Sunny Winter Sunday

So the weekend weather was supposed to be sunny and beautiful...but you can't always trust the weather report...but this weekend it proved to be true!  So after church was over, my friend Jo and I meet at the waterfront to take advantage and get some photos that I've been meaning to get for a while.  The above shot is of the Rimataka mountains that have snow on them. 

This is a pretty famous statue of a man getting ready to jump into the ocean. 

A beautiful look of the harbour with the sun getting ready to set. 

They have interesting statues all around the city, but this one, I see it all the time when I go out running around the waterfront.  I love the fact that you can see some fishermen in the background. 

A fun little statue on the balcony of one of the houses along the waterfront. 

A Maori statue down along the waterfront. 

This is a statue outside of a Maori building along the waterfront.  It's another building I haven't gone inside.  I have a lot of things to get done before I leave in 11 weeks!

Baring Head Walk

So the weaather on Saturday was supposed to be nice...and this is one time the weathermen were right!  It was a beautiful day and so Susan and I went for a walk to Baring Head.

This is the start of the walk. 

A beautiful day! 

You can see the South Island from the top.  And yes there is snow on top of those mountains!  Its amazing how different the weather is just across "the pond"!

Just at the top of the mountain, by the lighthouse. 

Isn't it beautiful?

I thought these clouds were pretty behind the mountains, but boy they were fast moving!

What a walk!  I did this 3 hour walk after running 10 miles this morning!  I don't know what I was thinking!  Lol, but it was a nice day and I'm glad we went!

Lunch with Karin, Erica and Andy

My friend Erica's boyfriend came to visit from South Korea so we met up for lunch.

It was a crazy rainy and cold day but we braved the elements and went out anyway.  This is us after lunch, you can't really tell, but we were all stuffed!  

And guess where we ate?  Fork and Brewer...hehe...get it? ;-)

FHE and baking

So for FHE I made a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.  Here is Andrew pretending that he's going to eat the whole thing off the plate!  Hahaha... 

Finished product.  It was yummy!

British Naational Day

Working at the embassy, I'm invitied to other embassy events.  The British queen's birthday is when the British Embassy celebrates their national day.  This year, I was invited to the party!

Kiwi's love to dress up, and the theme of the party was "British Icons".  So I decided to dress up as Twiggy who was a very famous model in the 1960's.  The hair wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun to dress up.  And my friend Andrew went with me.

Queen's birthday weekend

So New Zealand is part of the "Common Wealth" which falls under the British Queen, even though they have their own government.  So the girls wanted to have a cocktail party and I hosted.

Some of us dressed up and wore crowns.  It was fun! :-) 

There were friends from work, and friends that I've met while I've been out and about. 

This is a photo of one of the cocktails I made for Erica.  It's a combination of blue ocean, pina colada and strawberry daiquri!

"Kiwi" Burger

So every culture does things a little different...and hamburgers aren't spared!  Lol

That is what comprises a "kiwi" burger.  It was good...surprisingly with an egg and pickled beets!

Yum!

Wonderful weekend to meet up

So I woke up on Saturday morning to this beautiful sunrise! 

It was so beautiful, I got up and went for a 16 mile run along the waterfront. Had a good run and the sunrise just added to it.  

I meet up with a friend at the Fisherman's table for lunch.  There is a water feature out in the harbor and it was a gorgeous day for a beach-side lunch. 

This is my friend Tee, he is a radio host on one of the local stations.  You can't tell, but he is super tall.  To take this photo, he had to crouch!  Lol.  He's a nice guy, another of the many wonderful people I've meet while in New Zealand.