Guess Who's Birthday it is.........

Happy 29th Birthday to my best friend, my husband, my love!! He is the most amazing person in the world, so happy, energetic, funny, thoughtful, caring, positive, intelligent and just darn cute!!! (I could go on and on) I am so thankful that he is in my life and that we are on this adventure together!

Happy Birthday Kit!!!

6 Months!

Can you believe we have been here for  6 months!!! What can I say but time has flown by. It is amazing to think that 6 months ago today we landed here in Dunedin. I remember being tired, energized, excited, sad and happy all at the same time. It was a hard choice for us to move away from our family, friends and our culture but I am so thankful for this time here. We love New Zealand and all that it has to ofter. I may complain about the weather not being warm enough and it does rain a lot, BUT one great thing about rain, is green green green! Kit and I were talking about how the leaves are almost done changing, but everything else is still so green. We have been running in the woods in Ross Creek and the ferns and undergrowth are still vibrant and alive. I really hope that winter still invites green growth.

I feel like we have  done a lot for the short time we have been here. We have traveled to almost all of the southern part of the south island more than once. We have made heaps of friends and we are meeting more and more people almost every weekend. We have gone to local New Zealand concerts, seen performances at the theater, had family visit, explored places on our own and with friends. There have also been some challenging times, especially for me not having a job. However, I think any where we would have moved would have been challenging for us and that makes the adventure even more special.


One of the adventure we went on recently was to Oamaru. Kit had some time off around Easter and we decided to take a day and go explore another town. It is only an hour drive and some of it was along the coast. We loved Oamaru and its historic district, cheese factory and closeness to the ocean. Pictures from our trip below!

We had a picnic on the beach with local cheese, wine and bread. yummy!!

Dunedin Adventures

Our life has gotten back to that normal routine since the Elams came to visit. I am still in the process of looking for a job and Kit is plugging away at work. We have really started making good friends here in Dunedin and spending a lot of time with them. In someways it feels like college here, most of the people we have become good friends with are not from New Zealand or at least not from Dunedin. We are all thrown in this new community trying to find our way in the world. It is amazing the people you meet here and where they come from. We have met people from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Ireland, England, and of course the US. Us Americans, seem to stick together and we don't even mean too. We went to a dinner the other night and everyone there was American expect for two people. Maybe it is because we have that similar background to fall back on, but I think when we move to a new place we find people that we were truly suppose to be friends with.

The weather has started to get colder here, but not too bad yet. The leaves are kind of changing and it has that crisp fall feel in the air. We are still getting adjusted to the fact that its April and its fall. I think having those opposite seasons is going to take awhile for me to get use too. We have gone on some really nice hikes lately and are exploring even more new places around Dunedin. Here are some pictures from our adventures..

Our good friends Christina and Juan

At Glenofalloch Gardens we found this pond with and alter in the middle. I fell in love with the green in this picture.

Explorer Kit

We drove to Aramoana which is at the beginning of the bay.

This sea loin kept turning around for us, like he/she was posing for photo shoot.

Since moving here we have heard of Signal Hill, but we had never been there. I am still amazed that we hadn't found this place before. It was a drive up the mountain to a look out point over Dunedin. It would be a great place to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful.

Dunedin

Cheers!

Moeraki Sunset

This was the best sunset we have seen in NZ and one of the best meals we have had. After visiting the Moeraki Boulders, we went to the town of Moeraki and at Fleurs place. The food was amazing. It is the only restaurant where they fish comes right off the fishing boats to the restaurant. It was one of top three meals since being here.

Fleurs place is the house in the background. It was so cute on the inside.

These are the boats that go right up the ramp to deliver the fish into the restaurant.

That is the end of the pictures from the Elam trip. It was a blast!!

Picnics with the Elams

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Kit had five days off of work and spent most of the time relaxing and hiking around Dunedin. The picture above is the last family picture we took. The picture is from Lake Dunstan in Cromwell. We had lunch there in Old Cromwell and it was a beautiful day.

The next three pictures are of our first lunch, at Tunnel Beach.

Swimming in the Pacific. Ohh so cold...

Barb hanging out on the top of the world

Lunch in Cromwell. It ended up being a great lunch even though I was not looking forward to my sandwich. But the view was amazing.

Cody really got into the "Old Cromwell" theme.

I have one more installment of sunset pictures from the Elam trip. For now don't forget to hold onto those you love..