And we're off!

Just wanted to make a post to let everyone know that the time has come!! Me and Mol have managed to pack up all our stuff and have loaded up the civic! It was no small task---we have stuff hidden all over the house and needed an entire box just to put our UNEEDED shoes in. We brought SO MUCH stuff with us!! The majority of which will be kept here at Monowai storage while we go off around the north island. :).

For those of you who want to track our progress around the north, our first stop will be in Masterton (which is not even a 1.5 hour drive! But there's lots to see and we want to take our time seeing everything!). We'll probably only stay there for a night then it's off to Napier where we'll prolly stay for about a week or so. From there, we'll be playing it by ear. We are armed with every possible map of NZ, our pocket knives, and our camping gear---and are ready to have some good times!! We won't be in touch as much but we'll have our cell phones and will be able to update the blog every now and then. We plan to camp most nights but we'll definitely "splurge" on a hostel every now and then. And once we get to Auckland, we have a certificate to stay in the Hyatt Hotel courtesy of Mol's sis and hubby!

Take care!! Love and Miss you :)

A reminder about my cell phone--if you use an international calling card, the number (including the country code and stuff) to reach me is:
011 64 27 335 0824
Incoming calls are free but for us to dial out is whoa expensive! So for those of you who I've been able to call pretty often, you need to step it up the next 2 months :) Especially those of you who have the number to my calling cards!! They'll expire by the time I get back to the states so use 'em!!!

Molly has updated our pictues at http://photos.yahoo.com/mollyfoos

the new ones are under "New Welly"

Think left, think left, think left (side of the road that is)

Our new baby!!!
Come on Ash, do you think I would have forgotten about your picture??!! This one's for you dear!! :) (we had to take about 5 before molly could get her tough face on!) The swing bridge at Kaitoke---the freezing river below!
Our little Misty--who is currently snoozin on the couch as I type! She's going to be hard to leave behind! Even miss "i don't really like cats" (aka Molly) loves her!!! She's just a little one Ry!!!
Well, as you can see, WE DID IT!!! We got a car!! Our third visit to the auction proved to be successful and we drove away in our new Honda Civic! We are currently trying to come up with a name so if you have any suggestions, throw them this way! She's been good to us so far and we can only hope that she treats us well for the next 8 months or so. We had our first offical driving lesson last night courtesy of the one and only Sarah F :). She was a fabulous teacher and calmly explained everything to us---from making it through a roundabout safely to giving way to the correct cars from the correct directions. It's a bit weird driving on the "wrong" side of the road and I reckon it will take some getting used to (for example, the blinkers and the wipers are on opposite sides--) but it's awesome!

Hope everyone's Christmas was great. We had a great holiday over here--and were oh so spoiled! Sarah and Connor got us tons of cool camping stuff for our upcoming adventure, and sarah put lots of little treats in a stocking for us and put it on our pillows. When we turned down the covers to go to sleep, we were so surprised---there might have been tears in our eyes it was so cute! We had roast chicken and veggies for our x-mas eve meal and a big egg and bacon brekkie on x-mas morning. Of course it was tough being away from the fam, but it was a special holiday nonetheless. The day after x-mas we had a special little visitor that I'm sure someone brought to us to fill the animal void we've had in our lives lately. This cute little kitty ran into the house and has hardly left since. She belongs to the neighbors but I'm pretty sure she is here more then there. We've named her Misty (even though the neighbors call her LuLu :) ) and she was just what we needed to fill that little void we had! She's been sleeping at the foot of our bed through the night and she plays with us every day after work (she's really entertaining!).

On Boxing Day (day after x-mas), we went to Kaitoke with all the flatties and had our first new zealand camping experience. The park was beautiful and we spent time swimming in the FREEZING river, lounging on the rocks, and playing frisbee! It was a nice little getaway.

We have recently got our sleeping bags and our tent!!! We were super excited about this and wasted no time in setting it all up! As soon as we got home, the tent went up in the living room! We love it!

Now that January has rolled around, so also has the summer festivities in Welly. They have heaps of free events going on around the city that we are pumped about. This weekend we went to a beach volleyball pro tour that was going on at the city beach. Some of the teams were awesome and it was lots of fun to watch!! The American girls team actually made it to the finals. Crazy. There is also live music going on for the next month or so in the botanical gardens (which also has a sepcial light show going on).Rreally looking forward to an X-games type event going on at the waterfront and a graffetti competition. We also have a fabulous, luxurious, getaway to look forward to thanks to the parentals and big bro! We are SO excited about our upcoming massages and manicures! Not to mention our stay in an awesome hotel, complete with dinner and breakfast the next morning! Do you think the hotel staff will believe that we really are backpackers!!!???

JULES and JARROD are coming in Thursday and we can't wait! HURRY UP AND GET HERE GUYS!!!

That's all from here for now (even though I feel like there is SO much more! Sorry for slacking with the blog!) Only 7 days left of work and not many more here at 29a.

love and miss you guys!