Wedded Bliss.

The last couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind.  In 2 months' time, we ended up having 4 different sets of guests visiting while working (flat-out) and planning a small wedding! All while continually working to improve our life balance and our happiness.  The wedding guest list solidified and we had 17 friends and family for the wedding weekend in Wanaka.  The pieces were coming together...we applied for our wedding certificate, decided on a celebrant to marry us (in Wanaka), decided on a location (a beautiful park on the lake, complete with autumn colored poplars, large sequoia and walnut trees), sorted our rings (Zeph gave me my ring when he proposed so he was way ahead of me in this department...I had a jeweler friend in California make his ring, which consists of a stainless steel aircraft bolt (to remind him of his love to fly), with a white gold stripe down the middle, held together by 8 rivets)...a lovely dress I picked up a few months back in California, and a reservation for our wedding dinner at our favorite place to eat in Wanaka, appropriately named The White House...simple, seasonal, wonderful food in the least pretentious way.  

Thus, this brings us to the wedding weekend...Zeph and I flew down to Queenstown, which is about an hour south of Wanaka. Our good friend, Dan, from Wellington, had the important duties of being my bridesmaid/man for the weekend, and Zeph's best man. Fortunately, our wedding was a bit out of tradition and unique...thus, Dan's duties were unorthodox and it was more his unconditional support to us for the weekend that we were most grateful for.  He picked us up from the airport and drove us to beautiful Arrowtown, on the way to Wanaka.  

Downtown Arrowtown with our best friend, Dan, getting caught in the photo

Arrowtown is similar to a quaint mountain town in Colorado and easy to see why so many are enamored with it.  The first stop in Wanaka was the boys dropping me off for my hair/make-up stylist to have a little practice session on my hair...which, was quite a treat and a lot of fun!

The beautiful glacier valley in the shadow of Rob Roy

The first "event" we had scheduled for the weekend was a hike up to the Rob Roy glacier, which is a hanging glacier at the top of an amazing glacier valley.  We planned a picnic at the mid-way point, which made it hard to eat as the view from this spot is beyond breathtaking.  

Anhtuan and Zeph on the hike, cameras in hand!

 One of Zeph's best friends, Anhtuan, was able to make it over from California, complete with his business partner...so we had two overqualified professional photographers with us the whole weekend, which was a wonderful addition.  

Nick and Anhtuan breathless from the beauty (and the hike)!

 Thus, many amazing photos will follow (apologies as they are not yet ready), so the pictures here is just what we took on our little camera...That evening after the hike we went to a movie at the local cinema, Cinema Paradiso...all 17 of us! 

Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka...every town needs one!

The interior of Cinema Paradiso- filled with character and comfort!

The movie theatre has only one screen with wonderful, large sofas, complete with dinner, drinks, and homemade cookies and ice cream.  The next morning after the usual coffee break, Zeph and I had a "wedding rehearsal" at the Wanaka Station Park, where we got to meet our celebrant for the first time (we had only spoke with her on the phone previously). 
Jools, the wedding celebrant, was a wonderful pick and she had us all situated to enjoy our ceremony to the fullest.  While we were meeting with Jools, Anhtuan and Nick got to inspect all the options of the best spots to take our pictures after the wedding.  They were in awe with the options!

The giant sequoia at Wanaka Station Park

The rolling hills of Wanaka Station Park...

The view of Lake Wanaka never gets old...

 We decided to hold the actual ceremony meeting spot at the top of an aisle of roses that connect Lake Wanaka to a very large, beautiful sequoia tree at Station Park.  

After the ceremony we all met up for a tasting at Rippon Vineyard, which is Wanaka's only vineyard and nothing short of spectacular (in its lakeside view and wonderful biodynamic wines).  

The beautiful Rippon Vineyard in Wanaka

We didn't have any dinner plans for the night before the wedding (Saturday night) but we did have a perfect outdoor spot at the homestead where we were staying, complete with an outdoor fireplace, bbq, and a large wood/log table. The impromptu bbq we threw together as serendipitous as it was, with a whole lot of fun with wonderful friends (and food).  The night before the wedding, Zeph, Anthuan, and Nick went their own way and got a beer on the way back to their bachelor pad while my bridesmaid (Dan) and I watched a light chick flick (Along Came Polly).  


