Adventures in New Zealand

Canada, Xmas, New Years, Wedding and Honeymooooning! What an Adventure!

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:17:00 +0000

Feb 18th, 2012

Thought I would share some photos of our return to New Zealand! As everyone knows we are newlyweds! ...and if you didn't, well we just got married! The past few months has been an amazing whirlwind of chaos and excitement. Some of this chaos and excitement includes but not limited to:

1) Planning a wedding from New Zealand

2) My work contract coming to an end

3) Flying home to Canada for five weeks

4) Seeing and everyone we have not spent time with in the last two years

5) Xmas and New Years

6) Wedding tasks (it is amazing how many things there are to do...right down to picking the color of the ribbion on the cake)

7) GETTING MARRIED

8) Traveling back to New Zealand

All of this fun, chaos and excitement left us needing a vacation from our vacation - a honeymoon maybe?!

So that is what we decided to do. A honeymoon in the Bay of Islands:) We stayed in a little town called Paihia which is one of the areas of early settlements for the Europeans in New Zealand. We spent 7 days relaxing by the pool, eating fancy meals, reading and just enjoying each others company! Devon and I did manage to explore Russell which is a victorian-styled town that has one of the first churches built in New Zealand. It's still sporting bullet holes from the wars between the settlers and the Maori war tribes! We also visited grounds of Waitangi which hold historical meaning because of the treaty that was signed here in 1840 between the English and the Maori chiefs, among other things. The grounds have several historical homes, meeting houses, and Maori carvings. One of our highlights of the trip was a fabulous dinner cruise our wedding party surprised us with. We had an amazing meal on the Waitangi river during sunset!

Now, onto our third year in New Zealand our blog is not as active as it once was. We love to share pictures and stories with our family and friends but also is a way for us to keep records and memories of our adventures! So stay tuned as we will continue to share our adventures in the future whether it is from New Zealand or anywhere else in the WORLD:)

Love

The Wallaces

xoxoxoxoxo

Rugby World Cup how we LOVE you!

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:47:00 +0000

October 15th, 2011

Well for the last four weeks we have had had the privilege of experiencing an AMAZING atmosphere all courtesy of Rugby World Cup 2011! The first kick off was September 9th and now even as I write this post Devon has his eyes glued on the semi final game Wales vs France.

The last few weeks we have also had my little sister Christina here to experience the rugby craziness! Don't take our word for it...ask Chris...this country is RUGBY CRAZY! I have loved having my sister here to experience New Zealand and while she was not just here for rugby it sure added some fun events to her visit.

All the cities in New Zealand are decorated to the nines with world flags, all the TV commercials are about the pride of New Zealand, and never have I seen so many people organizing their weekends around when the next game is. With Christina, Devon and I first went to England vs Romania played in Dunedin. Christina and I then made our way to Wellington to watch CANADA vs New Zealand...which was amazing to say the least. While Canada got their buts kicked VERY badly we still had an amazing time. Down in Dunedin Devon and a few of his mates enjoyed the Ireland vs Italy game.

We thought we would share some of the rugby fever:)

They always told us we would eventually see snow is Dunedin....

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:01:00 +0000

July 24th, 2011

In Dunedin they get one really good snow storm ever couple of years. We have seen a few flakes of snow here and there since we have been here but it doesn't stay on the ground. Well today....we had snow....a lot of snow:) It stayed on the ground and cause a bit of chaos....

So Devon and I headed out (on foot) to the steepest streets we could think of near our house to watch the people of Dunedin drive!!!! We got a very good show and so did the hundreds of other rubberneckers out to see what excitement they could find. Hope everyone is Canada is enjoying their summer....here is a bit of our winter we want share with you! Enjoy:)

Car Pinball!

Gotta love the rubberneckers:)

Devon always camera ready

Driveways should have guard rails!

AB enjoying the view!

No one wanted the fence there anyway!

Great to see the passengers working for once!

