Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!!Looking back and realizing that our last update was in February, we thought it might be time for another. As we sat to put down a few thoughts to keyboard for "what's been going on since February", we were simply amazed at how time has flown by - we're coming up on two years here in April.
The IT industry is still booming here and work has been keeping us busy! Kim is still with the same telecommunications company, Telecom, and enjoying her projects. Brian is now employed with IBM and getting a good taste of "real" PM stuff.
We finally moved into a rental house after being in a tiny one bedroom apartment for over a year. Though we miss the gorgeous view we had, we traded it for the space and the palm tree-lined garden. This house has definitely helped us define our next house (both good and bad)!
We can't believe the end of the year has come so quickly and have already planned a few upcoming vacations for the new year. In just a few weeks, we will be backpacking through Vietnam and Cambodia. We'll first visit some friends (that we met when we were in D.C.) who are now living in Cambodia. They moved there about the same time we moved here. We'll then make our way to Ho Chi Minh City and up the coast to Hanoi for about a month. Kim has been frantically brushing up on her Vietnamese while Brian has been planning the destinations.
After spending two Christmases here and missing out on the spirit of the season, we plan to come home for the holidays next year. It's just not the same seeing people put up Christmas lights in their shorts and sandals. Auckland is a ghost town for two weeks during the holidays as everyone is off to their beach houses and vacation spots.
We’ll end this note with a few pictures of some of our travels, weekend getaways, and fun times we've had throughout the year. We trust that you are well and wish you all the best for the New Year with much health and happiness!
South Island NZ or Alaska? It’s Alaska. It was our first time back to the States in June and we visited family in Alabama and Alaska for a few weeks. This was a stop at Thompson Pass (they get a mere 700-800 inches of snow each season) on our way to Valdez (the terminus of the oil pipeline) for a few days.
Another shot of some Alaska mountains as we made our way to Valdez. The scenery was spectacular and reminded us very much of our South Island – except Alaska’s mountains are a heckuva lot bigger!!
A fun weekend getaway to Mangawhai Heads (2 ½ hour drive north of Auckland) with some friends (Jolene who just moved here from Malaysia and Andreas who is half Kiwi and German). All the east coast beaches are white sand and the west are black with rougher surf. What made this beach even more attractive is that we were practically the only ones on it. (The Kiwi version of “crowded” is a bit skewed from what we’re used to!)
As you can see, Zoe LOVES the beach! She is happiest when there is sand and water (and there are gulls to harass).
Harvest season at our friends’ vineyard. We are picking grapes – if you look closely, you can spot Zoe “picking” a few grapes, too. This is the best time of the wine-making season as family and friends all help out for most of the day…and then spend the rest eating and drinking great wine.
Well, last year, Kim had a huge vat that she got to do some grape-stomping in…this year, no “I Love Lucy“ reenactments as there were only a few grapes that needed to be crushed. Hmmm, who do you think squeezed out more juice?!
We volunteered to help plant trees on this beautiful island called Matutapu Island. No one lives here – it’s just a small nature conservatory you can take the ferry to and hang out for the day picnicking, hiking, or relaxing. It was a long climb to the planting destination as we all look like worker ants making our way up.
Christmas holiday in Waihi (east coast of the North Island) with Jolene and Andreas. This is a private beach where we had a special dinner to celebrate Jolene’s birthday. Not a bad dining spot!
Waihi’s Karangahake Gorge. After 4 hours of hiking, we think we covered every trail! Almost at the end of our hike, there was also an underground tunnel (about 1km long). You can imagine how well it echoed – of course, Brian had to test it out!
Love, Brian, Kim, and Zoe