The next morning Dan and I went for an early morning walk before my wonderful hair/make-up stylist showed up to beautify me.  Theresa is very good at what she does and made my hair, etc. look outstanding.  In the meantime, Zeph's mum was in charge of flowers and made Zeph and Dan boutonnieres as well as my beautiful bouquet of flowers.  The wedding was at 2p and we were secretly praying to whoever is in charge of the weather to give us a good hour as the weather predictions were bleak.  Fortunately, there were beautiful clouds present and no rain!  At 2p I walked down to the park and right at the sequoia, and down to an aisle of roses, where I found my dream guy.  He was smiling, happy, and glowing...And, I was so happy to see him!  Our little ceremony was full of vows that we had written, complete with our own promises.  After, the guests ventured up to the homestead to loiter with some drinks while Zeph and I were at the wonderful mercy of the photographers...all over the park!  Lastly, at 6pm, we ventured over to The White House for an amazing, memorable dinner.  

Very happy indeed!

The next morning (Monday) we woke up to pure bliss.  It had rained all night and when we looked at the view of the surrounding mountains, they were all covered in snow!  With this beauty, we all met up at the local cafe for breakfasts farewell as everyone went their own ways home.  Zeph, Dan, and I were left to relax in town and wandered over to visit a friend who is building his home near the beautiful Dublin Bay.  It was an inspiring story as Alistair and his wife had purchased this land 12 years ago when they were living in Wellington and they frequented their section a few times a year to plant their orchard and landscape their plot.  Then, 8 years ago, they took the plunge and moved to Wanaka.  Zeph and I found great inspiration in this story as this is our dream and seeing someone elses' manifestation of their dream was, well...inspiring!  

Zeph and his best mates...Anhtuan, Dan, (Zeph), and Nick

 The three of us left Alistair's home and returned to the homestead to relax.  It felt so good to do nothing for an afternoon.  Finally, before the sun was set, the three of us went for a lakeside walk where we talked about swimming in the "fresh" (word Kiwis use for cold) lake.  Thus, the weekend wouldn't be complete without a dare and a dip in the lake! It was quite an amazing view from in the lake, with the snow-capped mountains...breathtaking! 

This is the "after" we went for a brief lake swim! Chilled and headed for the hot tub!

Words cannot do justice to Wanaka at times...

The following day the three of us drove to Queenstown to return to Wellington.  Zeph and Dan laughed at me while I fell into a deep sleep on the airplane...which was worthy!  Returning to Wellington, Zeph and I took a shuttle straight to our office where Peter, our amazing boss, had been covering for us and we were able to relieve him of his duties.  The next morning the two of us flew up to Auckland for a work overnighter that we managed to mix some fun in.


Thus, we returned to Wellington, ready to relax!  We have been sorting our home a bit, enjoying each others company and the time to get out on our mountain bikes, while work continues to pull us in all directions (this is a good thing).  Zeph has moved his focus into town with me as I've been busier than one person can handle.  We are excited to see how successful we can be in this town as we know our skills of helping our clients don't go unnoticed!  And, we plan our orchard in Wanaka (and large shop for Z).  


We know it was a double-edge to pick Wanaka as a our favorite spot to get married as it is not a convenient/easy location for anyone who doesn't live in New Zealand.  Please know that your presence was felt for the whole weekend and we appreciate all your thoughts and goodwill sent, so, Thank You! PS> More (professional-grade) photos to follow!


Much love...Sarah & Zeph Wadsworth

Queen Elizabeth and the Wild Wellington 12 Hour Mountain Bike Relay

Queen Elizabeth rolling into Wellington early Saturday

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4679639/Royal-ship-arrives-in-Wellington

The day started with a beautiful entrance of the grand cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth.  This is the view from our porch!

Pre-Race...The Officer Dangle Squad read to roll!