If I could just fly home for the weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Life Lessons

You may have thought I didn't see,Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.
Perhaps you thought I missed it all,And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.
Without you, Dad, I wouldn't beThe women I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.
I've grown up with your values,And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.By Joanna Fuchs

Today is Fathers Day...well actually in New Zealand it is not Father's Day until September!!! So lucky for my Dad there is two days of the year that I call and wish him a Happy Father's Day! I was looking though photos of my Dad and I in the past few years, there is a very common trend ....we are always smiling, joking around, and just having fun:) I can't remember a time in my life in which my Dad wasn't there for me....good situation or bad I could and still could always call my Dad. I miss and love you everyday and I am counting down the days until I can dance with you at my wedding!!! xoxo

Grandfather-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandpas are short on criticism and long on love.
~Author Unknown

This weekend is also my Grandpa's 75th birthday. From the bottom of my heart I wish you a Happy Birthday!!! I am such a lucky girl to have my Grandpa as a big part of my life. I have so many memories in my life that include my Grandpa and the newest ones are of my Grandpa and Grandma coming to visit New Zealand! I hope that you are spoiled today by all the people who love and admire you so much! I wish I could be there to celebrate the amazing father, husband, grandpa, and now great grandpa you are in so many of our lives. Love you xoxoxoxo
My Sister
I'm so blessed you're my sisterAnd also my best friendIf I ever want to borrowYou always gladly lend
When I need a laugh or twoI just give you a ringYou have this special knackTo say the right thing
You are so very specialAlways there for meIf I didn't have you sisHow different life would be
Laughter and tears we've sharedThroughout many yearsAnd so many tiimesYou have banished my fears
I love you so very muchThis I just want to sayYou brighten my lifeIn so many different ways

This weekend was also my little sisters 24th Birthday! See what I mean...a weekend that was so full of events to celebrate:) My sister is truly my best friend and one of the people I miss the very most being on the other side of the world. Christina is always one of the first people I turn to for advice and to tell exciting news! I am so excited for all the stories we will share and create together in the years to come...especially our New Zealand rugby adventure in less then 3 months! xoxo

Kickin' it in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:48:00 +0000

Monday, June 13

Did you know Sydney is home to over 4.5 million people!? Yeah, I sure didn't.. Anyway, AB and I headed over to Sydney for 5 days in late May to walk around aimlessly and do the tourist thing. AB was also excited to show me around her old stomping grounds.

So we touched down in Sydney late Tuesday morning and an hour later our bags were at the hotel and we were off exploring! Public transit was just like New York with trains running at all hours and anywhere you needed to go. We went full tourist this time around as I carried my big camera around my neck stopping every few yards to snap off some photos while AB was in and out of every shop along the way. Progress was slow but thorough as we wondered the streets of the CBD.

I can get long winded in my blog entires, so I've taken the liberty to throw together a long winded video of our adventure instead, enjoy!

Today is the end of the world....

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sat, 21 May 2011 10:21:00 +0000

I am sure most of you have herd about the end of the world as we know it....TODAY:) According to the prophecy, originated from a man named Harold Camping, at 6pm on May 21st, 2011 the rapture will come. Today is the day the earth is supposed to shake with earthquakes and Jesus Christ is to return.....

Well it is May 21st, 2011 at 10pm....as far as Devon and I can tell we are still here:) Today was a beautiful day in Dunedin! The sun was shining all day in our little city so we decided...just in case...we better enjoy every minute of it. Devon and I are truly each others best friends so we laughed and made the best of our last day before the end of the world:)

So on this May 21st, enjoy the people and the places you love! Even if the end of the world is not really on our doorstep it is important to remind ourselves to live in the moment.

Love Amanda and Devon xoxo

Weekends like this make us miss our MUMS:)

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:02:00 +0000

As you all know this weekend is Mothers Day. It is time like these (birthdays, holidays and special days) that remind us that we are so far away from home. Luckily both Devon and I have spent some quality time with our Mums in the past few months.

I had some wonderful time with my Mum when she came to New Zealand. Nothing beats spending time paddling in the open ocean in a sea kayak:) I am pretty sure I am still trying to recover from nearly dying as my wonderful mother paddled wildly through the caves of cathedral cove on the North Island of NZ. Mum I see myself in you every day and I truly love the woman I have become...so much I have learned from you.

Devon and his Mum tried to conquer Dunedin one day at a time. Who would have thought that mother and son would be able to beat the land speed record on the most windy roads of the Otago Peninsula:) Some of the very best qualities of Devon absolutely come from his Mum... a wonderful sense of humor, a VERY good eye for design, and of course his good looks!!!

