Stuff and Things + Accents on the Park - Take 1

As our faithful followers are aware, we missed last weeks blog entry...so, we've condensed the happenings into a short day by day recap to get everyone up to speed.

Day 1: Monday. blah, blah, blah...

Day 2: Tuesday. Theatre night with the flatmates, Moonlight Over Magnolias. The writing of the screenplay for Gone with the Wind. Interesting American accents.

Day 3: Wednesday. Work for John and wedding dress shopping time for Shannon with Kat (so there's no confusion...Kat and Jeff are getting married :). Followed by work stuff and movie night.

Day 4: Thursday. Work day turned into tramp day to the Marahau and Kenepuru Sounds. You thought your roads were windy. Nothing some honey soy chicken potato chips can't cure - seriously delicious. Set up camp at Nikau Cove. Dug for clams as well as found some mussels - fresh, sweet, quality seafood. We are now gatherers. Bastard marmot woke us up in the middle of the night...kazoo type noises...still no idea what it was. Possum?

Day 5: Friday. Queen Charlotte Sound, sheep. Picton - gem of a town - small inlet community we highly recommend. More sheep. Mussels at the Slip In in Havelock (green lip mussel capital of the world) - good, but not as good as ours. Johns shitty 6-pack challenge, booooo Carlsberg...still more sheep.

Day 6: Saturday. Kat's birthday. Mussel Fettuccine = brilliantly amazing (mussels were purchased in Picton out of the back of a truck) Jenga challenge with the kiwis, first time for John. More practice needed. Lots of  kiwi friends, beer drinking and good times. Movie time - Shannon asleep 5 minutes in. Weird.

Day 7: SUSHI Sunday. Started the day with the first breakfast including bacon in NZ! Search for the elusive sushezi, not today unfortunately.... using the flatmates sushezi we made the best sushi yet by far. Salmon, smoked chili mussels, avocado, scallions, carrot, capsicum...sriracha! Yummy.

Now that we're all caught up...heres what's been happening over the past week.

We spent our last day at the pimpin pad relaxing and enjoying all of the luxury and space that comes along with living in an actual house. Made pizza with the flatmates for our final meal, Pie #1 - seafood medley and Pie #2 - sausage, onion and mushroom paired with fresh herb garlic bread. Absolutely amazing...homemade pizza may soon become a weekly ritual as well.

Tuesday morning we packed up the Adventureship in anticipation of moving into Accents on the Park. A bit of a transition but nevertheless an exciting new chapter in our New Zealand life. After settling in and a brief meltdown (lack of closet space - okay - space in general) Shannon started her first day on the job. John being amazing surprised me with a bottle of champagne and handcrafted local chocolates from Kerstens (Yes, Carolyn and Mary, we will go when you are here) in celebration of my first day of work. Such a stud.

The week continued with work for both of us...very exciting that we are finally a little more set up to be able to continue on with the holiday. We caught our weekly movie - Hangover II - hilarious. Spent Friday night at the pimpin pad with our old flatmates...bacon (canadian style) carbonara and garlic bread...yum.

We spent Saturday morning at the WOW (World Of Wearable Art) Museum. A perk with the hostel job is being able to do tourist activities at a discounted rate or often times free. Something for free in NZ?...we never thought the day would come. A combination of a wearable art exhibition, handcrafted jewelery and other medium and a classic car showroom. The cars were real classics. John got into the '67 Mustang used in Bullit with Steve McQueen, that might mean more to those who are over 50 or have seen that movie. (Lorin and Jim H) There were a few Model A's, one used in the original Scarface. 3 Mini Coopers, from the original Italian Job were there as well as some amazing Jags, Cadys, and Ferraris, Dad you would have enjoyed these. The wearable art portion of the exhibit are samples from the prior years annual Brancott Estate World of Wearable Art Awards show. Artists create various costumes or textiles based on a specific theme - most of the costumes are developed using imaginative techniques and everyday objects (wine corks, plastic, formed metal etc). Besides finding THE ONE RING, the wow museum turned out to be not as WOW as we had hoped...crazy overpriced for what you get, glad it was free. Nevertheless, we made the most of our trip and enjoyed spending the day experiencing something new.

Last but not least...John's favorite part of the exhibit.

Thankfully he didn't disappear after that little stunt.

That's about it for now, stay tuned for next weeks update and more info on hostel life and brewery sales!