Zeph and I were fortunate enough to have some good friends talk us into doing a fun event that is held here on Mount Victoria every year. It consists of a 12 hour mountain bike relay race where costumes are almost mandatory.  Zeph was joined by 4 of his good mountain bike friends and they spent a good amount of time preparing for the race the week prior. By preparing, I mean sewing and organizing their costumes! They were the police officers from Reno 911 or Supertroopers...with short shorts!  Those who could, grew mustaches to finish out the uniforms!

This is again pre-race...and what happens if you give some officers on duty some fair trade bananas!

 I was fortunate enough to be on a team of very fast girls and our uniforms were in the form of girl scouts...it mostly came from the idea we all love to bake, so we were technically girl scouts with homemade goodies...otherwise known as Team Dirt Scout.

This was our sash of honor...a couple of the girls actually sewed all these badges...the girl symbol, the red cross for safety, a flower for "pretty" an "r" because we were all members of a girls mountain bike club here in town called the Revolve girls.

This is right after one of my riding sessions...visiting Zeph's teammates...who were off duty! Again, enjoying the fair trade bananas! Dan, in the middle, happens to work for the Department of Corrections (not ever having to wear any uniform of this type) and Kashi on the far left, is our good friend from Dunedin and a retired 3 time Olympian for New Zealand's mountain biking team.  He still goes very fast looking quite effortless!

This is my group...I am on the far left, then Marjolien, Leigh, Rachel, and Ashley. A very fun group of girls who happen to ride their mountain bikes very fast with BIG smiles on their faces and great bakers.  Very choice uniform that a couple of the girls made for us!

One of the girls seemed to think our sign was the girl scout sign so w all went along with it...all day...even 12 hours later picking up our first place award...just a bit more tired at the end of a long day!  

 The girls won, completing 35 laps in 12 hours...only 4 laps behind the guys, which is pretty good! We won our category by 5 laps...which is pretty amazing!

This is Juno, our very supportive Team Dog for the event.  Made sure everyone was happy for the day!

Here I am with Leigh, in between our riding sessions, staying in the shade!  Aside from just finishing up a tour around the country on her bike, Leigh baked heaps of baked goodies and made our costumes as well...talk about a dream teammate!

 Zeph and officer Kha, discussing something important, waiting for their turn to ride...The Officer Dangle squad finished up 2nd place, after having to race all the way until the end at 10p and beating out 3rd place by only a minute!  That is a very long day indeed!

This is our Dirt Scout camp, ie the Revolve site and where we hung out all day waiting for our round to go as fast as we could for a couple laps, then, wait some more, than a few more laps...all the way until 10p!

This is Zeph this morning...right before he went and shaved off the last part of his uniform, I mean costume...Happy and delirious at the same time!

Not your typical journey.

This was our idea of fun. And, adventure.  A nice, point to point hike from Makara Beach to Red Rocks. Looked like a nice, 30km jaunt along a coastal trail/4 wheel drive track that ended up being a bit of a cliff hanging (thank goodness for tussock), character building adventure.  It ended up being 40km with over 3,000metres (10,000ft) of vertical ascent.  One might ask how this is possible, traveling next to the ocean as it might be a logical question.  Turns out the mountains that turn to hills turn to cliffs before diving into the ocean.  At these points of transition, there existed jagged rocks that could not be climbed around (in the ocean).  Thus, it left us going over the cliffs of rocks, tussock, and into the territory of mountain goats (literally).  I cannot tell you how many of these cliffs we went over and it might not have been such a feat had we not had our overnight accessories with us such as sleeping bags, tents, weights (for diving), and the like.  Character building was what our friend, Dan, who went with us, and quite literally helped us stick to the slick cliffs, called it.  I think we don't need much character building for a while.  The second day consisted of more cliff hanging, followed by a 20km hike along rocky coast, with non-stop pelting rain and 100km winds.  Thus, I leave you with the pictures that tell the rest of the story.  We didn't take pictures of the challenging parts.  Such is life, when we realized we usually don't take pictures of the trying times!  We didn't take pictures of the stinky, grumpy seals we had to hike around on the slippery rocks in the rain.  We did discover quite possibly the worst smell to mankind- seals!  Stinky buggers.  Anyhow, happy to be home, happy to be alive, happy to feel this life in these amazing, healthy bodies we have.  And, begging them for forgiveness in the form of an occasional massage. And baths. And tea. (not in that order).

