Owen's NZ travels

Hi All!

Hope everyone is well. Toni and I have just returned from our wonderful trip to Wellington which we won a few months ago. We had an amazing time, with a return flight, a day of pampering in a health spa with massages, facials and hairdo's, followed by a beautiful meal in the Duxton hotel where we stayed in the romance suite! We felt like King and Queen the whole time, it was great. Not bad for a pack of biscuits eh?!

We spent last weekend at a cabin beside the magnificent Lake Waikaremoana (pictured). From here we hiked to Lake Waikareiti, where we enjoyed a well-earned picnic. Another perfect weekend! Our next big adventure will be in Auckland where we get to watch the New Zealand All Blacks play Australia for the Bledisloe Cup - yet another rugby experience! Jake - are you jealous?!!

I am now working in a very big greenhouse in the country, surrounded by 10,000 tomato plants which I get to trim and pick. This is a new experience for me as any plant I have ever touched has died on me before now - I haven't mentioned this to my new boss!

I will be feeling especially homesick next weekend as Paul and Becky get married in Crewe - good luck to the happy couple! I'm looking forward to hearing about it all when we get back.

I've sold a few more watercolour paintings and we're hoping to have a stall at a craft fair in a couple of weeks, I've also got some on sale in the local shops, very exciting!

Ka kite ano (AKA tara for now!)

Owen and Toni