Mt. Ruapehu

We managed to catch one of the last weekends of the snowboarding season towards the end of October. It started snowing at the hotel right when we arrived! It so was beautiful. Fresh snow falling plus wine and cheese in the cozy hotel lounge... the perfect way to begin a weekend of boarding. The mountain was amazing! New Zealand never fails at completely blowing us away with its dramatically stunning and gorgeous scenery
They used this location as "Mordor" in the Lord of the Rings :)

Martinborough

One of our first trips outside the city was to the nearby wine country of Martinborough (of course)



Rachel loves how there's sheep in the vines (during winter) they serve a purpose...

The view from the lighthouse

Don't drink and drive. Makes you look dumb

Our place in Wellington

Hello family and friends.
This shall be the blog of Mike and Rachel's life in New Zealand, they pronounce Z "zed" here.
Lets start with some views from our balcony and a couple pics of our apartment. Its a one bedroom but feels roomy. Lots of stuff near by Coffee shops, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, ect just steps away. We gusta














Notice the price on the fancy Import. Thats a six pac by the way