We are so happy to share our lives with our Mums and for the wisdom they have to share with us. So on this Mothers Day we will be thinking about the wonderful women of our lives and missing them more then they can imagine.

xoxoxo

Love AB & DW

Oh how we miss you...

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:44:00 +0000

It is impossible to sum up the last few months in any words, and we have more pictures then I could ever share with anyone in a blog post...BUT I will try:)

Since our last post we have had the most amazing opportunity to share New Zealand with our loved ones. We have been delighted to see them oooo and aaaaa at the country we are calling home for the time being. While it was amazing to have them all here, now that they have left it makes us miss them more....guess everyone will just have to come back!!!

On January 12 my Mum, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa came to explore Dunedin first. We spent a week here to let them truly soak up Dunedin and the sites. They also the pleasure of experiencing the true Dunedin "south antarctic wind." I think they bought all the wool available to buy here!!! We then headed to the west coast of the south island to explore Te Anau, Milford Sound, Central Otago, and Queenstown. For that last week of their trip we headed up to the north island to experience some Maori culture and volcanic activity in Taupo and Rotorua. We stopped to soak up some sun on the Coromandel Peninsula before heading to Auckland to shop till we dropped! It was amazing to have my family here and I truly am one lucky girl to be able to share New Zealand with the people who mean the most to me.

Marie ( Devon's Mum) arrived about a week after my family left. Devon and I did our very best to show off the Dunedin way of life, and the relaxed people that live in New Zealand. We enjoyed the wine, chocolate, adventures and company for just over two weeks. Marie loved the scenery and could be quoted saying, "there is not a bad view in any direction," many times:) We ventured to Central Otago, and Queenstown where we watched Devon hurl himself off a 134 meter bungy jump. Click here to see Devon's jump! We had so many good times, laughs, the weather was good just for Marie and everywhere we went there seemed to be an event or show.....we planned it all;)

Our last visitors arrived for three weeks in March. Sue ( a friend from nursing school) and Mason ( her adorable 2 year old) kept us pretty darn busy. We had not seen Mason in over a year and I constantly marveled at how fast he has grown. Mason loved the animals (ducks specifically) so we where constantly thinking of the best places to see wildlife. Overall I think they had a pretty good taste of the weather, food and hills that make up or little city. It was nice to have friend to catch up with over a glass of wine or two!

Now it is almost Easter and I can not even believe the speed of the last year!!!! We are well into our second year in New Zealand....we even had to break down and get NZ drivers licences! While we miss everyone at home we sure are enjoying them stopping over! Miss and Love EVERYONE! xoxoxoxo

AB + DW

To an exciting New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 05:52:00 +0000

January 29, 2011

Wow, we started this blog entry 20 days ago, but life got in the way and it got put on the back burner. Sorry for the delay.

Enjoy!

January 9, 2011

It's been a whirlwind past few weeks in Australia, as we partied it up in Brisbane, sailed the Whitsundays, Scuba Dived the Great Barrier Reef, explored the Daintree Rain forest, Sea-dooed up crocodile infested rivers, survived floods and even a cyclone! ..oh yea, and also got engaged!

We flew into Brisbane on a Friday and on Saturday night we met up with a few friends from High School (Robyn and Sheena) where we had a great night out on the town soaking up the Brisbane nightlife.

Sunday we were off to Airlie Beach for our 3 day 2 night romantic sailing adventure on the Alexander Stewart leaving first thing the next morning. At 9am we boarded the boat, raised anchor and headed east. It was awesome to be under sail, no hum of motors or generators just the sounds of waves breaking on the bow.

The skipper took us to White-haven Beach, he anchored the boat on the other side of the island where were took a leisurely nature stroll across the small island to a lookout with some spectacular views. From there we made our way down to the beach where we were lucky enough to have all to ourselves! This beach was amazing, white silica sand, clear turquoise water and it was all ours!

We were back on the boat several hours later and on our way to Cid Harbor to anchor for the night. It was raining a bit on the trip to the anchoring location, so we were down in the galley BSing with some other couples. Amanda went up to see if it had cleared up enough to go back out on deck. She came down excited as there was a really "pretty" sunset, so she headed back up on deck and I scrambled down to our quarters and grabbed the ring! I met her out on deck and she was right, there was an amazing sunset between the storm clouds and the islands in the distance. I turned her around to face me, pulled out the ring and popped the question! She stood there shocked repeating: "OMG are you doing this now? Really? OMG! Are you serious?" Eventually I told her to take the ring! And that was it! Sailing into the sunset on our first night on the Alexander Stewart.

