The reason why we went

So we did actually go to New Zealand for a reason, not just to travel and meet wonderful people and find amazing new foods. Dennis had a job to do there and during the last week of our stay I went in and took a bunch of photos for use in the annual report. Thought you guys might enjoy seeing why we were there. Please ask Dennis if you want to know further information about what exactly they do at Electropar. I can tell you that it is a business that was started by a man around 60 years ago whose two sons took over and ran it until it was purchased by PLP last year. The two companies have a similar culture and philosophies and have been in business around the same length of time. A good fit.

Talk to you all soon!! :o) xo, K.

A bit of this, a bit of that: night skies, Peacock St., and a Philippino dinner with Kiwi friends

Hello all! We're really coming down to the end of the journey at this point. Most of the photos that I'm looking through now are the ones that I took of EVERYthing: the streets that we drove on a daily basis, our mailbox, the fruit market, the walk to and from school. Just so I could remember everything. I guess I was trying to bring it all home with us.

There are a few that I want to share though. First off the gorgeous night sky walking to Mission Bay at night for dinner.

Our closest access to the water was a short walk down Riddell Road, past the school, and down a little side street called Peacock St. From there, we walked down a steep hill to a little beach in an area called Karaka Bay.

The few residents of Karaka Bay walk up and down that steep switchback asphalt ramp every time they leave their homes. They carry groceries down and trash up. Unbelievable! I swore that by the time we left, I'd be in good enough shape that I wouldn't feel like I was going to die by the time we got up the walk and then back up to Riddell Road. I was in much better shape after 6 months, but that walk never failed to kick my ass.

We lived right up above there on the point to the right. West Tamaki Head. Pretty cool to be able to walk down here and snorkel amongst the sailboats and little volcanic islands.

The people that live there keep their little boats handy to row out to sailboats or just out into the water.

One of our very last nights, our friends the Wallaces came for a very fancy takeaway dinner from Turo-Turo, the local Philippino restaurant in Glen Innes. These two brothers ran Electropar, which was founded by their father about 60 years ago, until they sold to Dennis's company. They and their wives and families were very, very helpful to us during our stay and we are forever grateful to them for their kindness. They made our adventure far easier for us.

Laurel tied our favorite flowers on all of the wine bottles and made everything all pretty like she always does.

Coming up next -- who knows! I'm so reluctant to finish this up. Thanks for reading this far.

xoxo, K.