Kayaking From Home

A fantastic morning of Kayaking (thanks to our friend Dave who has lent us his kayaks, a now permanent fixture in our front yard). We took them to the bottom of the hill and launched from "our" beach - Balena Bay. We then kayaked on flat water out of Wellington Harbour and around the coast, to finally "surf" in at Lyall Bay Beach. Here are some photos:

Mandy at Balena Bay


The Lighthouse that we see from our house (looking back towards our house - a little hard to spot)


Mandy Kayaking (actually just floating at this point)

Weekend in Sydney

Our long weekend in Sydney for Michael Rembach's wedding to Amanda was fantastic. We got to spend time with Mandy's Cousins (Lisa, Jodie and their families) and cousin Mark. Sydney is such a gorgeous city, and when you're being spoiled by the family on the waterfront, who could not enjoy themselves! The wedding was fantastic a "tropical" theme with amazing music, food and energy from everyone present. Here are some photos:

Michael, Manda, Andrew and Mandy


Andrew, Michael & twin brother Joel at Bondi Beach


Swimming at Cousin Jodie's House in Watsons Bay


Tony (Jodie's husband), Asher and Joel surfing in the pool


A quick catch up with cousin Mark over a Krispy Kreme Doughnut

Events in Wellington this summer

This town has been very busy over the past couple of months, with yacht races, dragon boating, off-shore power boat racing, Women's world cup bike racing and various other festivals.

Here is a cool shot andrew got of some of the "round the world" yachts in dry dock during their 1 month stop in Wellington in January. (Their dry docking added an extra 5 minute walk to our commute in the morning - very inconsiderate)

New Years Eve

We drove for 7 hours to get to Kiwi Dave's party in Raglan. A fabulous place and a chilled little town. We then headed south to Pureroa Forest Park where we did some muddy hiking, camping and then some R&R at a nice resort in Taupo! A nice long weekend away.

A few drinks with Kiwi Dave


The view from the top of Mt Pureora


The extremely muddy walk back down