Anyways, we got to Picton and headed to the Campbell house. After a quick lunch, we dropped our baggage at the waterfront, then left our ute at Helen & Jim's and walked back to the waterfront to board the ferry to Furneaux. Because it was only wedding guests on that particular trip, they put wedding ribbons on the boat (see below) which was VERY cool!
Boat to Furneaux adorned with wedding ribbons.
D on the ride in...
Looking back towards Picton as we get nearer to Furneaux.
Arriving at Furneaux (we even had a greeting party, including the groom, Tony!)
Some of the guests arrived from Queenstown by helicopter (Mary's brother James and his family). Talk about a grand entrance!!!
We arrived and found out where we were meant to be staying, ditched our luggage and met our new roomies - Tudor from Wales and Deb and Anne from York - all extremely hard case people! We had a bit of time to get to know our roomies and chill for a bit before the buffet barbecue for dinner. Dinner was beautiful, was followed by a really cool DVD (put together by Shane) of Mary and Tony each growing up and then meeting each other etc - like a 'story so far' kind of movie - it was awesome. After that we had a couple drinks, then headed to bed because we were pretty tired from our early start! And about that snoring beast in our chalet.... that was TUDOR!!!! Man that guy can SNORE! UNBELIEVABLE!!!! The next morning we didn't wake until about half nine, and read for a bit until we hauled our arses out of bed at about half ten to shower and have brekkie. We walked a little bit of the Queen Charlotte Track for an hour or so, and I took some artsy photos along the way... check it out!
When we got back from our walk, we did a bit more 'recon' around the Furneaux Lodge grounds...
Looking from the Lodge down to the waterfront - the site for the wedding later that day.
From the waters edge looking back up the path to Furneaux Lodge
Then it was time to have lunch and get all fancied up for the wedding - but the weather was getting dodgier by the minute..... By the time we were all ready to go to the bar and await the arrival of the bride, it was heavily drizzling, and the chairs had been brought in from outside. Talk about crap luck, it had been beautiful the day before.
The Chalet #7 'Roomies' - Anne, Tudor, Deb, D and me
The official 'I Do' part...
The smoochy part!
The part where Mary has rose petals stuck down the front of her dress?! Ha ha ha
Mary and D
Me, Mary and D (Oh and that's John in the background - nice smile!)
The happy couple with her parents Helen and Jim
Mary with her siblings - Heather, Fiona, Mary and James
Clan Campbell! Heather, Elizabeth, John, Shane, Fiona, Helen, Mary, Tony, Jim, Lynne, Duncan and James.
Men in skirts - need I say more?! Ha ha ha! Just kidding - don't they look great? And I can confirm that at least ONE of them was not wearing anything under his kilt!
The Thirty-Somethings
Not often we get all gussied up - so here's the money shot!
John blowing some of the wedding bubbles (meanwhile the rest of us were enjoying the REAL bubbles, by the bottleful!)
Anne proudly displaying her glass (we called it a bucket) of red...
Her bucket after we had finished with it. I don't think she actually managed to drink it all though - that would have taken SOME doing!
Us Roomies sharing a private joke - poor Tudor had no idea he was being set up for this one! That'll teach him for snoring like a trooper!
Louise, Anne, me and Deb
The wedding rocked - the ceremony (although unfortunately inside) was lovely. The weather then cleared in time for them to have their photos taken outdoors, which was lucky.
We hung out for a bit outdoors enjoying the Deutz bubbles which were flowing aplenty, then retired to the marquee for a sumptuous dinner - antipasto platters, aoraki salmon, venison and lamb casserole and fillet of beef as well as veges etc. Dessert was chocolate covered profiteroles, fresh fruit and wedding cake (both chocolate and fruitcake).
Our table was a laugh - our roomies Deb and Anne, John (Scottish) and his wife Louise (Irish) and another couple from Auckland, Sheridan and Vince. It was one of those very cool weddings where EVERYONE got up and boogied to the band (Good band too - The Noodles from Wellington).
I think we turned in about half past midnight, we kind of had to cos my feet were about to fall off! Next morning there was a buffet brunch in the marquee - cereal, fruit, croissants, bacon, eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, fruit pastries and coffee to choose from - YUMMO! We hung out in the bar again, and exchanged email addys with some new friends, until it was time to catch the ferry back to Picton.
Once we were back to Picton, we said our goodbyes to Deb and Anne, and John and Louise, and headed off outta town....
First stop, Blenheim. Since we love Allan Scott wines so much, we thought we'd better drop into their vineyard. Talk about an awesome place....
After a bit of wine tasting, we bought a couple of wines, and hit the road again. Just before we got to Kaikoura, we came across the Fur Seal colony. I just had to take some pictures to show J, there were even baby seals playing in little pools in the rocks... too cute!
When we got into Kaikoura, we stopped off for a Hot Chocolate at this cool place called Sonic...
On the way to Amberley, there was an really awesome sunset too...
We rocked into Amberley at about half eight on Saturday night, a little shattered from the drive. The place we were booked into was cool... it has only been open 5 months, so everything is very clean and new. We asked the owner about where to get a feed, and she sent us to Brew Moon, a gourmet brewery on the edge of town.
The Mud House Winery and Cafe
The awards on the wall in the foyer - very impressive! 
2 comments:
Phew that was a huge weekend awesome fun and awesome photos glad the cat came home Jess our cat I'm sure stays away an extra couple of days after we get home from holiday just to teach us a lesson for leaving her behind lol
What are you doing reading my blog at this time of night Bo?! I am currently uploading pics from today's racing to show you on next post!!!!
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