Work Hard, Play Hard — HaffsWay Around The World

First: Apologies.

Our lives have gotten into a comfortable rhythm, filled with lots of work, fun, and some wonderful visitors along the way. As the weeks have gone by all-too-quickly, I've very admittedly let keeping up with the blog slide. My apologies, we'll try to be better (especially as our vast array of visitors come through the area!) in the future. At times it feels like nothing too notable has happened since we're mostly working and living a more "normal" life, but as I look back on the last month there are so many things we've done that we would love to share.

Second: A Call For Assistance.

We get a lot of wonderful questions from friends and family about our time over here, and some are frequently asked one, so we've had an idea to a blog post soon answering some of these questions and some of our own. We also wanted to reach out to our readers (all... five? of you? hahaha) and see if anyone wanted a question answered. Email hughes.lauramarie@gmail.com to submit a question for us to answer in our next blog post!

Third: Work Hard, Play Hard: A commentary on our kiwi life.

Over the last month we've been working quite a bit during the busy summer season at the Cardrona Hotel. The last two weeks alone saw us, along with our other wonderful co-workers, hosting five separate weddings. Weddings are long days, often seeing our daily hours reaching the double digits, but are a fun departure from the norm and a great way to get a few ideas of our own! The work is still hard, but we still enjoy it. I think we've both really enjoyed feeling useful again, and contributing in small ways to making a place run smoothly and well. It's the most fun when you get to develop little micro-relationships with the guests staying at the hotel, who also come for dinner and breakfast. You get to be a small part of sometimes the vacation they'll remember forever. It's been great to feel a part of a community with a goal, and get into a real groove sleeping in the same bed each night and waking up to familiar surroundings each morning. Plus, Will has gotten very good at delivering a wonderfully made breakfast to my bedside... how'd I get so lucky?

In our time off we have been able to explore the area further, including an anniversary trip to Gibbston Valley wine country, a boat trip with my dad's cousin Paul (and his now fiancé!) in Queenstown, a skydiving endeavor, and several days with my own Ma and Pa. The area is so beautiful, and I'm so glad we chose to call this place our home for these last few months, and the months to come. We often get asked how we ended up at this little hotel/pub seemingly off the beaten track, but to me its obvious. It's just the perfect place for us to base ourselves, with endless opportunities for day hiking, mountain biking, mountain admiring, wine drinking, and sun basking. Check out the photo gallery below for a look at our "normal" life :)

Lastly, about a week ago we also moved out of the staff cottage into our own place just down the road. Our arduous 10-second commute has now become an almost unbearable 2-minute walk. My lucky parents decided to spend an hour helping us move our few belongings (which after being in one place for several months seem to have multiplied at an alarming rate) to the new place while they were visiting. Parents, I tell ya... Still helping this girl move from place to place, when it's on the other side of the world!

Their visit was a great one, and will be detailed in full in a later post in order to do it justice. In Sum: My mother (who had never flown overseas) and father took jet-lag in stride like true champs, and drove all the way from Auckland to Wanaka in a matter for five days, seeing everything they could along the way. We spent a few short days together kayaking, zip-lining, and hiking through beautiful mountains, and we absolutely loved having them here. It's wonderful to have people back home visit, and for a few days you feel surrounded by the comfort of people who know you so well. You just can't beat a good hug from your daddy and kiss from your mommy. We miss them dearly already, but are excited to welcome our next guests: Terry and Gina!

I find I am much better at showing you all our world and life through pictures, so without further ado...

Fourth: A photogallery of our life this last month.

Work Hard:

The view on a sunny day from the bar out onto part of the beer garden.

A beautiful coffee made by one of our barista's, Juan. Here in new Zealand "filtered" (coffee pot) coffee is not really a thing. This here is a "flat white."

A wedding reception getting started out in the garden.

A beautiful cheese tower creation by head chef Angie.

Becky "modeling" in front of the wedding favor set up. She actually is a model, I swear.

Lining them up for the post ceremony toast!

Bye Bye staff cottage! It's been grand living in a former post office :)

Hello new place! We're excited to have our own space for awhile, in a few months our co-worker friends will move in as well! Seemed appropriate to include our true first home together (a big red van) with our, er, roomier first home.

Our first home :) Well, as aforementioned really that would be Big Red the van technically. But this is a better one to show the grandkids.

Dad capturing a little moving-in moment. Definitely not staged. Definitely not.

Wild lupine grows all along the stream across the road. We're kinda loving living out in the countryside.

Play Hard:

Our Anniversary weekend trip to Gibbston Valley Wine region. Three cheers for beautiful Kinross Cottages for the "insider" discount for a nights stay at their lovely accommodation on a vineyard. We were treated to live music and good drinks in a gor… — Our Anniversary weekend trip to Gibbston Valley Wine region. Three cheers for beautiful Kinross Cottages for the "insider" discount for a nights stay at their lovely accommodation on a vineyard. We were treated to live music and good drinks in a gorgeous setting.

Our own Pisa Mountain range from the other side! Still just as pretty.

Pretty Views in Gibbston Valley. Definitely worth the short drive over the range!

My dad's cousin Paul and his girlfriend Sue invited us to join them in Queenstown on the historic Earnslaw (a coal powered ship) for a cruise and beautiful buffet dinner. The one direct road to Queenstown was closed unfortunately due to an accident,… — My dad's cousin Paul and his girlfriend Sue invited us to join them in Queenstown on the historic Earnslaw (a coal powered ship) for a cruise and beautiful buffet dinner. The one direct road to Queenstown was closed unfortunately due to an accident, so we went the "long" way around the mountain range and just made it in time!

Paul enjoying the views and a good beer.

"How cool is this? Also a little windy..."

A wonderful evening with family! Cannot thank Paul and Sue enough for this treat.

An accidental summit in Arrowtown. We have a trend of needing to get to the highest point even when we weren't planning on it.

Pretty little hike in Arrowtown, an old mining town made adorable these days.

Another little hike, this time solo while Will worked at the brewery, up Mt Iron in Wanaka. Prettiest little town in the world? — Another little hike, this time solo while Will worked at the brewery, up Mt Iron in Wanaka. Prettiest little town in the world?

A cool location dial pointing towards "our mountain range." Anyone who has lived near mountains for any amount of time can surely tell you how attached one starts to feel for the peaks that welcome you each morning.

And we went skydiving! Big shout out to Wanaka Skydive for dropping us out of a plane at 10,000 feet :)

A little teaser for next blog post... Family is everything. And dad is getting very good at taking selfies.

Until Next Time! Don't forget to submit any burning questions you want answered, and stay tuned for a post about visits from our wonderful parents. I will leave you all with this. Live in joy, and spread LOVE: for each other, the planet, and yourselves :)