Round the Bays 2011

On my birthday we again participated in the Wellington "Round the Bays" 7K walk with our friends the Hoggs and Sheppards. Matt took his camera so these photos are all courtesy of him - thanks Matt! It was a beautiful day - warm and still which is unusual for Wellington. It was so warm in fact that along the way people would hose us down to cool everybody off. 

After the race we waited in line with 12,000 of our closest friends to catch the shuttle bus back into town. Needless to say by the time we got there we were all quite hungry - so the Sheppards joined us for pizza and then we had a lovely stroll along the waterfront to the gelato store.

We were quite entertained on our walk as there were lots of people jumping off of bridges and buildings and whatnot into the water. The girls also had fun with one of the sculptures down by the harbor.

It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday - Wellington pulled out one of her stellar days, the kind where I have to wonder if there is any better place to live in the world, I am grateful. I also had a lovely evening the night before as the Hoggs and Sheppards had us all over for a delicious birthday dinner. I think this is going to be a great year. xx

Gone Fishin'

Katie had EOTC week last week at school - EOTC stands for "Education Outside the Classroom". She got to do all sorts of fun things including sailing, rollerblading, swimming and fly-fishing. She liked the fishing best! Here she is with the 800-something gram rainbow trout she caught, well done Katie!

Christchurch Earthquake

Thank you to all who are concerned for us after the latest earthquake in Christchurch, we are all fine. We do know people in Christchurch though and our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Click here for some photos and here for a visual of the earthquake and after-shocks.

Cricket at Tablelands 2011

We were invited to "A weekend of cricket and family revelry" with Rob and Liz, Alex, Hettie and Hugh the weekend of the 12th of February. The invitation alone was a masterpiece - and the event was looked forward to by all of us for weeks! The invitation promised "pony rides, face painting, swimming, treasure hunts, candy floss (cotton candy), Morris dancing and plenty of on-call food and drinks" for the children, and the adult schedule was as follows:

Friday 11th February

6:00 pm

Cocktails at Palliser Estate

A pre-match warm up for early arrivals

Saturday 12th February

10:00 am

Morning Tea

11:00 am

Country XI vs Town XI

A chance for Town XI to restore their reputation

12:00 noon - 2:00 pm

Lunch

3:00 pm

Afternoon Tea

4:30 pm

Stumps

5:00 pm

Guests leave to change for dinner, children under 16 leave for the day

6:00 pm

Cocktails

During which time The AJ Ponsioen trophy will be awarded to the winning captain.

7:30 pm

Dinner

Fine dining courtesy of Ruth Pretty

Dinner will be followed by bands and entertainment until the last player is out.

Sunday 13th February

9:30 onwards

The Morning After

Brunch, coffee and Panadol

Sadly we missed the Friday festivities because our nanny got very sick and we had to hustle to find someone who could travel with us. Sweet Hannah Barnes saved the day and stepped in, but she couldn't leave until Saturday morning. We arrived a little before lunch, in time to hear famous New Zealand poet Sam Hunt give his first performance of the day - do you call it a performance? Or a reading (even though he wasn't reading, he was speaking)? Anyway, he is quite a character and it was very entertaining! We also got to hear a great band called The Waratahs play.

After that we wandered over to the cricket to see how the game was going. I stepped in a tent to grab a drink and saw the Morris dancers.

You can click on the photos to make them larger - but this is Lloyd at bat.

These lovely ladies were wandering around.

The girls had disappeared to their activities immediately on arrival but they did eventually show up to see when lunch would be served, Ellie thoroughly enjoying having a sugary drink in each hand.

Katie showing off the candy from the lollipop maze:

I didn't get any photos of lunch but it was amazing - we had many stations of delicious food to choose from and everyone ate and watched the play on the field. After lunch there were several entertainment options for those who might not be content to watch the cricket all day. . . so I headed first to two cooking classes by New Zealand author, food writer and celebrity chef, Julie le Clerc.

We got to watch her prepare several dishes, and even better we got to sample them and take home the recipes! The picture below is Julie with the weekend caterer, Ruth Pretty.

Meanwhile outside there was a bit more Morris dancing.

Then I meandered over to the Bordeaux tasting. Dugald spent most of the day watching cricket and Hannah was taking great care of the girls, so it was a lovely chance for me to just do my own thing and I loved it! Sadly I cannot remember the guy's name for the wine tasting but he was an expert flown over from New York City and not only did we taste some amazing wines (compliments of Rob's cellar), but we learned a lot too. Funnily enough Lloyd attended this tasting with me - even though the cricket game was still going on and he was  meant to be fielding. He caught a bit of flack for it at the awards ceremony later.

When it was time to take the girls home they were all given sacks with toys and dinner inside. Here they are in our motel room eating with Hannah.

After a quick shower and change Dugald and I caught one of the shuttles that had been organized to get guests back and forth from town to the farm. We arrived to some delicious appetizers, I took lots of pictures of the food but I still didn't get all of it.

The award ceremony was a lot of fun. The players all looked sharp in their cricket jackets and of course there was a lot of trash talking about the other teams. Here is Ridd, he managed the Country team.

Rob holding the AJ Ponsioen trophy before it was presented to the winning team - which was the Country XI team this year. Again.

After the awards we all headed over to dinner - amazing food, amazingly beautiful decor.

Dave Dobbyn was the evening entertainment, another famous Kiwi.

Buses and shuttles ran back and forth all night delivering guests to their accommodation, which meant you could party as hard and as late as you wanted. I made it until about 11, what an animal!

The next morning we returned for a scrumptious brunch on the lawn before heading home with some very special memories. Thank you so much Rob and Liz!!

Hugh got a little dehydrated and required a bit of medical attention - he was told to relax, keep cool and drink water so he, Andrew and Rob retired to the playroom to watch some rugby on tv. Don't they look miserable?

Finally saying our goodbyes and taking some coffee and hot chocolate with us for the road.

We had such a fun weekend, I wish I had taken more photos but I guess I was too busy enjoying myself. There were hundreds of Morrisons and Howards present which guaranteed a good time for all. I'm sure Dugald and I will throw a similar party on our next significant birthday - keep an eye out for your invites in 2018. 

Lots of love to all  - Dx