Merry Christmas & Rockin' New Year 2009!!

Wowzers, I really don't know how the year has escaped us and suddenly we're just a few days before Christmas! I wonder if it's been as speedy for everyone else??! One minute we're living the dream in Whistler, next thing we're here in Auckland working our butts off and it's almost been a year because it's Christmas has rolled around again!

So, the quick round-up is the best option. We're still living in Devonport in Auckland (NZ) and we are not sure when we'll head out at this stage. The plan was to stay a year but then with all that has happened with our business we think it's worth investing some more time. NZ has proved to be a great place to spread the word and we've picked up some cool new customers and made some wicked connections.


I (Nic) just finished up my job with the Foundation of the Blind on Friday and am now full time on our business - yay! Is the pressure on or what?!?!

The Fougie's (my folks) are over from the Gold Coast at the moment visiting us and staying for Christmas which will be at the Chety's this year. Should be a great ol' shindig with about 30 rellies dropping by throughout the day. Then on the 27th Richie and I head north (5hr drive) to Ahipara for a week of camping and trying desperately hard not to check our email every 2 seconds hehe :o) - it's hard to stop!!

Now that should be fun, it's our first holiday since we arrived in Auckland on Jan 16th this year! There'll be atleast 10 of us camping and in a bach (beach house), at the bottom of 90 Mile Beach so I think surfing, chilling, beers and bbqs are on the menu for the week.. Can't wait!!!

Then we're back on to it in the new year, revived and ready to kick some butt and take some names! Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa


Just a few pics from the top - Rich & I camping in Tawharanui end of October, snow near the Chateau on an August weekend at Turangi, Rich with a bug over on Waiheke Island February and the two of us on a bike ride with the iconic Auckland Sky Tower behind us in November.

I hope you guys are all lovin' life and rockin along. We hope next years plans involve some travel so that we can get exploring again & catch up with some of you. But in the mean time, have a wicked time over the Christmas & New Years break.

Lotsa love, Rich & Nic xxx

Long time, no love!! How did it get to Sept?!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post..I can't believe it's almost SEPTEMBER!! We have been OUT OF CONTROL busy these last 9 weeks.. Turned out, as per my post below, that we made it on to the reality show (yay!), and are still filming for another 2 weeks.

It has been nuts.. Our learning curve has been straight up, vertical even, and we've been privileged to meet with some real big names in marketing, business development and all sorts of other things we hadn't thought a business needed :o) hehe.


The show will air in New Zealand on TVNZ in October. We're in the final few weeks of the show now and have some serious challenges on our plate to wind up the comp. We have to increase the BUZZ around our product and get traffic soaring, so it's a huge ask.. But then the other 3 companies have equally hard things to accomplish.

Oh oh - in other exciting news we will finally move out of the home office and in to our own office space!! I say 'we' but really I still work full time for the Blind. Just do nights & wknds on our stuff. While Rich works full time on our software, and does nights & wknds doing contract work for Whistler Blackcomb! busybusy.. We have a new junior developer on board and our old partner Dan has upped and quit his job in London and jumps on a plane next week to come back & work with us too - YIPPPEE!

Anyhoo - enough business chit chat. Rich and I, shockingly, seem capable of nothing else these days - BORING!!


Here's a few photos of last weekend in Sydney, we managed a fleeting visit on the back of a conference I was attending for my real job at RNZFB ;o)


(no caption needed)

Me, Pip & Gueza out in the city

Eating in Darlinghurst: Rich, Katia, Craig, Me, Amanda

Me & Craig at dinner

Rich and his lil' sis Amanda walking the coast

On the Manly ferry

Me & Amanda

Buddies from Whistler: Foz, Me, Mitch & Rich in Manly

reality

We were invited to pitch our software to a panel of 5 judges on Saturday - man it was so nerve racking!! It's for a reality tv show of all things.. We will find out next week if we made the cut from the 20 shortlisted companies down to the 10 who kick off the elimination style show..

Fingers crossed! The exposure we could get would be priceless even if we only made it that far!


Anyhoo.. not much else in the way of news. Gorgeous Vikki had her baby 2 weeks ago now, little Riley, so I'll have to post a photo of the happy little family!!





Nicxx

Maori Bay

The west side!.. this is Maori Bay... 35 mins from the big smoke. Our bud John lives out this way, surf, sun and sandy beaches for miles...



ps... the rock out in the sea is white on top due to the big birds from the Gannet colony crapping all over it.. thats a lot of poop!

