Hey guys!

fall is here!
freaking cold...a bit rainy, yet still beautiful. we should be used to it being from the northwest anyway right? but we did go from summer to summer...so we are in a bit of a shock.
we are still Internet, phone and t.v. free in our teeny weeny flat. so we apologise for the absolute lack of communication. it has been very interesting living without those three things that we have become so accustomed to, and a bit dependant on. Especially when you are all so far away and the computer is our life line.
Jobs are going well. Pauly is kicking ass at data entry, and I am finding my niche at Trelise Cooper...getting really good at multi tasking.
looking forward to a nice Oregon summer. Hopefully you are enjoying the spring, look for tulips for me!
Happy Spring.
Love you all
~s&p

still alive

hey people~
well despite popular opinion, we are still alive and working in Auckland. the last whirlwind weeks have seen us starting new jobs and getting settled into our adorable studio flat. did we mention we share a bathroom with two others? kinda like being back at UPS in the dorms. So far we haven't had to wait too long to get a shower, and the water is usually hot. what more could you ask for right?
last night we drove out to the north shore to pick up our new bed! happy to be up off the floor! I will try to take some pictures of the building and flat for you all to see.
missing you all very much and hoping that your lives are full and happy. cant wait to be in them again!
all our love,
s&p

good news!!!

hey guys!
great news, paul and I have both found work! I am at Trelise Cooper! Hooray! And paul is kicking serious ass at ASB (new zealand bank). Also, we have found a darling little apartment and are mostly moved in. Although we are reluctant to move out of the Parkinson's home, we are excited to have a little honeymooner pad.
This week has been absolutely frantic! between moving and starting new jobs, and sewing my brains out on curtains, patchwork quilt, and pillows....we have both been bad about checking e-mail and blog. so please forgive us, and know that we are thinking of you all and will respond as soon as we get more than three seconds to do so.
ok. cheers!
xoxoxo, s&p

oh how we miss you

how wonderful it is to hear from you all. it makes me smile with slight tears to read your sweet comments and words.
we still have no word on jobs yet...very very long aaster holiday weekend here! most people get fri,sat,sun and monday off! so frustrating!

ok, just heading to crawl in with that beautiful man i married.
love you people, a lot!

goodnight,
s

huntin!

well guys&girls ~

we so love your comments on the blog! ny and ha-bay we love you too! and miss you more than you know!
we are in the process of job hunting right now. While the job market is exceptionally favorable for the seeker, as there are more jobs available than people to fill them at the moment, we are going to be quite particular with the kind of work that keeps us here. We have both agreed that if we find great resume boosting employment we will hang around for a while longer. However, if all we can find is retail/customer service/hospitality work then we will head home. Yes home! god we just miss you people! so as you can imagine home is sounding pretty good. Sarah has a job prospect in the works that we should know about fairly immediately. And now is looks as though P may also have some work at ASB (banking) as a temp. So we will keep you all posted. Promise.
ok, all our love to the people!
Sare&pocket

working in Q-town

Paul- very serious bartender, working at the bar at alpine village. our wonderful friend Matt manages this hotel and gave us a free room and some work for a week or so. work included housekeeping and bar tending. AND we got free meals out of the deal! you couldn't ask for a better host.

still at alpine village, this is our view...not too shabby!

the beautiful hotel we were fortunate enough to be able to clean, and sleep next to. an extraordinary place, and they the new Wolverine movie crew is staying there at the moment

shotover river&skippers canyon

the most pristine and clear river we have ever seen. and they are allowed to run these jet boats up an down. terrifying to watch them almost slam into the rocks. we later learned that last year there were two deaths that happened while engaged in this activity
skippers canyon...so scary! there were several signs of danger warnings as we were entering the canyon. we made it half way down and had to turn around because we had no 4-wheel drive. passing two suv's and rafting buses on our way up, edging our way around about two inches from the cliff! put a little hair on our chests

we enter queenstown

queenstown views from the lake beach

this little seagull is much prettier than the ones we are used to pretty and ancient stone cottage outside of queenstown

sunset in Haast

beautiful Haast...south island west coast town
enormous boulders, breathtaking river, killing paul that he couldn't stand to fish it due to all the swarming sand flies

west coast views

sarah^ paul^

sarah and paulie in car form

antique car heaven

another beautiful coastal view

wellington&picton

< harry potter tribute at the wellington railway station

^paulie in our teeny-weeny hostel room. sooo loud!

our sweet little pop-top trailer in Picton. this is the town at the northern tip of the south island. we wished we could stay in a pop-top every night. Beautiful view of the water, nice cozy and quiet atmosphere, even creatively inspirational.

