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Made It!

Due to long layovers stateside we ended up traveling for a day and a half but got some sleep on the trans-pacific flight and had barely any jet lag. Wonderful! Got off the plane and hit the ground running. Connie and I spent the afternoon with David our tour manager and Greg and Saundra the owners of The Memory Store in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was interesting to see things that looked the same on the surface: I walked into the shop and scrapbook enough to recognize the punches, cutters, papers, etc. but when I looked closer many of the papers and embellishments had Kiwi streetsigns, Maori designs, native wildlife, landscapes and other unique things that reminded you you're on the other side of the world. I picked up a very cool abalone embellsihment that was a map of New Zealand. I'll post a picture later.





That night we had our first screening. Sitting there watching Scrapped with everyone reminded me how American much of it was. Things like racecar drivers, prices of products and photo processing, slang terms and even dimentions of the Creative Memories factory stuck out as things I took for granted but the Kiwi ladies ( and one man ) laughed right out loud in all the same places, got quite and weepy in the same spots and had some wondeful feedback afterward as well. Scrapbooking in the US and New Zealand seems to be alot like the language. We both speak english but with different accents that are mutually appealing.

A scrapbookers album seems to be their passport to the cropping world and NZ is no exception. Everyone wants to immediately see my album and seems to like the crop bag so I'm glad I brought both. I brought the "making of" scrapbook and am still working on it as we travel. Noone seems to mind the 1/2 finished pages. I didn't have room ( really, extra weight ) to bring the "my first page" books on the flight.




We had the next two days off to have a look around Christchurch and then fly to the North Island to Wellington where I'll get to be a guest on Good Morning, a National New Zealand talkshow. ( I'll post pictures )
As expected, the countryside here is amazing. Mountains, Ocean, rolling green velvety hills but there is also fun to be had in the little things that are different than what we're used to. I drug Connie into a classic car and bike shop in Christchurch that had an amazingly clean Norton Manx - one of my favorite bikes and an old Ducati 250. Both these bikes are everything I like about two wheeled love... simple, great lines and form, untilitarian - there's nothing extra to clutter up the motor and chassis.







We also saw a great classic Mini Countryman which even got Connie excited. How these ute style wagon type Mini's with cargo space in the back were ever able to carry a load with their 850cc motor is beyond me. Still very stylish and appealing! I bet they're a blast to drive.

I also wanted to say goodbye to Cathy Z's blog. I saw it was gone and heard she pulled the plug herself. I can understand why but it will obviously be missed. Thanks for letting us into your life Cathy. You also deserve some pivacy.

wes

posted by wes @ 11:26 AM