Thanks to Queen Elizabeth (the original Queen) having a birthday, Matty got a day off work yesterday, which of course meant that we had a three day weekend. We wanted to make sure that we made good use of it, but since we have an anniversary coming up, we want to save a little bit of money. We decided not to go out of town, but we still wanted to get out of the city, so we rented a car, and each day we went a little ways out of the city.
Day 1 we went to Albany, to the Westfield Mall (yes this is where the tornado was. but its ok, were safe), which is about 20 minutes by car away from where we live. The mall was a girl's heaven, and we spent ALL day there. We didnt spend all our money there but we did manage to get a casserole dish so I can make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon, we got groceries much cheaper, and we even saw X Men First Class. I know this makes me a huge dork, but MAN that was a great movie! I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about seeing it.
Day 2 (Sunday), we found a church! Woohoo! We have been trying to find one for a while now, and our pastor back home (thanks Pastor Dan!) found this one for us. Funny enough, its called Grace Baptist Community Church. The only problem was that it is pretty far from where we live and without a car, its sure not easy to get over there. We wanted to take advantage of having the car, so we went, and fell in love with the church. Its really tiny, but they teach what we believe, so we will be finding a way to get there every weekend if we can. The best part of this church is that it is run by an American pastor with the last name of Walker! Too funny!
After church on Sunday, we took a drive just an hour away, to a place called Hanua Falls. It is a nature reserve that has a 30 meter waterfall right off the road! You dont even have to take a hike to get there! Thats pretty awesome! Here is my funny husband posing for a picture in front of the fall.
And me.
After seeing the fall, we took a small hike, and were able to see some pretty awesome plant and bird life. NZ has some really great birds here. We saw the famous Tui bird, who sounds like R2D2 (google it; its awesome), and another bird called a Fantail. He was so cute and he seemed to be following us around. Too cute. We even saw a hawk, but was unable to take a picture of it.
And for the last day of the weekend, we spent it skyping with family and friends, and went back to the mall (I know, I AM a girl afterall). It was SO much fun and a relaxing weekend.
Here is the link to the rest of the pictures from Hanua Falls.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104540783822954012462/HanuaFalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDgvp7UmpySPA&feat=directlinkAlso, go check out
www.carlascookingwithoutakitchen.blogspot.com to see our new apartment.
Saturday, woke up to nice weather (we take it when we can), went to the farmers market, got a cake tray from a baking shop, got some "lollies" from The London Lolly Shop, and headed to lunch at our favorite japanese restaurant, Haro No Yume, where I got a free sushi roll for my bday. Yes, they do know us by name, as we do go there at least once a week haha. :D After lunch, we headed home, got to skype with all of the fam, talked to my brother and his wife about coming over (3ish weeks to go!) then went to a wonderful dinner at a cute little french restaurant, La Cantine du Torchon. Had the best steak ever and Matty enjoyed some Beouf Bourguignon. Then went home, watched a movie, and called it a night! 
