Hello and Good Day to you!  As is tradition, I am back in New Zealand for my yearly visit. Honestly, skipping January and February in Seattle is GREAT.  Christchurch really is starting to feel like a second home, and not just because I went ahead and married a kiwi.  That's right.  Trond and I are officially hitched (twice!).  2014 - 15 was the 6 months of Marriage Stuff.

After a USA wedding in August, it was straight into planning the NZ Kaikoura wedding for January 5th.  Mentioned in my last post, we had solidified the gorgeous venue and there wasn't much to be done beyond that apart from arrange some lodging and food for the reception down at Trond's family's house.  We had a great team of people, including Trond's parents, but as a rule, I don't mention people by name without their permission.  You know who you are, and THANK YOU!!!! :)

It was a beautiful day, in more ways than one.  The weather was great, we had my parents there and 6 USA friends were able to join us (including two USA bridesmaids!).  Everything went very smoothly and a few friends of ours offered their considerable skills as photographers.  There are many captured moments!

The wedding celebrations actually felt about 2 weeks long.  Why?  Because I arrived along with the USA friends on December 30th.  After the NZ New Year's Party (nice and warm out!), we had a week in Christchurch before heading north to Kaikoura.

In Christchurch, we were able to share a lot of great experiences with our USA friends, not least of which was introducing them to many of our NZ friends.  Activities included walks along the ridge above Lyttelton Harbour, Orana Park, high tea, the combination Stag/Hen cocktail night, and numerous evening walks in the Travis Wetlands.  We even took a day trip to Akaroa and swam among the sandbars in Okains Bay.  Our only regret is that our dolphin swim was canceled due to bad weather (too windy).

Hiking with friends on our first evening in NZ

Feeding giraffes at Orana Park

High Tea in Lincoln.  The boys were there, too ;)

In Kaikoura, we arrived the afternoon before the wedding, so after we mapped the ceremony with the bridal party, we all got a good night's sleep.  The Clifftop, owned by Trond's friend's parents, was the perfect venue.  They rent it out for holiday accommodation!
http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/properties/55496.asp
My parents were staying in the apartment upstairs, which is where the bridesmaids and I got ready.  I was amazed at the turnout of so many NZ friends on a Monday afternoon and so happy they all could be there.  It was great to see some faces in the crowd which had been standing up with us in the USA wedding, too.  I had three amazing ladies join us from the NZ side as bridesmaids as well as my friends from the USA (one of which is my lovely maid of honor).

The ceremony was a mirror image of the USA ceremony which felt rather poetic, actually.  Instead of a ring exchange, we had a small hand-fastening ceremony, which was quite nice.  After some mingling, the bridal party and parents went off to three photo locations together (general hilarity ensued).  Later, we changed out of the formal wear and met everyone down at Trond's parents house for the garden party reception, which was wonderful.

The Lookout, Kaikoura

For the rest of the week, we did as much as we could in Kaikoura with our USA friends, and some NZ friends who were able to stay part of the time as well.  Highlights include the Peninsula Walk, a trip to the seal colony and Ohau Point waterfall, a cave exploration (Barry is still great!), kayaking in South Bay, and a trip out onto Trond's dad's dinghy.  In the evenings, we had a couple of home-made dinners, backyard cricket, and a LOT of fun playing "Two Rooms and a Boom" with a group of about 16 people.

Kaikoura Peninsula Walk

Ohau Point Waterfall Walk

Caught a fish during the dinghy ride!

On the way back to Christchurch, we stopped in Hanmer Springs for the day before finally collapsing back at the house.  That Saturday, we had a full-on house party reception in Christchurch at our officiant's house, which was the last bang before the USA folks returned home.  Awesome time!

It was back to work for me on Monday, and I've since worked two full weeks here in New Zealand.  I can't believe how much has happened in just about a month's worth of time!!!!  We've been relaxing a lot in the evening during the week, trying to catch our breath.  That doesn't mean we don't go out a couple times a week for walks.  Lately, our favorite is to go down to New Brighton beach after dinner (or before, if we plan to swim).  Last week there was the most amazing double rainbow.  It was so big, I couldn't even get the whole thing in one photo.  The best was the reflection on the wet sand.  It looked like a double ring.  You don't see that every day!!!  I remarked to Trond that I felt like I was looking at the entrance to another world, it felt that surreal.

Double Rainbow!  All the way across the sky!

We've had another nice walk with a big group of friends over Lyttelton Harbour this week.  I even remembered to bring the GoPro!  On Saturday, we went to the beach for a few hours, boogie boarding and laughing like maniacs.

Today was a b-day celebration for a good friend (and NZ bridesmaid!).  She invited us to Willowbank, which is a NZ Native Wildlife Reserve.  Their Kea aviary is AMAZING.  We fed a bunch of eels some mince meat as well, which was creepy and hilarious.  Best of all, though, was that we each paid the additional fee to do a Lemur Encounter.  That's right. We got to go in the enclosure and feed banana slices to ring tailed lemurs and they CLIMBED INTO OUR LAPS.  SO CUUUTE!  Not going to forget that for a while!

Feeding ring-tailed lemurs at Willowbank

Nice checking in with you!  I'll post again soon, but I'm sure my docket of events will finally start to slow down.  Don't fret, though.  Trond and I are doing a road trip in the second week of February which is sure to be amazing!