Wainuiomata and the Dutch experience

Emily and I have been in the Wainuiomata, Moores Valley region for the past two weeks, staying with Nicole and Titus, both originally from the Netherlands. They live 20 min outside of Wellington, which is the capital of New Zealand. Nicole runs a company called Body FX, a body paint/prosthetic operation, which is the biggest in New Zealand. She has worked on several movies, plays and special events over the years in NZ and internationally as well. We became Nicole's blank canvass on a few occasions and we have put some of these experiences below. Some of the highlights of our time here have been John's 25th birthday and Bon Jovi concert, Paua fishing with a local, drinking homemade beer and eating home grown lamb to name a few.

Windmill that titus built, reminds him of the Netherlands

Magic doves painted with food coloring, gives them a tropical bird look

Emily holding her first lamb in NZ. Titus raises a few sheep at a time, some for food and others for pets.

Vodka, the jack russell terrier with a big under bite

Rooster and chickens, this guy woke us up each morning around 6am

Emily at the Wellington National Museum. This massive bird used to roam all of NZ, with the equally massive eagle being its main predator.

Colossal squid specimen at the museum, these creatures live in the Antarctic ocean and are hunted by sperm wales. This specimen was accidentally caught by some Japanese fishermen.

Downtown Wellington

Maori carving at the museum

John with Delbi the dog, on a nature walk with Titus. Only a stone throw away from where they filmed a good chunk of the Lord of the Rings films.

Birthday boy before the Bon Jovi concert

Emily enjoying the local cider

At Westpac stadium

Bon Jovi, we got our seats for $67 NZ each, pretty good

What is left of the sheep once John and Titus were done slaughtering it.

Talk about fresh sheep, from the yard to the kitchen in under 1 hour. We ate some of the ribs a few days later and they were delicious. John and I are definitely considering raising a few sheep following that sheep feed, so good.

A fence that we built

Delbi helping out with the gardening

Our hosts garden, the netting prevents the doves from getting in and the fence keeps the sheep out.

Eal, a Maori delicacy. Some 12 yr old boys from across the way caught this for Titus. Sure enough, we ate it for dinner, looked like a white fish and tasted not bad.

Emily with Alex, a family friend of our host who tool us Paua fishing. Paua is similar to abalone, a sort of clam/mussel. We went snorkeling around some rocks off the coast and chizzled the paua free. We then made a bon fire on the beach and cooked them in their shells, they have a similar taste to Calamari, very cool. Paua shells are very popular here especially for making jewelery out of.

Cooking the Paua

Let the Lion transformation begin. Phase #1

Nicole doing what she does best

Phase #2

Is that John or is that a mean old Lion arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Emily's turn.

Emily the Lioness

I could really go for some gazelle right about now arrrr haha

Following our sporting effort with the Lion make over, Nicole asked Emily if she would become a Christmas table Lady. Emily was paid to hand out candy to people at a mall. She was wearing roller blades, giving the effect that she was floating. 3hrs of work earned her a cool $150

Emily with some face painting ferries. The one in the purple is Nicole's daughter Myrthe

Emily spreading Christmas cheer to all

Emily and I are heading to the south island on Monday the 12th. We will take the interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton, a journey of 3hrs. Once on the south island, we will do the abel tasman hike, which will take us between 3-5 days and then following that we will make our way to Christchurch for Christmas. We wish we could be home for the holidays, we miss you all quite a bit right about now. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, we will be thinking of you all. Enjoy the cold suckers haha just jk . Kind of missing the snow right now. Take care for now