Last day of Work

Today we had our final shifts. Marian pulled her final shift at Velox and was sad to say goodbye to her career there. She has been promised by her boss John that once he builds his castle and recording studio, she will be allowed to come and record albums any time she wants….FANTASTIC.


That night, Marian worked her last night at Two Souls. The work was steady and easy, and she enjoyed working with Chanelle and Michelle. Chanelle gave her a gift at the beginning of the shift, which she claims she spent all day Saturday looking for the perfect one. What a sweetheart. She gave Marian Season 1 Flight of the Conchords, and wrote all over the Liner. Marian loved it so much she started welling up in tears. She particularly enjoyed where Chanelle wrote “Kia Kahu My Friend,” translating to “Stay Strong” My Friend. Very touching! It was great to get to eat Martin’s Cajun fish for dinner one last time. Marian is not looking forward to cooking for herself every night again.

John also had his last night at the White House. Also a standard busy, but easy night at the restaurant. Towards the end of the night, John came downstairs to a semi circle of coworkers standing around the kitchen waiting for him. Chef gave John a present – a book called, “Natural New Zealand,” showcasing different areas of the country in pictures and texts. On the inside cover was a little note from all his various co-workers, which Marian and John both really enjoyed reading. John let everyone know that he really enjoyed working with everyone, and that it had been a awesome experience. We then sat with Kat and Pete after work, having a great chat and a few drinks.

Fatty Sunday and Monday

On Sunday, we participated in Kiwi and American fatty foods. We again made biscuits and gravy for Lucy and she in turn made us spaghetti and cheese toasties for dinner that night. We also did our customary market run. It was good as.

On Monday, we headed to Strawberry Fare with Lucy for dessert. It is a restaurant that is famous for its desserts. Marian got the Devil’s Dream Cake. Oh Boy. Take a picture of my diet buster below.



John got the Lemon Chocolate Cheesecake and Lucy went with the Caramel Hazelnut Torte. Good and BIG. We each took some of ours home for l8ter. That is crazy. Here is a quote from John on dessert that evening, “I think I’m actually sick from eating that much sugar.” From Marian, “That was honestly the best dessert I’ve ever had in my life.” WOAH!

Souvenir Shopping

We went souvenir shopping today and got lots of stuff for people. Do you want to know what we got YOU? Too bad. You’ll just have to wait.

“Flatlandia”

That Saturday, we were able to take off of work and hang out with our Irish and Kiwi flatmates. Tony had insisted that we take at least one weekend night off before we leave so we could get a chance to hang out. Well, hang out we did. After a while we convinced them to show us Irish dancing. Tony had actually taken Irish dancing as a kid, and knew some steps – Laura had never officially taken it, but learned from friends. Marian wanted in on the action, here are some pictures.




Here is everyone from the night...I think Lucy was volunteering to not be in the picture so she took it for us:



After several hours of hanging out at the house, we ventured into town, and our good friend Linda made it to the bar with us. Marian was down for some Karaoke, and performed “Like a Prayer” by Madonna. Unfortunately, after that big number, we were pretty tired and called it a night.

Us and Linda at Klub K:


Like a Prayer in action:

“Zealandia”

First here is a picture of Marian in front of “Marian.”


Zealandia is a big piece of property in Wellington that has been seriously fenced off from outside predators, and over the last 10 years has been working to preserve a great wildlife sanctuary for native plants and animals. We were told their nocturnal walks were worth the visit so we finally made it out to see for ourselves. We were guided around the preserve, and first saw a video of how New Zealand has lost a lot of native plants and animals based on the arrival of humans to the Island, but how the Karori Sanctuary has a goal to restore that native existence as much as possible.

