do it.

Some interesting teenagers that wanted to charge us for a photo of their mowhawks, uh no.

Matt still smiling at his halfway mark of the marathon!

The Celebration at the finish line...he completed in his goal time--4 minutes under 4 hours!

Our next to last or second (should I say) stop was Rotorura. It reminds me of Yellowstone National Park and the Old Faithful area, with the smell of rotten eggs preceding the city limit sign. Nonetheless, it is a very unique place with steaming, bubbling mud pits wherever you turn. We went on a "cultural tour" that included a bus ride and bus driver that we will never forget...he could speak greetings in over 30 languages (from years of talking to tourists and imitating). We went to a Maori village and were entertained with song/dance then had a hangi--a dinner that is cooked in a pit, yum. It was a really fun night, very touristy. Our drive toward Rotorura was along the Coromandel Peninsuala, gorgeous coastline, the pictures speak for themselves.

The day before Napier we spent adventuring. We woke up first thing in the morning and went to the Zorbing spot (see here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorb) for a roll down a hill in a big plastic ball with water in it...a bit hard to explain. But nonetheless an absolute blast!
We then made the drive to Lake Taupo, stopping at Huka Falls to do a walk. We had lunch in Lake Taupo but then drove around to the other side of the lake to do a hike with a gorgeous overlook of the lake, past a waterfall, all sorts of birds and native forest. We stopped on a "beach" and relaxed afterwards, soaking in the warm weather. Then made the short drive to Napier!

Before heading to Windy Wellington, we landed in Napier (aka home to Jonny, Megs and Sammy Clark). We got treated to dinner by Mr. and Mrs. Clark at an Indian restaurant...and had homemade kiwi muffins back at their casa. Lovely to meet the lineage of our best friends in New Zealand! We toured Napier (the city was built in Art Deco fashion, so quite unique) on bicycles and afterwards went for a wine tasting and lunch at Mission Estate Winery, one of the oldest wineries in NZ. We felt like movie stars eating under white umbrellas on the manicured lawn with grapevines hanging overhead. We then drove up to Tamata Peak of a 360 degree overlook to see mountains, rivers, ocean and city. The North Island has a warmer climate than the South, so orchards of avocadoes, apples, asparagus,berries, etc abound.

Continuing on...Our Wednesday/Thursday were spent in Wellington (the windy city...and boy was it windy). Matt has been to Chicago several times and said it was a lot windier than Chicago. But we had fun anyway. We were exhausted when we got to the hostel Wed. night but our roomates from Canada, Holland, and Germany all insisted that we go to the Halloween Party that was downstairs. They ripped a sheet off the bunk bed and wrapped it around me as a toga, then they "found" some toilet paper and wrapped 5 rolls around Matt to make him into a mummy! We had a fun time. The next morning we woke up and hiked up Mt. Victoria to an awesome look-out over the city, then walked down to Oriental Beach and had to head to the airport to fly back to Christchurch. We grabbed breakfast at Mama's Cafe near our hostel...interesting place, the waitstaff were wearing wrestling masks (like off Nacho Libre)...the food was delicious!

Until tomorrow!

Going backwards...Saturday I had to work so Matt and Blaine went for a hike out on Castle Rock and then we went out with a group of our friends to Santorini's, a Greek restaurant that gets you up and dances you through the kitchen! Also had a fun night out at Lichfield Lanes (sorry no pics from then). On Friday, Matt met me after I finished work and we went for a walk through the botanical gardens (where the swinging pic was taken). I had mapped Matt out a course through central city, so he took lots of artsy photos with our camera while I was at work. Check back tomorrow, as the story continues...

MY COUSIN MATT!!!
I think I will start backwards and show some of our best photos from the last 1 1/2 week of tripping around with Matt. These photos are from yesterday! We drove 1 hour to Akaroa and rented mopeds and explored the area around all the bays. It was such a blast! Blaine's moped was the slowest...we couldn't decide whether his moped was just slower or he was fatter! Matt scared me a few times...he is accident-prone and had a few close calls with a road sign and some gravel. But thank God he was safe! More photos to come!!! Don't miss out!!

Weekend Extravaganza

Blaine was sick all week but luckily better by the weekend. Megs made us reservations for the American diner downtown that serves "real" breakfast. It was delicious--hashbrowns (not as good as waffle house or CrackerBarrell), eggs, pancakes, waffles, streaky bacon, american filtered coffee, etc. They even served Heinz ketchup! Blaine has been wanting me to learn to cut his hair so he doesn't have to go to the barbershop anymore, so Jonny graciously volunteered to be my 1st victim and he was pleased with the results! Yay! Blaine bought us a 4x4 Toyota 4 runner (that is purple but he is convinced it is blue) so we took it off-roading in the Port Hills. Gorgeous views of the mtns and ocean (which are never far apart in this country).

Blaine posing next to the word 'American'

Our breakfast shmorgasborg

trout in the Avon River (this one is for my dad)

My first haircut victim/guinea pig

Going off roading in the new truck (notice Jonny's new 'do')

Petra's Bridal Shower!!!
It has been awhile since we last posted! Which is because we've been so busy (doing fun and not so fun things). This past weekend falls into the fun category for me (Kate) but not for Blaine (b/c Blaine was sick with stomach flu). I have been planning for over a month now to have Petra's (my best friend here who's from Germany) bridal shower at our house. This Saturday was the day and it turned out great! I had fun making my fruit tray and arranging flowers (how Betty Crocker/Martha Stewart am I!). I will have to slip in a comment that everyone thought that the flowers were professionaly done! Everyone else brought a dish of food so no one had to do it all! We fit around 25 people into our 'not so big house' but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun! Afterwards I arranged for a limo to come pick us up and take us to town for a night of dancing in honor of Petra's bacholorette night! We went to this 70s disco club where the floor puts on a light show. Even more fun!
Petra had never been to a bridal shower or been in a limo, so it was a night of firsts! She got some beautiful gifts and well-wishes! Success! So can I officially say now that I am a grown-up b/c I have thrown my first party without my mom's help?

Stony Bay

Just a few shots from our anniversary trip to Akaroa. We had great weather on Saturday at the French Fest but by Sunday the southernly winds had blown in bringing clouds and cold weather (NZ weather is absolutely unpredictable). All of these photos were taken on our drive on Sunday to Stony Bay. When we leave NZ I think we should count all the photos that have sheep in them, has to be dozens!

Fun Spring Day in the Botanical Gardens


I don't even know how to describe this picture...I was doing weird poses for the camera and Jonny decided to jump over me...what more can I say?


We took a million pictures, trying to capture these hummingbird-type creatures, only a few turned out focused


This picture was Megs idea...turned out sort of "artsy"


My plan for the day was to go "frolick" in the daffodils...the park has huge fields of them for the first few weeks of spring, it is one of the most beautiful things (these had gotten a little trampled but not by us)

Not much news from over this side of the world. Blaine left me on our 3rd anniversary and went out of town for work (not by choice I must say!). But we are celebrating this weekend in Akaroa (pictures are sure to follow).
I have decided to take a research job part time and only work part time in CCU so that starts in a few weeks.
Our dear friend Paige in NYC will celebrate her 26th birthday this next week. Go Paige!
My cousin, Matt, is running in a marathon in a few weeks in Auckland, so I will fly up to watch him and bring him to the South Island to stay with us for awhile. Go Matt!
Jonny made it home from his 2 month vacation in Europe. Go Jonny! (Us Kiwis don't like to work much, we'd rather holiday)
Hope everyone at home is doing well!!!