The rest of our trip was also truly unforgettable, but I'm sure that this was the only part you are really interested in hearing about!

So, we've put together a short movie of our Australia adventure that hopefully fills in a few if the gaps I've left out from after the proposal!

Enjoy!

Australia from Amanda Bauman on Vimeo.

Engagement FAQs

1) How long did you have this planned?

It was an 8 month adventure in itself, scheming, planning, researching, more planning, securing finances.. That last part is hard when you share a bank account so I had a secret account opened and I was skimming money off the top of my pay cheques. She had no idea! I had some really good back stories ready if she ever caught on.

2) How did you get the ring to Australia?

The planning for this was very stressful because I've only had experience with the TSA and they are not fun to deal with... I wasn't sure how strict the Aussies were regarding airport security. Where could I put a ring without it getting lost with checked luggage or searched going through security or found by Amanda? I ended up stashing it in my camera bag under my other lens and hoped for the best. I knew Amanda would have no desire to go into my camera bag, so I was all clear there. That bag would never leave my sight anyway, so I knew it wouldn't get lost. And hiding the ring amongst all the other electronics and camera equipment I was fairly certain that the scanners wouldn't need to open everything if it looked like a pro camera bag setup. The security ended up being amazing, no one even cared to ask me to open my backpack. No problems smuggling the ring into Australia!

3) When is the big Day?

No dates picked as of yet, but we're thinking sometime in the Canadian summer of 2012 (It'll be in Canada regardless).

4) Did you get down on one knee?

No, the boat was kinda rocking in the waves and I was worried I would have fallen over and lost the ring overboard... but also that (being on one knee) would have caused a scene, and Amanda really didn't want me to make a scene.

5) What does the ring look like?

Click here to find out!

6) Was she surprised?

Absolutely! It was awesome, she was convinced I'd never be able to surprise her for various reasons, so popping the question where and when I did caught her completely off guard! It was exactly how I wanted it!

7) How did you choose the ring without her knowing?

Since this was in the works for a while I casually would ask her about different designs. Or I'd get her to send me photos of rings she liked while maintaining a non-excited attitude towards it. Over the months I was able to narrow it down to a select few and in the end I settled on a design I knew she loved and made a few tweaks to make it my own, then had it custom made. I also double checked with her sister before I commissioned the ring just to make sure.

8) How did you get the ring sized without her knowing?

In my infinite planning and recon I was able to get the ring size, but that didn't matter in the end because I mixed up the size and got it made too small.. When we got home the jeweler was able to re-size it and have it on Amanda's finger in just two hours!!

9) Did you get permission ahead of time?

Yup! It was more nerve racking asking her father then actually asking Amanda!

10) Amanda can get really sea sick, were you worried she'd be sick while on the boat? Would you have still proposed?

I knew I was taking a fairly big risk by asking her on the boat. If she was too sick I'd have gone with plan B.

11) What was Plan B?

I dunno..

In case you've missed the links above to the photo albums, here they are for your convenience:

Amanda and Devon

We're not dead!

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 07:39:00 +0000

November 20, 2010

Where did September, October and the first half of November go? No, seriously it feels like yesterday since we last updated the blog.

I tend to ramble on in my blog posts, so I'm going to make a list to help readability. Here's what we've been up to these last few months:

We took a leisurely 18km stroll from our house up to the Pinapple Track and back. I was walking like a cowboy for a couple days after.
Felt adventurous and decided to go exploring the Caitlins. We ended up at Nugget point, Cannibal Beach and Purakaunui Falls before we got hungry and came home.
Celebrated the season in which we call Amanda's Birthday.
Partied it up on Halloween where Amanda won best costume despite no one knowing who she was.
Enjoyed Fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day out at Allan's Beach. It's interesting how this NZ holiday is about celebrating a guy who tried to blow up the British Parliament. Seems kinda backwords to me.
Watched NZ's FD put out a car fire down the street from our house. We started down to a great dinner before Amanda opened her mouth and said Fire! She spend the rest of the dinner alone while I raced down the street to get some photos.
Captained the Dunedin Sharks Hockey team to city finals!

That's it! Next post will be by AB, so expect that one sooner then later!

Cheers!

