Mission Bay

Mission Bay is another gorgeous beach community in Auckland. We don't go very often -- the last time we were there was over a year ago. Because it's been so long, it really felt like we were on vacation somewhere, instead of 30 minutes from home. We went for a long walk down the beach. Everyone was out -- picnics, little kids, families playing cricket on the beach. Then we wandered up through all of the incredible houses. We passed a beautiful home with three awful teenage boys banging the crap out of an old metal barrel, no adults in sight. The noise was horrific and reminded us that you can live in a 5 million dollar home, but if you've got crappy neighbors you're screwed.

After our walk, we went for a swim in the ocean. It's our second swim of the summer, and the water was perfect. After that, we headed over to a nearby restaurant for a glass of wine and some food. On our walk to the car I saw this really cute little café with the BEST awning. I had to get a picture.

House update: they've begun painting! Yesterday we continued carpet and tile shopping. The kitchen goes in on the 18th of Jan -- I can't wait!

Cheeserolls!

The morning we left for the airport we stopped into an iconic café called Little Hut and finally got to indulge in Dunedin's finest junk food: cheeserolls and corn rolls. Little Hut is one of those places that looks like 1975 -- it's so cool. The food was great, though it wasn't the best timing. It was only 9.30 in the morning!

Botanical Gardens and Lunch at Glenfalloch

Yesterday it started out a little chilly but quickly warmed up. The weather here changes on a dime - it's crazy. So when it's nice out, you don't waste any time. We headed over to the Dunedin Botanical Gardens where we had a coffee, and then over to the Otago Peninsula for lunch at Glenfalloch. Loads of people get married here, and you can see why. Despite numerous applications of sunscreen I still managed to get burnt. Great.



After lunch, Iain and I drove over to Carey's Bay, which looks like a fishing village out of 1910. The only indication that it's not is the massive cruise ship that routinely docks there, dumping out heaps of fat tourists.

Speaking of fat tourists, we ended the day's adventures with a Dundedin feast from the local chips shop: fish, chips, fried hotdogs, spring rolls, and fried corn. Delish!

Dog in the backseat!

I love it when huge dogs act like lap dogs. This rules.

Dunedin pictures

Here are some pictures of the coastline of Dunedin. We had lunch with the Patefields at this really neat little restaurant called Swell. It's one of a number of newer, upscale restaurants that have opened along the coast. We got cheeserolls, but they were gourmet and therefore not what we wanted, the way any gourmet version of favorite junkfood is inevitably disappointing. Iain and I, still in "house mode" checked out their carpets, their bathroom fixtures, their skirting boards, and paint colors.

Worlds Collide!

The in-laws have met the in-laws!

Thanks to Skype, Iain's parents "met" my parents for a Christmas convo. It was actually really fun! And the kids opened their gifts on camera, which is the next best thing to actually being there. Good times all around, which of course made me homesick.

Christmas Day

We went to Gary and Carol's house for Christmas. I should've taken pictures of the food - it was an absolutely incredible spread. Lamb chops, sausages, shrimp kebabs, chicken kebabs, fish, pasta salad, cheese, shrimp dip. The weather was spectacular, as well.

Cat Burgler in Dunedin

We saw this sign a few doors down from the Patefields.

Christmas Morning

We went for a long walk on Sandfly Bay, where we saw sea lions and penguins! The penguins were really far away, because you're not supposed to get close to them or you'll scare them off. The hike was an attempt to burn off some calories before settling into the massive Christmas BBQ at Iain's brother Gary's house. Sadly, we would've had to walk back to Auckland to make up for the food we ate!

Here are some pictures of our walk:


Penguin tracks!

Sea lions!

Dunedin!

Yesterday, after a bit of house-related drama over whether or not to stain our hardwood floors (we chose not to), we packed our bags (Blue helped) and hopped on a plane to Dunedin for Christmas.


Li'l geography if you're interested: Dunedin is on the South Island and Auckland is on the North Island. It's a distance of roughly 1430km / 888 miles (according to Google maps).


Dunedin is like Buffalo, and not just 'cause it's Iain's hometown, boasts inexpensive real estate, and gets snow. It also has awesome food. The best burger in NZ - here in Dunedin. Cheese rolls - a South Island speciality -- we're having those for lunch. We celebrated in style this morning with mince and cheese pies for breakfast.

Last night Iain's parents picked us up at the airport and we headed to their house for a bottle of red and a quick catch up, before retiring to our motel for the night. The weather is supposed to be in the mid-high 20s (~75˚F) tomorrow which is PERFECT for a Christmas BBQ at Iain's brother Gary's house.

Ha ha (insert Nelson laugh)

Colors - done!

We've chosen our colors! We've got names like Sandfly Point, Shagrock and Oriental Bay, and we're really psyched!

Even the cats helped!

Paint!

It's finally time to choose paint colors. A few weeks ago, our builder Stan said he needed to know colors before Christmas. This seemed like plenty of time, but then we got hit with some late nights at work, early morning meetings, the token company holiday parties and more work, until we realized, "Holy crap - we only have a week left to choose!"

Like everything, we've had a lot of back and forth on what to do. All off white? Off white with accent walls in bold colors? A subtle color throughout?

Yesterday we rounded up as many color palettes and wheels we could find and sat down in the living room for a few hours and really talked about it. We looked at magazines, pictures of friends' homes, and discussed our what would go with our existing furniture.

Then we headed out to the stores for about 20 test pots. This morning we're going to paint a bunch of big swatches, take them down to the house and decide!

All of this running around made us pretty hungry so we stopped off at Denny's for a healthy, low cal meal.

Sunday

Continuing our break from house stuff this weekend, we went for a long walk along the beach, followed by a refreshing (okay, cold) dip in the ocean. I love the houses along the beach, especially this one for sale next to an enormous pohutakowe tree, also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree because of its red blooms in December.

Then we hit a café on the boardwalk for brunch. Here are some pictures from the beach.

Party!

Save for returning our vanity, we opted for a weekend off from the house. No discussions of tiles, carpet, lighting or window treatments. It's been nice!

We were invited to our friend Ian's beach house for an afternoon party followed by dinner with our friend Claudine in her new apartment. Ian's house is right on the water, and there were kids and a big husky named Alpha running around. It was a very laid back day.

Pictured below is Ian's daughter returning from a quick kayak trip. The three people on the stairs are Jenny (7 months pregnant!), her husband David, and Ian's girlfriend Julia.

It was a really fun day all round. Today we're hoping to get out early for a long hike and maybe even a swim!