October in Wellington

Our second last month in Wellington and no time for sitting around. We hit the town a lot this month to make the most of our time here. We went out for another trivia night with the north american alliance laura and katie.

Out for goodbye drinks with Dayna before she heads off for her overseas adventure in the UK.

Kitch went to an animal party for her friend Sky's 23'rd birthday. After all everyone loves a good costume party. I was a dragon (yes that's a real animal!)

The Canadian trio, Deb, Kim and Karen the three canadian nurses from wellington hospital.
Look at all those gifts. Deb with her birthday haul.
Dancing the night away for Deb's 25th.



Finishing the night at BK (and apparently surviving some sort of war...why do i look so disheveled?) Found a coupon for whopper juniors lying on the counter - it was fate leading us to our whopper junior future.

Yvonne came back to Wellington as part of her contiki tour and we made sure to fit in dinner on suba street with her.

C'est L'Halloween! We dressed up for Charlie's party as a teacher and a nurse - our real professions only dirtier.

Rarotonga

Off to the south pacific for girls week in the sun. We headed to the tropical Cook Islands with fellow Canadian Kim and Nat from UK. We stayed at the fabulous Rarotonga backpackers. Seriously luxury living (well for the hostel crowd...)

We took turns cooking in the communal kitchen and enjoyed some good cooking. Even the first night when we woke up to realize everything was closed on sundays. But with just tuna, potatos and onions Kim somehow managed to whip up delicious fish cakes.

Duty free wine - our favourite thing on the trip.

Dancing the night away at Tatoo bar.

On Tuesday we managed to peel ourselves off the lounge chairs by the pool to do the 10 km hike across the island. It was amazing scenary and a great hike with James, our very polite scottish friend.


Seriously paradise!

We fell in love with the waterline cafe and bar just down the beach from our hostel. Amazing fresh caught seafood (literally caught by the owner that morning!) and a great atmosphere, plus live music. It was good times.

Even Deb got into the ocean lovin' mood. The water was so warm and clear it was literally like swimming in a pool (if pools had fish and coral)

We rented a convertible and went beach hopping around Raro - we all decided we need to own convertibles in our real lives (no matter how unpractical they are in the Canadian winter)


We went on a lagoon cruise out to the reef where we did great snorkeling and had a delicious bbq lunch (one thing this trip did not lack was good food!)

Island night at staircase bar - man can those island girls dance.



Pool fun on our last night on the island.
Seriously...paradise!
And the duty free alcohol comes to an end along with our week. Good times, good friends, good food - what a week.

Abel Tasman National Park - take 2

Well spring has come to New Zealand and we decided to take full advantage by heading down to abel tasman national park for the second time this year. In april it rained the whole time we were there but this time the weather could not have been better. Sun, sun, sun and the most beautiful beaches either of us had ever seen. We took a guided kayaking trip which turned out to be better for some than others but we used our new found gym muscles (hey we had gone to the gym the last 4 days before we left that counts for something right?) and made it through.

Deb enjoys a cup of milo (NZ ho cho) on the beach at lunch on our first day.

They provided us with tents and all other camping equipment. It was a bit of a tight fit but sleeping head to toe it was just perfect for the two of us.
Kitch went on a twilight paddle with a few group members. We went down a lagoon and all the baby seals jumped in the water and started playing with our boats and paddles. So incredible how fearless they were. Turns out seal pups - very cute.
Back on the water for day 2 the scenary was just as breathtaking. We stopped for lunch at this gorgeous spot.

Ok enough paddling. The wind picked up in the afternoon so rather than paddle our guide hooked up a tarp sail and we sailed back into the beach. Only one minor mishap with Deb coming very close to bailing out but she powered through and we got through with no (major) problems.
Finishing the day at split apple rock.