If we could send you some flowers we would...

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:19:00 +0000

Sept. 12, 2010

Hello from down under, home of the latest string of giant earthquakes!

We are sure most of you would have heard about the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchruch. It's a city about 400km north of Dunedin, with a population of just over 300, 000. I would like to say it was exciting for us, but that would be a lie. I slept right through it and Devon was convinced I was shaking the bed in my sleep:) Devon and I cant help but think about the earthquake in Haiti, January 12 and 7.0 magnitude...complete devastation and loss of life. Luckily there has been no loss of life up in CHCH, estimates put the damage at around $2 Billion. This reminds us how lucky we are to be living in a 1st world country, in which the biggest problem is who will pay to fix the homes!

Spring Spring Spring... We are very well aware of the lack of summer back home... so we will be sensitive to the fact that it is... Spring Spring Spring! I've spent the last few weekends outside in the yard planting flowers, veggies and pulling weeds. I never thought I would like gardening but I'm sure proud of how things look when I am finished. I feel like I'm becoming more and more like my Mom and Grandma as I am running around when the heavy rains and winds blow in trying to save my plants:) It sure is heartbreaking when all the work you have been doing can just be snapped in half by a bit of wind.

Devon is thrilled it is BBQ season! While the NZ style BBQ gave him grieve at first he has finally learned how to cook on the NZ style BBQ and is back to making a mean steak. Devon has been busy lately playing hockey twice a week and was recently appointed Captain of his hockey team; "THE SHARKS." In between the hockey and BBQ he is actually getting pretty good at the guitar...in fact I now no longer have to wear ear plugs:) Work for him is busy as usual and Curve is slowly taking over the world.

As for me I am loving work. I am walking everywhere and still enjoying yoga:) I can be found sitting at the coffee shops with my book and a fancy NZ coffee (when I'm not at work of course.) OH and I fell into a bucket of blonde hair dye! It looks more like Barbie then the sophisticated blonde I was going for...but it is just hair right?!

We love and miss you all!!!

I am sure a few of these pictures might make you keen for a visit:)

Amanda and Devon

xoxoxoxo

SNOW DAY!!

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:29:00 +0000

August 9

It's Monday morning, and I thought I'd throw up a small post before I head off to work about what I saw this morning when I got up... SNOW! Well, kinda it's on the surrounding hills, but the hills are in Dunedin, so that counts right?

Where did the winter go? Did it even come?

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:38:00 +0000

August 3, 2010

We do realize that some of you out there (Mitch) would like us to post a bit more often! We love to post... we really do! ...but because we've started started increasing the production value of the posts (like making movies) we are finding it just a bit time consuming...:) So in the mean time, make sure you've subscribed to our RSS feed, that way you will know instantly when we have updated the blog!

Well, they say the winter is just about over!!! All we can say is, we might never come home if we get used to mild winters like this. NO snow all winter could be easy to get used to:) We have already started planning our summer activities, weekend adventures, and my veggie garden. Also, the planning has begun for the visit from my parents and grandparents who arrive January 12th!!! I know planning this far advance may be a bit crazy, but we can not believe how fast time has flown so far. This past month Devon checked off; live in another country for 6 months, on his life "to do" list!

Since making the move to NZ we have had a chance to experience life and have documented 6 things we believe any traveler to NZ should know before getting here:

When a Kiwi says "Sweet As" they are NOT saying "Sweet Ass"...this is a VERY common expression for just agreeing with something you just said or equivalent to saying, "cool."
If some one invites you for "tea" they are really inviting you to dinner...so do not eat ahead of time! Devon learned this this that hard way, more then once...
Pedestrians DO NOT have the right away! Ever played the game frogger? Just like the game they seem to think they will get points for squishing you with their stations wagons.
Forget pleasantries on the the pathways! While kiwi's are very nice people, we have had little success in trying to get any type of friendly pathway greeting. KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!
Scarfies is a term for university students... and beware all the scarfies look like extras from the TV show, Saved by the Bell.
Head to bar when you enter the a pub...not matter how long you wait at a table...they WILL NOT serve you....no matter how long...

Here is a video of our winter in NZ. While I put this one together...Devon is the one who helps me make just as I want:)

Miss and Love you ALL!

Love Amanda and Devon

Winter in NZ from Amanda Bauman on Vimeo.

