New Zealand + Australia

David and I were lucky enough to get away for 6 weeks this winter in between work and we headed straight for one of our favourite corners of the earth- New Zealand and Australia!  I am so happy and thankful that I can use the passions and abilities God put in me to do a job that I love doing everyday, but being self employed can also take a great deal from you if you let it…sometimes I let it. This trip was a much needed break where I could remember what it feels like to wake up with no agenda and spend the whole day with my best friend by my side choosing our own adventure, meeting new people and being inspired. It was SO beyond good to get away and have some fun together hiking, camping, surfing, visiting friends and shooting photos of course –  it did so much for my soul:) Getting to travel is wonderful and it never ceases to amaze me that we have the ability to be able to do this…but, learning to remember what is truly important in this life and that relationships with people matter more than deadlines, is a lesson I can learn everyday and anywhere:) I hope you enjoy viewing these photos and that they will give you hope that our winter is almost over and our very own summer is JUST around the corner!!!:) Some completely random iphone photos from our trip…We ate a LOT of  ‘Real Fruit Icecream’. Look it up, its AMAZING!! We spent the first 3 days of our trip hiking the Routeburn Track with two of our best friends Fiona & Paul. It was UNREAL…you will see what I mean. They are kinda cute together;) My pack was seriously almost bigger than I was. Observe his feet. This is normal for Paul Like I said….’UNREAL!’ Fiona & Dave go WAAAYY back. They were each others ‘first’ friend! Okay cute heads stop it. If you want to see their actual engagement photos check back in a few days!!:) The sheer size of everything was magnificent  Valley of the trolls… Lets play a game: Where’s Paul? More iphone! Lake Hayes in Arrowtown! Hiking near Wanaka Daves iphone Pano! Dave just chillin’ beside Danny Davis’s rig… We found the most AMAZING place to camp and swim (with permission from the farmer) on the shores of Lake Wanaka! It was SUCH an amazing, clear and peaceful night. There was not a single soul around Then morning came… and we awoke (completely startled and terrified) to the loud shrill noises of power boats and water skiers.  This is a view from the tent at 6:30am. I ‘may’ be shaving my legs in the other photos;) Like seriously….look at this beach…we camped here! Yes you will see a handful of ‘sheep’ photos too:) STUNNING mountains on the way in to Milford Sound Our campsite for the night:) Definitely worth taking a boat cruise through the Fiords at Milford Sound! Okay so this was probably our favourite hike of the trip. It was called Gertrude Saddle and was a one day 6-8 hour hike up this stunning valley up a mountain and ends in a saddle between two mountains. The views were stunning! You could see Milford Sound and the whole valley before it.  There was no trail or sign postings but a few orange triangle markers on rocks every once in a while…It was like a scavenger hunt to stay on the path:) The view from one side…. And….the other! We ran into some friends we had met camping up at the top! Hana and Timu were so much fun!:) Shower when you can… Even if the water is -50 White wine, sweatpants and noodles for supper. BEST THING EVER:) Dave and I randomly pulled off the side of the road one morning and found this path that lead here…. We spent the morning swimming in the crystal clear icy waters and soaking up the warm sun  ROAD PARTY! At first it appeared intimidating…we had been driving for quite a while down this gravel one lane road on our way to a beach/campground at the southern tip of NZ. We were in the middle of nowhere when we drove up to this road block…a few gruff looking sheep farmers, some young Aucklanders/surfers and a family completely unconnected all drinking beers in the middle of road. So, naturally we joined in:) View from our tent… View from the top! You can see our tent if you look REALLY closely… Sunrise. For some reason I work up SO early every morning while we were away and I LOVED it!!:) This next beach is on of my FAVS in NZ! Tunnel Beach is located near the city of Dunedin on the eastern shores of the South Island. It has sea-carved sandstone cliffs, rock arches and caves. Beyond the beauty of the rugged sandstone cliffs, the only way down to this beach is through the tunnel blown through the rock that a local politician had built for his family in the 1870’s! On top of the headland beside Tunnel Beach Its good practice right? To force myself to be in front of the camera every once in a while!:) The light sun bleached sandstone walls were so gorgeous and luminous to photograph by. A view of Tunnel Beach from the top. If you are wondering…Dave is taking a iphone Pano here. Then we headed up the easts coast and stopped in at Moeraki boulders… Once we were back up on the North Island we got to celebrate Fiona & Pauls engagement at their Ice-cream sunday engagement party! Imagine every single possible decadent and delicious ice-cream topping there could be. Have you? Okay well…it was there and Fiona had made it. From lemon curd to rum roasted peaches and salted caramel sauce and bacon it was a party for the books! We were SO excited that we could be there to help and celebrate with these two amazing friends! We hiked into Orakawa Bay (seriously my fav beach ever) and photographed Fiona and Paul’s engagement photos while dave surfed! I cant WAIT to share the rest of these with you soon!:)This gorgeous afternoon we spent swimming in the rock pools of McLaren Falls… And cooking up a mean feed on the BBQ to share! This is when NZ gets real folks. THESE are glow worms! We set out on a midnight hike through the woods…there was no moon and the path was lit only by the slight glow from the thousands of little lights shining out from the trees. We brought our tripod and Paul and I set up a few long exposure shots (3-6 minutes) in order to CATCH this amazing sight!:) More iphone randoms! It was SO lovely being back in Raglan (one of our FAV towns in NZ) and visiting this awesome crew of past past wedding couples and one future wedding couple! Raglan has amazing surf along its black sand beaches and point breaks.  We visited the Redwood forests for part 2 of Fiona + Pauls engagement photos and Fi snapped this shot of Dave and I!:) And this one…I THINK paul is showing us a spider.  I WISH I had more photos from this amazing place but I was a bit nervous about bringing my camera in to the steaming hot sulphur-y waters of this natural hot pool (aka ‘the bridge’ or ‘the secret spot’). It is actually a creek where two rivers meet, one hot and one cold. You can choose how hot or cold you wanted to be by moving up the river in either direction! Saying good buy to some of our NZ buddies until next time!!:) Hellooooo Australia! We arrived on ‘stralia day’ and got to catch up with one of Daves good mates ‘Ben’ before his wedding day! Check back in a few weeks to see Ben and Ashlynnes stunning engagement photos!!:) We also got to meet up with some other wedding clients of ours who were living on the Sunshine Coast! We had just photographed Erica & Wes’s wedding in Newfoundland and were SO thrilled to get to hang out with and photograph them again (and in warmer climates!;)  Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast I was LOVING the colours that day… Dave matches the jelly fish;) These next few shots are all from the Byron Bay area! Such a fun city full of colour, music and creativity:) Most of the shots (eherm ‘all’) are from the beach though! Dave surfing after a rain storm… Morning breakfast on the coast. Road side coffee stand! I LOVE it!!!:) I want one…Dave…? ? Yes there were CAMELS on the side of the road… We spent a day being tourists in Sydney and it was so much fun! It was an amazing trip but it went by way too fast and sent us home to incredible amounts of snow! I hope you are ALL surviving winter and looking forward to sunshine! SUMMER IS COMING!!!:)