a wee little update

Hello hello to all of my readers. I'm pretty sure that there are only about 5 of you that actually keep up with this and I'm writing just for you! There have been some new developments in my life like the fact that I moved, I met a celebrity, got a real makeup job, and went to a costume party!

So first thing. I moved! I believe that I mentioned that four American kids including Scott, Nicole's brother, moved here in February. Well Tim and Scott weren't really feeling like Wellington was there place right now so they went on home a couple of weeks ago and are doing great. But that left a room available in the kid's house...one of the room's has been rented by a cute local girl called Natalie. It kinda worked out for everyone since Nicole and Manuel actually get their house back, Scott didn't have to pay rent on two hemispheres and I don't have a ridiculous hill to climb up...the view just doesn't justify being that far away from everything as far as I'm concerned. Now I live right off of a frequently used road which means more buses come by and the bus stop is less than a block away. Golden!! I'll post pictures of my room soon and of Jackie, Shawn and Natalie.

Secondly. I met celebrity Jemaine Clement (the guy with the glasses) of the Flight of the Concords! This may or may not actually mean anything to you. But it was really cool. Flight of the Concords is a New Zealand comedic folk singing duo that had/have (waiting on season 3) a show on HBO. So I met him and had an actual conversation with him...he's pretty cool. We talked about the Double Rainbow video that has become a youtube sensation and sparked several remixes. So yeah. Also, I may have been the closest that I ever have been to Brad Pitt. He was rumored to be seen in Miramar which is only just down the road. Still hasn't been confirmed if he was or not but it made the newspapers.

A couple of weeks ago, I met a lady named Claire and she needed her makeup done for a photoshoot for her music so we worked together on that and now we've become buddies! I'm also working on a online portfolio so when that is ready to launch I'll be sure to post the link! I really want to pursue a freelance career and become more than a sales person at a makeup counter!

The costume party was 'G' themed so you had to go as something starting with the letter G. I went as Goldilocks and Wendy made me an entire dress in a day! It was incredible!!! I will post pictures soon!

I think that's about all the blogging I can do tonight. Have a touch of the flu and I'm not feeling the best but I haven't updated in a while!

Tramp tramping tramped

Tramping is what the Kiwis refer to as hiking and it's a big thing to do around these here parts. So, back in February, Manuel sorted out this big walk for us around the Abel Tasman in four days on the South Island. Now, I would love to be able to say that this was a life changing trip and it felt so amazing to be out surrounded by nothing except the breathtaking scenery that God has created, that being away from all technology and visiting this beautiful place has made me want to embrace a more simple way of life....but I can't. At least not with a straight face. Poor Manuel had to put up with my complaining, and he probably has no idea of how much was not actually said out loud. I'm just glad he's still my friend and lets me live in his house...although, that's probably only because I pay him.

Manuel and his carry on baggage...just making sure that it will fit.

Nicole and Manuel about to get on the plane to head to the South Island.

This was baggage claim...not even kidding.
Packing our last minute things in front of the grocery store.
Nicole and I on the shuttle bus that takes you to the start of the track.
This burger stand in the middle of nowhere came highly recommended from the lady who drove the bus and let me tell you...they were fanfreakintastic.
Of course Edward came on this adventure, but don't worry, we didn't see that many people so it was ok for him to be out in the sun showing off his sparkley self.
This was the very beginning of the Abel Tasman. And yes, Manuel was a bit faster than us so he was ahead quite a bit.
And I was usually bringing up the rear.
Look! Nature!!!
Better pick it up, Nic, we're only two hours in.
We took a break, Manuel kept walking. We all would just meet up at the huts later...yes, I said huts.
Pretty water that was too cold for me to really enjoy even though it was hot. This trail was pretty neat because you walk along the beaches and the woods/jungle/set of LOST. But there were just so many hills...like big ones.
We had some cooking issues. Other campers were incredibly concerned since there was like a brush fire warning or something.
This was the view from one of the huts, the hut itself was not spectacular enough to warrant a photo.
Nicole all packed up and ready for the day to begin.
So there were specific times when you had to cross certain points otherwise they would be completely under water when the tide comes in. Hope no one needs those boats in an emergency situation.
yay for a photo using the self timer...wonder why I wasn't looking at the camera at all.
That's me on the bridge. I was expecting this to be some super terrifying swinging bridge and I was so looking forward to it but it wasn't scary at all and didn't move even when you jumped. Apparently they have a 'safety first' motto in the A.T.
Nicole fell down...like actually fell down. I almost peed on myself with laughter.

A bedroom in one of the huts that we got to share these massive bunkbeds with about 15 other people.
The highest quality bathroom with freezing cold running water!
Clearly, there wasn't a lot to do except entertain ourselves. We did learn a really cool dice game from this older couple who were doing the walk as well.