They're called Ski Fields for a reason..

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:28:00 +0000

Monday June 28, 2010

For our friends in Calgary, think of Canada Olympic Park when we describe the Ski Fields here in New Zealand.

This weekend Amanda and I went to Queenstown for a snowboard trip! we couldn't have picked a better weekend to go! Perfect blue sky and the temperature was hovering around the freezing mark.

We left Friday night after work and pulled into Queenstown around 9pm, we found our hotel and then the pub! We decided that we were going to spend the next day at Cornet Peak, so we got up early Saturday and made the short drive to the mountain. It took us a while to figure out where the hill was because in Canada spotting a ski hill is as easy as looking for the runs cut out of the trees.. Oh, but there are no trees on these mountains so we literally followed the road 2/3 up the mountain to the base of the ski field before we realized that we were there.. It was interesting to see an entire ski area tree free. The first thing Amanda said was that it looks just like COP! It was funny to see that it had a trail map like the ones you see in Canada but it's just like putting a trail map on COP. The difference between the runs were that Blue Runs were groomed and the Black Diamonds were not.

With all that aside it was a great weekend! Here are a few photos from the trip:

Winter Wonderland...without the SNOW:)

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:14:00 +0000

Sunday May 23, 2010

Well winter has arrived in our little coastal town!!! We have amazing fire building skills, electric heaters eating our electricity bill and holes in our slippers from constant wear:) Dev says I am a bit dramatic about the weather here...but it sure feels cold to me! There is definitely no snow here and the locals tell me it will be very likely that we will not see any at all. The mountains are a good three hour drive from us and they will see snow. We are both very excited to get out a few weekends and compare the ski hills to the ones back home:)

Just living life at the moment! We have been working normal Monday-Friday jobs (which I am getting use too), both been sick, going to Zumba (I am anyways), and Dev is getting better and better on the guitar!!! He can now play hot crossed buns without stopping between chords!

This weekend we took a trip out to Larnach Castle. An old Scottish castle that was built in the late 1800's and has a beautiful view and interesting story! You could see the gears and pistons working overtime in Devon's mind as he was scheming ways to buy his own castle, Chateau Wallace. Below is a "look at my new home" pose for when he eventually get's his own castle. It was also the spot where we decided we could get some pretty nice photos...

Love and miss you all!!!!! Amanda and Devon xoxo

Watch Out for Those Judder Bars!

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Thu, 06 May 2010 09:56:00 +0000

Have we kept you in suspense since our last video entry?

A few weekends ago we headed 4 hours north of Dunedin to Christchurch which is the biggest city on the South Island. The city is very different then Dunedin in many ways, a much busier larger city with a vibrant nightlife. We enjoyed a Rugby match and cheered with the home fans of the Canterbury Crusaders, walked in the autumn colors of the city, and as usual took plenty of photos:)

On the way home from Christchurch we stopped in a little town where you can actually feel like you are walking the streets of the 1860's. Omarau's limestone and marble buildings are left pretty much untouched from the gold rush in NZ...a photographer's dream? (or so Dev said)

The weather has defiantly made a turn in the fall/winter direction in the last few weeks. We have spent our rainy days trying out new hobbies like knitting, model building, painting and most recently Devon has bought a guitar. We have defiantly had our share of beautiful sunny days too. We have been beach walking, hiking and exploring the town!

I guess the big news lately is that I have a job!!! I am working as a respiratory research nurse for the University of Otago. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit has been running a study now for almost four decades...Check it out: Wikipedia Article

THE HAIRCUT:)

Devon has embarked on his latest endeavor by trying to become a lead guitarist for a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

Trying to stay warm with no central heating:(

Amanda's First Movie from Amanda Bauman on Vimeo.

Sweet As

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:21:00 +0000

SUNDAY April 11, 2010

So we have truly gone all out this time:) Devon has put together a video summery of NZ since I arrived...If anyone can believe it, that was nearly a month ago!!! Pictures and videos are worth a thousand words so here is a thousand words!!!

Video by Wallace:

Pictures by AB (because I could never do a video if I tried):

It's all old hat now!

