Last week my friend Tom Buchok and I took a road trip around the South Island. It was a trip for the ages. Our agenda was light and our expectations were high. It was an absolute blast.
Read Tom’s initial thoughts about New Zealand below.
New Zealand will live up the high expectations that you’ve heard so much about. By the sheer fact that New Zealand lives up to the hype, means that even the highest of expectations were underrated.
Few things in life are like this — LeBron James, for instance, lived up to the impossible hype…
A few weeks ago Shannon and I traveled to Queenstown with our good friends Matt and Lindsay. When we first visited the South Island in August we were totally wiped out by the time we made it to Queenstown - so Shannon and I were really excited to have another go at it.
The trip was a total blast. We spent a day going to Milford Sound, explored nearby Arrowtown and relaxed around Queenstown. Matt and Lindsay were great to travel with as well.
A huge thanks to Lindsay for filming our trip and putting together the really cool video. Hope you enjoy.
Last Saturday Shannon and I went to the Coldplay concert with a few friends! Shannon bought tickets for my birthday - so we have been looking forward to this for almost a month.
After an afternoon BBQ at Matt and Lindsay’s house, we lucked into some fancy transportation from our friend Megan’s dad. We felt like royalty pulling up to a Coldplay concert in a limo.
Nothing like a little Gangnam Style to get you ready for a concert…
So excited! Loving this birthday present.
Patiently waiting an hour for beer..
They handed out wristbands that lit up during the concert. It brought the whole place to life!
Throughout the concert there were balloons, fireworks, lazers, wristbands and confetti. It was awesome.
The band sounded great live. They had heaps of energy. It seemed like every song was a sing-a-long!
I think my favorite song of the night was “Fix You” (expect for the annoying girl singing next to me… check the 4:25 mark in the video. Ha!).
It was a great concert. We have been listening to Coldplay non-stop for the past few days! Wish we could do it all again. GREAT BIRTHDAY GIFT SHANNON!
Coldplay was the perfect concert to check another thing off our bucket list!
I’m so excited to share this! Last weekend I ran in the Auckland Half Marathon.
This was my third half marathon and it was so amazing doing it in New Zealand! I was so excited to be a part of it all, out there running with thousands of Kiwis.
The run started in Devonport on the North Shore and looped around, ending downtown Auckland near the harbor. I kept my Nike app open on my phone so I could show my route during the race:
I snapped a few pictures along the way to show, the course was beautiful!
Sunrise start, 7 am, raring to go..
..through Devonport, so many people! I felt really good the first half and was so pumped to be running a half marathon in New Zealand.
This is where things started to get a bit tough… New Zealand is very hilly and the race was full of long, steep hills. Needless to say, my legs were definitely hurting!
Running over the Auckland Bridge was for sure one of the coolest parts of the run. The Auckland Bridge is a ginourmous and is about .6 miles long. There are 8 lanes of traffic and all but one was closed down for the run!
Once over the bridge we looped around the Viaduct Harbor. This is where I saw Kyle!
My amazing team at Lululemon was there in full force with their cheer squad. I loved seeing them along the way!
Post-race, finally done!
My official time was 1:56:32 and I’m happy to say I hit my goal of finishing under 2 hours. I was hoping for a bit better but hey, don’t we all? I loved running this race and was so excited to be a part of it!
This post is a little delayed, we apologize for our delinquency!
A couple weekends ago Kyle and I spent a long weekend out on Great Barrier Island. To get there we took a looong ferry ride (4 1/2 hrs!) but it was well worth the trip.
The island was super remote and we didn’t get any cell service and it was wonderful. We stayed in the main “town” and there was a school, convenient store and a 4x4 ft library.
The plan was to have no plan, and it was awesome. We stayed at this quirky little bach right off the water and pretty much just relaxed all weekend.
The first night we got there we pulled out some bean bags for happy hour on the deck. It was the perfect spot to watch a sunset!
I forgot how much I loved bean bags.
