So for this second page I was still inspired to hand sew around the photo, which I think is very Amy Tangerine style. I even went to spotty and bought some bright coloured DMC threads particularly for scrapping with! Usually I just use what's in my floss box, but it was time the box got a little facelift with some bright new colours! I love this orange :) It goes so nicely with the hand dyed yellow doily I got from Yvette ages ago! {hugs!}
And then lastly, this one was inspired by Amy cos a lot of her line and her layouts include doodling. Maybe not to this extent, but her elements are usually hand drawn and I think it looks really cool! I decided I should step out of the box and try somethign new, so I found a rather bland piece of paper, painted on it a little, stamped here and there, then filled in the rest with doodling while I watched a documentary on TV one night (a WWII doco too, I'm so boring! LOL!) It was fun to step out of my usual scrapping box and into some freehand! I used to draw in my books at High School all the time, so this was a little like getting back to my roots {smiles}. And I love this pic of Will from our trip to NZ! He's so serious!
Here are some pages I did using pics from NZ. Boy, it was only 4 months ago {whizz- time flying past me} but Jai looks so much older now. His face is really thinning out, hes not a chubby bubba now, but a real boy!
And here is another page using a pic from the same photo session. It's cool that I used the same colour combo cos they face each other in Jai's album. I"m never that co-ordinated {high five!}
First we visited Franz Josef Glacier, which is truly beautiful! It does look a tinge blue, but mostly brown due to dirt! I thought it would be a beautiful clear blue, even from a distance, like a big thick ice cube {shaking head at own naivety!} It's cool how it looks like it is oozing down between the mountains, yet is frozen in time {humming tune from Xanadu}
We did a short 20min walk to the beginning of the Valley Walk, Will carrying Jaimeson in the Baby Bjorn. Jaimeson just made so many friends wherever we went cos he was always soooo happy and excited. Here was no different. He delighted the other hikers with squealing, flailing and flapping his arms and legs as we walked along and big smiles. He was overly excited to be seeing a Glacier! {giggles}
The water in the rivers around the glaciers is amazingly blue, like what I thought the Glacier would look like! And the rivers are so so so so wide, even if they are just an empty river bed. To think of how much water must rush down sometimes, when the snow melts or in heavy rain, was intriguing! I'd love to see them all flowing as much as this one was.
After staying one night at Fox Glacier, and working out we are totally NOT Bed and Breakfast people (unless it's self contained), we continued on to Queenstown. We stopped off in Wanaka for lunch, where we saw the giant hand (see my Project 365 post for more of a description!) 
Lake Wanaka is really pretty, much like all of NZ! And there were heaps of picnic'ers like us eating lunch by the Lake. Well, we fed Jaimeson there, then we found an awesome funky cafe called Urban Grind for our lunch. Totally recommended!
Check out the fantastic dark chocolate "stick" I got with my mocha! I think you're supposed to stir your coffee with it, so I did, and it was devine {licking lips in memory!} Oh so yum!
The first are my table linens. I just LOVE the blue and orange circular tablecloth I found at Rotorua Salvos. Then I spotted this awesome Blue square cloth at Salvos in Christchurch. It's such a bold colour and what a pattern! The smaller items are a placemat (the blue) and 2 small square table cloths, they must be for a small 2-person tea table cos they're quite small.
Here are all my pillowcases! Yvette, you may recognise some {wink!} It was great fun to find all these awesome retro pillowcases, and they were much lighter to carry, and easier to squash in around things, in my suitcase. I also used the flannelette ones to wrap up all the cups and pyrex I had bought {light bulb going on above head!}
And finally, here are the sheets. Yep, I bought sheets! And yep they were heavy! You don't realise just how much sheeting weighs until you are restricted with baggage allowance! And just so y'all don't get stuck with your future travelling allowances, I did the maths for you {wink!}
Here is the total weight cost of my New Zealand Op Shopping:
We then did the drive from Christchurch to Hokitika via Arthur's Pass. This is kinda a big drive, across the middle of the South Island.
Most people take the train, the transscenic railway, which is one of the most famous rail trips (I did it last time I was in NZ), but we decided to drive it. And we were certainly in the minority! There was barely any traffic at all. It was a bit eerie really! The roads weren't too bad really, but we did get stuck behind a slow tarago at one stage cos there wasn't many overtaking lanes. They were doing 40km/h and seeing as there is no speed limit on the road (it has a black circle with a line through it, instead of a speed sign) it was rather frustrating!
We stopped in Arthur's Pass for lunch at one of the 2 cafes. The cheap one. That's our style. Lol! Well, shall I say the "cheaper" one, cos a pie was still $6, and they are the general store too and I noticed you could buy a single nappy for $2!!! $2!!!??!! I should hope it could change itself at that price!
The most awesome part was this fantastically futuristic rock shelter and aquaduct that you drive through/under!! They spring it on you too, one minute you're driving up a mountain and next you're zooming down the other side with this looming in front of you! hence, the only pics we got were taken by Will on his iphone, which happened to be in his hand. There is a better pic HERE, that someone else (no doubt with better warning than us!) has taken.
I remember the water was gushing a lot more than it looks in this pic! Maybe I was a little distracted, seeing as I was the one driving! I would love to have been able to stop and get a better look at it, but we had passed the lookout at the top of the hill before we knew what it was looking out at! I needed a billboard with a warning like "you need to stop at this lookout cos the viaduct is really awesome! Pull in now!" Lol!