 Zeph toward the end of Day 1. In a windy section!

Sarah on the same windy spot!

The next Shackelton? Perhaps! AKA our good friend Dan.

The lovely cove where we camped, ate paua (abalone) and a wonderful fish Sarah managed to successfully catch via the Poke Pole technique (thanks dad).

A delicious fish. Fresh, with butter and it hit the spot!

Zeph in the middle of bbq-ing and warming his shoes and prepping the paua.

The guys going to do their hunter-gatherer-ness.

The guys going out to do their post-hunter-gatherer cleaning (thank you for cleaning my fish).

A good BBQ of paua, fish, fresh corn, and zucchini- Hit the spot!

Hiking along on Day 1. This was the "flat" part. Lots of rocks, goats, seals and Dan day-dreaming about hunting the goats to feed himself and Juno.

A too familiar sight for 8 hours on Day 2. Pelting rain, high winds, a wild/angry ocean, and lots of slippery rocks!

Dan and Zeph almost to the finish line. (The only reason I was ahead was because after 8 hours of rain, their already heavy packs had collected enough water to way the equivalent of a good-sized seal (no joke).  Well, maybe a little exaggeration but if you saw the welts on our shoulders and felt the burning of our legs, you would agree!

The guys very happy to know the car was parked right around the corner. Then, a hot shower, Then, Burger Fuel. Then, counting the blisters and begging our bodies for forgiveness!  A worthy journey we don't need to repeat!  Character building? Without a question.

A weekend getaway to Castlepoint

This weekend was no doubt one of the most relaxing weekends we have had here thus far. It consisted of a weekend getaway to Castlepoint, just a two hour drive northeast of Wellington. We took our new good friend, Dan, and his lovely four legged friend, Juno (black lab), and met our friend/landlords Shaun and Lauraine for a deluxe car camping adventure. Told that Castlepoint is rugged and exposed, we were expecting the worst I suppose, however it ended up being unbelievably calm, warm and wonderful.  A couple hours after the 3 (plus Juno) of us arrived and set up camp, Shaun and Lauraine arrived with the crayfish buckets. There was no denying we were there just to camp as we were on a paua (abalone) and crayfish (spiny lobster) hunting spree. While we were daydreaming on the days prior of a seafood only feast for the weekend, we were proven it takes more skill than we had...still fun anyone, and leaves us with an even larger craving! The three of us (plus Juno) running toward the cray pot after leaving it out overnight was a bit reflective of a good Christmas morning!

On our way to the cray pots...on the other side of the lighthouse!

 A very happy Juno looking for a restroom spot...

 This reminds us of how Avila Beach must have looked 50 years ago.

 The big daddy of tractor/trailer that pulled some big boats out of the water...this was the only one that had a built in cab!

 The boats surfed their way right into the back of the trailer...

 Boat surfing...?

 A pristine morning at Castlepoint

 Looking North with the lighthouse on the tip...

 Not a UFO in the picture...perhaps some friendly sand that didn't want to get out of the camera lens...

 A very fun, happy group!

 The sunset was breathtaking...

Very pretty view... 

 This was what the entire rock was made out of that consists of Castlepoint...a whole lot of compressed ocean floor (I am sure there is a more elaborate word for this)...

 Couldn't be more relaxed...

 A very excited Juno!

 Sunset. Waiting for the crays to bite...

 We don't think this was trash, but we don't really know how it made its way beyond where the tides reached...

 Someone obviously got a hold of the camera to document a much needed morning nap I was enjoying!

 For some reason this mossy rock captivated...

 Dan and Shaun carrying an empty cray pot... reluctantly!

 A very large cray boat coming in after a long day of catching some big ones (we were a bit envious of the latter part of that statement)...

A very happy Zeph and new friend Dan...and a tuckered Juno...Believe it or not, the wine bottle wasn't theirs (or mine for that matter)...it was all about the smores!