The following day it rained most of the morning, but when it finally cleared we headed to one of the many beaches on the island.
Sadly it was REALLY windy and we did our best to tough it out, but one can only deal with sand in your teeth and whipping on your legs for so long. We hid behind a big mound of sand and covered ourselves in towels before calling it quits!
We tried.
The day we left was beautiful and we drove out to check out the rest of the island. The scenery was just stunning and the water was crystal clear!
Pretty crazy looking out and from this point the next thing you’d see would be South America.
At work I’m in charge of putting together the marketing emails that go out and notifications when new product comes in. As a result I take a ton of pictures of people doing yoga. Kyle wanted have his turn and take my picture:
And his best attempt:
Thinking about using this one for the next lululemon email. Thoughts?
Great Barrier Island is beautiful and we had an amazing weekend. Nice to really get away! Although Kyle may argue about that ferry ride..
On our ferry ride to Great Barrier Island we had a surprise visitor! Although he only stayed with us for a few minutes, this was definitely the closest I’ve ever been to a wild dolphin. Very cool!
This past year has been incredible, and we have done and experienced so my amazing things.
From moving to New Zealand to skydiving to trying oysters for the first time, I love taking on the world with you and seeing how much we both have grown.
You have been my best friend, roommate, and partner in crime and I love having you right by my side.
I love the person that you are and am so proud of all that you’ve accomplished.
Road trip! Or more like boat trip. This weekend Kyle and I are going to Great Barrier Island. I lucked into another 3 day weekend at work and we decided to take full advantage!
Great Barrier Island is a 4 1/2 hour ferry ride off the coast of
Auckland. The island is very remote so it sort of feels like we’re heading off to the cabin. It supposed to be beautiful out there with some great beaches, and we’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend!
Speaking of American, Kyle and I did something really American yesterday- we went to Denny’s. It was everything we dreamed of and more.
A few months ago Kyle and I played on an Ultimate Frisbee team with some friends. We decided to get together for a team banquet before the summer season and settled on a pancake breakfast banquet at Denny’s. Classic.
While it definitely wasn’t the same as I remember, all the classic American breakfasts were on the menu (say what, bottomless coffee??). But then again pretty sure the last time I went was with my Grandma when you could still smoke in restaurants..
It was a fun morning full of pancakes, syrup, bananas and fake sausages. We were quite the rowdy bunch and somehow I think Denny’s was the perfect choice!
A few weeks ago Shannon and I returned an old favor and had our Indian friends over for dinner.
If you remember, back in June we were invited to my friend Dinesh’s apartment for an authentic Indian meal. We posted about it here.
It took us nearly 4 months, but we finally organized a time for an “authentic” American meal. This was an excuse for Shannon (with a little help from me) to make all of our favorite dishes! Well, there was one important condition - Dinesh and his friends are Hindi and don’t eat meat. So I guess it was an authentic vegetarian American meal!
For our guests it was a night of firsts:
- First guacamole tasting (not technically ‘American’ but close enough)
- First spinach artichoke dip
- First veggie burger
- First American Beer (Miller)
- First Apple Crisp (Dinesh has never had pie either!)
- First homemade chocolate chip cookies!
Other dishes we served: grilled cheese & tomato soup, mac & cheese and salad. (They were quick to point out how we LOVE cheese.)
Of all their firsts, my favorite was “first time being invited to another persons home for an authentic foreign meal.” They were gracious guests and were extremely flattered by our hospitality. Their appreciation was heart warming.
Growing up in America I never really thought much about our traditions and culture. It was always just normal. Seeing the evening through their eyes made me realize how our culture isn’t “just normal”, it’s American - no better or worse than other cultures, but it is ours.
Dinesh’s friendship means a lot to Shannon and I. He enthusiastically opens our eyes to another culture and way of life. As a result, we reflect on our American upbringing and have garnered a fresh perspective of the place we call home.
Overall, American night was a great success! Great food and even better company!