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:13:00 +0000

Here's a quick sneak peek at the last week of adventures:

Busy with rugby where we saw the home town team The Otago Highlanders kick some butt! Did some hiking and were amazed by the views of Lover's Leep and The Chasm! Enjoy the pictures, Happy Easter and we love and miss you all:) XOXO

PS: Just bought a car so we shall be on an adventure this weekend...stay tuned:)

First Weekend in DUNEDIN:)

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:19:00 +0000

SO I am here:) I have spent the last three days trying to keep up to Devon's busy plans for me. I arrived here a bit early because I caught a flight directly from Auckland to Dunedin, instead of via Christchurch....all you have to do is ask:) So much to Dev's surprise and excitement I was standing at the airport 4 hours ahead of schedule.

I have seen lots of Dunedin already! Devon is very good at driving on the other side of the road and has somehow in two months, learned to maneuver through the impossibly windy and extremely steep streets of this city. I have seen where Devon works, met his Canadian friends, climbed the steepest street in the world, explored the fabulous shopping, and already seen a tone of sites......yes we have been VERY VERY busy!!!

My favorite so far was the hike Devon an I did at Sandfly Beach! Dev did a bit of exploring here already but knew I would love it so we went today! The view was amazing!!! We climbed sand dunes, enjoyed the view and hung out with sea lions on the beach. Kind of surreal I must say. Devon keeps saying, "this is your home for a bit,"...Well I guess I am one lucky gal to be in a place that takes my breath away!

Here are some of the pictures from the first weekend...WOW is all I can say!

Beers on the Patio

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:35:00 +0000

It's been a slow weekend in Dunedin as the weather has been unruly. Tonight the wind calmed down just enough to sit out on the patio with a beer and watch the sunset.

Holy - Where did Feburary go?

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:04:00 +0000

It feels like it was only last week I wrote about modeling my first tooth, checking out Baldwin Street and chillin' with Colin - time is just flying by! Well, since then I have started my first animated video, moved into my new digs up in Roslyn and taken a road trip to Christchurch.

I've finally got internet at home now, so I am updating the blog from my sofa with a beer in one hand while watching Nitro Circus! Creativity isa justa flowing!

Well, I thought I'd test out Google's Picasa photo service.. I've gotta say it wasn't the fastest thing, as it took nearly 30 minutes to upload just 15 photos.. So here are the 15 photos that I managed to upload before I got bored and stopped:

I went up to Christchurch with Stacy the a few weeks ago to check out Avatar again and to do a bit of sightseeing along the way. On Saturday night we found a spot on the side of a rural road somewhere on the Banks Peninsula to set up a tent. Once I got my tent up I decided to stay up and take some time laps shots of the sky. It was just my luck, I found the southern rotation axes at which the stars rotated around.. Unfortunately my batteries ran out before I could get a the perfect shot with super long exposure. I think these will do for now though!

This was my first photo:
The sky was so clear, I hadn't seen the sky like that in a very long time. The Milky Way was so bright, and the cool part was that I didn't recognize any of the constellations - it was like I was in a different part of the world! It was only Orion's Belt I was able to pick out.

Details: ISO 200, f-stop 3.5, exposure 10 minutes

And by the time I was starting to dial in the exposure and the framing in my batters ran out.. At the same time it had taken me almost an hour and a half to get it to this stage as each test shot I increased the exposure time. This shot was achieved sometime around 2am.

Details: ISO 200, f-stop 3.5, exposure 30 minutes

AB is now trying to pack her life in two suitcases!

noreply@blogger.com (AB) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Well....I guess it is about time to get back on here and remember how to type a story:)

I am slowly packing my life away and moving it all to my parents house (much to their dismay) as the official countdown has begun!!! I fly out to NZ on March 17th, so that leaves me now 14 full days!!! My mother and I just got back from Bahamas on Feb. 27, and had a fabulous time...however it has left me with a long list of "TO DO's" to cram into a a short period of time.

I head over to New Zealand geared to work with all my registration, visa, and qualifications behind me. I am hoping my pretty face will help me with the actual job part though!

So I guess the next entry you will see from me will be the busy first weekend in Dunedin in which Dev has planned to show me the whole town:) No promises my pictures will be nearly as good as his:)

Studying for my DDS

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Sorry no up dates as of late, it's been crazy busy.. Hopefully I'll have a big entry coming soon. Until then here is a photo of me modeling an Edentulous Mandible.

Is it February already?

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:31:00 +0000

Alrighty, It's been a crazy hectic few weeks since the last update. I've had several opportunities to get out exploring more, I've also joined an Ultimate Frisbee team and work is progressing really well - I've been learning heaps.