As we walked around we learned again about Kiwis (flightless, defenseless, nearly extinct creatures), Wetas (giant grasshoppers), Tuatara (reptiles from Dinosaurian ages), Tuis and other native birds. We were quite happy to spot a Kiwi feeding about 10 feet away from us on the tour. We watched for a good five minutes. Its pretty amazing to see a Kiwi in the wild at all, let alone for that long of a sustained time. We were also quite shocked to see a Tuatara out and about. The guide mentioned that the oldest known Tuatara is 110. We asked if his name was Henry. It was. You know you have lived in New Zealand for a while when you know the local Tuatara….

Because of the night tour and 'no flash' policy we didn't get too many pictures. So here is Weta:



After the tour we were going to get dessert but John was a little sicky, and we chose to save dessert for another time.

World Cup, American/Mexican Festivities

That Saturday after we left work Kat from WH invited us to the Germany vs. Argentina game. Simon from WH came along as well, and we went to a fun bar near Courtney Place. John got this fantastic photo of Simon and Kat leaving work looking their best on the way out:


Simon was quite social, and fairly quickly was floating around the bar, while we watched Germany punish Argentina in almost a painful 3-0 victory. We were later joined by James (Kat’s flatmate) and a few other friends.

Here are Marian and Kat:



The following morning we headed to the Sunday market as was the usual routine, got great deals on produce and left to the Hutt with Conrad for a July 4th celebration. Conrad and Wendy had collected all of their American friends, so along with John and I there was Dori and another wwoofing friend. Wendy and Conrad went all out, buying Budweiser for the big day (despite our warnings not to), and making a spicy salsa and corn chips. Here is Conrad feeling rather American by getting his Bud for the 4th:


While the Adams sat in another room discussing the details of their upcoming house purchase, we sat around with our American friends chatting it up. After the real estate discussions were done, Wendy treated us to a starter “tortilla Espanola,” now Marian was feeling particularly spoiled. We then had some Manuka honey Vodka mixed drinks, which were tasty and great, before heading down the street to a Mexican restaurant. Nothing says “Fourth of July” like great Mexican food. Here is Wendy hard at work preparing the dish:


At the restaurant, Marian became quite obsessed with the space heater – it was cold in there. We had a Margarita a piece and were offered Flautas to start. YUM! But John had to eat the flauta of one American who turned out to be a vegetariana. Evidently, you can’t eat chicken flautas if you don’t eat meat. Then we had our mains – the usual mess of enchiladas, tacos, tamales. Yum, yum all around!


To top the night off, Wendy drove us all the way into town to drop us off – curbside service – at the house. It was a great night, and it was awesome to celebrate Independence Day in the States in New Zealand with the Adams. Note: Conrad let us know that he had been walking around all day telling others, “Happy Fourth of July” much to the surprise and shock of several puzzled Kiwis. They were even more shocked when he asked how they anticipated celebrating. He was also giving out free coffees to all Americans at the market. We are pretty sure some sketchy Canadians got in there to take advantage. We told him next year to make them say the word “about” before giving coffee away.

RESTAURANTS!

On Sunday Two Souls’ boss lady Cherry treated Marian, John and the staff to “Yum Cha,” basically the equivalent of Chinese tapas. It was lovely and made Marian feel special! It was a thank you for Marian’s time with the restaurant. Marian is going to miss all her co workers and lovely bosses sooooo much!





On Sunday night we rented “Once Were Warriors,” a New Zealand film recommended to us. It was “okay,” but there were no superheroes and no science fiction so it wasn’t Marian and John’s favorite.

Monday we lazed around on our day off. On Tuesday, Marian was really excited to treat John to a night out at Two Souls. We had a delicious dinner! Bottle of wine, pumpkin gnocci, roti with lemon butter, steak and beef fillet! YUM!!! We were extremely full and extremely happy with Martin’s (head chef) delicious cooking. We then went and saw “Boy,” a New Zealand film that had been recommended to us. We thought it was “okay,” but since it had no science fiction or superheroes, wasn’t Marian or John’s favorite.

Here is Marian with her Koura Bay Pinot Noir:


Here is John:


Chanelle decided to decorate Marian with an 'I love you' banner:


Here we are together:


Now it is time for a week of work!!!