Back From New Zealand Again

I got back from New Zealand on Wednesday night and I am absolutely beat. The time difference, long flight, and running around New Zealand for a week like a maniac left me more worn out than I thought it would. My last trip was fun but this one was a lot more fun that I expected. Unfortunately, we were short on time, and we had to cram a lot of activities into this trip and I think I wouldn’t have survived without my precious coffee.

I got all my work related things out of the way on our first full day there. I got up early, met with all the wedding staff, made sure all their outfits fit, then it was off to a conference room with comfy chairs to meet with a bunch of magazines with the couple. By the end of the day, I had the routine down perfectly: meet with magazine person, talk to them for a while, vote for weather or not we’re comfortable with them interviewing us and covering the couple’s wedding (tap once on the table for yes and twice for no), set up a meeting place/time for interview or tell them to go away, take picture, say goodbye, change outfit, grab coffee, call in next person. After doing this over a dozen times and being over caffeinated it was time to go bar hopping with the couple to celebrate our day of hard work.

On this trip we got to see a lot more of New Zealand than last time (some of which was Lord of the Rings related). I have never seen such beautiful scenery in my life and at one point in time I jokingly told Indy that we should pick one of these picturesque locations and build a house and just forget about technology and the rest of the world. We did a few helicopter tours and some river related stuff (kayaking and boat tours), biking and of course some extraneous hiking.

Not everything was nature/Lord of the Rings related. I tasted tons of delicious food and did lots of shopping. We went to the Museum of Wellington and visited the Te Papa Museum one more time because we really enjoyed it last time. We also went to the Weta Cave Museum where there were a bunch of movie stuff, including things from the Lord of the Rings (big surprise right).

Before we left, we checked out the location for the wedding/reception. They had it almost completely set up for the couple to see and I absolutely fell in love with it. I think that up until this point I still thought the couple’s Lord of the Rings wedding was kind of silly (keep in mind that I‘m not exactly a Lord of the Rings fan), but after seeing everything set up I no longer think it is silly. It really looks beautiful and I think anyone would want to have a wedding like theirs after seeing how beautiful everything was. So what did the place look like? I’ll give you a hint: think Rivendell.

When it was time to leave I felt so sad because I wanted to see more of New Zealand and I wasn’t ready to come back to my hectic life. I’m really looking forward to my next trip to New Zealand at the end of December for the wedding where I will be on wardrobe malfunction look out duty. Of course, I now have to make myself an outfit (and Indy) because we have officially been invited to the wedding and we have to fit in. Knowing that there are going to be professional people available to do everyone’s hair and makeup for the wedding, I’m inclined to be an elf because those prosthetic pointy ears are starting to grow on me.

But for now, it’s time to get back to work because I had a ton of orders waiting for me when I got back and I have to play a little catch up.