So I hit a significant milestone the other day - little Devon got his first tooth! This tooth (shown from 6 angles) modelled, mapped, textured and rendered was done by yours truly.
Since the milestone I've modeled several more teeth, each time getting faster and with less help from Stacy. This is the lastest tooth modelled, mapped, textured and rendered was done without any help from Stacy!

Saturday I decided to do some more exploring around Dunedin, I left my gear at home and set out with a rain jacket and no idea really where I was going to go.. I ended up crossing paths with Stacy and and he took me to Logan Park (equivalent to Shouldice Park back in YYC) where he was participating in a Tennis Tournament. After two or three sets I was off again, with my sights set on Baldwin Street. A few hours later I arrived at the steepest street in the the world.. I took a few photos and made my way up it.. Gotta say it was pretty impressive..

This last week Dunedin has been host to the Masters Games - a Summer Olympic-type set of games for people over the age of 30. Teams along with individuals from across ZN have made made their pilgrimage to Dunedin to participate in sports like soccer, 100m sprint, javelin, long jump, etc.. So the motels around where I live have been packed and some very unusual things have been happening. Last weekend both Saturday and Sunday mornings I have been jarred awake by ACDC playing on a loud speaker at an unreasonable time in the morning. I've put together a small video of the events that happened on Sunday morning. This video is best heard wearing headphones.

I joined an Ultimate Frisbee team that meets twice a week on Sundays and Tuesdays. So last Sunday was my first day out. Eight people showed up, I guess Dunedin doesn't have the following like Calgary does. So we got started, If you've never played Ultimate it's like 10 people running around a soccer pitch for 40 minutes.. It's very tiring, but since it was a pickup game there wasn't really any time limits or subs, so 2.5 hours later my body finally said nuts to this and I had to come up with an excuse to leave (early?).. It was a good thing I did, normally in Calgary after a night of frisbee I just limp back to the car and drive home, but here it felt like an eternity trying to limp back home with a long board in one hand and a heavy backpack in the other. I think it was Thursday before I could feel my legs again and could walk without a limp!

On Monday Stacy took me out to Sandfly Beach. It's an interesting beach for sure, as it's called that not because of sand flies but because the sand flys. It is an incredible sandy beach nestled between two very large hills, cliffs if you will. Hiking down from the parking lot was a ton of fun as it was a huge sand dune so we just ran straight down to the water. The beach was like 1000 meters long with water on one side and huge dunes on the other. I don't think any amount of creative writing will describe how awesome this place was. So I'm just going to say that anyone that comes to visit needs to check this beach out because it is worth the trip. Below are some teaser photos taken while at the beach. More photos to come! Maybe even a short video.

Below is a pano of a cove just beyond the beach where Stacy and I hiked up to.

Here is a 180 degree pano I just slapped together of Sandfly beach..

A friend of mine - Colin, happened to be traveling to New Zealand around the same time I left, he has been been tramping and doing the hostel circuit around NZ for the last few weeks. You can check out his travel blog here! Last night (Friday Feb 5) he came down and joined me here in Dunedin. Colin was a friend I had met at SAIT a few years ago. So last night Colin and I checked out the Pub scene and stumbled around like lost tourists until early Saturday morning.

This morning we got up and had a 1.5h surf lesson starting around noon out at St. Clair. Wow surfing is hard! I got up a few times but with sand in my hair and salt water in my lunges I decided that I after an hour and a half I was done! Learning to surf reminds me of learning to wakeboard, where it took me a solid week to really figure out what was doing. I was able to get up easier on the bigger waves but still that was spotty at best.. I Don't know how you do it Nikki.

After the lesson we walked around St.Clair, checked out Second Beach and finally made our way back to my place. I walked into my room and crashed for an hour while Colin did laundry and watched TV.

Well that's it for now.. We're going to attempt Frisbee tomorrow if I'm not completely soar..

So, this is Dunedin!

noreply@blogger.com (Wallace) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:28:00 +0000

Ever since I arrived last week the hill tops surrounding Dunedin have been shrouded in clouds, that was until Tuesday! So I decided to make my way to the top of a few hills that over look Dunedin to get a birds-eye view of where I'm living. I brought my camera to take a few panoramic shots.

Enjoy!