While Nicole was making blue hair with a pillow, I was busy making an animal friends out of the wax that her little cheese wheels were wrapped in. We left them on the window sill when we left, I kinda wonder what eventually happened to them.
Um. Excuse me. I was told that there would be a foot path. So this clearly doesn't look that hard to cross but it was sooo muddy and when you have that huge pack on your back, you don't have the greatest balance. I felt like I was on the high wire in the circus!
We sent Edward up this tree so that he could tell us how long we had to walk until we were at the next hut but something wonderful and amazing caught his eye...
...in the middle of nowhere, absolutely nowhere...
...A hotel appeared complete with a cafe, I'm not gonna lie, I was completely convinced that this was a mirage...
...but it wasn't and this, this was when I realized that Jesus really does love the little children of the world...
I'm pretty sure that I used all the cash that I had on me to buy this very expensive cake and coke...so worth every penny. I don't know if Nicole ever told Manuel about this little side trip to Heaven of ours.
So thanks to Edward, we arrived at this hut just a little happier as you can see from Nic's face.
Remember that whole tide time table I mentioned earlier, this was us cutting it close as the tide was coming in. If you miss the opening, you either have to wait hours and hours or walk around it which generally added a few hours to the tramp...not good.
These beds of shells that were everywhere and very uncomfortable to walk on contained mutant ninja crabs about the size of a dime that would pop out and chase us as we stomped through their lair. I was brave though.
Notice that I was in the front for this picture, as in ahead of everyone else.
Now this was a cool spot. A little cave-like alcove created by boulders and hanging branches and with a flooring of soft sand. We enjoyed a snack of granola here.
The last hut and probably the coolest simply because I like old things. There was only a few of us in the hut this night including our friends who taught us the dice game and an older Dutch lady who joined us for the last leg of the trip.
This little fantail bird also joined us! These birds are pretty curious little creatures and he fluttered from tree to tree for us for about an hour before he whistled us a tune to bid us farewell.

Just keep walking. Just keep walking. Just keep walking, walking, walking...that's what we do we walk! I pretty much repeated Dory's song in my head over and over.
Edward pretty much kept pace with Nicole and I so that we were never in any danger even though he could have hiked this whole thing in about 3 hours.

I'm pretty sure the camera was on zoom and you can clearly see how far ahead Manuel and the Dutch lady were. We were too busy taking pictures.
After four days of hiking, freezing cold showers and no makeup...this was my best angle. If you look closely, you can see Edward waving from his spot in my pack.
We're done!!!! Or are we???
Our last quest to complete before leaving the Abel Tasman and securing our place in civilization again was to defeat this dragon house! Bizarre huh?

Eventually we made it home and it was good to have a hot shower and a real bed to sleep in. I'll have all sorts of funny memories and stories, plus the scars from all the sand fly bites as a reminder of this trip of the beautiful Abel Tasman for the rest of my life, for that, I'm thankful. And when I say that the highlight of this experience was when I got stung by a bee, I'm only kidding.
....Sort of

click this....

http://scottzealand.wordpress.com/

sort of an update....

So remember how on my last blog post I promised an good update with lots of pictures. Well, I've found a way to cheat! Nicole's brother, Scott, has created a great blog with beautiful pictures...since he is a photographer and all. I hope that you all love his blog and you can continue to follow it if you like because it will most likely be more updated than mine! However, you will never find any pictures of Edward on there because Scott is not amused by him.... And even though it doesn't look like Nicole and I were at the soccer game, we were, we just got there later than everyone else due to work.
http://scottzealand.wordpress.com/

a little wee update.

I'll go ahead and warn you that this post will have no pictures but since I haven't posted anything in like for-eh-ver I just wanted to give a little update. Good news, Wellington did not get hit by a tsunami. Even if we did, our house is on quite a hill so we would be ok. Nicole and I have been really busy helping Wendy get ready for her wedding that was just on Saturday. There are quite a few pictures that go with that whole event.
The other excitement has been that Nicole's brother, Scott, and three of his friends just moved here on the 25th!!! Shawn, Tim and Jackie are now part of the family, we're all crammed into our 3 bedroom/1 bath house...and it's awesome. No really. I'm loving it. They are looking for jobs right now and when those get all sorted out, we'll work on getting them a place of their own. But until then, we'll just be one big group.
I'm still having so much fun here but I miss everyone too!

For those about to rock (we salute you)

I think the last time I updated this, Moby Dick was a minnow. It was about Christmas and now it's just about Valentines day...oops. Well, this post is about a concert that happened on January 31st so I'm not too far behind. Nothing too interesting happened during January so I didn't write about it. On to the fun things....

For those of you who don't know, AC/DC is an amazing band from Australia that's been around for forever. They sing such hits as TNT, Shook Me All Night Long and Back in Black just to name a few. This was really exciting for us!

I even had an AC/DC t-shirt for the occasion.
As usual, Nicole didn't feel well and got a headache. She ended up leaving me and Manuel at the front in order to go lay down in first aide for a while.
So then it was just the two of us while the first two bands were on.
But good news! Nicole actually pushed her way through the crowd in order to get allll the way to the front of the barricade which is where we were. This is not an easy task I can assure you.
I'm pretty proud of some of these pictures, we were really close and there was no one in front of us!
The camera was on zoom...we weren't this close.
This is Angus, he's insane on the guitar and he has so much energy for an old guy!
We're blue!!
This is with no zoom. We got there early...as you do for something you're excited about...and there was like no one there. These kiwis have no sense of urgency, they just showed up whenever. We were in a good spot though being right up front because we didn't get toooo squished in the mosh pit.
This was right before he left the stage so Angus could do his guitar solo.

This was like a 20 minute epic solo. His fingers moved so fast!
And he was sweaty.
Manuel was excited about his t-shirt that he bought, AC/DC is his favorite band of all time.
This is the mess of the stadium after the concert. I would sure hate to be the one to clean all of that up! Oh, and in case you are an Edward fan, he didn't come to the show because we didn't take any bags in and I was just too afraid of loosing him because that would have been tragic!