Sweet as what?

We can’t believe we’ve been here for 2 months! The time is just flying now and before you know it, we will be off to Oz. We have a really great story to share…. The other day I was browsing in a store here in Wellington, when a girl overheard me talking and after asking if I was from Canada or the US, asked if I knew what the size conversion was for North America. We spoke briefly about the difference in sizes when she asked where I was from…I always say that I’m from PEI, but when she replied that she was from Edmonton, I was so happy! Within 30 seconds, we had plans to go for drinks right then and there. Her and her boyfriend (Scott and Candy are their names) are travelling the world as well. The similarities between the two of us were scary…I can’t even get into the details because it just kept getting more and more bizarre. They have been together for the same amount of time as us, are travelling for 9 months, almost the same itinerary, AND left Edmonton on the same day and time as us (Nov 3/09)! So needless to say, we clicked and thoroughly enjoyed our drinks with them. They came back to our friends’ house for a BBQ and ended up staying with us for a couple of days (they slept in their campervan outside our house because we don’t have an extra bed). They both surf and many of their destinations are because of the surf, so with their extra surfboard and wetsuit, Scott taught Clem how to surf! When we arrived at the beach, Candy pulled out her bikini to wear which just happened to be the EXACT same one I had on under my dress that I bought at a small boutique in St. Albert. We had a good laugh over that one too! We had a beautiful day at Lyall Bay (where the surfers go in Wellington) and where Clem gave it his all! He was out for a while battling the waves and said it was one of the most physically challenging things he’s done. He didn’t get up this time (came damn close), but is determined to do so on his next go-round! I didn’t try surfing this time, but it is something I’ll be trying at some point in NZ or Oz. We had a great time with Scott and Candy and have plans to meet up with them again on our travels. Whether it is in Wellington again, Oz, SE Asia or Edmonton, we will see them again soon!

We also booked what we needed to for our roadie with Clem’s parents when they come at the end of this month. We have rented a car and are going to tour the east coast of the North Island for 6 days, which will include Napier, Gisbourne, Tauranga, Taupo and hopefully the Tongariro National Park (if the hike isn’t cancelled due to poor weather this time!). We will be back in Wellington for a weekend for the Rugby Sevens tournament and then are off to the South Island for a week to do some more exploring. We are going to spend that week around the northern areas of the South Island, which will include Nelson, Blenheim, Abel Tasman National Park, Marlborough Sounds and Kaikoura. We also just booked tickets for the Marlborough Wine Festival on Feb 13th with some of our Kiwi friends and are looking forward to that….it’s going to be O-some (“O” for “Awesome”).