Lindsey & Mark Come to Play

And finally the evening dawned..... and we searched the skies from our window for Lindsey and Mark's plane, doing our exercises in the lounge, trying to make sure we'd be fit and lean enough to tackle any energy sapping challenge they threw into our path.



And.....streeeetch. It's so beautiful...... woops missed the plane. They're here! - HUT HUT HUT move it people! After much dilly dallying at the airport (what do you mean the drop off entrance is shut?! That means we have to pay for parking!!) we took up station at the gate, and in they bounded, brown, blonde and beautiful, we felt positively dowdy & ginger in comparison. Welcome to New Zealand guys.....now er, we didn't bring a wallet and we have to pay for parking.. I don't suppose....brilliant. Thanks. Pay you back.
I'm seriously considering a career in wildlife photography after capturing this rare moment of intellectual conversation between Jamie and Lindsey. Drink it in.
Proof that god exists - seen here attempting to pick up Mark by the head using a long orange pin. It's like an orange on a toothpick!! This was taken as we dawdled into Wellington along the coast, after enjoying brunch on the deck at the surfclub, watching the ocean and the planes land - turns out Mark's a plane man, so he was happy.
As Mark pointed out (illustrated above - guffaw!) technically we were in the middle of the city, but surrounded by windurfers and sea birds having their own brunch of mussels.

Nearly there.... Oriental Beach in the background, the 'city beach' which has a big fountain in the water.
... a quickish stop for a beer in the sun, before the bus home. A nasty moment when Jamie realised he'd left our camera in the pub, but as you can see from the happy relieved faces below, he got it back.

Lindsey here practising her royal wave from the balcony, you can't see it from this pick but she was actually waving extra fast to burn off some more energy.

The silver fern ball, hovering outside the city gallery - which we didn't go into because it would mean standing still for at least a few seconds at a time......

Aw. Another rare moment captured - Lindsey and Mark sitting down.... we managed to tire them out....I thank yaw...
Next physical adventure: ten pin bowling, which none of us had done since we were about 10. An ideal outing for Lindsey - food followed by competetitive fun in small shorts.
A couple of greasy spoon burgers and a ginger beer, and the girls were raring to go.
Just psyching myself up to pick up a ball..... I did manage to throw one behind me into the crowd at one point, but Jamie soon set me straight. And no I didn't use the kiddies yellow guide thing, that was for Jamie!
Lindsey after she managed to pick up a ball. She's so easy to entertain!!
Oops dropped it. Quick someone give her a lolly!
Mark doing his usual RANT...sorry, chatter, to distract everyone from his score... heheheh.

And finally G, who made up for his score line with pure style.

Here we are folks- you're watching the expert, with my favourite flame orange ball.

Needless to say, the girls came out on top - Lindsey first (well she is taller - although she's also got a really bad back, so she really did show the rest of us up). Devasted, the boys refused to even speak to us the whole way home. Then we skipped round the supermarket, collecting ingredients for Lindsey's feast for the masses (and just in case anyone wants to recipe - that's one can of chickpeas each, one large cabbage and a fat free dressing).

It was fantastic to have our part Ozzie pals here, it's nice sharing experiences of being away from home, discussing (unless your a boy then it's RANTING) about the quaint differences between countries and cultures. We're looking forward to visiting Oz in June, particularly after we've confirmed they understand the concept of 'rounds' when in a pub - after a few expensive nights apparently gifting drinks to our kiwi mates we've had to re-think our drinking strategies. Flying to Oz would definitely be cheaper.

We do worry they work too hard, and hope that one day they'll cross the ditch to share the joys of Welly with us, sun, surf, shorter work hours, cheaper houses and most importantly, hills. To run up and down, and up and down, all day.