One last chance to fish while in Napier...then off on the open sea to the south island. These pictures are from Windy Wellington - what you ask? No pictures of the 3 hour ferry ride. Maybe because we slept - the whole way through fighting the rolling seas with a little Dramamine!

car campin in Napier

back in Napier, this time we are out of $, and decided to try camping in our new car, Mitsi......it was very cozy


Nice view!

random N.Z. moments

s&p with darren and renee on the west coast.
sue and steve, photographed by Miss Alex Parkinson
paulie and Alex hamming it up

beautiful waihi beach

this place has become our little NZ version of Port Townsend. A getaway, cheap and charming place to stay and surf for a couple of days. or in Paul's case, catch a fish right off the beach.

sleepy in Christchurch

well all~
we have spent the last two nights in Christchurch at the lovely Colette Parkinson's and her fiance Matt's beautiful house.
while paulie and I were in Dunedin we wandered into the old train station to check out the fashion week shows that were taking place. while I was inquiring about the sold out show, p heard a familiar voice. He turned around to discover that it was colette! The parkinson's eldest daughter. small world! anyway, she reached into her bag and pulled out her house key, insisting that we stay over at their house in christchurch, despite them not being here. This is just another example of how absolutely good and generous these people are.
so, today we are leaving the comfort of their home headed north to picton. We will stay there for another night, hopefully in the same pop-top trailer we got last time. then, at 8am tomorrow morning we will catch the ferry back to the north island.
We anticipate getting back to auckland in about 5days or so. But one never really knows when they are travelling with paul, the avid fisherman. We may find a cozy little stream, chocked full of enormous trout, and get waylayed for another week!
Missing you all very much!
xoxoxo, S&P

Still in Queenstown

Hey all~
Still in queenstown. Loving it, doing some housekeeping and tending bar. So much fun, and such a beautiful place.
You are all in our thoughts,
S&P

South Island Tours!

Hi all! Sare and I have been travelling the south island for the last two weeks, and we still unfortunately have no pictures to show you quite yet. Left the cord again in Auckland with Stephen, big mistake.

We made it to Queenstown last night, and found a nice bed at a holiday park. So nice, that we have decided to stay on another night and catch up with some Scottish friends we met while up in Keri Keri.

Sare and I both agree that the south island of New Zealand is the most beautiful and dramatic place we have ever seen. Alps coming directly out of the yellow sand beaches 2000 meters up. Crystal clear glacial rivers and seemingly untouched wilderness...filled with sandflies - the only drawback.

Our next stop will be Dunedin, then Christchurch, and back up the west coast of the North Island. Sadly we then move on to our biggest quest of all, trying to find jobs in a foriegn country in our respective fields. Should be interesting. Will be updating you hopefully soon, if not, see you all in a few weeks when we get back to Auckland. Look forward to lots of pictures!

Love S and P

beautiful Napier

katie eats a falafel in Napier, highlight of our day!

march of the trilbies

camping in clive

This beautiful spot was outside of Napier. We couldnt afford to stay in Napier for two nights, so we saved a bit of moolah by camping at the back of this little holiday park. Pretty beautiful view in the evening to the sea, and the pretty little tributary that lead into it.

Napier Architecture

Napier, an ocean front town on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. This town suffered a massive earthquake in 1931, where huge fires consequently burned down a large chunk of the city. Because of the period of architecture that was popular at the time, Art Deco, the majority of the buildings rebuilt at that time were of this style.

kate, inside of one of the hundreds of art deco buildings