Morning View..

Its a tuff life!... this is the view we have when we walk out the front door. This was taken just after Rich sent me on my way, with a packed lunch to my ferry to scoot across the waterway to the big smoke for work :o)

A Friday morning in Wellington

Killer sunrise yesterday morning in Welly.. was waiting with a coffee and glazzy hung over eyes for a conference to start in Te Papa (NZs best museum or something like that.. )


Yep.. so thats it.. nothing else to say..

oh.. no i didnt see the giant squid.. but had some pretty darn tootin calamari for lunch.. hmmmm.. hey wait a minute!

Rich

Cows go Moo!

Thats right! you herd it here first!

End of a crankin' summer

Well it's winding down here in Auckland, the weather has taken a bit of a turn, (although it changes it's mind every 10 minutes!!) & we've been getting some much cooler temperatures and the expected rain..

Richie had his knee reconstruction just over 2 weeks ago now so is in full recovery mode on the couch, at home. Lucky he works from home now!! He's already able to peddle an exercycle &crutches around like he's been doing it forever, although he still can't put any weight on his leg for another few weeks.

I'm working full time as the Donor Care Coordinator for the RNZFB (Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind) so get my fair share of dog action around the office as well as getting back in to the ol' charity work thang. It's going well but I have only been here 2 weeks. Would love to still be working full time with doggies but it just wasn't possible here without starting up my own business.. Which was another option. But in the end, although I could have given it a shot, I figured having 1 business start up already this year was probably enough!!

Not much in the plans right now in the way of travel but I'm sure it won't be long til we plan something!!

Peace out
xx

WOWZERS - it's our 2nd wedding aniiversary!

YAY! Here we are at a new milestone that being 2 years of being hitched - yippee!! I'm happy to report it's all still fun n games and we've never been happier.. We have decided that every year we'll buy (or make) a piece of art together rather than getting eachother presents.

The theme for your 2nd year together is cotton, so we've decided to pick one of our favourite photos from our travels and get it printed on canvas (Canvas \Can"vas\, n. A strong cloth made of hemp, flax, or cotton; -- used for tents, sails, etc. ) and hang it on the wall..

Now we just have to decide WHICH photo!!!

Peace out

Schnick n Krich

Drink More Petrol!

Hardly a day goes by that i don't hear someone complaining about the price of petrol. What amazes me is that people get really pissed about paying NZ$1.70ish for a litre of gas but they will pay anywhere up to about $5 for a litre of bottled water.

I'll stick to my perfectly good NZ tap water thanks, but i sure would love to meet the person who invented bottled water..... wonder if he's also the guys who started selling ice to Eskimo's.

R

Wedding season

Another post from sunny Auckland - and that isn't a joke for those of you that know Auckland as rain, rain, rain.. It really has been sunny, scorching hot weather since we arrived here - yippee!

We're on the house hunt, and I'm on the job hunt.. Both things that neither of us enjoy doing but hopefully we'll have it all sorted within the week.. Looking at a house tonight that has the POtential.

Last Sunday we went to the 1st of 3 weddings, 3 weekends in a row. It was for Ryan and Leanna & the whole bridal party looked stunning despite the intense heat. As you will see in the snaps below Rich and I got our best threads on and strutted our stuff - almost unheard of!

And one of my oldest buddies Vikki Steele will be doing the do this Saturday so that will be a very cool wedding to go to..

Arrrghhh we both miss Whistler oodles.. and more importantly we miss all you cool cats who live there.. always in our thoughts & bestest memories!!

Oh hand here's a last snap of Rich's nana, parents & us!

Ric & Nich xxxxxxx

Hawaiian & Kiwi Sunshine

So here we are now in Auckland, NZ. We flew in yesterday morning and had a lazy day at rich's folks house (they are away in oz) swimming in the pool, catching some sun, exploring the old neighbourhood & having a bbq with friends.

We had 1 week in hawaii on the way here so we could feel the holiday vibes for a few days and I also had my 30th birthday out there - 30 years young! It sounds like Craig's started the 30's club so I'll be in on that fo' sure. Rich still has a few weeks to go and then he can become a member :o)

Anyhoo, here's a few pics from hawaii. There's a few of some 20 foot faces out at Waimea which were pretty sweet to watch, saw some gnarly wipeouts tho & a few rescues.

Well happy New years 2008 to y'all and good luck for a rocking year.. Woop woop!!
waimea
waimea

sunset beach
waimea

Amanda's new t-shirt design!