This time it was warm with full sunshine, and I thought Hokitika didn't seem nearly as cool a place! {Giggles} Hokitika is the home of Jade and whitebait, so naturally we were told to buy some of both. We did neither. We're that kind of tourist. Lol!
I did spot a really cool way to grow herbs though! How cool is that?! I should pick up a silver coffee pot next time I'm op shopping! And I visited a Vinnies at Hokitika and got some retro pillowcases, so it was a good visit after all :)
I forgot to post our pic from inside the Ferry! Here tis. No, we didn't have to spend the whole 3 hour trip inside the car, thankfully! They do pack on all the cars, trucks, semi's, caravans, mini winne's (Winnebago's) etc!
It was a very pretty drive, past wineries in the Marlborough region down to beautiful ocean vistas with high mountains, tunnels and roads that follow the bays. I would have loved to stop and take some pics, but we wanted to get there in good time, and Jaimeson was already going to be late for his feed by the time we made it to Kaikoura.
I was hoping we could stop at the Iconic "Nin's Bin" Crab Shack, but as we ZOOOOOOOMED past (Will was driving) on dusk, it was shut. I had just enough time to say "There's Nin's Bin!!!" and whip up my camera, which was thankfully in my hand, before we'd flown past it and left it in our dust! So much for stopping! 
On this road there aren't many places to stop and turn around cos you're pretty much stuck between the ocean and the mountains, so it was gone in the distance before I knew it..... LOL!
The next day Will did a spot of fishing in the morning while Jaimeson and I did a spot of shopping around Kaikoura. It has some lovely shops and we spent a lazy hour and a half wandering around before I stopped for a slice of delicious Mud Cake and a coffee just before Will came along. Not sure if you can see in the pic, but the ice cream and cream for my cake were served on giant scallop shells sitting on the cake plate! So cool!
Kaikoura is a really beautiful place, the mountains around present such a lovely backdrop. They do Whale Watching and Dolphin Watching boat tours (though we didn't do one cos we already did the tour in the Bay of Islands, and they're not cheap!) and there is also a large seal colony, so we were hoping to see some wildlife before we left! We saw one seal. One! And he was way off in the distance! Illusive seals! {punching fist in air!}
It was still a beautiful place though. It just means we'll have to go back sometime then, to catch the seals and the whales on film!
We didn't have much time in Wellington, but in the time we were there I felt it was a really cosmopolitan city, with lots of hipsters and people with really retro clothes and hair. It seemed really cool! So much so that hopefully I might be able to nip back over some time this year with my sisters and parents for a long weekend! {fingers crossed!}
Will had this:Big J’s Breakfast Potato hash, red beans (cooked traditional style with a ham hock), Cajun-style smoked sausage*, bacon, eggs (fried, poached or scrambled), hollandaise, toasted baguette or 5 grain $19.00
I had:
Huevos Rancheros Corn tortillas covered in black beans, melted cheese, fried eggs topped with guacamole and salsa $14.50
I have seen Huevos Rancheros all over Pinterest and had really wanted to eat them! And they didn't disappoint! Will loved his breakfast too. I {heart} Black Beans and my little tortillas were loaded up with them which was awesome. And the breakfast really filled us up, we didn't need lunch! I totally recommend Sweet MOther's for an interesting, and delicious, breakfast! It's busy though, so go with plenty of time to spare.
We had a quick look around town then it was over to the Interislander Ferry Terminal to head over to the South Island. How cool are these pillars on the Library in Wellington? They're Palm Trees! Awesome!
After having to run for our plane in Sydney, we made sure we were at the Ferry Terminal nice and early! LOL! So we had plenty of time to hang around and admire the harbour!
Yay Wellington! Hope to see you again soon! Cos I really want to eat at Sweet MOther's again, and go to the Te Papa Museum, and visit your Op Shops and ride the Cable Car.....{cheeky grin!}
Napier is also known as the Art Deco capital of the world, cos an earthquake destroyed the city back in the 20's and when they rebuilt they did it in the style of the moment, Art Deco. Awesomeness!
There are so many beautiful buildings, this one below is for you Dad. "Jeffery's"! I think you might have a pic with it too!
Also, they make a pretty awesome Iced Chocolate at Cappadonna Cafe, totally recommend it! (Check out the upstairs of the buildings behind me, more Art Deco!)
They have this cool Millenium Sun Sculpture, where the Sun broke the Horizon in the year 2000 (it's not a tropic line after all!). And it's the perfect place to change a nappy on the back of a car. LOL! Lucky we didn't get a wagon. {belly laugh!}
Napier is also where I got the privilege of shopping in Pakn'Save Supermarket! I don't know why I find such joy in shopping in giant supermarkets like Costco and Pakn'Save, but I do {shrugging shoulders} and I had a ball in Pakn'Save. They have this awesome pick n mix snack area where you bag up however much you want of Trail Mix or nuts or dried fruits or lollies. I even got a tiny bag of fish-shaped pasta to cook for Jaimeson. No need to buy a 300g bag, I got 50g! {smack me, cos I'm still excited about that. LOL!}
We also ate super-fresh fish and chips from the fisherman's co-op in Napier, right where the boats come in. Will tried Green-lipped mussels and Paua too. Wow! Verdict: mussels- like eating rubber, Paua- not nice. LOL!
