Golden Bay to Buller Gorge

After the beautiful weather we had for the Abel Tasman visit things turned south for sure.  Low lying clouds came along with wind and rain as we headed northwest to "Golden Bay".  It was beautiful and we only wish the weather had obliged!

This would be "Cape Farewell" the northern most part of the South Island...pretty cool!

We thought that this lone random tree was pretty amazing!

As we drove out, we saw this sign and with interest followed until we had a view of "Old Man" rock.

From this point on it's pretty much scenery!

This is "Buller Gorge" and the longest swingbridge in New Zealand

Westport to Wellington

We said goodbye to Paul, Mollie and Lilah in Westport as they continued their drive down the west coast of the South Island and we hooked up with the Turners from Castlerock, Colorado and toured the Westport area!

After a few hours of touring we jumped on our little plane and flew back to Wellington!  Wow, the scenery on the flight was amazing!  Ann sort of liked the pilot!

The savagery of harvesting all the timber from the hilltops!

The beauty of the peaks just to the southeast

Then the amazing beauty of the inlets and islands that form the top of the south island before crossing the Cook Strait into Wellington

Then as we were just leaving the inlets off in the distance...and I mean distance, about 200km or 120 miles you could see the top of Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont) projecting above the clouds...STUNNING!

Christmas 2012

Our trip to the south island this year took us through Timaru and they were all set for Christmas

We had another great Christmas this year.

You can see below that Kirkcaldies had their windows all decorated

We love the Pohutukawa and it was out on the plates....

It's out on the tree's...

and we found this in a shop and purchased for Ann!

Our special Christmas gift this year was the arrival of Paul, Mollie and "Miss Lilah"!

Oh, and we did have a little celebration....

We had this group over for dinner...Elders Ross, Fonua, Alofipo, Leendretz, Christensen & Sartorelli and Sisters Taleni & Tuifelasai

 Then Elders Heinricks & Hemi with Elder Sartorelli

Our Christmas day was quiet and Chelsea joined us for a nice little dinner!

A few weeks prior to Christmas, the Wellington Ward had a picnic in the park and it was a lot of fun.

Bishop Rawiri was the head chef

These young ladies know how to enjoy an icecream cone!

Mia had a good time

What in the world are the Elders doing here????

At least they had heaps of fun!