FRIENDS!

Jim and I are blessed to have great friends – some were even willing to travel nearly ½ way around the globe to visit, well …maybe part of the draw is New Zealand as well.

Jann Varner, a friend of Angie’s since Kindergarten, was the first of several who recently made the trip. During her stay here in August we escaped for a night to a spot on the East Coast of the Wairarapa between Riverdale Beach and Castle Point just a few hours from Wellington. It was called ‘Parrydise’ holiday home, a highly recommended spot. The views were spectacular as you can see with Castle Point in the background. Wow!

Kathy Sapp arrived as part of an annual “girls trip” event, or as they call it here, “the hens trip”. Kathy arrived early with the intent of just hanging out for a few days in Wellington. She accomplished that, and being in the Capital city, also rubbed shoulders with a Member of Parliament, Winston Peters, who had just been censured by the Parliament Committee. We attended a filming of a weekly live political show at the famous Backbenchers Bar across the street from Parliament. Mr. Peters was up for a bit more publicity so he was there as well (See Photo). The gracious Mr. Peters after posing with Kathy for a tourist photo said, “Good luck with your travels in NZ” to which Kathy replied, “thank you and good luck…uh…uh… with all your stuff going on…” Remaining his cool self Mr. Peters replied, “Oh don’t you worry about me…” to which Kathy jumped in, “oh after what I saw on the news tonight, I don’t need to worry about you Mr. Peters.”

If only she could vote in the NZ election.